Issue #171 - Midweek

Transcription

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WEDNESDAY EDITION
WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT
WEDNESDAY • 7 JULY 2010 • ISSUE 171 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY
A BOLT
Anna
Mallia
pg12
FROM THE
BLUE...
LITERALLY
In the end, it had to be a Nationalist MP
to bring about a national discussion
on divorce. Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando
stuns the establishment and takes the
wind out of Labour’s sails with a private
member’s bill that no one expected...
not even the Prime Minister
PAGES 2-3
Psychic octopus,
superstitious sport
pg 10
Works in progress... now?
FREE INSIDE
Business
Today
Euro rises against dollar
Led by the nose
Half days at Mepa
‘throwing construction
industry into confusion’ GRTU
REVEALED – how President George
Abela was duped by his own press
secretary into believing that a senior
civil servant had leaked sensitive
documents to MaltaToday, resulting in
a wild goose chase and embarrassment
for Presidency and Government alike
pg 8
Busuttil calls for eu action
on ‘misleading’ business
directories
Greece ‘on track’ in
tackling deficit
Tumas Investments plc
announce allotment policy
Pension reform in the EU
FULL STORY PAGE
PAGE54
HSBC clients in US tax
probe
Newspaper post
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DENISE SCICLUNA
OPINION
2
News
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 7 JULY 2010
JPO rocks establishm
Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando yesterday boldly went where only one member of
parliament had been before, and presented his own, unilateral private member’s bill to
legislate for divorce
MATTHEW VELLA
NATIONALIST MP Jeffrey
Pullicino Orlando yesterday
shook the political establishment when he announced in a
statement that he had presented
a private member’s bill to legislate in favour of divorce.
He is the second MP in Maltese political history to do so,
after former PL deputy leader
Joseph Brincat unsuccessfully
presented a similar bill in the
mid-1990s.
With the political carpet so
to speak swept from under his
feet, Labour Party leader Joseph
Muscat, who pledged he would
present the private member’s
bill if elected to power, said yesterday he would give his MPs a
free vote on the bill.
Prime Minister Lawrence
Gonzi will today convene a parliamentary group meeting for
Nationalist MPs to discuss Pullicino Orlando’s bill, believed
to have been presented without
anybody from the PN group being informed.
Nationalist whip David Agius
said in a statement that prime
minister Lawrence Gonzi “believes that discussion inside the
PN must be guided by the conviction that the best measures
in favour of the family must be
taken, particularly those who
Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando: he has opened the door for a national debate on divorce
‘We cannot
allow our
religious
sentiment
to interfere
with our
obligations
towards
citizens’
– Jeffrey
Pullicino
Orlando
are most vulnerable.”
Muscat on the other hand said
his position in favour of divorce
had been consistent, and called
for a bi-partisan discussion
“that will be rational and studied, above all partisan interests,
and that everything is done to
protect the interests of all those
involved, especially children.”
In a nod to the Church, Muscat also asked that dissenting
opinions be taken into consideration. Describing the bill itself
as ‘a bolt from the blue’, Archbishop Paul Cremona told RTK
at 4pm yesterday that all Catholic MPs should vote against the
divorce bill.
On the other hand, Alternattiva Demokratika welcomed
the bill. “It is heartening to see
that at least one member of
parliament has welcomed AD’s
proposal for the legalisation of
divorce in Malta,” AD chairperson Michael Briguglio said. “We
welcome the fact that he has followed up our proposal to draw
on Irish divorce legislation. We
augur that other parliamentarians follow up the proposals
of AD and Pullicino Orlando,
especially since AD is the only
party with a clear position in favour of legislation on divorce.”
The bill, entitled the Family Law (Divorce Act), aims to
dissolve marriages which are
irrevocably broken down, “to
prevent the greater harm to the
common good which is caused
by the present local situation in
which re-marriage is impossible
and unregulated co-habitation
is rife,” Pullicino Orlando said.
The Nationalist MP, who is
separated from his wife – the
Labour MP Marlene Pullicino
– said most of his colleagues,
himself included, “adhere to the
Catholic faith. We cannot, however, allow our religious sentiment to interfere with our obligations towards citizens who
wish to regularise their position
in society following an irrevocably failed marriage.”
The MP said the bill aims to
correct the “injustice suffered
by those who wish to re-marry
if they wish to do so. It is unjust
to marginalise legally separated
couples and prevent their further participation in a stable,
healthy family environment.”
A further aim is the elimination of the discriminatory situation which arises with regards
to couples who cannot seek
a divorce overseas. Divorces
granted overseas are recognised
by the Maltese state.
The MP added that the bill
draws heavily on the legislation
present in another predominantly Catholic country, Ireland, and makes it possible for
couples to file for divorce only
if they have lived apart for at
least four years in the preceding five years. “This will ensure
that no one files for divorce capriciously or as a result of a spur
of the moment decision. It also
ensures that all possible avenues
for reconciliation have been exhausted before the institution of
proceedings.”
“As Mgr. Charles Vella, the
founder of the Cana Movement,
said: ‘Divorce will not lead to
marriages in Malta disintegrating’ and ‘the roles of the Church
and the State should not be
twinned’. Pope Benedict said
that: ‘It is not the role of the
Church to build a just state but
that of citizens and politicians’.”
But Archbishop Cremona said
that the recognition of overseas
divorces could not be used as
a way to undermine marriage
stability. Cremona said that
anything that went against the
principle of the indissolubility
of marriage “harmed society”,
claiming that statistics abroad
showed families became unstable wherever there was divorce.
The Archbishop also said the
Church was against cohabitation, a clear stand against Prime
Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s recent efforts to legislate in favour
of non-married couples living
together.
Cremona refused the notion
that a divorce law could be a
solution for spouses who were
locked in n abusive relationship, arguing that divorce was
sought after by people “who
want something else”, singling
out men looking for new relationships.
Elsewhere, Pullicino Orlando’s
motion has been welcomed by
Martin Scicluna, chairman of
the The Today Public Policy Institute.
“I am delighted that just a year
after the publication of the report ‘For Worse, For Better:
Remarriage After Legal Separation’, if which I was the lead
author, a Member of Parliament
has shown the moral courage
to put forward a Private Member’s Bill for the long overdue
introduction of divorce legislation in Malta,” Scicluna told
MaltaToday. “I congratulate Mr
Pullicino Orlando for setting an
3
News
ent with divorce bill
No crusade, but Catholic MPs are
expected to vote against divorce bill Archbishop Paul Cremona
example to his colleagues.”
Some of the mai arguments
presented in the MP’s bill in fact
echo the TPPI report on several
key issues.
“I am particularly gratified to
find that Mr Pullicino Orlando
has drawn extensively on the
arguments advanced in my report and that he has taken as his
model Irish divorce legislation
as recommended by the report,”
Scicluna added.
“It is especially pleasing that
Discussion must be guided by best interests
of the family - Prime Minister Lawrence
Gonzi
Labour leader Joseph Muscat promised a
free vote on a similar private member’s
bill if elected Prime Minister
It is especially pleasing that
the MP comes from the Party
which has been notably
lacking in confronting one of
the greatest social challenges
in Malta today
– Martin Scicluna
We welcome the fact that he has followed
up our proposal - AD chairperson
Michael Brigulio
the Member of Parliament
comes from the Party which
has been notably lacking in
confronting one of the greatest social challenges in Malta
today. Its stance on cohabitation is hypocritical and simply
an attempt by the government
to escape its responsibilities on
this issue in the face of the Opposition’s commitment to introduce the divorce remedy for
irretrievably broken marriages.
“This said, my delight is tem-
pered by the knowledge that the
Bill is unlikely to find a place in
the House of Representative’s
legislative programme and may
well lead to the issue becoming
politicised in a partisan manner
and in a way which a concern of
such importance - affecting as
it does so many thousands of
Maltese citizens - should not
be. Whatever the outcome, Mr
Pullicino Orlando has done his
duty as a legislator and struck a
blow for justice.”
4
5
News
Press secretary’s fabrications
drag Presidency into disrepute
Mizzi told him was true.
The statement raised many
eyebrows in government circles, as Olaph Terribile is
known for his long-standing
loyalty after 30 years of service
to the country. Terribile was also
supposed to take up the position as Malta’s new Deputy High
Commissioner to London later
this month.
Meanwhile, President George
Abela has kept silent on the real
reasons behind the fall-out
with Olaph Terribile, and has
not to date commented about
the allegations of mismanagement and financial irregularities
at the Palace.
Neither the ADC Capt Mark
Mallia, nor the president’s secretary (also his first cousin) Richard Dimech returned our calls
or responded to our emails and
messages. MaltaToday asked for
a breakdown of salaries that the
Office of the President is paying to all staff in the Presidents
secretariat, who are almost all
contracted from outside the
Civil Service, with salaries
understood to be much higher
than the norm.
KARL STAGNO-NAVARRA
THE Office of President has
dug itself into deeper controversy, as MaltaToday has
established that the inquiry
called by President George
Abela was instigated by a ‘fabrication’ of press secretary
Marica Mizzi.
MaltaToday managing editor
Saviour Balzan was yesterday
summoned to the Office of the
Prime Minister to answer to
allegations made by Mizzi, to
the effect that he had met with
Olaph Terribile, the former
secretary to the Presidency.
The allegation specifically
indicated that Terribile had
passed on official documents
to Balzan, leading Abela to
call for an inquiry into the alleged leak.
Investigations by this newspaper have revealed that the
fabrication was a result of
a private conversation last
Wednesday at one of the tables during a State dinner
in honour of visiting Italian
President Giorgio Napolitano.
The conversation was between a number of guests that
President
Abela
appears
to have
based his
declaration
of having
“no faith”
in former
aide Olaph
Terribile,
on the sole
premise that
what Marica
Mizzi told
him was true
No laughing matter: Marica drags President into further controvesy
included Malta Independent
acting editor Noel Grima, who
incidentally sat a few seats
away from Marica Mizzi.
As a conversation ensued
over MaltaToday’s stories on
irregularities within the Office of the President, Grima
reportedly admitted that he
had met Olaph Terribile some
days earlier, and that he (Terribile) “had a file” in hand.
Mizzi, who is company secretary to a beleaguered production company that was
‘absorbed’ into the Office of
the President, reportedly delivered the allegation that
Olaph Terribile had met with
Saviour Balzan and not with
Noel Grima, while also adding
that Terribile had passed on
documents.
It then took Abela almost
two days pondering what to do
about this information. He decided to write to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi on Friday
morning, and received a reply
later in the day, saying that an
inquiry was to be set up to investigate the allegation.
Senior officials told this
newspaper that Abela may
have been apprehensive about
rumours that MaltaToday had
a “big story” to break in its
Sunday edition, and hastily
decided to call a press conference at 4pm last Saturday to
announce the inquiry before
it had been established. The
move was described by government sources as a deliberate ‘arm twister’.
Questioned on Saturday,
President Abela could not
provide any answers as to
what the inquiry’s terms of
reference were, and who was
to head it. Neither did Martin
Bugelli, the Director General
for Government Information
who sat next to the President
during the press conference.
He said: “I do not have any
information to give, neither
on who will head the inquiry,
perhaps you will have some
information next week…”
The President – who admitted that the report to Castille
was filed by a member of his
staff, stopping short of naming Marica Mizzi, who was
in the same room – refused
to say what was in the documents that were allegedly
leaked when asked by MaltaToday.
MaltaToday managing editor Saviour Balzan, who was
summoned to testify before
the inquiry, categorically stated that he never met Olaph
Terribile, and was never given
any documents by the same.
Noel Grima was summoned
on Monday, and – in subsequent comments to MaltaToday – stressed his disgust at
Marica Mizzi’s fabrication.
Contacted, Grima branded
Marica Mizzi as a “blatant liar”, adding that all those who
are invited to the Palace must
“beware of being recorded,
misinterpreted or having his
conversations transcribed and
passed on to the President.”
Mizzi’s fabrication has generated an unprecedented fall
out for the Office of the President. President Abela appears
to have based his declaration
of having “no faith” in former
aide Olaph Terribile, on the
sole premise that what Marica
U-turn of the century?
THREE days after The Malta
Independent called for ‘action’ by the President against
this ‘scurrilous’ and ‘scandalmongering’ newspaper over
its reports on nepotism and
financial irregularities at the
Office of the President, the
same Independent suddenly
changed tack yesterday with a
devastating front-page attack
on nepotism at the Palace.
After lauding President
George Abela as the “most
popular” and “most loved” person in Malta, Malta Independent acting editor Noel Grima
suddenly turned his guns on
his press secretary, Marica
Mizzi.
“(It is) unclear how Ms Mizzi
was chosen for her post as no
call for applications seems
to have been made,” he says,
quoting insiders who claim
that Abela himself was Mizzi’s
lawyer in her marriage annulment proceedings.
“This is where things start to
get unusual… not only has Ms
Mizzi found a job at San Anton
but also her former husband
and his partner, it would seem,”
Grima writes, adding a dose of
irony in the end: “According
to her Facebook (page), her favourite quote is Carpe Diem –
seize the moment.”
6
News
No arrests over illegal
satellite imports
CHARLOT ZAHRA
THE Customs Department has
registered an average of 40,000
satellite receivers and 60,000
satellite cards every year over
the past four years, MaltaToday has learnt.
Yet Emanuel Sammut, Chief
Inspector Investigations at the
Customs Department, confirmed that there had been “no
arraignments” in the past five
years of people importing illegal satellite receivers with illegal viewing cards.
Moreover, there have been
only three detentions of illegal satellite receivers over the
same period. And the reasons
behind these detentions were
because of intellectual property rights issues, that is, counterfeit satellite receivers, rath-
David Agius
er than because of violation of
copyright issues pertaining to
sporting rights.
The issue of illegal satellite
viewing crops every time there
is a major sports event, such as
the World Cup and the European Football Championships.
Rather than resort to licensed network providers such
as Melita or GO to watch their
football, some people prefer
buying a satellite receiver and
card to receive football broadcasts that are not licensed to
be watched on Maltese territory, such as Sky Italia, Sky UK,
and Mediaset Premium.
This is understood to dent
the income of legitimate rights
holders such as Melita and
GO, which would have paid
millions of euros to obtain
these rights from legitimate
rights holders such as FIFA for
the World Cup, UEFA for the
Euro Cup, UEFA Champions’
League and Europa League, the
Premier League for the British
Premier League, and the Lega
Calcio for the Italian Serie A.
Often, these satellite receivers
are imported by well-known
importers who advertise their
services through the internet
or by word of mouth.
According to the Customs
Department, in 2007, 29,906
satellite receivers or decoders and 36,534 cards were
imported from non-EU countries. In 2008, this number almost doubled to 57,449, while
the number of satellite cards
imported from non-EU countries rose slightly to 41,067.
Last year, the amount of satellite receivers/decoders imported from non-EU countries
dropped slightly to 46,722
while the number of satellite
cards imported from non-EU
countries slightly sky-rocketed to 112,112.
In the first six months of this
year, 32,462 satellite receivers/decoders were imported
from non-EU countries, while
the amount of satellite cards
reached 40,061, in line with
last year’s importation figures.
However, Sammut told MaltaToday that the Customs Department “does not keep a tally of cards and satellite dishes
acquired from EU countries”.
Importers were only obliged
“to fill in an Intrastat form
containing all importations/
acquisitions from EU countries and forward it to NSO”.
This means that the actual
amount of imported satellite
receivers and cards is much
higher, although the majority
of satellite receivers and decoders
Agius ducks MT questions
on illegal satellite viewing in
Malta
When GO announced that it
had acquired the UK Premier
League for the 2010-2014 seasons and the Italian Serie A
for the 2010-2012 seasons,
Nationalist whip David Agius
suggested that GO and Melita should share the sporting
rights as people could not afford €50 to pay for the sports
services of both telecoms’
providers.
Eventually, the issue was
discussed during two meetings of the Social Affairs
Committee.
Agius sidestepped a series
of questions by MaltaToday
on the issue of football rights
sharing.
“Given that this
matter is currently being discussed in Parliament at the
Social Affairs Committee I
don’t have further comments to
give at this stage,” he told MaltaToday.
He added that the issue of television rights “boils down to
the concept of safeguarding the
consumers’ rights.”
Among the questions that he
did not answer was whether
he had any meeting with the
network operators about the
matter, and, if not, whether he
planned to meet either Melita
or GO, and had a specific date
had been ser for the meetings
with either of them.
However, when asked during a
local television discussion programme on Wednesday night
on satellite transmission, Agius
condoned both internet viewing and satellite viewing. Agius
said “internet viewing is okay,
some satellites are legal, and
others are illegal. That’s what
we will be telling people to do”,
he added – “to go for satellite, if
prices remain sky high.”
czahra@mediatoday.com.mt
7
News
Bowsers still having a free lunch
Only seven out of 17 bowsers apply for licence under new regulations
JAMES DEBONO
BOWSERS
selling
water
to households are still not
equipped with the tracking
devices and water level sensors announced by Minister
George Pullicino in November 2009 and the water currently extracted for free from
the water table will only be
priced when the “monitoring
stage is finished.”
Tracking devices will enable
the government to control the
exploitation of ground water
by bowser owners who make a
quick buck by selling the water they extract for free from
the water table to private
households and hotels.
So far
only seven
bowsers
have been
issued with
a licence
According to a spokesperson for the Malta Resources
Authority, the tender for the
installation of these devices is
still in the adjudication process.
This tracking equipment will
enable the authorities to know
where the bowers are being
loaded with water, where the
water is delivered, and the
volumes involved. They would
also know if the groundwater
is being used for agricultural
or commercial purposes.
The new regulations announced by Pullicino in November also required all
bowsers carrying groundwater to register with the Malta
Recourses Authority.
So far only seven bowsers
have been issued with a licence, a spokesperson for the
MRA told MaltaToday.
Before the new regulations
were enacted, 17 bowsers were
registered to carry drinking
water, 354 to carry secondclass water used for irrigation,
and 40 to carry drainage.
The spokesperson added that
discussions are still under
way with the Small Businesses
Chamber (GRTU), which represents this category.
The boreholes used by this
category are among the 25
commercial boreholes which
have been metered.
But so far no information
has been gathered on the
amount of water extracted for
this purpose.
The government also intends to set a price to the water which is presently extracted by free from boreholes and
then sold to the consumer.
But this will only happen
“the monitoring stage is finished,” the MRA spokesperson said.
http://archive .maltatoday.
com.mt/2009/03/11/t10.html
8
Feature
‘Psychic’ octopus the latest in a long
tradition of football superstitions
A “psychic” octopus in Germany, which appeared to have
correctly predicted every
World Cup game involving the
national team so far, caused
shock in Germany after he
picked Spain over Germany in
the semi-final.
Paul, from the Sea Life
Aquarium in the western city
of Oberhausen, chose a mussel from a jar with the Spanish
flag instead of one with a German flag.
The two-year-old cephalopod had become a national
celebrity. According to his
owners, he had a record of
predicting German results.
They claimed Paul chose the
winner in nearly 70% of Germany’s games during the 2008
European Championship.
He correctly predicted all
five of the team’s previous
World Cup games, including a
shock defeat by Serbia in the
group stages.
His prognosis ahead of today’s World Cup semi-final
was broadcast live on German
TV.
Paul’s plumping for Spain
was reported to have caused
alarm in the country, but some
analysts pointed out that his
predictive powers were not
perfect.
For instance, during Euro
2008 he wrongly picked Germany as the victor against
Spain.
Likewise, Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas revealed after
his country’s win over Honduras that got their current
World Cup campaign back on
track that he had shaved off
his beard because he wasn’t
sporting one during their victorious Euro 2008 campaign.
So the Real Madrid stopper
hailed his razor for Spain’s
reversal of fortune. MaltaToday has compiled a global list
of the top 10 football superstitions over the years.
Queen’s Park Rangers (QPR)
gaffer would stop his car at
every set of traffic lights on
his way home. Even if they
were green.
3) Sergio Goycochea
Former Argentinian goalkeeper Goycochea would be
best remembered for how he
dealt with the dreaded penalty shoot-out.
The South American stopper
would urinate on the pitch to
calm himself before the commencement of the spot-kicks.
He said: “If you have any natural urges, you have to go on
the field. I was very subtle and
nobody complained.”
2) Carlos Bilardo
A ‘psychic’ octopus named Paul has accurately predicted all Germany’s results in this World Cup
10) Gary Lineker
The jug-eared former penalty
box predator never, ever struck
a ball towards goal during the
pre-match warm-up, fearing
it would ‘use up all his good
shots’.
9) John Terry
The Chelsea captain has revealed that he has “about 50”
superstitions, which include
listening to the same Usher CD,
using the same urinal at Stamford Bridge and taking the same
seat on the Chelsea team bus.
He also claimed to have used
the same shinpads throughout
his career before he misplaced
them after a Champions League
tie with Barcelona in 2005.
“Those shin-pads had got me
to where I was in the game,”
Terry revealed. No mention,
though, of the superstitious use
of team-mates’ birds before a
big game.
8) David James
As befits a goalkeeper, England’s current No.1 had a cou-
Former England skipper Bobby Moore (L) was always the last to wear his shorts. Argentina keeper
Goycochea would ‘water the turf’ before a penalty shoot-out
ple of odd pre-match “must
dos”. Portsmouth’s resident
artist and philosopher had
admitted to not speaking to
anyone before kick-off, as
well as waiting for the urinals
to empty of players before he
enters and spits on the wall.
7) Bobby Moore
England’s 1966 World Cup
winning skipper would never
put his shorts on until the rest
of the team had done so. His fellow West Ham and Three Lions’
colleague Martin Peters caught
onto Moore’s unique superstition and would wait for him to
put on his shorts... before then
dropping his own.
Moore responded by removing
his shorts once again and waiting patiently for Peters to pull
his up.
6) Malvin Kamara
Former Huddersfield striker
Kamara recently conceded that
in an attempt to maintain his
goal-scoring form, he would
watch Willy Wonka and the
Chocolate Factory to “get him
in the right mood.”
After netting a less than
impressive three goals in 45
appearances, the player was
released and now plays his
football for non-league AFC
Guiseley.
5) Romeo Anconetani
Former Pisa President Romeo
Anconetani, renowned for his
eccentric ways, had an unusual
pre-match superstition.
Before every one of his side’s
games the Italian would throw
salt onto the pitch. And the bigger the game, the more salt he
would throw.
In one particularly important
match against local rivals Cesena, Anconetani distributed
26kg of salt on the pitch.
4) Neil Warnock
During a winning run, the
If you thought current Argentina boss Diego Maradona
was bonkers, then how about
this from one of his predecessors. Bilardo guided the Albiceleste to World Cup glory in
1986... in remarkable fashion.
He banned his players from
eating chicken, believing it
brought bad luck, carried a
statue of the Virgin Mary to
every match and insisted that
newlywed brides were the key
to success. And they were
among the more normal of his
superstitions...
During the group stages in
Mexico, the Argentinian bus
broke down on their way to a
match – resulting in the team
having to take taxis to the
game.
The Argentinians duly won,
resulting in Bilardo making a
correlation between the mode
of transport and the victory.
And that meant the team continued to flag down taxis before each game for the rest of
the tournament.
But Bilardo’s bonkers beliefs
didn’t end when he left international management. During his time as coach of Estudiantes La Plata in 2003, a
Brazilian woman wished him
good luck ahead of a crucial
game.
After winning the match
4-1, Bilardo then instructed
club officials to track down
the woman before each game,
and he would call her in order
to secure any luck that might
be going spare.
1) Midlands Portland
Cement
Zimbabwe’s Southern Division One team are the only
team to appear in our list, but
fully deserve their place at the
head of it.
In October 2009, the team’s
manager ordered his players
to enter the crocodile-infested
Zambezi river after a run of
poor form. The ritual was meant
to cleanse the team of the bad
spirits and demons that were
believed to be plaguing them.
It didn’t go quite according
to plan, though. A total of 17
players took part in the ritual, but only 16 emerged from
the water... after one of them
drowned!
9
PN’s Siggiewi split comes to
fore over Labour clubhouse
GERALD FENECH
THE Labour Party intends to
fight its eviction from the premises in Siggiewi, which has been
used as a political club since 1981,
to the bitter end.
Senior Labour sources who
spoke to this newspaper poohpoohed the alternative proposal
currently on the table: i.e., to
temporarily re-locate the club to
an adjacent building in the same
square.
Still, it does not seem that they
have much of an alternative if
they lose their court case against
the eviction which has been ordered by the Lands Department
– despite an apparent attempt at
mediation by Siggiewi’s Nationalist mayor, Robert Musumeci.
“The party will fight for its rights
and those of its members. Its intentions are to retain the present
premises. However, should government persist and succeed in
taking the premises, the party
will consider taking up the offer
as proposed by Robert Musumeci
although it will not accept anything before the outcome of the
PN counsellor Karol Aquilina (L) and Mayor Robert Musumeci
judicial protest which has already
been presented in court.”
The source said that the party
strongly believes that this is a
complete partisan action which
is being spearheaded by Nationalist councillor Karol Aquilina,
“who wants to show off with
PN diehards to gain votes over
Musumeci in his bid to become
mayor”.
Additionally the same sources
confirmed that the proposal of
the temporary offer to relocate to
the council’s premises in Siggiewi
square has been on the table since
School leavers up
by 7% since 2005
JAMES DEBONO
% of school leavers among 17- and
19-year-olds:
STATISTICS
presented in parliament
show a decline in the
percentage of 17- 1999
year-olds continuing 2002
their post secondary 2003
education, with the 2004
number of school 2005
leavers
increasing 2006
from 33% in 2007 to 2007
40% in 2009.
2008
The increase in the 2009
number of school
leavers in the past
four years defies a positive
trend during the past decade
which saw the percentage of
17-year-olds who continue
their studies have increase
from a paltry 43% in 1999 to
60% in 2009.
Significantly the number of
17-year-old students following a post second vocational
course in institutions like
MCAST has increased steadily from 344 (6%) in 1999 to
1144 (21%) in 2007 only to decline to 956 (17%) in 2009.
The percentage of students
following an academic course
reached an all time high of
2633 (50%) in 2004 only to decline to 2299 (42%) in 2009.
Overall in 2009 42% of 17
year olds followed an academic post secondary course(down
by 5% from 2005,) 17% followed a vocational course
(down by 3% from 2005) and
40% were school leavers (up by
% of
17-year-olds
57
55
44
34
33
41
35
41
40
% of
19-year-olds
69
67
63
56
56
52
57
45
42
7% since 2005).
On the other hand the percentage of 19 year olds who
have stopped their education
has decreased from 56% in
2005 to 42% in 2009.
Over the past decade the percentage of 19 year olds following a post secondary education has increased from 31%
in 1999 to 58% in 2009.
The only dip was registered
between 2006 and 2007 when
the percentage of 19-year-olds
continuing school dipped from
48% to 43% only to increase to
55% in 2008.
The statistics were based on
information supplied to the
National Office of Statistics
by the various post secondary
institutions.
The National
Office of Statistics will be
conducting a survey among
1000 students who completed
their secondary education in
2008 in the next months.
2009, “as it is the only solution
that the government can offer in
view that the PN has other clubs
on the same lines of that in Siggiewi, such as that in Paola”.
Notwithstanding its hesitancy
in accepting the alternative proposal, the source had glowing
words of praise for Nationalist
mayor Robert Musumeci who
was even compared with Labour
leader Joseph Muscat.
“The PL promotes inclusive
politics and therefore supports
anybody with good intentions for
the locality. The PL has always
acknowledged the exemplary way
with which present mayor Robert
Musumeci has managed the Siggiewi local council, giving all the
space and opportunity to Labour
councillors to work and contribute towards the benefits of all in
the locality even though in a minority”.
Labour continues to insist that
the original project for a daycare
centre in Triq Nikola Zammit
should go ahead as planned also
due to the fact that the land in
question has already been acquired.
“The PL is fully in favour of the
local council to invest in community services and therefore is in
favor with the original project as
proposed by the local council led
by Musumeci, therefore that of
having a home for the elderly and
day care centre built on the piece
of acquired land adjacent with Dr
Nikola Zammit Str”.
Other Labour sources commented on Aquilina’s actions
citing pique and personal vendettas dating back to an incident in the early 1980’s when
the Aquilina family suffered
some sort of political injustice.
“Dr Muscat has apologized
repeatedly for all injustices suffered during previous Labour
administrations so we fail to
understand why this personal
feud is continuing. We shall
continue to stand steadfast
on the issue and will await the
outcome of the judicial protest
but at the same time, we insist
that this action is nothing but
a personal vendetta against the
Labour Party by Aquilina who
is only interested in the issue for
cheap political gain”.
gfenech@mediatoday.com.mt
10
News
Blame it on t
Embellishment projects in two major tourist areas could only be carried out in
summer because winter weather is too inclement. James Debono on the ill-timed
works at Marsaxlokk and Qui-Si-Sana. Photography by Denise Scicluna
TWO popular summer tourist
spots, Qui-Si-Sana and Marsaxlokk, are both in a state of
upheaval because of ongoing
embellishment works, due to
be completed in October.
The Resources Ministry has
justified the ill-timed disruption by arguing that both sites
are badly hit by weather during the winter months.
According to the Ministry
spokesperson, the deciding
factor in choosing the best
timing for a project is the
weather.
“Both sites, especially Marsaxlokk, are hit badly during
the winter months, and this
will not allow the work to be
executed properly, if at all”.
Another consideration is
that both projects require a
span of six months or more to
be carried out.
“When you have a span of
six months’ or more worth of
work on a particular project,
it is inevitable that you are
bound to overlap onto an important period of the year, be
it summer, Christmas time,
Easter, school holidays, Carnival and so on,” a spokesperson for George Pullicino told
MaltaToday.
To minimise the inconvenience caused various measures
have been taken such as installing hoardings, pedestrian
bridges, and hosing down the
area to avoid dust clouds.
Both projects are due to be
completed in October 2010,
but this “depends on the
timely supply of materials by
the contractors who are doing
the works”.
While acknowledging that
some inconvenience can be
caused during the works one
should also positive effects
that will be left in the localities once the works are completed, the Ministry spokesperson added.
Furthermore, regular and intensive consultations are held
with the interested stakeholders involved, which also include the GRTU.
The Marsaxlokk project
saga
The application submitted
by the government for the embellishment of Xatt is-Sajjieda,
presented on 3 October 2002,
was only approved by MEPA
in March 2007. Works on first
phase of the project, which
included the expansion and
repaving of the pavement on
the side of the buildings, was
commenced and concluded in
2009.
Work on the second phase
of the €2 million Marsaxlokk
promenade was only commenced in April 2010 following discussions with the local
council, monti hawkers, fishermen and the GRTU.
For the period of the works,
the market will be moved to
the Tal-Maghluq area.
The Marsaxlokk upgrade
will see the replacement of
the promenade paving – and
a ban on hawkers’ van being
parked there.
The ministry has been insisting that the new paving would
quickly deteriorate if things
continued as at present. The
new designs include diagonal
parking along the road for the
hawkers’ van, which will no
longer be allowed to park on
the promenade itself, although
the stalls will still have their
current slots.
Reactions to summer works
Contacted by MaltaToday M’Xlokk mayor Stephen
Cauana expressed his satisfaction that works were moving at a steady pace.
The Marsaxlokk fish market has been temporarily re-located to
make way for the embellishment of Xatt is-Sajjieda
When asked whether the
council had received complaints due to the fact that
works were being conducted
in Summer, the mayor replied
that the important thing is
that works have finally started.
“For the past years we had
been egging on the authorities to start the long delayed
works. I won’t complain now
that the works are moving on
at a steady pace.”
Restaurant owners contacted
by this newspaper expressed
some frustration on the timing of the works, but were
generally resigned.
“We have been waiting 20
years for the works to start.
Now we have to put up with
these works for another year.”
Another owner was more
disappointed: “We were told
that such works cannot be undertaken in the winter months
because of inclement weather,
one wonders how northern
countries, who are subject to
worse weather conditions than
Malta, cope with such works.”
11
he weather
The Qui-Si-Sana promenade now has ongoing public works to contend with, alongside the Fort
Cambridge and Tigne construction projects
Another restaurant owner
claimed that there has been a
decrease in the number of clients, but by less than he had anticipated.
“Naturally work has slowed
down because patrons have
to park further away from the
promenade.”
One owner even saw the bright
side of things claiming that with
the promenade cleared of stalls,
clients can enjoy “a nicer view.”
The Qui-Si-Sana saga
Controversial plans to construct an underground car park
in Qui-Si-Sana based on a devel-
opment brief approved in 2002
– a major cause of disgruntlement among residents prior to
the 2008 election – were abandoned in 2009.
Instead the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs embarked on transforming the
long-neglected
Qui-Si-Sana
gardens into a recreational
park, set to contain water features and various play areas for
children, surrounded by turf.
The project also includes a
new car park set accommodate
93 cars, to make up for the
loss of 80 parking spaces due
to the extension of the recrea-
tional area on part of the existing car park.
The project was approved in
the space of a few months and
works started immediately.
The works on the garden also coincide with works set to
extend the promenade on can-
tilevers, a system of columns
identical to that used to extend
the promenade on the Balluta
foreshore.
12
Opinion
Anna Mallia
annam@onvol.net
‘Legal’ drug Ketamine
needs to be reclassified
T
he authorities are
dragging their feet about
banning the drug “meow
meow”, or M-CAT, claiming
that they want assurance from
the medical profession that
this is not safe.
In the meantime, the new
‘legal’ drug continues to be
the ‘in’ thing in parties, as
the Attorney General has
decided not to take the police
recommendations seriously
until he gets a certificate
from the medical profession.
As if the biological
composition of the people of
the countries which banned
this drug, including the UK,
is not the same as us Maltese!
Now we have another legal
substance which is making
headlines in Malta’s party
scene. This is ketamine, and
its street name is ‘Special
K’. It is sold in powder form
and in the UK it fetches £20
a gram for a short-lasting
(30 minute) out-of-body
experiences, said to be like
LSD but without the sideeffects.
Heavy use is linked to
memory impairment and
bladder problems. According
to government statistics, the
percentage of 16- to 24-yearolds taking Special K has
more than doubled between
2008 and 2009.
Ketamine is an anesthetic
used by vets for horses,
but it is increasingly being
used as a recreational drug
and therefore needs to be
reclassified as a dangerous
drug. Prof. David Nutt, a
neuropsychopharmacologist
and former advisor to the
UK government on drug
policy, told the Home Affairs
Committee last October
that tougher laws are needed
to stop ketamine as one of
Britain’s fastest growing
drugs, causing permanent
damage to its users.
The committee, which is
investigating the state of
cocaine usage in society, was
told that many young people
were turning to ketamine as
a recreational drug because
the street strengths of ecstasy
and cocaine had declined. But
Prof Nutt warned: “We are
seeing a consistent increase in
use and we are seeing a very
worrying effect in terms of
bladder spasms and bladder
pain. There is concern that it
is causing permanent bladder
damage.’’
In the US, Ketamine is
a schedule III drug, and
possession and supply is illegal
without prescription.
In Malta we hear nothing of
the sort except that a Maltese
vet was doing business with
an Italian vet by exporting
ketamine to Italy. Nothing
is mentioned about the use
of ketamine as a recreational
drug.
Ketamine is also used in
hospitals all around the
world for the induction and
maintenance of anesthesia.
It is recommended for use
on children and the elderly
because it is very safe and
gentle anesthetic. However, all
anesthetics are very powerful
and potentially dangerous
drugs and using them
recreationally is deemed to be
a highly dangerous practice.
It is therefore a must for the
Minister of Health to assure us
that the amount of ketamine
that is imported is all traceable
and it is his responsibility
to ensure that the importers
give a detailed information as
to how it was used. It is not
enough to know the person
to whom it was sold but it is
a must for the persons who
buy ketamine to report to the
authorities information about
the use.
I do not know how much
ketamine we import in Malta
and it is high time that data is
published and an investigation
is conducted to check if the
volume corresponds to the
number of horses that we have
in Malta.
As is always the case,
criminals have an insight
and foresight which the
lawmakers rarely have
and until the lawmakers
take a stand, the drug
barons continue to make
cash at our children’s life
and expense
I hope that the Attorney
General, as in the case of
meow meow, does not wait
for another medical report
before classifying ketamine as a
dangerous drug.
It is a shame how the youth
leaders and those responsible for
the education of our children
and the pharmacists do not
seem to be concerned about
the new legal drugs that are
killing our youths. In the UK,
head teachers called for the
banning of the “legal high”
drug mephedrone, i.e., meow
meow, after it was linked to
the deaths of two teenagers.
Mick Brookes, general
secretary of the National
Association of Head Teachers,
said that the drug had rapidly
been gaining popularity in
schools and was being taken
by children as young as nine.
It is true that the police
and the head teachers are
powerless to act but the least
they can do is to voice their
concern and not wait until
the Attorney General realises
the urgency of the matter and
makes these drugs illegal.
Professor David Nutt’s
harm index, published in a
controversial paper entitled
‘Estimating Drug Harms:
a risky business’, classifies
Ketamine as the sixth most
harmful drug after heroin,
cocaine, barbiturates, street
methadone, and alcohol. This
is to show that we need to
take action fast, very fast.
Imagine: Ketamine has been
defined by a publication of
the Harvard University as a
rape drug because victims
lose their ability to ward
off attackers; they develop
amnesia and are unreliable
witnesses. Because of their
extensive drug knowledge and
frequent access to patients,
pharmacists are uniquely
positioned to educate
patients and other healthcare
professionals about the
dangers of acquaintance of
these drugs.
It is true that in all
probability, neither ketamine
nor meow meow can be
bought from a chemist – you
can buy them from E-bay
by the way, but it is also
true that we must all wake
up from our sleep and ring
the alarm bell to stop this
abuse. And if the authorities
think that all this is perfectly
legal, then let’s sell these
drugs from pharmacists so
that this exploitation stops
once and for all. As is always
the case, criminals have an
insight and a foresight which
the lawmakers rarely have
and until the lawmakers take
a stand, the drug barons
continue to make cash at our
children’s life and expense.
Not only that, but there is
now a third item which is
perfectly legal and which you
can buy from the stationery
– one of them is next to the
university. These are poppers
and they are little bottles
which you can sniff from and
are often inhaled to enhance
sexual pleasure.
Poppers have a long history
of abuse due to the rush
of warm sensations and
dizziness experienced when
the vapours are inhaled.
They are mostly used by
young substance abusers,
and the adverse effects occur
following acute exposure
and with heavy long term
use there is a potential for
neurological damage.
How do I know what is
going on in this tiny island?
Because I listen to what our
young have to say and in my
limitations, I act.
Now if the authorities
do not care less, the youth
leaders do not care less, the
youth educators do not care
less, the Church does not care
less, I laid my case and my
conscience is at peace.
13
14
Letters
Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075
E-mail: maltatoday@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted.
No politics in Good Causes Fund
I refer to Anna Mallia’s article
“Politics in Good Causes
Fund”, published on 30 June.
The article is built on an
unfounded perception on how
the fund is actually administered, suggesting that decisions are taken by the Minister
on his own, that the process
allows for political manoeuvring and that in essence it is
a tool that is used for ulterior
political motives. This cannot
be further from the truth.
It is difficult to understand
the true motivation behind
these accusations, considering that assistance through
the Good Causes Fund has
allowed a substantial number
of organisations in completing
their initiatives that reap so
many benefits to many people.
The Ministry categorically
denies that cheques have been
collected by beneficiaries at
any political party’s premises.
Grants are distributed once
projects are completed and
evidence has to be provided
in order to collect payment.
Grants are handed out from
the Ministry of Finance after
the sending of a formal notification to the applicant. If the
applicant does not provide the
necessary documentation, the
grant is withheld.
Secondly, the Ministry also
categorically denies that an
application for funding was
rejected and eventually accepted solely because there
was a change in the appli-
cant’s name. Applications are
accepted in accordance with
the validity of the project and
irrespective of the applicant.
Applications are turned down
on a number of factors, and
when an application is refused,
this does not preclude the
applicant to submit another
application in the future.
The Good Causes Fund’s
objective is to support projects
managed by sport organisations, churches, cultural
organisations, band clubs,
students and quite a number
of voluntary organisations
and NGOs. The beneficiaries of all these grants are
people emanating from all
parts of Malta and Gozo, of
all sort of political affiliation
and opinion. One wonders
why Dr Mallia mentions only
one beneficiary, a Church in
Valletta, to support her argument, considering that this
place is open to people from
any side of the political fence!
Clearly, the fund operates
within a limited budget, hence
selection criteria have to be
made and decisions have to
be taken. The considerable
amount of applications that
the Board receives regularly means that not all can
be accepted. Projects are also
evaluated on their own merits
and irrespective of those who
apply.
Financial reports of the committee are tabled yearly by
the Minister of Finance in the
House of Representatives and
are subject to political scrutiny. The Board is regulated by
specific guidelines which are
also published in the website.
Applicants submit their applications periodically and are
requested to submit an estimation of costs, together with
a financial plan and information on any other assistance
that would be contributing
to the project involved. All
applications are examined by
the Board and it is the Board
that makes the recommendations to the Minister. It is a
much different situation than
that described by Dr Mallia,
who seems to believe that it
is solely up to the Minister
to decide what a good cause
is and what is not. Indeed,
it is an accountable process,
which respects guidelines and
rules.
The Minister has also
sought to ensure that through
the setting of the committee,
all funding and assistance
are granted in an accountable and equitable manner.
The Committee’s remits are
clearly set by the Lotteries
and Other Games Act that
regulate the Boards’ operation.
The National Lotteries
Good Causes Fund Committee remains committed to
act according to the law and
help out individuals with their
projects irrespective of their
political opinion. Coinciden-
Tonio Fenech
tally, organisations having
a political affiliation are
excluded from filing applications.
The Ministry reserves the
right to take the necessary
action in order to preserve the
integrity of the Fund unless
Dr Mallia withdraws or substantiates these baseless allegations.
Keith Zahra,
Ministry of Finance, Economy
and Investment
Discrimination against foreigners
paying utility bills in Malta
I would like to thank Oisin JonesDillon for all the trouble he has gone
through in obtaining and clarifying
and informing EU residents on their
rights regarding water and electricity
bills.
I for one am Maltese, married to a
Dutch national – we pay our taxes in
this country and because I have a foreign surname I have also been classified as “domestic” instead of “resident” and likewise have “0” occupants
on my water and electricity bill.
Phoning ARMS is a waste of time:
the telephone is either engaged or not
picked up. Going to their office will
frustrate you to no end. How can we
obtain answers if there is no one to
help you? I have been grossly overcharged. If we make a superficial estimate
for both water and electricity charges
between 2003 and today, compared to our
Maltese neighbours’ invoices, we arrive at
an overcharge of approximately €4,000
and €5,000 or more.
Will ARMS be able to turn the clock
back and compensate us adequately,
including loss of interest? Should I
stop paying my bills?
Please, can somebody take the issue
in hand and advise me what to do?
Joan de Jong Borg Cardona,
Sliema
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Business Today
WEDNESDAY 7 July 2010 - SUPPLEMENT ISSUE NO. 641
The euro area’s
drawback
Pension reform
in the EU
Page 18
Page 19
ECB in liquidity
providing
operation Page 17
In collaboration with:
www.businesstoday.com.mt
Euro rises
against dollar
Half-days at Mepa
‘throwing construction
industry into
confusion’ - GRTU
GRTU boss Vince Farrugia yesterday criticed half-days at the Malta
environment and planning authority
(Mepa) stressing that the construction industry has been “thrown into
confusion.”
Farrugia said a small group of
people was responsible for the
processing of documents related
to works in the quarries, including
blasting. “Whenever some problem
cropped up, such as when some
of these people went out on leave
or worked reduced hours, the
processing of documents practically
stopped.”
The European single currency is seen as a riskier investment than the dollar
The euro rose against the dollar
yesterday as risk appetite returned
to the market amid fears for the
US economy. The euro climbed to
US$1.2583 from US$1.2538 dollars late in New York on Monday.
Against the Japanese currency, the
dollar climbed to 87.94 yen from
87.77 on Monday.
The European single currency is
seen as a riskier investment than the
dollar, while the euribor is the eurodenominated interbank lending rate.
Europe is set for a check-up of
its banking sector intended to curb
financial market tensions, including
information on weak regional
lenders in Germany and Spain.
Before then, investors are waiting
for the European Central Bank’s
monetary policy meeting tomorrow.
They believe the ECB’s main
interest rate will remain at a record
low of 1.0 percent set in May 2009
and bank president Jean-Claude
Trichet will press banks again to
draw on state support if necessary to
bolster balance sheets.
The yen rose against the dollar
in Asian trade as figures showed
a dramatic expansion in China’s
buying of Japanese bonds, analysts
said.
China’s bond buying was the
only major trading peg in a day of
subdued activity following the US
holiday.
China has dramatically expanded
its
investment
in
Japanese
government bonds this year, buying
a net 541 billion yen (US$6.2
billion) of mostly short-term issues
in the first four months alone.
The four-month sum was more
than double the 253.8 billion yen
total for all of 2005, the full-year
record, the finance ministry said.
In trading in London yesterday,
the euro was at US$1.2583 against
US$1.2538 on Monday, at 110.66
yen (110.05), 0.8296 pounds
(0.8283) and 1.3357 Swiss francs
(1.3348).
On the London Bullion Market,
the price of gold rose to 1,211.15
dollars an ounce from 1,208 dollars
an ounce on Monday.
Busuttil calls for EU action on
‘misleading’ business directories
MEP Simon Busuttil has called on
the European Commission to act
on combating misleading business
directories and deliver results. The
PN/EPP member was participating
in a plenary debate in the European
Parliament that discussed the annual
report of the Petitions Committee.
Busuttil said that in December
2008 the European Parliament had
widely adopted a report drawn up
by him on the problems caused by
misleading business directories that
lured small businesses and even nonprofit-making entities into signing
up to an advert that they thought was
free. This, he said, affected several
thousand persons who fell victim of
these scams.
He added that this report had called
on the European Commission to bring
forward a legislative proposal to fill
the legal loophole that was exploited
by these directories. He regretted
that this had not yet been done and
asked European Commissioner
Maros Sefcovic, present for the
debate, to take note of the continued
absence of a remedy and to urge the
Commission to address the matter.
Busuttil said that the European
Parliament will continue to follow
this issue until it is settled
Immediately after activity in
the quarries stopped, activity also
stopped among the cement producers
who needed material from the
quarries. The situation then rippled
to road workers and construction
workers, among others.
“And yet, whoever is in charge
does not assume his responsibilities
and acts like nothing unusual is
happening,” Farrugia said.
The chamber called on the national
authorities to intervene for the
situation to be remedies, saying
that the livelihood of thousands of
persons was affected.
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16
Business Today Supplement
News
‘HTC Desire’
available at
Vodafone
Vodafone Malta has announced the
availability of HTC Desire. The new
smartphone with Android (2.1) has
the most advanced options for the best
communication experience and has
now been available from the 30th of
June, to Vodafone’s customers.
HTC Desire will be available at usual
points of sale, from €149 on one of our
pay monthly plans or for the retail price
of €499.
With one of the most advanced
displays on the market today, HTC
Desire is designed with a large 3.7 inch
AMOLED WVGA display to enhance
and maximise content, whether it is
pictures and videos, browsing the Web
or checking on friends’ status updates.
This new smartphone also
comes
with
the
following
widgets: bookmarks, calendar,
clock, Footprints, Friend Stream
(social network aggregator), mail
(integration with Outlook), messages,
music, news, people, photo album,
photo frame, Search, Settings,
Stocks, Outlook document viewer,
HTC Peep for twitting, animated
wallpapers with the weather, pinch
zoom for fast and easy access to
HTC Sense’s seven displays.
HTC Desire comes with the 1 GHz
Qualcomm Snapdragon processor,
a 4GB memory card and optical
mouse, and is and is Adobe® Flash®
10.1 ready.
The ‘HTC Desire’ smart phone
Greece ‘on track’ in tackling deficit
Debt-stricken Greece claimed
dramatic progress in its struggle
to tackle overspending, with the
budget deficit slashed 42 percent
and the finance minister raising
hopes the economy will do better.
Earlier this year the country
was threatened with insolvency,
sparking a eurozone debt crisis, but
the ruling Socialists said Greece
had turned a corner by tightening
public finances, increasing tax
revenue and improving efficiency.
“Today we are able to see our
country’s future with greater
optimism. Greece is successfully
escaping the reef of economic
collapse,” government spokesman
George Petalotis told reporters in
Athens.
Finance
Minister
George
Papaconstantinou
announced
earlier that the country had “met
its goal” for the first six months
of 2010 after central bank figures
showed the budget deficit had been
cut by almost 42 percent in that
period.
Papaconstantinou also expressed
optimism that the recession
gripping the economy could be less
serious than originally feared.
The budget shortfall in JanuaryJune came to 11.45 billion euros
(14.3 billion dollars), down from
19.69 billion euros in the first half
of 2009, according to the central
bank.
In June alone, the budget deficit
narrowed to 1.91 billion euros from
5.06 billion euros a year earlier.
Papaconstantinou said the budget
deficit -- which covers central
government spending -- amounted
to 4.9 percent of Gross Domestic
Product in the first half of the year,
a major step towards meeting EU
fiscal rules.
Under EU rules, a member state
is required to keep its public deficit
-- central government spending
plus welfare and local authority
expenditure -- below three percent
of GDP.
Papaconstantinou
said
the
government would soon make
public its estimate of the public
deficit for the first half of the year.
“The goal for the year is to reduce
the public deficit by 40 percent and
we are doing better than that,” he
said, adding that he had “guarded
optimism” on the implementation
of tough austerity measures -- tax
rises and public sector wage cuts -aimed at shoring up the country’s
parlous public finances.
“A major effort to tidy up the
entire state sector is on-going,” he
said.
“We have adopted measures
worth over eight percentage points
of GDP to secure a 5.5-percent
deficit reduction (in 2010),” the
minister said.
The Socialist government has
committed itself to reducing the
public deficit to 8.1 percent of GDP
this year from around 14 percent in
2009.
The austerity measures were
approved by the administration of
Prime Minister George Papandreou
in exchange for back-up loans
worth 110 billion euros from the
EU and the International Monetary
Fund.
Greece needs to show progress on
the measures to secure further loan
instalments. The next nine-billioneuro tranche is due to be released
by mid-September, the minister
said.
A joint mission from the EU,
the IMF and the European Central
Bank will also visit Athens in late
July to monitor the austerity plan’s
implementation.
Greece has amassed a debt
mountain approaching 300 billion
euros which the government blames
on decades of state mismanagement
topped by unchecked employment
and generous pay increases in the
country’s gigantic bureaucracy.
The tax drive and wage and
pension cuts have improved the state
finances but the Greek economy is
now shrinking at an alarming rate.
The last official estimates -- on
which the EU-IMF rescue loan
was based -- forecast a fourpercent contraction this year but
Papaconstantinou said this figure
could be “too pessimistic.”
“We believe the year will close
slightly better,” he said, “perhaps
around three percent.”
The government’s tough austerity
policies have attracted strong
opposition from unions and leftist
parties, and a series of general
strikes and protests have been held
in recent months.
Another general strike will be
held tomorrow as parliament
prepares to vote on a controversial
pension reform raising the general
retirement age to 65 years for men
and women for the first time.
Bank of Valletta to ‘fully support’ restoration
of decorated ceilings at Verdala Palace
Verdala Palace
Bank of Valletta is financing the restoration of four decorated ceilings at Verdala
Palace in Buskett in collaboration with
the Office of the President of Malta. This
was announced during a press conference held at the Verdala Palace and
addressed by President George Abela,
and Roderick Chalmers, Chairman of
Bank of Valletta.
The site of this Palace was originally
a small hunting lodge built by
Grandmaster Jean Parisot de la Valette
between 1557 and 1568. The present
structure was erected by Grandmaster
Fra Hugues Loubenx de Verdalle in
1586 planned a fortified structure to
provide a minimal form of defence
against the Turks who struck Malta
from time to time.
The first floor of the Palace was
remodeled in Baroque times during
the Magistry of Grandmaster Dom
António Manoel de Vilhena (1722-
1736). The decorated ceilings date to
this intervention.
The four ceilings follow the same
typology with a central medallion
and framed segments carrying
different references to the Magistry of
Vilhena, his coat of arms and armorial
references. The wood soffits on which
the paintings have been executed
have suffered changes in atmospheric
conditions over almost three hundred
years and this has resulted in
considerable damage’.
Apart from being an architectural
gem and the President’s Summer
Residence, Verdala Palace, has played
many roles in its history. These
include acting as a repository for the
National Museum of Arts during the
second world war and has hosted
distinguished dignitaries during their
stay in Malta such as King George V
and Queen Mary in 1912, Prince Albert
in 1913 and later King George VI in
April 1943 among many others.
The four decorated ceilings are one of
the main attractions of the Palace and
their restoration has been entrusted to
Heritage Malta
“Bank of Valletta has become
synonymous with the conservation
and restoration of historical buildings
in Malta” said Mr Chalmers. “The
restoration of the Cupola at the St
Catherine of Italy Chapel in Valletta,
currently nearing completion and the
Christ the King statue in Floriana are
fine examples of Bank of Valletta’s
contribution to the community in which
it operates”.
“We are proud to collaborate with the
Office of the President in this project
and look forward to the first open day
at Verdala Palace, when these ceilings,
restored to their former glory, can be
enjoyed by the Maltese people”.
17
News
ECB conducts a liquidity providing
six-day fine-tuning operation
ECB Monetary Operations
On Monday, June 28, the ECB
announced its weekly MRO. The
auction conducted on Tuesday, June
29, attracted bids from euro area
eligible counterparties of €162.91
billion, €11.4 billion more than
the amount bid for in the previous
week. The bid amount was allotted
in full at a fixed rate equivalent to
the prevailing main refinancing
rate of 1.00 per cent, in accordance
with current ECB policy.
On Tuesday, June 29, the ECB
also conducted an auction for a
seven-day, fixed-term deposit
intended to absorb €55 billion.
The operation was designed to
sterilise the effect of purchases
made under the Securities Market
Programme and settled by the
previous Friday, June 25. The
auction was once more carried out
at a variable rate, with euro area
eligible counterparties allowed to
place up to two bids at a maximum
rate of 1.00 per cent. The operation
attracted bids amounting to €31.87
billion with the ECB allotting the
total amount bid for. The marginal
rate on the auction was set at 1.00
per cent, with the weighted average
rate resulting at 0.54 per cent.
On Wednesday, June 30, the ECB
conducted a standard Longer-Term
Refinancing Operation (LTRO)
with a maturity of 91-days. The
operation attracted bids for
€131.93 billion, €119.77 billion
more than the value bid for in the
previous LTRO with a similar
tenor. The bid amount was allotted
in full at a fixed rate equivalent to
the prevailing main refinancing
rate of 1.00 per cent in accordance
with current ECB policy.
On the same day, in conjunction
with the US Federal Reserve, the
ECB conducted a seven-day US
dollar funding operation through
collateralised lending. The rate for
the operation was fixed at 1.20 per
cent, but it did not attract any bids.
On Thursday, July 1, in line with
the press release dated March 4,
2010, the ECB carried out a liquidity
providing six-day fine tuning
operation in the form of a fixed
rate tender with full allotment. The
operation was designed to smooth
out liquidity effects of the first
one-year LTRO which matured on
July 1, 2010. The auction attracted
bids for €111.24 billion, which
amount was allotted in full at the
prevailing main refinancing rate of
1.00 per cent.
Domestic Treasury Bill Market
Meanwhile, in the domestic
primary market for Treasury bills,
the Treasury invited tenders for
91-day bills maturing on October
1, 2010, and for 273-day bills
maturing on April 1, 2011. Bids
of €60 million were submitted for
the 91-day bills, with the Treasury
accepting €11 million, while bids
of €53.6 million were submitted
for the 273-day bills, with the
Treasury accepting €22.95 million.
Since €40.32 million worth of
bills matured during the week, the
outstanding balance of Treasury
bills decreased by €6.37 million to
stand at €546.24 million.
The yield from the 91-day bill
auction was 0.708 per cent, i.e. 3.3
basis points higher than on bills
with a similar tenor issued on June
18, 2010. The yield on these bills
represented a bid price of 99.8214
per 100 nominal. The yield from
the 273-day bill auction was 0.918
per cent, i.e. 3.5 basis points higher
than that on bills with a similar
tenor issued on June 25, 2010. The
yield on these bills represented
a bid price of 99.3087 per 100
nominal.
During the week treasury
bill trading on the Malta Stock
Exchange amounted to €1.29
million, with all trading conducted
by the Central Bank of Malta in its
role as market maker.
On Tuesday the Treasury invited
tenders for 91-day bills maturing
on October 8, 2010, and 182-day
bills maturing on January 7, 2011.
Tumas Investments p.l.c. €25,000,000
6.2% 2017-2020 bond allotment policy
The Board of Directors of Tumas Investments p.l.c. (the “Company”) has
announced the allotment policy to be
applied in respect of the applications
received upon opening of subscription lists on Friday 25th June 2010.
Overall demand for the bonds
was high reaching a total of 4,436
applications for a grand total value of
€42,965,400. The Company closed
the subscription lists shortly after
opening, exercising in full the Overallotment Option.
Tumas Investments p.l.c. received
a total of 1,109 applications for a
value of €12,903,000 from Preferred
Applicants as holders of the maturing
6.7% Bonds 2010-2012, which
represents an acceptance rate of circa
80% after taking into consideration
the receipt of top-up amounts. These
applications will be met in full.
Out of a total of 4,436 applications,
3,327 represented new applications
from the general public. These
applications represented a value
of €30,062,400. Due to the overwhelming demand, the Directors
of the Company decided to allot
a minimum of €4,000 to each
Applicant together with a further
allotment of 5.312% rounded to the
nearest €100 nominal, therefore
circa 44.60% of total applications
from the general public will be met
in full.
If one takes into account the
applications received from Preferred
Applicants, the number of applications
which are being allotted in full total
Tumas Group Directors with George Fenech (centre)
circa 58% of all applicants.
Interest on the Bonds will
commence as from Saturday 10th
July 2010. Allotment letters and
refunds of un-allocated monies will
be paid by not later than Friday 9th
July 2010. The Bonds are expected
to be admitted to the Official List
of the Malta Stock Exchange on
Thursday 15th July 2010, and trading
is expected to commence on Friday
16th July 2010.
18
News
Heterogeneity is euro area’s drawback
Clyde Caruana
Over the decades, the European
Union morphed from a simple common market of coal and steel into
a much more complex overarching
single market. The benefits of the
single market were subsequently
boosted when a majority of Member States relinquished their monetary policies and currency in faith
of the collective benefit. Apart from
reducing transaction costs and risk
premia on interest rates, another
main advantage of an economic
monetary union (EMU) is that its
members are cushioned against
turbulent asymmetric shocks – unexpected shocks that do not affect
every nation in an equal way. If it
were not for the euro, the Greek
Drachma would have lost its value
overnight, for example. Nonetheless, the gains of such a union are
no free lunch.
The notion that the EMU
framework will work as America
administers monetary policy for
its fifty states maybe possible,
but in three decades time. The
financial crises, followed by the
recession and now the ‘sovereignbond fear’ exposed Europe’s nonhomogeneity. The concept is quite
straightforward to understand when
comparing some key economic
indicators for the US and EA-17
(Estonia will be joining the euro
area within six months). Working
out standard deviations (a measure
of the dispersion of a set of data
from its mean) for European
unemployment, inflation and GDP
per capita, statistics show greater
discrepancies between EU Member
The main drawback of a monetary union is that the administration of interest rates is a one-size-fits-all policy and currency valuation is completely subject to market forces
States than comparative statistics economies evolving and running is price stability: safeguarding monetary policy and common
show for states within the US.
at different speeds. Although it the value of the euro. The hiccup currency
may
be
partially
The variation in inflation rates is still premature for any interest in pursuing a sole objective is offset by internal devaluation.
between the Northeast, Mid-West, rates rise, 2011 may be the year that other economic realities are Internal devaluation occurs when
South and West regions in the US when Central Banks unfreeze the sidelined. If, in less than two years’ competiveness is restored by
is only 0.5, whereas between the present low rates. Australia, Brazil, time, interest rates in the euro zone maintaining low price inflation
Euro-zone countries it is 1.41, Canada and China already notched will go up because of inflationary of producer costs (e.g. wages), if
almost three times as much. Euro up theirs.
pressures in Germany and France, not decreasing them altogether, as
area unemployment dispersion is
The Federal Reserve decision of it may not be ideal for Spain and is already happening. This is the
3.94; in the US it stops at 2.17, when and by how much to raise Greece, with high unemployment only option available to certain
1.8 times less. GDP per capita interest rates in the US is based on rates. Increasing the cost of money Member States as they can neither
differences in the US are €3,920, three assessments – the employment will make investment dearer and unilaterally devalue the currency
across the Atlantic €4,753.
situation, inflation risks and the new jobs may be restrained.
nor are other euro area members
The main drawback of a monetary assurance of moderate long-term
The process of economic going to tolerate low interest rates
union is that the administration of interest rates. In this way, a broader convergence will take years to in the long-term if inflation rates
interest rates is a one-size-fits- picture of the economy is taken, materialise as southern Europe start going up.
all policy and currency valuation and a balance between growth and need to embrace reforms at a faster
is completely subject to market inflation is reached. In Europe, the pace in order to be as economically
forces. This is problematic priorities are different. The main competitive as the north. In the
Clyde Caruana is a statistician at
when within the union there are goal of the European Central Bank meantime, the rigidness of a sole the National Statistics Office
MBA elects
new chairman
Victor Rizzo Giusti has been
elected as Chairman of the Board
of the Malta Bankers’ Association for the coming year. The
other Board members are Edward Cachia, Marcel Cassar, Tonio Depasquale, Alan Richards,
Joseph Said, Henry Schmeltzer
and Joaquim da Silva Pinto.
The combined balance sheet
total of the Association’s
member banks as at the end of
2009 reached €40 billion, whilst
total equity stood at €3.5 billion.
The number of their full time
employees was 3,846. The direct
contribution of the banking
sector to the local economy
remains significant, with payroll
last year amounting to € 106
million, taxation on profit on
ordinary activities reaching €95
million, and dividends paid to
resident shareholders amounting
to over €41 million. Loans and
advances to customers totalled
€20.4 billion, with amounts
owed to customers standing at
€16.4 billion.
The following banks which
are licensed to operate in Malta
are members of the Association:
Akbank T.A.S., APS Bank Ltd,
Banif Bank (Malta) plc, Bank
of Valletta plc, BAWAG Malta
Bank Ltd, CommBank Europe
Ltd, Credit Europe Bank N.V.,
Deutsche Bank (Malta) Ltd, Erste
Bank(Malta) Ltd, FIMBank plc,
Fortis Bank Malta Ltd, HSBC
Bank Malta plc, Investkredit
International Bank plc, Izola
Bank plc, Lombard Bank Malta
plc, Mediterranean Bank plc,
NBG Bank Malta Ltd., Nemea
Bank plc, Raiffeisen Malta
Bank plc, Sparkasse Bank Malta
plc, Turkiye Garanti Bankasi
A.S., VoiceCash Bank Ltd and
Volksbank Malta Ltd.
Serolf Trading Agency expands
the distribution of Spa Magik
Serolf Trading Agency Ltd has taken
over and expanded the distribution of
the Dead Sea Spa Magik range of products. Previously available from Estetika, the products can now be purchased
in all the leading pharmacies and health
shops in Malta and Gozo. The new distribution strategy is supported by an advertising and PR campaign developed
by Strategic Communications.
Dead Sea Spa Magik is produced by
Finders International, the first company
to bring the benefits of the Dead Sea
minerals to the public over 10 years
ago. The concept behind the creation
of the brand, was that of taking spa
quality products directly into the homes
of thousands of consumers. The Dead
Sea Spa Magik range of products has
become increasingly popular throughout
the years, receiving prestigious awards
such as the “Best Non-Food Product” in
the Natural and Organic Awards 2008
and the “Best New Natural Bodycare
Product” award the following year.
In 2009 the range was also awarded
the “Best Product for Dry Skin” at the
Natural and Beauty Awards. The Texas
lead singer Sharleen Spiteri, who is of
Maltese origin, is also a testimonial for
the brand.
The secret of Spa Magik’s success
lies in the combination of salts, mud
and minerals extracted from the
depths of the Dead Sea, a salt lake
lying between Israel and Jordan. For
thousands of years people have used
the Dead Sea for therapeutic and
healing purposes. Clinical studies
have confirmed how the Dead Sea
salts contained in Spa Magik - help
balance the mineral and vitamin levels
within the body, thus preventing or
treating skin conditions.
19
Opinion
Pension reform in the EU
George M. Mangion
Pension’s reform is an issue that
urgently needs to be addressed.
There have been a number of developments both in Malta as well
as overseas with regards to this
problem. The aim of this seminar
is to bring the main stakeholders
together to discuss and analyse
the situation – to objectively assess pension reform and examine
the options that are open to government, unions, and the private
sector alike. Under the current law,
the government is legally bound
to carry out a periodic, five-yearly
strategic review of the reform so
one hopes that soon changes are
introduced to reflect evolving circumstances. The law stipulates that
the first review must be carried out
and presented to Parliament by not
later than December 31, 2010. According to the Prime Minister, the
government will now be considering the introduction of the second
pillar pension.
It has set up a study group to
explore the best path to introduce
private retirement schemes funded
by employers and employees
to supplement the present state
pension. Naturally , the study
group will also need to gain further
understanding on occupational
pension scheme regulation and
be conscious on what has been
happening in France, Germany
and the U.K. It is no wonder that
the European Commission which
urged the government to introduce
with “urgency” reforms in the
pension and healthcare sectors to
assure the long-term sustainability
of Malta’s public finances. So this
seminar does not come a moment
too soon.
A distinguished panel of speakers
will address the subject and answer
questions from the audience.
Concurrently
the
European
Commission published a draft
Green paper on pensions which
suggests a number of modifications
such as increase in retirement age,
the development of diversified
pension systems and legislation
for greater pension mobility.
It is also proposed to set up a
governments to arrest waste
in public sector and fight tax
evasion but this on its own will
not reap the missing millions
although it will certainly help
create a sense of self-rightness
among politicians.
Again if private schemes
are themselves in difficulty
because their investments are
faring badly then the problem
is compounded .Thus economic
recovery is a must and the
lowering of unemployment,
reducing national debt and
increasing
competitiveness
should be the hallmark of
the reform. To conclude one
hopes that the attendees at the
forthcoming seminar will be
exposed to viewpoints from a
number of distinguished speakers
on the subject. Only thus can an
intelligent opinion can be formed
on how to navigate the choppy
waters ahead.
In recent weeks there have been
a number of announcements of
pension reforms triggered by
the effects of the international
financial crisis. Projections
on demographics in Europe
do not give us much scope for
rejoice since there will be more
pensioners and less workers
to fund the pensions pot. The
country has discussed this
problem and the government
had spent over 10 years studying
proposals for its solution. It was
in 2006 that the government
introduced changes to the Social
A man holds a placard reading “No worries, Mrs Woerth will manage our pensions” Security Act to start a gradual
overhaul of the pension system.
during a protest in Marseille, southern France
But the mandatory implementation
common platform responsible for this factor reduces the number of of the second pillar was considered
monitoring all aspects of pension contributions to the pension pot. to be premature considering the
policy and related regulations in Others who work in construction fragility of the employers who
an integrated manner. Member and mining sectors would like have to fund it. The first phase States are continuously pushed by to retire earlier because of the pillar 1 - consisted of a staggered
their voters to provide adequately hardship common n their trade. In increase in the retirement age from
for pensions and the Green paper Malta the percentage of women 61 to 65 years and in the regular
recognises that each State has who work after marriage is also a contribution period to the state
to take account of its financial low percentage and this of course pension from 30 to 40 years.
state of health before it embarks will have a negative effect on the
The
reform
included
the
on hasty reforms that cannot be contributions. The timing of such introduction of a second pillar,
sustainable.
a reform comes at a uneasy time of which would see the setting up
In addition to the common feature severe economic turbulence which of private pension schemes with
of the demographic ageing, each has seen the euro reach its lowest contributions by employees and
State has to face its own solution level against the dollar. Further employers over and above the
based on existing trends in the bad news comes from countries national insurance contributions,
labour market. Some countries such as Greece and Spain amidst which are still needed to sustain
such as Spain and U.K are facing doubts whether their austerity the basic pension as a guaranteed
acute unemployment problems and programmes will bring forth the safety net. Pillar 3 would consist of
these are realities which need to be necessary
economic
benefits voluntary schemes.
faced with dignity and solidarity. necessary to reduce their massive
At the moment only half of the
On the other hand there is a indebtness. So with public budgets people over 50 still works and
growing trend of people delaying registering even higher levels it is one third of adult life is spent in
the time when they start working difficult to see where the extra cash retirement. In view these facts the
due to years spent undertaking can be found to plug the financial European Commission wants to
further education. On its own hole. One way forward is for the keep the people in the different
Member States to stay longer on
the job. Rumours that in a few
years the retirement age will go up
to 70 for all Members states has
raffled some feathers among
workers ‘unions. The Commission is
proposing five targets to be reached
in order to help solve the impasse.
To start with they propose to match
retirement age to developments
related
to
life
expectancy.
Secondly it is inevitable that the
number of years of contribution to
be increased. Thirdly there can be
a softening of a shorter working
hours per week. Governments
have to pocket the extra cost of tax
and social incentives and finally
establishing a harmonised pension
system adhering to common
European principles. But is all this
acceptable to the Maltese worker?
It seems that the last survey on the
subject conducted by Professor
Mario Vassallo on behalf of The
Sunday Times only 38 % agree that
the retirement age to go up to 65
let alone 70 years of age. On the
other hand, 43.3% are in favour of
a system in which one could have
a mixture of public and private
insurance provision, while the
remaining 6.3% are in favour of
an exclusively private insurance
system. When asked whether
National Insurance contributors
have a right that others pay for
their pensions when they retire, an
overwhelming 95.3% stated that
this right already exists.
As can be expected at times of
high energy costs households feel
that any contributions to a second
pillar pension scheme should not
be taxed. Arguably the younger
generation realise that more than
their elders that unless they invest
in a private pension scheme they
might be risking their quality of
life when they retire. Naturally
both political parties share a duty
to continue to guarantee the quality
of life erstwhile provided for those
who have already benefited from
welfare provisions.
I would like to inform readers
that PKF are currently organizing
a half day semi Lawrence Gonzi
during a recent E.U. summit in
Brussels. The event is aimed to
attract economists, representatives
from the government, trade unions
and the general public. Its is a
follow-up conference on pension
reform after the first one was
held in 2003, when PM Gonzi
(then Social Policy Minister)
had also participated as speaker.
Persons interested to attend should
contact Audrey –Ann Casingena at
27484375
20
News
HSBC clients in U.S. tax probe
Some HSBC Holdings clients are being investigated by the U.S. Justice
Department on suspicion of failing to disclose accounts in India or
Singapore, Bloomberg reported on
Monday, citing three people it did
not identify.
Letters from the Justice Department
sent to HSBC clients did not mention
the bank by name, but were directed
to people with accounts at the bank,
the report added, citing unnamed
lawyers.
Gareth Hewett, HSBC’s spokesman
in Hong Kong, declined to comment
on the case, but said the bank “fully
supports government moves for
appropriate disclosure by its citizens,”
and that it “does not condone or assist
tax evasion.”
Two sources familiar with the matter
in Singapore said there did not appear
to be any concerted investigation by
the U.S. Internal Revenue Service
into HSBC accounts in the city-state.
Earlier this year, the U.S.
government charged several former
wealthy clients of UBS AG after
the Swiss bank last year admitted to
actively helping U.S. citizens evade
taxes overseas. Two clients of HSBC
were also charged by U.S. prosecutors
with concealing $45 million (29.7
million pounds) in unreported bank
accounts
Argentina
GasanMamo offers
claims victory waiver of excess in
on bond deal new Travel Policy
Buenos Aires, Argentina
More than two-thirds of Argentina’s
creditors have accepted a deal with
Buenos Aires ending their longrunning debt dispute, the Argentine
ministry for economy has said.
Heralding Argentina’s return to the
financial mainstream, the ministry
said 70.2 percent of creditors
who held debt which Argentina
defaulted on had agreed to the latest
restructuring deal, worth US$18.3
billion.
That topped the preliminary
news announced last month of a 66
percent acceptance rate, worth over
US$12 billion.
Buenos Aires has offered to swap
defaulted bonds at a third of their
nominal value in a bid to restore its
international credit standing.
Including a similar 2005 offer,
over 92 percent of debt holders have
now accepted restructured offers,
but holdouts remain and could yet
block Argentina’s efforts.
Argentina defaulted on over US$90
billion in sovereign debt in 2001, in
the country’s worst financial crisis.
GasanMamo has upgraded its popular
Travel Insurance Policy to offer customers a number of additional features
which will include the possibility of
waiving of the standard policy excess,
against payment of an additional premium. If policyholders choose this
option, any claims will be paid in full
without the deduction of the standard
policy excess. “The take up of this option has been very encouraging,” said
Julian J. Mamo, Director at GasanMamo Insurance. “Clients have really
taken to the concept of ‘no excess’ – a
comfortable benefit when making any
claim.”
Besides a wide range of other benefits
at no extra premium, the new policy
features include cover for payment for
reasonable travel and accommodation
expenses if the service provided by
the ship or aircraft is cancelled due to
inclement weather conditions, or other
natural disasters. Natural disasters
does not only refer to volcanic
eruptions but to other phenomena
such as earthquakes and tsunamis.
The policy will cover reasonable
expenses incurred due to the forced
extension of the journey, and refund
of non-recoverable and other pre-paid
travel and accommodation charges if
the journey has to be cancelled. The
limit is €2,000 and is available for the
Standard and Executive covers.
“Following the recent havoc in the
travel industry, we have decided to
support our clients further by giving
them added benefits that will ease some
of the stress caused by uncertainties
when travelling,” said Mr Mamo.
“We strive to always be in tune with
our clients’ needs and concentrate our
efforts on improving our products for
their benefit.”
At no extra premium, GasanMamo’s
Travel Policy now also includes
an increase in limit for emergency
purchase of essential replacement items
in the event of loss of luggage in transit
on the outward journey. Similarly it
now carries an increase in the limit of
the various sections covering baggage
and personal effects, personal accident,
cancellation and curtailment charges,
emergency medical expenses, hospital
cash benefit, delayed departure and
missed departure. The improved
policy will also include an Extended
Jurisdiction Clause to cover court
judgments, orders or awards in a
country where an incident would have
occurred.
21
Markets / News
The beautiful game
Weekly international investment round up to 6th July 2010
Ahead of Sunday’s FIFA World Cup
final much will be said about the
history, style and tactics of the two
opposing teams. For example, should
their team managers deploy a defensive
or offensive formation to achieve their
country’s goal of winning the world’s
biggest team sporting event?
In the Europe v America scrap taking
place to see who can best secure
financial stability in the post-recession
world the two teams are shaping up
quite differently with their opposing
formation and tactics now quite clear
for us all to see. Following the huge
economic stimulus measures deployed
over the last couple of years by both the
Europeans and Americans the former
is now reverting to a much tighter
defensive formation while the later is
still promoting an all out attack.
The major economies within Europe
have now largely dropped quantative
easing and replaced this with austerity
measures largely designed to reign in
the regions massive deficit problems
while the US still believes in
continuing to spend its way out of the
debt crisis to stimulate growth.
As with all great matches the tactics
of the game plan tend to reflect
differing cultural and historical
perspectives. The Americans are
anxious not to repeat the mistakes
made during the Great Depression of
the 1920’s when the State’s economic
stimulus spending was deemed to
have been withdrawn too soon thus
prolonging their hard times while
the Europeans seem most fearful of
recreating the hyperinflation of the
past which had laid the foundations to
Nazism, war and conflict.
The differences between the two
camps became apparent at the
latest G20 talks held in Canada
with President Obama arguing that
cutting government spending now
risks breaking the fragile recovery
while his European counterparts
such as Angela Merkel, leader of
euro region’s powerhouse economy,
called budget spending cuts ‘urgently
necessary’.
Ironically, while
Britain’s former Prime Minister,
Gordon Brown, was among the first
to institute a huge public spending
program in an attempt to stimulate his
country’s growth the UK’s new Prime
Minister, David Cameron, is among
those leaders introducing the toughest
austerity measure by slashing real
spending in many British government
departments in sharp contrast to
their American cousins. However,
there are still differences between
the economies which make up the
eurozone patchwork quilt including
how they are applying their budgettightening measures. The headline
grabbing Greek measures are well
documented but Ireland has been
tackling it’s deficit problems for over
a year by introducing quite radical
steps such as cutting public sector
Mark Lamb is Head of the Life Dept. at
Citadel Insurance plc which is authorized to carry on general and long term
business of insurance under the Insurance Business Act, 1998 and is regulated by the MFSA. Contact by email;
mlamb@citadelplc.com Tel; 25579000.
Website; www.citadelplc.com
This article does not intend to give investment advice and its contents should
not be construed as such. Information
in this article has been obtained from
various public sources and is given by
way of information only. Readers are
always encouraged to seek financial
advice before making any investment
decision
Stock markets
pay by up to 15% and reducing
social welfare benefits while
Italy’s measures to-date such as
increasing the retirement age by
six months to an average age of
61 has been labeled by the IMF
as ‘not ambitious enough’. In the
pre-match mind-games America
has also attempted to wind-up the
Europeans by calling on them to
• Two teams square-up with different tactics
• Scars of the past influences the
game plan
wks chg
3,455.96
-3.57%
Euro STOXX 50
2,507.83
2,585.75
-3.01%
Dax (Frankfurt)
5,816.20
5,989.72
-2.90%
Dow Jones Ind. Avg
9,686.48
9,870.30
-1.86%
FTSE 100
4,823.53
4,942.46
-2.41%
FTSE All-Share UK
2,499.85
2,555.97
-2.20%
19,884.25
20,128.99
-1.22%
2,542.82
2,592.02
-1.90%
Shanghai CSI 300
Mumbai (BSE)
distribute more of their power
to the emerging economies,
29/06/2010
3,332.46
Hang Seng
Mark Lamb
mlamb@citadelplc.com
06/07/2010
CAC 40 (Paris)
17,528.39
17,700.90
-0.97%
Nasdaq
2,091.79
2,135.18
-2.03%
Nikkei 225
9,335.48
9,382.64
-0.50%
S&P 500
1,022.58
1,041.24
-1.79%
SMI (Zurich)
5,942.25
6,153.54
-3.43%
unlikely given that some of the
smaller European countries may
themselves need IMF assistance.
Football fans and investors alike
know that as good as any game
plan is it is worthless unless it can
be successfully deployed. Which
team are you betting on?
22
News
Bank of Valletta to ‘fully support’
restoration of decorated ceilings
at Verdala Palace
Bank of Valletta is financing the
restoration of four decorated ceilings at Verdala Palace in Buskett
in collaboration with the Office of
the President of Malta. This was
announced during a press conference held at the Verdala Palace
and addressed by President George
Abela, and Roderick Chalmers,
Chairman of Bank of Valletta.
The site of this Palace was
originally a small hunting lodge
built by Grandmaster Jean Parisot
de la Valette between 1557 and
1568.
The present structure
was erected by Grandmaster Fra
Hugues Loubenx de Verdalle in
1586 planned a fortified structure
to provide a minimal form of
defence against the Turks who
struck Malta from time to time.
The first floor of the Palace was
remodeled in Baroque times during
the Magistry of Grandmaster Dom
António Manoel de Vilhena (17221736). The decorated ceilings date
to this intervention.
The four ceilings follow the
same typology with a central
medallion and framed segments
carrying different references to
the Magistry of Vilhena, his coat
of arms and armorial references.
The wood soffits on which the
paintings have been executed have
suffered changes in atmospheric
conditions over almost three
hundred years and this has resulted
in considerable damage’.
Apart from being an architectural
gem and the President’s Summer
Residence, Verdala Palace, has
played many roles in its history.
These include acting as a repository
for the National Museum of Arts
during the second world war and
has hosted distinguished dignitaries
during their stay in Malta such as
King George V and Queen Mary
in 1912, Prince Albert in 1913 and
later King George VI in April 1943
among many others.
The four decorated ceilings are
one of the main attractions of the
Palace and their restoration has
been entrusted to Heritage Malta
“Bank of Valletta has become
synonymous with the conservation
and restoration of historical
buildings in Malta” said Mr
Chalmers. “The restoration of
the Cupola at the St Catherine of
Italy Chapel in Valletta, currently
nearing completion and the Christ
the King statue in Floriana are fine
examples of Bank of Valletta’s
contribution to the community in
which it operates”.
“We are proud to collaborate with
the Office of the President in this
project and look forward to the
first open day at Verdala Palace,
when these ceilings, restored to
their former glory, can be enjoyed
by the Maltese people”.
Vodafone offers unlimited GasanMamo
staff get a taste
SMS up to Christmas
Vodafone Malta has introduced its
latest summer promotional offer
which gives customers unlimited
SMS to all Vodafone customers
until Saturday 25th of December
2010, when buying any mobile
phone from a Vodafone Outlet or
Vodafone Partner.
“In addition to our fantastic summer
offers, Vodafone is now giving
unlimited SMS to all Vodafone
customers when purchasing any
phone from any Vodafone Outlet or
Partner” said Vodafone Consumer
Marketing Manager Daniel Grech.
Vodafone’s Summer Offers include
My Country, Double Your Top Up
for Free, Internet on Your Mobile at
€1 for 3 days and the Discounted
Vodafone Internet Key.
Now, with immediate effect,
anybody purchasing a new mobile
phone from the wide selection of
latest mobiles and smartphones
from Vodafone is eligible for this
additional great-value offer of
unlimited SMS to other Vodafone
Customers, right up to Christmas!
To benefit from Vodafone’s latest
offer, customers need to purchase
a mobile phone until Tuesday
31st July 2010. Both Vodafone
prepaid and pay monthly customers
can benefit from this offer. The
unlimited SMS starts applying
when customers receive an SMS
alert from Vodafone.
To discover more about this
offer; customers can call Customer
Care on 247 or send an email on
customerservice.malta@vodafone.
com. To view our extensive range
of mobile phones customers are
invited to log onto vodafone.com.
mt/phones, visit one of Vodafone’s
retail outlets across Malta and Gozo,
or visit one of Vodafone’s partners.
Terms and conditions apply.
of boxing
China may axe sovereign
wealth fund of bank stakes
China is considering stripping the
country’s US$300 billion sovereign
wealth fund of banking stakes to help
it get around some US investment
restrictions, a report said yesterday.
The proposal would mean China Investment Corp would no longer be
responsible for holding the state’s
majority stakes in China’s largest
banks, the Financial Times reported,
citing unnamed sources.
It would end CIC’s status as a
bank holding company in the eyes
of the US Federal Reserve and
free the Chinese wealth fund of
certain restrictions when making
investments, the report said.
CIC is believed to be targeting
equities, bonds and real estate deals
in the US market, it said.
The wealth fund currently holds
shares in China’s major lenders,
securities firms and insurers through
its domestic investment arm Central
Huijin, which was set up in 2003 and
transferred to CIC upon its creation
in 2007.
CIC was established to invest
overseas some of China?s massive
foreign exchange reserves -- which
stood at 2.447 trillion dollars at the
end of March -- partly to gain better
returns.
The bank stakes were valued at
around US$70 billion in 2007 and
the bank dividends have been a
major source of CIC’s returns as
most of its other investments are too
young to have had significant yields,
the report said.
It is unclear whether the sovereign
wealth fund would be compensated
for the loss of the bank holdings.
The report said some senior policy
makers were pushing for Huijin
to be spun out of CIC and handed
ownership of the government?s
stakes in financial groups.
Baron Group announce winner
Malcolm Caruana, from Attard,
was announced by Baron Group as
the winner of Baron Club enrollment competition launched at the
Malta Property Expo 2010. Malcolm
Caruana won a weekend break at the
exclusive ‘The Hamlet’, a luxury
holiday complex in Ghasri - Gozo.
Caroline Muscat, a representative
of Baron Group, handed the prize to
Malcolm Caruana at Baron Group’s
Office in Swieqi.
The Baron Club competition was
part of the launch of the Baron Club,
a Membership Service launched by
Baron Group intended as a vehicle
to reward clients of the Group’s
network while also serving as a
communication channel that links the
group, its associates and its clients.
Through the Baron Group initiative
the group aims to stay closer to its
clientele by listening to their needs
and recommendations, thus being
able to deliver the best possible
service.
Malcolm Caruana receiving his prize
Staff at GasanMamo Insurance got
a taste of the sport of boxing when
they joined a team of professional
trainers from I&J Fitness Team in
Mosta for an energy-driven training
session. The event was made possible through GasanMamo’s sponsorship of the boxing club.
The eager team of employees
learnt that boxing – perhaps one
of the world’s oldest sports - is
a true test of a person’s strength
and endurance, and is all about
balance, focus and speed. A oneto-one sport, boxing is also about
the competitors’ ability to protect
themselves physically.
“After the session at I&J we really
changed our preconceived ideas
about boxing,” said one employee.
“Although the perception is that
boxing is an aggressive sport,
if practised in a professional
environment athletes gain stamina,
general fitness, body toning and
weight control. Apart from the fact
that the session was great fun, it was
also a fantastic stress reliever!”
Julian J. Mamo, Director at
GasanMamo Insurance said that the
aim of both the sponosrship of I&J
Fitness Team and the session for
employees was to help the Club, to
promote the sport in Malta and to
give employees the opportunity to
try their hands at a sport they had
never tried before.
The I&J Fitness Team - a boxing
club that trains males, females and
children – is located in Mosta. The
club takes part in several boxing
events throughout the year, both
in Malta and abroad.. This year,
the Scottish National team as well
as French boxers from different
clubs joined I&J in a training camp
organised in Malta. I&J Fitness also
organises charity events on a regular
basis in aid of several philanthropic
institutions.
23
MaltaToday, MediaToday Co. Ltd, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016
MANAGING DIRECTOR: ROGER DE GIORGIO
MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN
ACTING EDITOR: RAPHAEL VASSALLO
Tel: (356) 21 382741-3, 21 382745-6 • Fax: (356) 21 385075
Website: www.maltatoday.com.mt E-mail: midweek@mediatoday.com.mt
Editorial
A right Presidential mess
Last Saturday, President George Abela
raised numerous eyebrows by convening
an unprecedented press conference at
San Anton Palace.
The purpose was to ‘announce’ a Board
of Inquiry into allegations that a senior
civil servant – identified as Olaph Terribile, former secretary to the Presidency
– had leaked sensitive documents to the
press.
In the course of the same conference,
President Abela publicly revealed that
he had ‘lost confidence’ in Terribile,
and also downplayed serious allegations
of financial impropriety with his own
Office: including the unorthodox use of
the Community Chest Fund to ‘absorb’ a
financially beleaguered company belonging to his press secretary, Marica Mizzi;
as well as the questionable decision to
hire numerous persons outside the civil
service, at considerable expense to the
exchequer.
What immediately leapt to the eye during the press conference was the sheer
number of questions left unanswered.
For instance, the President failed to
explain what caused his loss of faith in
Terribile, who was understood to have
resigned precisely because of the abovementioned irregularities.
Furthermore, neither the President
nor (more significantly) the Director of
Information, Martin Bugelli, was able to
supply any details regarding the presumed ‘board’ chosen to undertake the
inquiry itself.
When asked the question point-blank,
President Abela vaguely referred the
matter to ‘government’: despite the fact
that the government’s chief information
officer was sitting right next to him at
the time. On his part, Bugelli frankly
admitted that he did not know who
would be heading this inquiry... only to
reveal, in a terse DOI press release some
three hours later, that senior civil servant
Alfred Fiorini Lowell had been appointed
to the task.
This newspaper is reliably informed
that, at the time of the conference itself,
no such board had yet been established.
Nor were the terms of reference made
public at the time – indeed they remain
technically unknown to this day. Government sources have told MaltaToday
that they felt compelled to hastily set up
this board precisely because their hand
had been forced by the Presidential press
conference.
Meanwhile, what has emerged in the
course of the ‘investigation’ is that the allegations of a leak to the press originated
from Marica Mizzi herself: specifically,
from an informal conversation with a
newspaper journalist – Noel Grima,
acting editor of the Malta Independent
– overheard (and apparently misunder-
stood) by Mizzi during a state dinner for
visiting Italian President Napolitano.
As a result of this casual conversation,
MaltaToday managing editor Saviour
Balzan was summoned to testify before
the board at Castile Palace – during
which testimony, Balzan categorically
denied having ever received any documents from Terribile, or anyone else at
the Office of the President.
Grima has meanwhile also faced the
board, and testified that, though he and
Terribile did indeed meet, there was no
exchange of documents of any kind. It
appears that there is no other evidence
pointing to any documents having been
leaked: a fact which should make of this
inquiry an open and shut case.
At face value, it is surprising that something as serious as a government board
of inquiry should have been sparked off
by what can only be described as unverified hearsay. Matters become more
incredible still in the light of the fact
that the source of all this confusion – ie.,
Marica Mizzi – was herself at the centre
of reports, made by this newspaper, of
her company’s absorption by the Office
of the President.
Why has there been no corresponding
inquiry into the rather cavalier use that
was made of the Community Chest Fund
– until recently, Malta’s most respected
charitable institution?
In the light of all this, the ‘inquiry’ into
a non-existent ‘leak’ of equally non-existent ‘documents’ can only be described
as a downright farce (a state of fact which
nonetheless does not prejudice the senior
civil servant chosen to head the inquiry,
who continues to enjoy the full trust of
all parties concerned).
It is now more than evident that,
faced with embarrassing media
revelations of how a virtually bankrupt company had been saved from
financial ruin through questionable
use of the Community Chest Fund,
this bogus inquiry was concocted as
a wild goose chase in order to deflect attention from serious errors of
judgement emanating from the Office
of the President itself.
What we are dealing is in fact a
right Presidential mess: occasioned,
it would appear, by a dubious decision to hire (at considerable expense)
inexperienced people who are clearly
unsuited for any role within such an
important institution.
Sadly, the incident can be seen to have
cast lost a shadow over the Presidency
itself. It would of course be inopportune
to lay the blame for this sorry state of affairs directly at the President’s door. But
the same cannot be said for his press secretary Marica Mizzi, who has left herself
with no option but to resign forthwith.
24
Events
Jazz at the Premier, Valletta
THE Pjazza Live Sessions at
Premier in Valletta are kicking off the summer vibe with
live music events in Pjazza
Regina.
Starting on 14 July with the
incredibly talented George
Curmi, ‘Il-Puse’ and his band,
Pjazza Live Sessions will continue throughout summer offering a great place to relax
and unwind whilst listening
to great live performances.
‘Il-Puse’ and his band are
returning to the Pjazza after
their regular and famed performances at Pjazza Regina
five years ago. Every Wednesday, starting from 14 July,
diners at Premier can enjoy
a sumptuous buffet and an
incredible performance by
the band in the mystical surroundings of Pjazza Regina.
Jazz fans can also enjoy the
likes of Dominic Galea and
his band every Friday night.
Dominic Galea has been involved in the local jazz scene
for a number of years and is
a familiar face, performing at
the Malta Jazz Festival and
a number of international
jazz festivals for a number of
years.
“This summer will undoubt-
edly be full of music with the
revival of the music scene at
Pjazza Regina. Thanks to the
Pjazza Live Events we will be
able to bring back the days
when the Pjazza hosted international and local artists,
the likes of Frankie Vaughn
and Val Valente,” said Mario
Camillieri, co-proprietor of
Premier.
Premier is also offering free
parking at the MCP car park
to customers who spend €20
or more whilst dining at Premier. This offer is valid on
weekdays after 1PM and all
day throughout the weekend.
Located in the heart of Pjazza Regina in Valletta, Premier
offers a wide variety of food
including sushi, tapas, meat,
and fresh fish dishes as well
as pastries and an à la carte
menu. Premier’s beautiful
surroundings offer a nestled
and relaxed haven away from
the bustling commercial centre of Valletta. Its intricate
archways leading to Pjazza
Regina and overlooking the
President’s Palace offer diners a glimpse of the swinging
1940s and 1950s when Premier was a popular location
for music nights.
Hong Kong foodie wins all major awards Stravinsky at the Palace
YOUNG chef Chris Keung,
from Bo Innovation in Hong
Kong, swept all the awards at
the San Pellegrino Cooking
Cup 2010.
He won the second edition
of the Acqua Panna and San
Pellegrino Young Chef of the
Year, having delighted the
food jury with his “Har Mi”
Potato Gnocchi, mushroom
and XO shrimp foss.
Gaetan Colin (Jaloa, Belgium) obtained second place,
while Lars Möller (Petit
Délice,Germany) came in
third.
Incredibly, thanks to his
amazing and innovative dish,
Chris won also the 2010 novelty, the Acqua Panna People
Choice Award, held last Friday night when San Pellegrino
guests had the opportunity to
taste the same recipe of the
day after.
But this was not the end:
Hong Kong was also prized
with the San Pellegrino Inside
the Cooking Award, for best
combination between sailing
and cooking skills.
Russian chef Vyachaslav Kazakov was assigned a Special
Mention by the Honorary Juror Vittorio Missoni for his
innovative reinterpretation of
his country tradition.
Fun and sharing for this unforgettable 10th anniversary
of the SPCC!
For more info please contact
zoranc@charlesgrech.com
THE Malta Arts Festival is proud
to present The Stravinsky Project
by the Ars Ludi Percussion Ensemble on 13 July at the President’s Palace Courtyard, Valletta,
at 9pm.
The music of one of the 20th
century greatest geniuses Igor
Stravinsky features prominently
in the 5th edition of the Festival,
with two concerts dedicated to
his music. The highlight of the
Stravinsky Gesualdo di Venosa
Tres Sacrae Cantiones (1959)
Stravinsky Serenade in A for
piano (1925)
Stravinsky
Russian Credo
(1932/r.1964)
Bartok
Romanian Folkdances (1915)
Stravinsky Les Noces (1923)
Musical Director: Gianluca Ruggeri
In an effort to reach the widest
first concert is Les Noces, a most
remarkable achievement in which
Stravinsky’s Russian musical inheritance is presented without
any ‘civilising’ filters. The music
is spectacularly scored for solos,
mixed choir, percussion and four
pianos. The programme includes
also Bartok’s Romanian Folk
Dances which together with other
shorter pieces by Stravinsky show
the touch of modernism in transforming and regenerating existing
musical material.
Programme:
possible audience, entrance for
the performance is at €15, with
concessions for students and senior citizens at €10.
For more information log onto
www.maltaartsfestival.com. The
Festival is supported by Marsovin,
Valletta Local Council, Floriana
Local Council, HSBC, Malta Post,
Hotel Phoenicia, Malta Council
for Culture and the Arts and the
Parliamentary Secretariat for
Tourism, the Environment and
Culture.
25
Foreign
Obama to meet Netanyahu in Washington
ISRAEL’S Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, headed to
Washington last night for a meeting at the White House aimed at
repairing critically fractured relations between the two allies.
The meeting between President
Obama and Mr Netanyahu, seen
as vital to any forthcoming success in the Middle East crisis, will
be their first since their very public falling out in March after Israel refused to meet Washington’s
demands over settlement freezes
in East Jerusalem.
Amid growing frustration in
the US, Mr Netanyahu yesterday faced a last-minute battle
just hours before his trip, fighting desperately in the Knesset
to defeat a Bill that would have
allowed Parliament to veto an
extension of the 10-month settlement freeze he reluctantly agreed
to last November.
In a further attempt to bridge
the divide — reportedly described
as a “tectonic rift” by the Israeli
Ambassador to Washington —
he also dispatched his Defence
Minister, Ehud Barak, to hold
talks with the Palestinian Prime
Minister, Salam Fayyad.
While no statements were
made afterwards, the two were
expected to discuss the possibility of moving from US-mediated
“proximity talks” to direct negotiations, widely seen as the only
way to secure a lasting agree-
ment.
Mr Netanyahu is desperate for
the Palestinians to agree to direct talks ahead of the September
deadline for his settlement freeze,
as extending the halt to construction for hundreds of thousands of
Jewish settlers in the West Bank
would severely strain his already
precarious far-right coalition.
The Washington meeting is
a high-risk encounter for both
men. At their last confrontation,
Mr Netanyahu was abandoned
mid-meeting in the White House
while his frustrated host returned
to the East Wing for a family dinner, and was forced to return
home without being granted the
traditional handshake.
Argentina comes to
terms with its dark past
FOR more than three decades
Juan Carlos Clemente hid a
secret under his floorboards —
bags stuffed with lists of people
made to “disappear” during the
reign of Argentina’s right-wing
junta.
Fearing for his life Mr Clemente — a left-wing prisoner
turned police officer and alleged
torturer — kept silent. Now he
is ready to share the contents of
the 259 pages with prosecutors
trying to clean up the legacy of
Argentina’s Dirty War.
The documents, pilfered from
the notorious Tucumán detention centre, have helped to bring
closure to hundreds of families.
“It answers a lot of questions,”
said Martha Rondoletto, the
only survivor of a family killed
there. “We had a lot of suspicions and theories but we never
had concrete proof.”
In 1976 Ms Rondoletto’s father
Pedro and mother María were
kidnapped with her 25-year-old
sister Silvia, 23-year-old brother
Jorge and pregnant sister-in-law
Azucena Bermejo. For years the
only clues that Ms Rondoletto
had were testimonies from survivors that the family had been
sent to the centre in Tucumán.
There, they said, her father and
brother were killed.
On Mr Clemente’s list Ms
Rondoletto found her family.
Beside their names, their fates:
“DF”, military shorthand for
Relatives hold up photos of those who disappeared
disposición final — death.
Of the 293 prisoners listed,
195 were marked as executed.
The papers are key evidence in
the trial of figures of the dictatorship, including Luciano
Menéndez, the general who
directed the campaign against
the Left, and Roberto Albornoz,
who ran police intelligence.
Mr Clemente has been offered
witness protection to ensure
that remnants of the regime
cannot silence him. He is also
a survivor of the detention centre, where he was taken with his
wife in 1976. She was killed and
he was tortured, which he said
“reduced to ashes” his power to
resist. It was then that he began to collaborate, he told the
court.
He accompanied officials on
trips to identify — and seal the
fates of — other left-wing members. In 1977 the order came to
close the centre and burn the
evidence. Instead Mr Clemente
stole hundreds of papers. For
many, however, what may have
been his final attempt at salvation cannot undo what is seen
as treachery. Julia Vitar, a lawyer
for victims’ families, said: “He
was a person absolutely broken
by the terrorism of the State.”
Argentina has had a flood of
prosecutions for dictatorshipera crimes since amnesty laws
were repealed in 2003. On Friday Jorge Videla, the former
dictator, went on trial for the
murders of 31 political prisoners.
Palestinian children protesting against Israeli aggression
Kurds prepare for
offensive against
Turkey
KURDISH rebels are preparing for a sustained new
military
confrontation
with the Turkish Government following the end of a
year-long ceasefire that had
raised hopes of concluding
the 26-year insurgency.
Leaders of the Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) warned
of large-scale attacks across
Turkey in response to aerial
bombardments of its bases
in the past few days.
“It’s going to be very hot,”
said Sozdar Avesta, one of
the top five commanders
of the PKK, describing the
military situation in the
months ahead. “Guerrilla
units across Turkey have
been activated. We have
started a period where we
are going to actively defend
ourselves.”
Last April, the PKK declared a unilateral ceasefire
in response to measures
proposed by the Turkish
Government to ease restrictions on ethnic Kurds in
eastern Turkey. Yet the two
sides never built the trust
necessary to negotiate an
end to hostilities that have
killed about 40,000 people.
Regarded as a terrorist organisation by most Western governments, the PKK
blames Turkey for the failure of the peace process and
alleges that Ankara continued to carry out punitive
military operations in the
last 14 months.
“The Turkish Government
has failed to develop a peaceful solution of the Kurdish
issue,” said Mrs Avesta, a
member of the PKK for 24
years and the highest-ranking woman rebel. “Instead
they have unleashed more
violence and are pursuing a
policy of annihilation. Our
own actions are in response
to Turkish repression.”
She said the PKK suspected that Turkey was planning a ground offensive that
would penetrate deep into
northern Iraq, where the
guerrillas, who are tolerated by the local Iraqi Kurdish Government, have been
hiding since 1999.
The Turkish Government
has said that the PKK failed
to stick to its own ceasefire in recent months and
regards strikes against the
group as legitimate.
26
THIS WEEK
TV / CINEMA
AT CINEMAS
TODAY
Embassy Cinemas
Valletta
Tel. 21 227436, 21245818
21:10 – In Her Shoes – Canale 5
NET TV
19:45
Net News 20:30 4 Given
– 1 21:30 Net News 21:35 NET Tube
22:00 Zero91 prg3 23:00 Net News
TVM
20:00 L-Ahbarijiet 20:25 World Cup
Match – B vs D 22:30 World Cup
roundup 23:30 L-Ahbarijiet 23:45
Ghawdex Illum
ONE TV
19:30 One News 20:00 Londri 20:15
22:55 – Michael Jackson Live – Italia 1
Ieqaf 20 mins 20:45 TX 22:15 Cine 1
22:45 Id-Dura 23:15 One News
CANALE 5
18:00 Tg5 – 5 Minuti 18:05 A gentile
richiesta 20:00 Tg5 – Meteo 5 20:30
Velone 21:10 In Her Shoes 23:45
Nonsolomoda 25 e oltre...
23:45 – Supernatural – Rai Due
ITALIA 1
RAI DUE
18:30 Studio Aperto 19:00 Studio
Sport 19:30 Samantha chi? 20:05 I
Simpson 20:30 Viva Las Vegas 21:10
Il topolino Marty 2 22:55 Scemo più
scemo - Iniziò così... 22:55 Michael
Jackson Live 23:10 TV Moda
20:30 Tg2 21:05 Ghost Whisperer
21:50 Premonition 23:30 Tg2
23:45 Supernatural 02:20 Extreme Honor
RETE 4
18:55 Tg4 19:35 Tempesta d’amore
20:30 Renegade 21:10 A.I. Intelligenza artificiale 00:10 24
RAI UNO
19:55 Tg1 20:10 Mondiali 2010
22:50 Tg1 23:05 Notti Mondiali
RAI TRE
19:00 Tg3 20:00 Blob 20:10 Seconde chance 20:35 Un posto al
sole 21:05 Tg3 21:10 Insieme a
Parigi 23:10 Tg Regione 23:15
Tg3 Linea Notte Estate 23:40
Eden Cinemas
St Julians
Tel. 7 july 710 400
Films released by KRS Distributors
Get Him to the Greek
AN ambitious young record company executive attempts to transport an unpredictable rock star to L.A.’s Greek Theatre
in time for his hotly anticipated comeback
performance in this spin-off of the comedy hit Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Aaron
Green (Jonah Hill) has just landed his
dream job in the record industry, and he’s
eager to prove his worth. His first assignment: travel to London and escort British
rock god Aldous Snow (Russell Brand)
to the show that will re-ignite his career.
Twilight Saga: Eclipse
10:30, 13:40, 16:15, 18:45, 21:15
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
(PG)
10:20, 13:40, 16:05, 18:30, 20:55
Letters to Juliet (U)
10:00, 12:20, 16:20, 18:35, 20:50
Shrek Forever After – The Final
Chapter (U)
10:00, 12:10, 14:20, 16:30, 18:40,
20:55
Bad Lieutenant (18)
21:00
Robin Hood (PG)
15:00, 18:00
Killers (PG)
10:00, 12:15, 14:30, 16:45, 19:00,
21:10
Before he departs, Aaron is warned by his
boss Sergio Roma (Sean Combs) to never
let Aldous out of his sight, and never underestimate his capacity for mayhem.
Showing from July 14
Predators
Killers (PG)
14:15, 16:30, 18:40, 21:00, 23:10
Robin Hood (PG)
14:15, 18:10, 21:00, 23:45
She’s Out of My League (14)
14:10, 16:20, 18:30, 21:05, 23:20
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
(PG)
14:00, 16:25, 18:45, 21:10, 23:35
Shrek Forever After - The Final
Chapter (U)
14:00, 16:25, 18:45, 20:45, 22:55
Brooklyn’s Finest (18)
14:30, 18:15, 21:05, 23:45
Extraordinary Measures (U)
14:05, 16:20, 18:35, 20:50, 23:05
Kick-Ass (16)
14:00, 16:20, 18:50, 21:15, 23:40
Remember Me (14)
14:05, 16:20, 18:35, 20:55, 23:15
Mark of An Angel (12)
14:05, 16:20, 18:35, 20:50, 23:00
Shrek Forever After – The Final
Chapter (U)
14:10, 16:15, 18:25, 21:00, 23:05
Letters To Juliet (U)
14:20, 16:30, 18:40, 21:10, 23:20
Centurion (16)
14:15, 16:30, 18:40, 21:15, 23:20
Iron Man 2 (U)
14:25, 18:10, 20:55, 23:30
StreetDance (U)
14:20, 16:25, 18:30, 20:45, 22:50
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (12)
14:30, 18:15, 21:10, 23:45
Sex and the City 2 (16)
14:30, 18:15, 21:15
Empire Cinemas
Bugibba
Tel. 21 581 787, 21 581 909
A bold new chapter in the Predator universe, Predators was shot on location under
Rodriguez’s creative auspices at the filmmaker’s Austin-based Troublemaker Studios, and
is directed by Nimrod Antal. The film stars
Adrien Brody as Royce, a mercenary who reluctantly leads a group of elite warriors who
come to realize they’ve been brought together
on an alien planet… as prey.
With the exception of a disgraced physician,
they are all cold-blooded killers – mercenaries, Yakuza, convicts, death squad members
– human “predators” that are now being systemically hunted and eliminated by a new
breed of alien Predators. In addition to Adrien Brody, the film stars Topher Grace, Alice
Braga, and Laurence Fishburne. Co-starring
are Walton Goggins, Danny Trejo, Oleg Taktarov and Mahershalalhashbaz Ali.
Showing from July 14
StreetDance (U)
13:15, 15:45, 18:45, 21:20
Shrek Forever After –The Final Chapter (U)
13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00
Brooklyn’s Finest (18)
14:20, 17:55, 20:40
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (12)
14:30, 18:00, 20:45
Killers
(PG)
14:05, 16:25, 18:45, 21:05
Prince of Persia: The Sands Of Time
(PG)
13:35, 16:05, 18:30, 21:00
Furry Vengeance (U)
13:50, 15:55
Bad Lieutenant (18)
18:15, 21:10
27
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 7 JULY 2010
THIS WEEK
WHAT’S ON
NIGHTLIFE
22:00. Entrance is at €5.
JULY 24
Relocation – Emerging
artists from Malta
THURSDAYS
Joseph Calleja with Dionne
Warwick and Claudio
Baglioni
Collective exhibition at
Bank Of Valletta Centre, Sta
Venera. Featured artists are
Emanuel Bonnici, Gilbert
Calleja, Patrick Mifsud,
Teresa Sciberras, Elisa von
Brockdorff, Michael Xuereb.
Curated by Raphael Vella.
Opening times: Weekdays
–08:00 – 17:00; Saturdays –
08:00 – 13:00.
The House of Chill
Relaxed DJ Nights at
Surfside, Sliema from 20:00.
Free entrance.
FRIDAYS
G7 Fridays Gianpula
Regular summer clubbing
nights at Gianpula Main
Room and Groove Gardens,
limits of Rabat. Bursting
with a mix of summer
classics as well as the new
upfront club smashes.
Tickets from www.g7events.
com/tickets/g7fridays/.
Infoline: 79767630
JULY 10
Squadron Festival
This year’s edition of the
festival will take place at
Buskett Roadhouse and
will feature The Proxy,
Kevin Saunderson, D.I.M.,
Alden Tyrell, Mathematikal,
Squeak, Manthrax and
more. Normal tickets are at
€25, VIP €35. Ticket outlets:
Valletta – Chilli, Exit;
Qormi – Fact; St Julian’s –
Chilli, Dr Juice, Ryan’s Pub,
RIOT Boutique Café; Sliema
– Chilli, La Rive; Zabbar –
Royal Impact; San Gwann
– Aroma; Msida – White
Arrow.
The Maltese tenor will be
performing in collaboration
with fellow musicians at the
Granaries, Floriana. More
information to follow on
www.nngpromotions.com.
JULY 28
Winter Moods
The band will be performing
at the Granaries, Floriana.
Tickets start from €15
and are available from all
Vodafone, Agenda and
Exotique outlets or from
www.nngpromotions.com.
There is also a limited time
offer of two tickets for the
price of one offer that is also
available to all Vodafone
subscribers from Vodafone
outlets until Tuesday, 15
June.
JULY 30
Brikkuni live
Brikkuni will be giving their
summer concert at The
Garden of Rest, Floriana
from 21:30. Timmy Ellis will
be resident DJ on the night.
Entrance is at €7. Bookings:
brikkun@gmail.com
EXHIBITIONS
JULY 25
The Hacker & DJ Misjah
JULY 15 – AUGUST 7
Daytime party at Marrakech
Club, Gianpula Complex,
limits of Rabat, from 15:00
to 7 july:00. Featuring The
Hacker and DJ Misjah.
Entrance is at €15. More
info: http://www.myspace.
com/cirkusmalta, www.
gianpula.com.
Portraits in Jazz
MUSIC
JULY 10
Norm Rejection, Eve
Ransom, Cumshaft Live
The bands will be playing
at Luxol, St Andrew’s from
Exhibition of themed
paintings and photographs
in conjunction with The
Malta Jazz Festival at
Artitude Gallery, 17, Tigne
Street, Sliema. Including
work by Jeni Caruana, Ebba
Von Fersen Balzan, Olaug
Vethal, Patrick Fenech,
Joseph Smith, Darrin
Zammit Lupi and Pierre
Stafrace. Opening hours
are Monday to Friday at
10:00 to 13:00, 16:00 -19:00;
Saturdays from 10:00 to
13:00.
UNTIL JULY 31
A Sight to Sea
Inaugural exhibition for
SoGalerie, Dun Karm Street,
Iklin, featuring photographs
by David Pisani taken with
an archaic pinhole camera.
Opening hours: Monday
to Friday 10:00 – 17:00,
Saturday 10:00 – 13:00, or
by appointment.
UNTIL JULY 31
Ten
Exhibition by Higher
National Diploma of
MCAST students at
the Magazino, Valletta
Waterfront. Featuring
varied work with the aim of
renovating the venue. Artists
include: Sarah Mamo,
Jennings Falzon, George
Micallef Eynaud, Daniella
Camilleri, Sean Camilleri,
Ryan Falzon, Jamie Farrugia,
Kirsten Fenech, Sabrina
Calleja Jackson and Kamy
Aquilina. Opening hours are
09:00 – 19:00. www.FA-10.
com.
FILM FESTIVAL
MALTA ARTS
FESTIVAL
Highlights from the first
two weeks. More info at
More information: www.
maltaartsfestival.com
AUGUST 6 – 8
Carnyx Brass Trio
Kinemastik Short Film
Festival
Bass trio comprising of
Paul Archibald (trumpet),
Etienne Cutajar (horn) and
John Kennedy (trombone)
will be performing at the
President’s Palace courtyard,
Valletta at 21:00. Tickets are
at €15, reduced €10.
JULY 9
The Poet Speaks
UNTIL JULY 26
JULY 10
Carmine Lauri in Recital
JULY 8
The sixth edition of the
Kinemastik Short Film
Festival will take place at the
Herbert Ganado Gardens,
Floriana from 16:30 and
will feature screenings,
performances, workshops
and a mid fest party.
Clifford Bechtel (tenor) and
Rosetta de Battista (piano)
will be performing songs
and duets by Chopin and
Schumann at the Auberge de
Castille Courtyard, Valletta
at 20:30. Admission is free.
Gillian Zammit (soprano),
Carmine Lauri on violin will
be performing alongside
Simon Hester on piano
at the President’s Palace
Courtyard, Valletta at 21:00.
Tickets are at €15, reduced
€10.
UNTIL JULY 13
The Hulda Festival: A Journey
of Art and Science
The Hulda festival, celebrating
the coalescence of arts and
sciences around Hulda (the
100 year old sailing boat
belonging to the TurkishSwedish artist Ilhan Koman)
will be taking place at Grand
Harbour Marina in Birgu
from 10:00 – 13:00 and 17:00
– 22:00. More information:
martina.castillo@gov.mt and
anthea.fabri@gov.mt or call
21660340.
UNTIL JULY 14
Ospizio
A site-specific theatre project
by Theatre Anon at Ospizio,
Floriana at 21:00. Tickets are
at €15, reduced €10.
UNTIL JULY 7 JULY
Spaces/Spazji
Eve Ransom – Eve Ransom will be performing with Cumshaft and Norm Rejection at Luxol, St Andrew’s
A visual art project
comprising works by Sean
Gabriel Ellul, Fabrizio
Ellul, Ruth Bianco, Anton
Grech and James Micallef
Grimaud will be taking place
along Strait Street, Valletta
between 10:00 – 19:00. Free
Entrance. More information:
www.maltaartsfestival.com
28
Classifieds
ANTIQUES to clear. Call 79571435
to smaller premises. Furniture, musical
equipment, salon equipment. Reasonable
offers accepted. Call 79911257
BALZAN garage in Kannizzata Street.
Electricity installed. Call 21440261,
79440261
POMSKIZILLIOUS museum of toys,
open Monday to Saturday from 10.30am1.00pm. Groups by appointment. A nostalgic time for all. Call 21562489
CORGI 04415 1/36 scale Mini Rally car
sponsor Eddie Stobbart. Very rare mint
and box with certificate. Price €60. Call
or sms Mick 79011335
BIRGU, one bedroom house fully furnished. Price €250 per month. Call
79624548
ANTIQUES
BOATS
24FT cabin cruiser Rinher Captiva in mint
condition. Call 77090509, 99800483,
21317784
SPEEDBOAT 13ft, no outboard, plywood
coated externally with fibreglass. Lovely,
fast, stable boat for who appreciates fine
craftsmanship. Licensed and takes up
to 30-40hp outboard. Price €750. Call
21382704, 79320055
FOR SALE
1/43 scale Days Gone mobiloil recovery
truck. Very rare. Mint and boxed. Price
€12. Call or sms Mick 79011335
1/43 scale Days gone morris Z van
Heinz ads on sides. Mint in box. Rare,
price €22. Call or sms Mick 79011335
1/43 scale Days Gone Set of 10 Walkers
crisps vans. Very very rare. Price €120.
Mint condition boxed. Call or sms Mick
79011335
1/43 scale. Days Gone 43004 morris
light van. AC spark plugs rare. Mint condition boxed. Price €10. Call or sms Mick
79011335
1/43 scale. Days Gone bull nosed morris van OXO company. Mint condition
with box. Price €10. Call or sms Mick
79011335
1/43 scale. Days Gone Ford model T
van. Champion spark plugs Ads on sides.
Mint and boxed. Rare, price €22. Call or
sms Mick 79011335
1/64 scale Vanguard VA8005 bedford
van merrydown cider. Brand new never
been out of box. Mint and certificate.
Price €14. Call or sms Mick 79011335
1/76 scale UK corgi 43920 guy arab
utility. Derby corporation bus, price €23.
Mint condition boxed and certificate. Call
or sms Mick 79011335
133 dinky toy. Cunningham C-5R racing
car white with two blue stripes over car.
Play worn. Never find one, they are so
rare. Price €120. Call or sms to Mick
79011335
16 evening gowns and cocktail dresses
new, sizes and styles vary. Price €25
each. Call Liz 79944330
BOOKS about WW II by Winston Churchill.
Memoirs of American Presidents, British
Prime Ministers. Detalis of WW II. Prices
form €24. Call 21580922
BOOKS hard backs and paper backs at
bargain prices. Call Liz on 79944330
BOOKS hardbacks, paperbacks, novela
and maltese. Bargain prices. Call Liz
79944330
BRAND NEW boxed. Chargers mains
and car for IPODS. Price €15. Call or sms
Mick 79011335
BRAND NEW H7 (477) single filament
headlamp bulbs, price €3 each. H7 ice
blue bulbs, price €5 each. H4 130/90 H/
lamp bulbs high intensity, price €5 each.
Fitting extra depending on car. Call or
sms Mick 79011335
BRAND NEW stainless steel electric
oven Electrolux brand. Price €200. Call
79008823, 79325427
CONTENTS of house sale, owner moving
CORGI 61714 Tanker truck Eddie
Stobbart. Mint and box. Price €6. Call or
sms Mick 79011335
BIRKIRKARA, old church area, two
car garage to let from owner, has lock
up door, windows and electricity. Call
79091642
CORGI 97940 1/50 scale. ERF lorry
Eddie Stobbart mint and box.Very Rare
inc certificate. Price €75. Call or sms
Mick 79011335
BIRZEBBUGIA, central ground floor two
bedroom maisonette, furnished. Price
€300 monthly. For long let. Call owner
21651429
CORGI Eddie Stobbart set. inc Volvo
pantecnican, Ford cargo, Ford transit and
cones. Sign and two figures. Mint in box,
price €15. Call or sms Mick 79011335
GOZO, book your holiday now. Farm
houses to let with views and private
pools. Three to seven bedrooms. Call
21565108, 99470003
COVING and ceiling roses, different
syles, top quality to clear the lot. Call Karl
79444407
GOZO, flats to let. Early bookings a
must. Also with pool available. Short
or long lets. Call now on 99470003,
21565108
CUSTOM BUILT pine bedroom wardrobes, with upper storage area and double bed frame. Length 480cm(15’09”).
Height 245cm (8ft). Interior twin rungs
for hanging clothes. Two inside drawers.
Excellent condition. Very attractive. Only
three years old. Photo available if desired.
Price €1,200. Call 21806072
FANTASTIC musical toys at fantastic
prices. Ideal for advertising, parties or
festas. Call 99287701
FRUIT WINES made at home.
Fermentation tank, two demijohns, two
airlocks, 144 bottles, filters, wine making
book. Price €110. Free advice given. Call
21423143
HAIR CUTTER, German, good quality
with attachments. New, price €20. Mdina
glass, two pieces in original gift boxes.
Unwanted gift, €15 for both. Screen for
projector, price €30. Call 21423143
KAZOOS (0.10c) , Brazilian whistles
(0.40c) Siren whistles (0.17c), clown
flutes (0.65c), mouth organs (0.85c),
flutes (0.85c), plastic recorders (€1.50c),
maracas (0.80c a pair), castanets (0.40c)
and wooden (beech) recorders (€3.00).
Call 99287701
KENNEL 2 ½ ft x 2 ½ ft. Brand new
never used. Call 79495290
FURNITURE
BRAND NEW12 piece kitchen set ideal
for persons on diet or healthy cooking. An
unwanted gift. Call 79263994
LIGHT FITTING old and used and some
other furniture. Call 99834214
MAHAGONY dinig suite, framed pictures of English soldiers and ladies, set
of eight. Price €10 each. Two ceramics
coloumn with top pot. Price €70 each.
Call 99207073
SOFA CORNER 7 seater with foot rest
brand new. Call 79495290
GENERAL
TO CLEAR, jewel boxes, all sort of glasses, compressed bags, silver plated photo
frames. Call 79538357
TV fisher, 20inch to repair. Call
21825864, 79261583
LETTING
ATTARD, three bedroom apartment in a
quiet area. Price €650 monthly. Hamrun/
Sliema/Msida short or long lets. Call
79232412
BALLUTA Bay, studio flat for summer
lets one or more weeks. Call 99233516,
21320507
GWARDAMANGIA, St.Luke’s Road, two
bedroom spacious apartment, fully furnished. Call 99849994, 21809665
LARGE warehouse in a full industrial
zone, ideal for storage or industrial use.
Street level measuring 105ft by 35ft and
20 courses high. Easy access for trailers.
Call owner 79495290
MARSASCALA, two bedroom apartment
with new furniture. Price €260 monthly.
Fgura, store 90ft long and 15 courses
high. Price €19 daily. Call 79232412
MGARR, new apartment luxury and
superbly fully furnished with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen/living/
dining and large backyard. Must be seen.
Price €350 monthly. Call 21570123,
99428930
MGARR, new maisonette with three bedrooms, kitchen, living, dining, two bathrooms, washroom, back large yard, fully
new furnished. Must be seen. Price €350
monthly. Call 21570123, 99428930
MGARR, new penthouse luxury and
superbly fully furnished. Spacious one
bedroom, kitchen, dining, living, bathroom, front and back large terraces
with panoramic views. Must be seen.
Price €300 monthly. Call 21570123,
99428930
SLIEMA, corner shop at street level,
lot of sun light, situated near shops and
church. Measures 6x8 meters, has a
store and toilet. Call 99490298
SLIEMA, flat for long let. Fully furnished,
situated near shops/sea, two bedroom,
a/c, porter service, sun-room, lift, possible garage. Price €550 per month. Call
99490298
ST PAUL’S BAY, limits of Bugibba,
St.Simon Str, two bedroom kitchen, living, dinner, bathroom, fully furnished
with balcony and sea views. Price €325
monthly. Call 21370123, 99428930.
Must be seen
SWIEQI, a modern flat with one bedroom, large kitchen, dining, living room,
bathroom/shower. Fully airconditioned,
washing machine, TV, CD. Owner away
for a year or two. Price €400 monthly. Six minutes walk to Baystreet. Call
99233516
WAREHOUSE in a full industrial area
measuring 30ft by 80ft, 15 courses high.
Ideal for storage or industrial use. Call
owner 79495290
PETS
TORTOISES, locally hatched, one
year old. Price €40. Call 21417258,
79211398
PROPERTY FOR SALE
Call 79537088
ATTARD, quaint and bright terraced
house set in a tranquil residential location comprising a welcoming hall, sitting/dining room, fitted kitchen/breakfast, three bedrooms (two double and
one single), bathroom, guest toilet, laundry, roof terrace and back yard! Optional
garage available just down the street.
Ideal for a young family as well as a sound
rental investment! Price €280,000. Call
79429400
FLORIANA, ground floor maisonette,
consisting from sitting room, corridor,
bedroom, kitchenette, toilet and shower. Price €58.000. Call 99876811,
21232363
ATTARD, 145sqm apartment, facing
open area with views of Mdina. Three double bedrooms, one ensuite, bathroom,
kitchen/living/dining, front and back balconies, box room. Served with lift, spacious semi basement, optional garage.
Price €150,000. Call 99471308
GHARGHUR, an amazing house of character in the core of this tranquil village!
Hall, sitting, dining, kitchen, TV lounge
leading onto a 100ft garden with pool,
sundeck and BBQ area, guest toilet and
a picture perfect courtyard giving light
to the whole house! Three double bedrooms, two en suite bathrooms, laundry!
Price €650,000. Call 79429400
BAHAR IC-CAGHAQ, airspace for a three
bedroom penthouse with excellent sea
and country views. Considering also part
exchange for a flat at St.Julian’s. Airspace
with permit. Call owner 99267747
GHARGHUR, a three bedroom apartment
measuring approx 100 square metres in
an exclusive block in a completely finished state at €155,000 (Lm66,542).
Call 99527200
GOZO, lovely house of character with
three bedrooms and pool. Must sell. Price
€280,000. Call 79081990
BAHAR IC-CAGHAQ, nicely furnished
and finished three bedroom flat, all new
with two yards. Price €193,337. Call
owner 99267747
GOZO, unconverted houses for sale by
owner. Low prices and good areas of
Gozo with back garden and space for
pool. Call 79081990
BAHAR IC-CAGHAQ, seven garages at
basement level. Call owner 99267747
GOZO, Zebbug flats and penthouses with
views. Shell or finished with lift. Starting
price from €90,000. Call 21565108,
99470003
BAHAR IC-CAGHAQ, three bedroom
elevated ground floor maisonette measuring approx 115 square metres in a brand
new block in a finished state €175,000
(Lm75,000). A one car garage is included in the price. Call 99527200
BALZAN, an elevated three bedroom
ground floor apartment measuring 200
square metres in a brand new block being
offered finished excluding bathrooms and
internal doors. A car space is also included in the price €166,000 (Lm71,263).
Call 99527200
BALZAN, an outstanding period house
of character, offering spacious accomadation. Comprising entrance hall, dining room, fully fitted kitchen/breakfast,
TV room, guest toilet, utility, four bedrooms, three with ensuite, laundry, roof
terrace and a sunny back garden. Price
€524,000. Call 77436949
BALZAN, one bedroom apartment on
the second floor level measuring approx
79 square metres in a brand new block in
a finished state excluding bathrooms and
internal doors. A one car space is included in the price €97,000 (Lm41,642). Call
99527200
BALZAN, two bedroom penthouse
measuring approx 128 square metres
in a brand new block being offered finished excluding bathrooms and internal
doors. A one car space is also included
in the price €168,000 (Lm72,120). Call
99527200
BALZAN, well planned, traditional terraced house in this much sought after
residential location. Property comprises
an entrance hall, TV lounge, separate
dining room, open plan kitchen/breakfast leading onto a pretty back yard,
three double bedrooms, bathroom, two
showers (one en suite), front balcony,
carport and terrace. Must be seen! Price
€349,000. Call 79429400
BIRKIRKARA, houses of character
with one, three or six bedrooms. Works
required ranging from stone work till
building only one room. Freehold, and
starting from the price of €50,000. Call
owner 99447444, 21252455 or email
carl@77ltd.com
BIRKIRKARA, two bedroom finished
apartment at the best part of town.
Prices from €88,500. Call 79571435
BUGIBBA, business premises 291sqm.
GZIRA, a selection of lock up garages in
a new block in Nazju Ellul Street offered at
€16,000 (Lm6,500). Call 99527200
GZIRA, three bedroom penthouse in
the best part of Nazju Ellul Street. New
block and finished measuring approx
150 square metres. Price €175,000
(Lm75,127). Call 99527200
GZIRA, townhouse in Immaculate
Conception Street. Price €128,000. Call
79594617
HAMRUN, main road prime commercial
area, large townhouse with garden. Price
€490,000 negotiable. Call 79595200
HAMRUN/ST.VENERA, two bedroom
finished apartment with half roof, block
of two only. Price €87,000. No agents.
Call 99052077
IBRAG, a quaint, recently refurbished terraced house having a pretty front garden,
an underlying garage as well as a basement flat-let! Entrance hall, sitting room,
dining, fitted kitchen, three bedrooms,
bathroom, en suite shower, guest toilet,
laundry and a semi basement guest quarters along with a garage. Extras include
solar water heater and air conditioning.
Must be seen! Price €300,000. Call
79429400
MGARR, new furnished to very high
standards maisonettes, three bedrooms,
kitchen, living, dining, two bathrooms,
washroom, backyard and front terrace.
Must be seen. Price €71,000. Call
21570123, 99428930
MOSTA, tal-Isperanza maisonette with
three bedrooms, kitchen, dining room,
lounge, two bathrooms, wash room,
back yards. Very modern and furnished.
Must be seen. Price €174,700. Call
21570123, 99428130
NAXXAR - San Pawl tat-Targa, a newly
built semi-detached well constructed villa
with garden and pool/deck space and
a large underlying garage and bigfatlet, or games room. Being offered in
advanced shell form or highly finished to
specifications to the lucky future owner.
Comprising hall, kitchen /breakfast, sitting/dining/living, three bedrooms, bathroom, ensuite shower and a further shower on ground level, laundry room. Priced
from €528,000. Call 77436949
29
Classifieds
maltatoday.com.mt
30
Classifieds
OFFICE fully finished and with permit,
floor area 21 meters squared. Price
€33,000. Call 99491665
QAWRA, garage for one car and a
small store. In good price. Call owner
99492764
SITE to develop, even houses, airspace,
inheritance with tenants etc. Joint ventures/part exchange considered too. Call
developer on 99447444, 21252455
SLIEMA - Tigne, a brand new luxuriously
finished, bright and airy corner direct sea
front apartment, with extremely spacious
living/sitting/dining room leading to large
terrace offering amazing views up to
Manoel Island. Comprising hall, separate
kitchen , three double bedrooms, ensuite
and main bathroom, box room, side
balconies, fully air-conditioned and complimented with a two car garage. Price
€755,000. Call 77436949
SLIEMA, a brand new detached, spacious three bedroom Penthouse, offering wide open views and sea views.
Located in one of the finest streets
just of the promenade. Comprising hall,
good sized open plan kitchen/living/dining room,, main bathroom, enuite, box
room, large front and back terrace, and
optional garage. Priced to sell €359000.
Call 77436949
SLIEMA, seconds away from Tower
Road, A fully furnished, air-conditioned,
two bedroom apartment, ideal for first
time buyers, an elderly couple or rental
investment. Comprising an open plan,
fully fitted kitchen/living/dining leading
to front terrace with side sea views.
Includes a connecting spacious one car
lock up garage. Price €275,000. Call
77436949
SLIEMA, south facing, large and bright
three double bedroom apartment in
a smart block, with lockable garage,
three balconies, laundry room, two bathrooms with one ensuite, hall, sitting room,
kitchen/dining room ( Fino fitted kitchen) air conditioners, parquet flooring.
Corner apartment away from promenade.
Price €275,000. Call owner 79973118,
21376789
SLIEMA, St Ignatius junction. Brand new
two bedroom 76 sqm. Direct from owner,
price €123,000. Call 79562384
ST PAUL’S BAY, reduced for quick sale!
Xemxija. A pristine, corner, third floor
apartment with lift and intercom enjoying vast, panoramic views from all main
rooms and four balconies! Hall, spacious
sitting/dining room, fully fitted kitchen/
b’fast, three bedrooms, two bathrooms,
one en suite and an optional lock up
street level garage! Price €160,000. Call
79429400
SWATAR, a ready to move into, magnificent highly finished, superb, well located,
large terraced house, set on a good
sized plot. Comprising wide hall, fitted
kitchen/breakfast, separate sitting and
dining room, three double bedrooms,
main bathroom, bathroom ensuite, box
room, and an underlying large garage
with spare shower, games room. Includes
many extras. Well priced at €375,000.
Call 77436949
SWIEQI, a three bedroom apartment in
the best area of Swieqi measuring approx
140 square metres being offered highly
finished at €221,290 (Lm95,000). Call
99527200
SWIEQI/IBRAGG, excellent location,
four bedroom corner terraced house
with three bathrooms, kitchen, dining
room, lounge, wash room, roof, garden
and six car garage. Must be seen. Price
€415,000. Call 21570123, 99428930
TAL-IBRAGG, huge ground floor maisonette, flatlet, six car garage, garden, big
maltatoday
CLASSIFIED ADVERT
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THE VILLAGE - St. Julians, set on high
ground, offering distant sea views, A
designer finished semi-detached villa with
open plan kitchen/living and dining room,
three bedrooms, main with bathroom and
dressing room ensuite, fitted study (or
3rd bedroom) four car garage, games/
cinema room, swimming pool with ample
deck space. Fully furnished and air conditioned. Bargain price €559,000. Call
77436949
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ZURRIEQ, four old rooms, two courtyards and approx two tumoli of flat, arable
Land, located in a very peaceful area on
the outskirts of the village. Set on a corner of two roads with excellent vehicular
access, this hard-to-find property enjoys
panoramic country and distant sea views.
A fantastic opportunity for leisure, agricultural or equestrian pursuits. Worth serious
consideration. Price €165,000. Call John
on 99061028
EXPERIENCED interior designer.
Planning, alterations, electrical points, furniture, plans, colours, fabrics etc. Log
on www.designmalta.webs.com. Call
79255272
ZURRIEQ, four room farmhouse measuring 80sqm, two courtyards and 2168sqm
of flat and arable land, located in a very
peaceful area on the outskirts of Bubaqra!
Set on two roads with excellent vehicular
access, this hard-to-find property enjoys
panoramic country and distant sea views.
A fantastic opportunity for leisure, agricultural or equestrian pursuits. Worth serious consideration. Price €175,000. Call
99061028
ZURRIEQ, solitary duplex maisonette,
three double bedrooms, large back veranda and own roof, finished ready to move.
Worth viewing. Call owner 99289539
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VEHICLES AND PARTS
306, convertible, 1.8L, maroon, full
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AUSTIN Cambridge front bumper
and Hillman Minx front bumper. Call
21432566, 99475114
FIAT Brava, four original wheels 14x5.5,
as new and very little used. Price €150
for four, Four matching hubcups €15
each but €50 for four. Call 21382704,
79320055
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NEW rear bumper for VW Golf T.I and a
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Full extras in very good condition. Call
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31
Sport
SPORTTODAY
WORLD CUP
Uruguay
2-3
Forlan 41’, M. Pereira 90’ +2
Netherlands
V. Bronckhorst 18’, Sneijder 70’, Robben 73’
Martin Caceres of Uruguay and Arjen Robben of the Netherlands fight for the ball as Wesley Sneijder looks on
Dutch make it to final
after five goal thriller
THE Netherlands will face either
Spain or Germany in the Final
of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in
South Africa after beating Uruguay yesterday night by the odd
goal in five in the first of the
tournament’s semi-finals at Cape
Town’s Green Point Stadium. Bert
van Marwijk’s side were worthy
of their victory but were made to
work hard for it in an eventful last
four encounter punctuated by excellent goals from Giovanni van
Bronckhorst, Diego Forlan, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben and
Maximiliano Pereira.
Having gone into this match on a
record 24-match unbeaten streak,
the Dutch started as favourites,
and it was a tag they would justify
during an entertaining first half.
Van Marwijk’s side certainly began in positive fashion, with Robben darting beyond his marker at
the first opportunity inside four
minutes. Wesley Sneijder profited from his former Real Madrid
team-mate’s dynamism, curling
in a right-foot cross that, following an unconvincing punch from
Fernando Muslera, was hurriedly
controlled and volleyed just over
by the lively Dirk Kuyt.
It was an early moment of concern for La Celeste, but they
recovered admirably and, with
the pace of the game dropping,
looked to be comfortably holding
the Oranje at bay. With the Dutch
threat minimal, the Uruguayan
defenders would have been forgiven for not sensing any immediate danger when Giovanni van
Bronckhorst picked up the ball
over 30 yards from goal, close to
the left touchline. Yet it was from
this seemingly unthreatening
position that the Dutch captain
unleashed a stunning left-foot
shot that Muslera, despite apply-
ing a despairing touch, could only
divert into the top corner via the
inside of the post.
It was a magnificent strike, a
cast-iron contender for goal of
the tournament, and it gave the
Netherlands an advantage they
continued to prove worthy of as
the half progressed. However,
the Dutch weren’t the only team
capable of conjuring a goal out
of nothing, with Diego Forlan
providing an equally unexpected
equaliser four minutes before the
break.
Uruguay’s captain for the night
had hitherto been relatively subdued, but the Dutch defence made
the mistake of affording him too
much space 25 yards from goal
– and were ruthlessly punished.
Shaping to spread the ball wide,
Forlan instead turned inside on
his left foot and curled in a superb
left-foot shot that moved in the
air to deceive the wrong-footed
Maarten Stekelenburg.
Uruguay started the second
half with something to build on,
therefore, and they looked the
more threatening of the two sides
early on, with Van Bronckhorst
forced to head off the line from
a Maximiliano Pereira effort and
Stekelenburg parrying clear a
goal-bound Forlan free-kick.
The Dutch were unruffled,
however, and their patient probing at the other end almost paid
dividends when Robin van Persie’s intelligent reverse pass teed
up substitute Rafael van der Vaart
for a shot from the left-hand edge
of the box. With the strike accurate and firmly struck, Muslera
could only parry clear, but Robben proved unable to gobble up
the rebound, blazing over from
an acute angle.
Denied on this occasion, the
Dutch moved in front a couple of
minutes later, as Sneijder scored
his fifth goal of the tournament,
again benefiting from a telling deflection, this time off the thigh of
Maximiliano Perez, that spent his
20-yard shot spinning past Muslera. Uruguay needed a response,
and quickly, but with 17 minutes
remaining their hopes were all
but ended when Robben doubled
the Netherlands’ advantage.
A terrific goal it was too, with
the Dutch winger sneaking in
unnoticed to bullet a textbook
header in off the base of the lefthand post from a measured Kuyt
cross. Pereira did score an equally
excellent consolation, converting
expertly with a curling left-foot
shot from a quickly-taken freekick, but this injury-time effort
was to prove too little too late for
the last of the non-European representatives.
32
Sport
WORLD CUP
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY,, 7 JULY 2010
Germany
20:30
Spain
Semi-Final, Durban
German powerhouse take
on European Champions
Spain’s David Villa and Germany’s Miroslav Klose will be hoping to find the back of the net for their team
THERE will be at least one European representative in the Final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup
South Africa, after Germany
and Spain go head-to-head in
the second semi-final tonight.
The match gives the Germans
the opportunity to avenge their
defeat to a Fernando Torres
goal in the final of UEFA EURO
2008. No less than 19 survivors
from that game – eight Germans and 11 Spaniards – will
be on show in Durban, yet much
has changed since that night in
Vienna.
La Roja have struggled at times
to produce the same majestic
football that swept them to the
European title, while Joachim
Low’s revamped unit are unquestionably the form side of
the competition. Die Nationalmannschaft have been winning
new fans with their adventurous
approach and earning praise
from even the most seasoned of
observers, Franz Beckenbauer
among them. “Germany have
never played like this before,”
said an admiring Kaiser after
his compatriots had seen off
Argentina in the last eight.
While no side has scored
more goals in the tournament
than Germany’s 13, the statistics show that Spain have done
more attacking than anyone.
If those two pieces of informa-
tion are anything to go by, this
should be quite a match. The
Germans have been nothing
short of spectacular in South
Africa. After putting four past
Australia in the group phase,
they clicked into top gear in
the Round of 16, overwhelming England 4-1 with their rapid
counter-attacking style and
then put another four past Argentina in the quarters.
Though Spain have reached
a semi-final for the first time
ever, they have been unable to
match the exacting standards
they have set for themselves
in recent times, reproducing
their eye-catching possession
football only sporadically. Victors by a single goal in their
last three games, the European
champions can justifiably point
to some massed defences as the
reason for their reduced creativity, but there will be no excuses
for a lack of spark come kick-off
time on Wednesday.
All the indications are that Vicente del Bosque will keep faith
with the XI that started against
Paraguay, which means a reprieve for the misfiring Torres,
who has yet to score. As for opposite number Low, his most
pressing problem is to find a
replacement for the suspended
Thomas Muller, with Piotr Trochowski, Toni Kroos and Cacau
all in the frame.
The leading marksman at
South Africa 2010 with five
of his country’s six goals, the
Spanish striker is just one away
from joining Raul as La Roja’s
top scorer of all time. No less
important to his team than the
in-form Villa, Klose is closing
on another record. The German forward needs to find the
back of the net one more time
to draw level with Brazil’s Ronaldo as the leading goalscorer in
FIFA World Cup finals history
with 15 goals. One behind the
Spaniard in the South Africa
2010 charts, Klose has not given
up hope of making off with the
adidas Golden Boot as well.
3 - The number of times the
two sides have faced each other
in FIFA World Cup matches.
Germany have yet to lose, winning 2-1 at England 1966 and
Spain 1982 and forcing a 1-1
draw at USA 1994.
Argentina FA: Diego Maradona
will not be asked to leave
DESPITE the team crashing
out of South Africa in the
Second Round the head of
Argentine football insisted
the matter was completely in
the hands of ‘El Diego’.
Julio Humberto Grondona,
the head of the Argentine
football governing body,
AFA, has stated unequivocally that Diego Maradona
will not be asked to leave his
position as coach of La Seleccion.
‘El Pelusa’ had hinted following the Albiceleste’s
World Cup defeat at the
hands of Germany that he
would not continue at the
helm; even telling reporters
yesterday that “my time is
Maradona is the only person in the
country that can do whatever he
wants - Julio Humberto Grondona
up” when questioned on the
matter.
But the AFA head assured
that if any decision would be
made, it would have to come
from the outspoken coach, as
he has no intention of firing
the legend.
Controversial Grondona,
who has been the undisputed
head of Argentine football
for over 30 years, stated in an
interview from South Africa
with Channel 3: “The decision depends on Maradona,
he still has a contract with
us.”
And the director went further in stating the AFA’s
position on the matter, explaining that “Maradona is
the only person in the country that can do whatever he
wants”.
33
Sport
FOOTBALL
4-3
Sta Coloma
7-3 aggregate
Urbani M 21’, 85’, Jimenez 44’
Birkirkara
Galea M 9’, 31’, Cilia 34’, 45’
Birkirkara beat Sta Coloma
in high scoring encounter
BIRKIRKARA
FC
eased
through to the 2nd Qualifying
Round of the UEFA Champions League with an easy victory against Andorran side FC
Sta Coloma yesterday night.
After their forfeit 3-0 victory
against Sta Coloma, Birkirkara
were prime favourites to make
it through to the second qualifying round of the Champions League only needing to
sit out the game on a hot July
evening.
The Stripes missed a glorious chance to put the tie to
bed when Decesare found Bajada on the left with the latter whipping in a fine cross
to Galea who all alone in the
box saw his conclusion saved
by Fernandez. On 8 minutes,
Birkirkara again had a fine
chance to open the scoring
but Fernandez tipped over
Bajada’s shot.
But from the resulting corner, the Stripes deservedly
took the lead. A Shaun Bajada
cross somehow missed Fernandez with Galea on hand to
tap in from a yard and practically put the game beyond
Coloma’s reach. Birkirkara
continued pressing and could
have doubled on 12 minutes
when Decesare latched onto
a Michael Galea cross which
was somehow blocked by the
Andorran defence.
But against the run of play
on 21 minutes, FC Santa Co-
loma equalized when a dreadful defensive error by Nisevic
ended up at the feet of Urbani
who made no mistake slotting
into the net. That was only a
temporary blip however when
on 31 minutes, Bajada found
Galea whose exquisite lob
sailed into the net to the delight of the Birkirkara contingent.
The Stripes put the game
beyond doubt on 34 minutes
when Paris found Cilia who
smashed in from close range.
Jimenez made it 3-2 with a
deflected free kick but Cilia
scored his second of the match
in first half stoppage time slotting in from close range.
The second half was a much
quieter affair and in fact the
first move of the half came on
75 minutes when Cilia should
have made it five but after
rounding the keeper, his shot
went over the bar. On 85 minutes, Sta Coloma made it 3-4
to gain a more respectable
scoreline through Urbani.
Birkirkara FC: Lovison E,
Vukanac N, Nisevic B, Bajada
S (Tabone A 74’), Decesare
A, Cilia T (Buhagiar A 81’),
Fenech P, Zerafa J (Pulo K 67’),
Muscat R, Paris T, Galea M
FC Sta. Coloma: Fernandez
R, Gil Francesc X, Ayala M,
Sonesee O (Sanchez G 77’),
Garcia D (Bodjo Z E 54’), Ur-
banti NL, Jimenez M, Sanchez
A, Urbani M S, Martin F S, Ribolleda D (Garcia J M 46’)
Goals: Galea M 9’, 31’, Urbani M 21’, 85’, Cilia 34’, 45’,
Jimenez 44’
Yellow
cards:
Garcia,
Sanchez, Decesare, Vukanac,
Urbani MS
Referee: Madden B (Scotland)
Photos: Ray Attard
BY GERALD FENECH
34
Sport
35
Sport
OPINION
The chequered flag looms large
fires at a top speed of 317km/h,
and enjoys a six speed gearbox. Its
sleek look turns heads and leaves
our lower jaw floored. The same
effect is noted when the 11 German players are in the mood.
When Jurgen Klinsmann took
over the Germany job, he changed
one vital thing: he brought in
American coaches to improve the
athleticism of his team. Resigning after leading them to the 2006
semi finals, his previous assistant
Joachim Low replaced him, and
this was the perfect form of transmission. Low made use of Klinsmann’s changes and added some
nitro oxide to the fuel tank. As a
result the Germans have looked
like a team from another planet. England couldn’t handle
them, and they were also too
hot for Argentina, despite
the cool character in charge.
Their attacking philosophy
ensures goals flow easily,
and eight goals in two
knock out games
is
some-
MARK STRIJBOSCH
THAT weird, tongue twisting,
seemingly unpronounceable surname you see on the top left may
seem odd to some. Despite the
weight of such a surname, with
it comes many good times and a
grin that has outshined everyone
else’s during the last past month.
28 teams have been sent packing, some of which never really
needed a suitcase. The final four
remain in a contest which may
have started slowly, however it’s a
heated race to the finish line: the
World Cup final on Saturday the
11th of July. Three matches remain which will
determine a winner,
with four teams hoping to outsmart each
other on the green.
The Germans have always impressed me
personally. They
have always been
extremely
efficient, however
this year they have
combined
efficiency with style,
and look like the new
Audi R8, rather than
the strictly efficient BMWs
of the 90s. The V10 engine
Wesley Sneijder
thing incredible. A replica trophy
should be given to them simple
for destroying the English and
Argies.
The Germans also have a cool
character of their own. Paul the
octopus has predicted every single outcome correctly for Germany during this campaign, and all
eyes will be on his tank when he
predicts the outcome of tonight’s
semi final vs. Spain. The English
born octopus has been so precise;
he even knew Serbia would beat
Germany in the second round.
Its all eyes on Paul tonight as he
makes his predictions for the crucial game against Spain.
The Spanish have long been
hailed as the tournament favorites; however they may have
found their match against the
prolifically efficient Germans. In
all fairness the Spanish looked off
color and were made to work hard
in a dogged performance against
Paraguay. The fact of the matter
is that they won without ever really hitting top gear, so one can
only imagine what would happen
once the clutch is dipped and the
gears shifted through to sixth. For
the mighty Germans it may be a
case of having peaked too soon,
as the youngsters may find it hard
to cope with the pressure of being
the new beat boys. Having said all
that, a football special is on the
cards tonight, and no one will
want to blink for a second.
Despite initial fears of a South
American take over, the Europeans have stood strong, and Uruguay now remain the only team
outside Europe in the World Cup.
They take on the energy saving
Dutch, the origin of my complex
second name. No one will be more
nervous than I will be tonight (as I
type this on a Tuesday, not knowing the result). The Dutch ensured
my life was chopped shorter by
10 years against Brazil, but boy
was that worth it. More southern
American opposition awaits, and
in truth no one knows what to
expect from Uruguay, who really
took the tournament by storm.
With a man nicknamed el loco
battling in centre midfield, they
are an unpredictable bunch, and I
bet Paul the octopus would struggle at this outcome. The Dutch
have not played with their usual
flamboyant style, as we had seen
back in the European Championships two years ago, however what
they lack in style they make up for
in efficiency, and here we can see
a comparison to the BMWs mentioned earlier.
Should they get through, and
should Germany manage to overcome a strong Spanish back line
a fascinating final may await. It’s
a final any football fan would
hope for; it’s a final any Dutchman would love as possible revenge over the 1974 final when
West Germany beat Holland 2-1.
We saw a final of many firsts
back then, as it was the first time
the new World Cup Trophy was
used, and the very first penalties
were awarded during a final. The
Dutch would be hoping, if they
go through, that this year’s final
would also be one of first, as the
tiny northern Europeans, creators of Total Football, have never
ever won the World Cup. That
world cup final might be a case of
a drag race between a three series
coupe and an R8, as it’s a typical
battle of style vs. efficiency, and it
would certainly be interesting to
see which motor crosses the finish line first.
I for one am delighted to say I
will be in Africa for this year’s
World Cup final; however I will
be thousands of miles away from
Johannesburg, as I set off for voluntary work in Tanzania. My surname wont grace the sports pages
for the next five weeks, and I look
forward to writing again upon my
arrives. Until then, enjoy tonight’s
game, enjoy the final and enjoy a
well deserved break right after the
2010 World Cup final!
Pursuits
Across
1. Cloth bag filled with beans (7)
5. Readable (7)
9. Lockjaw (7)
10. Collection of maps (5)
11. Walk (5)
12. One circuit (3)
13. Filter (6)
14. Device for holding up a
stocking (6)
15. Engage in espionage (3)
17. Organisations (9)
21. Large (3)
23. Ski lodge (6)
24. Move back and forth (6)
27. Father (3)
28. Units (5)
29. Position (5)
30. Not friendly (7)
31. Enter again (2-5)
32. Own (7)
Sudoku
Down
Sudoku rules are
extremely easy: Fill all empty
squares so that the numbers 1
to 9 appear once in each row,
column and 9x9 box.
Answers to the MaltaToday crossword will be published next Wednesday
Last week’s solution
Chess
Today’s Weather
8
8
WEATHER: Mainly fine and with
the possibility of sea
fog patches overnight
7
6
7
5
4
6
VISIBILITY: Good locally poor in
fog
3
5
2
1
4
A
3
B
C
D
E
F
G
The solution will be
published next week.
2
1
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
White to play and mate in two moves
WIND:
Northwest force 3 to 4
becoming force 2 to 3
SEA:
Slight to moderate
becoming slight
SWELL:
Negligible becoming
low Northwest
H
SUNNY
32ºC / 22ºC
UV INDEX: 9
1. Glass containers (7)
2. Postmortem examination (7)
3. Flag (6)
4. Inflammation of the stomach
(9)
5. Person sentenced to life in
prison (5)
6. Receive an academic degree
(8)
7. Dramatic dances (7)
8. Entrap (7)
16. Steamer (9)
18. Submissive to authority (8)
19. Flee (7)
20. Made by humans (3-4)
21. The time a person goes to
bed (7)
22. Female deity (7)
25. Hotel patrons (6)
26. Male voice (5)
News
maltatoday
ma
altatoday, WEDNESDAY, 7 JULY 201
2010
‘Hardest-working man in
Brussels?’ Not quite...
Nationalist MEP’s proud claim does not quite stand up to scrutiny
GERALD FENECH
IN a recent press conference
called by the Nationalist MEP
delegation, David Casa modestly
described himself as the ‘hardestworking man in Brussels’, with
over 60 speeches and a similar
number of Parliamentary Questions.
However, closer scrutiny reveals
that this claim may be slightly
exaggerated. For instance, out
of ‘over 60 speeches’ delivered in
plenary, 52 (i.e., all but eight) consist in explanations of votes cast –
most which were simply submitted in writing.
Casa’s use of parliamentary
questions is also interesting. He
has apparently tabled 60 questions to the Commission. But
these turn out to be variations on
the same questions, relating to
only 16 individual issues.
For example, Casa tabled seven
questions about the ‘economic
crisis’ – but all seven turn out to
be completely identical to each
other, except that they refer to
seven different countries.
Further scrutiny of these
records also reveals that he has
only received 16 replies to his 60
questions, because the Commission replied en bloc. So, for example, when he tabled 10 PQs on the
state of education in Malta, the
Commission sent him one reply,
dealing with all 10 together. The
same is true for his other questions.
Sources from within the EP described this approach as “spamming the Commission with useless questions”.
Casa has already gained a certain
notoriety during the Commissioner hearings which took place
in January this year. Casa was
named by the Economist-owned
newspaper ‘European Voice’ as
the MEP who had asked the ‘most
inane question: specifically by
asking Commissioner-designate
Andor ‘how he intended to solve
the problem of child poverty’.
In a long statement, Casa had accused European Voice of having
taken its question “out of context
of the speech and the three-hour
hearing in which the question
had been asked.
“This is a clear example of abysmal journalism,” the Nationalist
MEP had claimed.
Contacted by sister paper Illum
in Brussels on 24 January 2010
and asked whether he could confirm EV’s report on the Nationalist MEP’s question, EV Editor Tim
King did not mince his words.
“Yes, I confirm the comment
made in the EV report,” King had
told Illum. King had explained
that there had been other stupid
questions by other MEPs in other
hearings, including the other Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil.
“Simon Busuttil, in the Cecilia
Malstrom hearing, had asked:
‘When are you going to stop illegal immigration once and for
all?;” King had revealed.
However Casa does not seem
to be alone in tabling reports
and questions on the same subject in an attempt to gain mileage. PN Head of Delegation
Simon Busuttil has chosen to
be rapporteur on seven reports.
However, six of these reports
consist in identical short reports on short-term visa waivers for six island-states in the
Caribbean.
Similarly, Labour MEP John
Attard Montalto has submitted the vast majority of his
‘speeches’ in writing.
David Casa claims to have worked harder than the entire Commission

Issue #171 - Midweek

Transcription

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