Новости за 02.08.2021

Depiro Basketball Club announced the re-signing of shooting guard TJ Atwood on Monday. The 6’6 guard out of Lamar University in the US had joined the Mtarfa club back in January and put on impressive performances under coach James Bamfield.   Continue reading this article on Sports Desk, the new sports website by Times of Malta

Lebanon's newly designated prime minister Najib Mikati said on Monday that a cabinet lineup would not be announced by mid-week to coincide with the anniversary of the deadly Beirut port blast. "Frankly, with regard to the government, I was hoping the pace would be faster," he said after meeting President Michel Aoun, whom he said he would now see again on Thursday. The government of Hassan Diab, who is still caretaker prime minister, resigned en masse days after the August 4 explosion that killed more than 200 people last year. Читать дальше...

Brazilian attacking midfielder Gilmar will continue his career in the middle east after he reached an agreement to sign for Al Hamriyah. Gilmar played last season in the Maltese Premier League with Sliema Wanderers and then joined Hibernians during the January transfer window. However, the Brazilian decided to seek pastures new at the end of the season after receiving a lucrative offer from the UAE club. Terms have now been agreed and Gilmar has already flew to the UAE where he has already started pre-season with his new club. Читать дальше...

Sliema Wanderers have completed the signing of young Malta full back Myles Beerman. Beerman was on the books of Hibernians but spent last season on loan at Sliema Wanderers. The Blues were keen to keep hold of the talented full back and an agreement was reached on Monday with Hibernians. Beerman agreed personal terms with Sliema Wanderers and has put pen to paper on a five-year contract. A product of Floriana, Beerman, formally joined Manchester City in 2014 although he had actually moved to Manchester earlier. Читать дальше...

Christian Spiteri, Malta’s highest-ranked competitive e-sports gamer (EA Sports FIFA) and winner of the first two seasons of the Malta BOV e-Premier League, has announced his retirement from competitive gaming. In an open letter on his socials Monday, Spiteri confirmed plans for his future after announcing he would issue a statement back in June. He explained that his decision stems from the connectivity issues which caused his results to be “far below my expectations”.   Continue reading this article on Sports Desk... Читать дальше...

French insurance giant Axa, which faces hundreds of lawsuits over COVID-19 claims, reported on Monday a huge surge in net profits in the first half of 2021, well above pre-pandemic levels. The company posted four billion euros in net profit in the first six months of the year, up 71 per cent from the same period in 2019 and nearly triple from last year. Axa’s earnings for 2020 took a €1.5-billion hit from COVID-19 related claims and higher payouts for natural catastrophes. Axa has faced hundreds... Читать дальше...

When David Muscat Fenech Adami was expecting his first daughter, he counted his lucky stars that she was born on a Saturday, giving him two extra days off to add to his one day of paternity leave. “The excitement I had when I held my daughter for the first time was something I was looking forward to so much, but then I faced moments when I felt useless, as I could not support my wife more on a daily basis during the first few weeks,” he told Times of Malta. Things were slightly different when his second daughter was born last August... Читать дальше...

Luxol Basketball Club announced two new signings in Marko Matijevic and Paul Attard from Hibernians Basketball Club on Monday in a summer that has seen Maltese clubs be particularly active in the transfer market.   Continue reading this article on Sports Desk, the new sports website by Times of Malta

A 63-year-old cyclist was rushed to Mater Dei Hospital after being hurt in a traffic accident in Luqa. The police said the accident took place at 5pm on Triq Hal Qormi. It involved the cyclist, from Żurrieq, and a Hyundai vehicle driven by a 59-year-old woman from Mosta.  More information soon. 

Poland on Monday granted a humanitarian visa to Belarusian athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who claims her team tried to forcibly send her back to her authoritarian homeland from the Olympic Games in Japan.  A virtual unknown until the weekend, the 24-year-old finds herself at the centre of a major scandal after criticising the Belarusian athletics federation for entering her into a relay race in Tokyo without giving her notice. Tsimanouskaya's treatment recalled the Soviet practice of forcing... Читать дальше...

A referendum will be held among Gozitans on the proposed Malta-Gozo tunnel if the Nationalist Party is elected to government.   In a press conference on Monday, PN spokesman for Gozo Chris Said told reporters that once the necessary studies are carried out, a Nationalist government would consult the Gozitan people on the proposed permanent link. The current proposal would lead to the creation of a 13km-long tunnel with a 7-metre radius and one traffic lane heading in either direction, with an additional safety lane. Читать дальше...

Standards commissioner George Hyzler has published new guidelines to ensure government adverts and promotional material are factually correct.  According to the guidelines, which were put up for public consultation in June, state adverts and promotional material produced by the government or public entities should not include partisan content.  Pictures of ministers, or even their names featuring in government adverts, will see them fall foul of the new guidelines.  Leaflets or other documents... Читать дальше...

A 74-year-old man from Qormi was grievously injured in a traffic accident in Żurrieq. The police said the accident happened at 9.15am on Triq il-Wied and it involved two cars  - a Toyota Belta driven by the man and a Ford Fiesta driven by a 21-year-old woman from Siġġiewi,. Police investigations are ongoing. 

Two Turkish mothers who were jailed for six months for using forged passports - resulting in their young sons being placed in State care - have filed an appeal against the “disproportionate and excessive” punishment. The women, who are in the process of applying for asylum, will soon be applying for bail in the hope to be reunited with their sons - age two and four, explained their lawyers Gianluca Cappitta and Jason Grima. In the appeal, filed on Monday, the lawyers argued that the punishment was excessive in the circumstances. Читать дальше...

Heineken returned to profit in the first half of the year as countries lifted COVID restrictions, but the pandemic continues to affect the Dutch brewer in key markets, the company said on Monday. Net profit rose to €1 billion in the first six months of 2021 after the company suffered €297 million in losses during the same period last year. But Heineken, whose roster includes Amstel, Red Stripe and Tiger, said it expects its full-year financial results to remain below pre-pandemic levels. The company... Читать дальше...

An administrative issue involving a missing VAT return – which has since been settled - has landed a magistrate in the prosecution’s list for a VAT court sitting.  Magistrate Monica Vella failed to submit a VAT return for work carried out before she was appointed magistrate, sparking an administrative investigation. She was due to be charged with the minor offence on July 23 before magistrate Joe Mifsud but that did not happen as police had not yet notified her of the charges.  The case was put off to October, the next scheduled VAT sitting.

A police sergeant, held under preventive custody since April following his arraignment for allegedly raping the victim of a burglary he was meant to assist, has been granted bail.  The decision was delivered on Monday following a fresh application filed by Glenn Carabott, the 40-year old officer who is pleading not guilty to non-consensual sex with his alleged victim, taking a video of the encounter and committing a crime he was duty-bound to prevent.  He was denied bail at the arraignment stage... Читать дальше...

The self-confessed middleman in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case has applied for the State to be added as a defendant in an action for damages by the assassinated journalist's family.  Melvin Theuma filed the application on Monday, days after a public inquiry found that the State should shoulder the responsiblity for the October 2017 murder.  It asks that the State, as represented by the Prime Minister, the State Advocate, the Attorney General and the Police Commissioner should be joined in the suit. Читать дальше...

Firefighters were battling two large wildfires in Greece on Monday, as the prime minister said the country was suffering its worst heatwave in more than three decades. Fires have also raged across Turkey, Spain and Italy over the weekend with experts warning climate change was increasing both the frequency and intensity of such blazes. More than 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of pine and olive groves have been torched by a fire that broke out on Saturday near the city of Patras, 200 kilometres (125 miles) west of Athens... Читать дальше...

Three online companies that claim to be operating in line with Maltese law are not registered with the financial regulator and are not authorised to operate in Malta, the MFSA has warned. The regulator issued warnings about Legit Crypto Option or Citizen Crypto Mining FX  (https://007cryptooption.com/index.html), Admiral Capital Trade (https://www.admiralcapitaltrade.com/) and Hillwood Limited (https://www.hwlimited.com/) Legit Crypto Option or Citizen Crypto Mining FX claims to be ‘authorized... Читать дальше...

An illegal concrete batching plant in the Mġarr countryside has been shut down after amassing €18,000 in fines and having its bid to sanction illegalities refused by the Planning Authority.  In a statement on Monday, the PA said that the illegal plant, which operated in an Outside Development Zone area known as il-Palma, has been shut down and sealed off by compliance and enforcement officers.  Times of Malta had reported on the concrete plant in May, noting that the factory had been operating... Читать дальше...

Residents of the Austrian capital have queued for more than 130 years to sample the Italian ice cream of the Molin-Pradel family, one of Vienna's oldest gelato dynasties. "He helped democratise ice cream, which before was reserved for the wealthy," Silvio Molin-Pradel says of his great-great-grandfather Arcangelo, who began selling it out of pushcarts in Vienna in 1886. More than a century later, ice cream consumption among Austrians is higher than in neighbouring Italy. And it was entrepreneurs like Arcangelo Molin-Pradel... Читать дальше...

Netflix has announced a new documentary about former Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher. Produced with full support from the German racing driver’s family, it will include ‘rare interviews and previously undisclosed archival footage’ that will chart a career that saw him become a seven-time World Champion and an icon of the sport. Announcing the release, Netflix wrote: “His strong will and triumphant fight to win against all odds put Michael Schumacher at the centre of global attention.  “Michael... Читать дальше...

Repubblika is urging people to meet in Valletta in protest over revelations that Edward Zammit Lewis in 2019 communicated with Yorgen Fenech after addressing a press conference mocking attempts for justice over the businessman’s secret company 17 Black. On Monday the Justice Minister told Times of Malta that he had been following the party line at the press 2019 press conference. He is now facing a no-confidence motion moved by the PN. The civil society NGO said it was unacceptable that the role... Читать дальше...

The album is being published by Żgħażagħ Dumnikani (DominicanYouths) of Vittoriosa that, together with the Dominican Order, are this year commemorating the eighth centenary since the death of St Dominic, the founder of the order. The album was launched on Friday, July 30 in a special event that was streamed live on the Facebook page of Festa San Duminku Il-Birgu (www.facebook.com/festabirgu/) for all patrons to view at home.  The launch was presented by Doriana Portelli. The new album Qalb Dumnikana... Читать дальше...