|
During the GRTU general conference, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi announces the setting up of a unit under his remit to review all regulations, past and present in a bid to streamline bureaucratic procedures.
The Prime Minister also hears complaints about government’s hazy plans for regulating parking in Sliema and criticism by poultry producers for having promised the safeguard clause prior to the referendum only to find out that now it cannot be applied.
Paul Debattista, 42, from Paola is arrested in the Netherlands in connection with the alleged laundering of drug money. Known as l-Bloqq, Debattista is also wanted by the Maltese police in connection with a number of cases.
Monday, 16 January
The Times reports that the works on Dar Malta in Brussels get the green light from the Belgian authorities and Permanent Representative to the EU Richard Cachia Caruana says he expects the staff to be transferred to the new premises by year’s end.
The refurbishment works are expected to cost Lm2.5 million and works are to commence by the end of February.
The CEO of Gama Textiles of Austria is reported saying that his company will drop the Malta investment because Bank of Valletta would not provide financing for the project deemed too risky by the bank.
Malta Enterprise offers a guarantee for 75 per cent of the required investment but BOV demands guarantees from the company for the remaining 25 per cent of the investment, which the Austrian firm declines to do.
In a press release, BOV says it was unable “to accommodate Gama’s requests” after a normal exercise of due diligence and financial evaluation of the company’s proposal was undertaken.
Dusan Fitzel, the former U-18 coach of the Czech Republic, is appointed by the Malta Football Association as national team coach, replacing German Horst Heese. Fitzel is given a two year contract covering Malta’s games for the qualification phase of the European Cup finals.
Tuesday, 17 January
Charlo Cutajar, 42, from Marsaskala and Brian Mercieca, 20, from Kalkara are arraigned by the police in connection with a series of thefts and hold-ups perpetrated since August.
Both are accused of being in breach of previous court sentences in their regard.
Minister Francis Zammit Dimech is given a tour of the new Le Meridien Hotel in St Julians, which is in its final stages of completion. The hotel is expected to open its doors on 1 March this year and will employ around 240 people by May.
The hotel, with an investment of Lm18 million, will raise the number of five-star beds on the island to 6,028.
Sir Vincent Fean, outgoing British ambassador to Malta, will be posted in Libya after his Malta assignment comes to a close at the end of January.
Wednesday, 18 January
The European Parliament votes down a proposal by the European Commission to liberalise port services, which would have seen ships utilising onboard staff to offload cargo instead of shore-based cargo workers.
This is the second time in the space of two years that the EP has turned down the Commission’s proposal. The directive is vehemently opposed by the Socialists, Greens and Communists and is also voted down by a large section of MEPs from the European Popular Party.
All Maltese MEPs, bar John Attard Montalto, who is away from Parliament, vote against the directive.
The European Parliament also scuppers the EU budget deal reached between the heads of state, re-opening the debate once again.
The Criminal Court orders the arrest of Emmanuel Degiorgio, who is being prosecuted for threatening to kill his wife. Degiorgio had been granted bail by the first court.
Degiorgio is set to remain under arrest until the case against him is heard. He is being accused of threatening to kill his wife, the culmination of a 22-year ordeal during which the woman suffered beatings and abuse at the hands of her husband.
At the Palazzo Capua Business Breakfast organised by MediaToday, HSBC CEO Shaun Wallis talks of good economic prospects for 2006 based on an assessment of the bank’s top clients. Wallis says bank deposits, savings in investment bonds, equities and life policies have registered increases.
Thieves raid the Easysell-Kia car showroom in Qormi, during the late hours of the night, spectacularly stealing five second-hand cars.
Thursday, 19 January
Labour leader Alfred Sant reiterates his call for an administrative inquiry into the incident concerning the tragic death of a 19-year-old girl on New Year’s Eve in Valletta after falling off the bastions next to the Mediterranean Conference Centre. The girl had attended the party held at the MCC.
Sant says many questions surrounding the incident remain unanswered, such as how the permits for the party at the MCC were issued and what conditions were imposed.
A coach driver is cleared of involuntary causing permanent injuries to a motorist who was hit by the door of the vehicle’s luggage compartment almost three years ago. Magistrate Giovanni Grixti clears Charles Zammit of Mellieha of the charge of having caused permanent injuries to Victoria Sciberras who ended up paralysed from the waist down. The accident happened on 10 March, 2003.
The Broadcasting Authority announces a revised family-viewing policy for television and radio stations asking them to classify programmes using the same classification criteria adopted for cinema and the stage.
A man given a suspended sentence over accusations of trafficking Russian women and living off the earnings of prostitution sees his sentence being turned into an effective prison term by the court of criminal appeal.
Patrick Sciberras had been found guilty by the court of first instance of human trafficking and running a brothel and awarded a two-year jail term suspended for four years. The Attorney General had appealed from the sentence, demanding a stiffer penalty. Justice David Scicluna upholds the appeal and sentences Sciberras to two years and six months in prison and fines him Lm200.
Friday, 20 January
The Freeport once again grapples with the issue of illegal immigration as seven Algerian men are discovered trying to disembark illegally from two ships reaching Malta from Algeria. The stowaways are rounded up and marched back on board by immigration police.
A 55-year-old woman, Dolores Schembri, dies after falling off the ledge when cleaning the window panes of a flat in Xemxija. Schembri falls one storey and ends up in a courtyard. She is certified dead by a doctor who is called on site.
A magisterial inquiry is launched into the accident.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi says the work on Mater Dei Hospital is proceeding as planned during a visit to the new hospital. All construction work on the hospital has to be ready by 1 July 2007. By March this year Skanska, the construction company, is expected to start delivering the first wards to the Foundation for Medical Services.
Inflation for the month of December goes beyond three per cent according to figures released by the National Statistics Office.
Saturday, 21 January
The police retrieve four of the stolen cars in Wednesday’s spectacular burglary from a showroom in Qormi. A man is being investigated over the theft. Three cars are found in Qormi and another is apprehended in Attard.
The teenager reported missing on Tuesday, Ramona Cutajar, 15, from Mosta, is found by the police. The discovery comes 24 hours after her father makes a heart-felt appeal on TV programme Xarabank. This is the third time Ramona has gone missing.
|
