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Child born on patrol boat
A Somali woman gives birth to a boy on board the Armed Forces patrol boat that goes out to rescue a group of illegal immigrants, including the woman, caught out at sea.
The AFM rescues 25 migrants and the mother gives birth to her child the moment she is transferred to the military patrol boat.
Both mother and child are reportedly in good health after being transferred to St Luke’s Hospital.
Boy burnt in feast
Glen Caruana, 11, is in a critical condition after being badly burnt when shredded paper catches fire and set his clothes alight in Siggiewi during the morning band march.
A police officer, the boy's mother and his three-year-old sister are also injured in the incident.
The boy and his sister are playing with shredded paper in the street when for some reason the paper catches fire and the boy's clothes are engulfed in flames. He sustains severe injuries and is in danger of dying when admitted to hospital.
Monday, 26 June
Corrupt police officer
Superintendent Patrick Spiteri is charged with accepting bribes to exercise his influence on decisions taken by the police over the past six years in what is a blow to the police force. Spiteri appears under arrest in front of Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera and pleads not guilty to accepting bribes, extortion, abusing his authority and disclosing official secrets.
Spiteri, 49, of Fgura resigned from the force yesterday after being questioned at the police headquarters. The former police officer also pleads not guilty to complicity in clandestine lotto, stealing a shotgun from the Valletta police station on Saturday at 7 pm and committing crimes he was duty bound to prevent.
Magistrate Scerri Herrera grants Spiteri bail on condition that he does not leave his home unless granted permission by the court. The magistrate binds him by a Lm1,000 deposit and a personal guarantee of Lm5,000.
Migrants give the slip
Seven migrants are on the run after landing with a group of 27 others at Xghajra in the dead of night. The migrants are noticed during a police patrol in Xghajra and apprehended by the police after a thorough search of the area. Seven Africans, remain on the loose.
Firecracker blamed for fire
The police are looking for two boys, believed to be in their early teens, who may have thrown a firecracker igniting a fire in which an 11-year-old boy was badly burnt on Sunday during the Siggiewi village feast.
The boy is still in critical condition after suffering first degree burns.
Tuesday, 27 June
Mass breakout
Almost 400 illegal immigrants escape from the Safi detention centre and attempt to march all the way to Valletta to protest against detention. The mass breakout also turns violent at times with immigrants hurling stones at police officers and soldiers who at times seemed to be overwhelmed.
A sizeable group of immigrants gets as far as the roundabout leading to Garibaldi Road in Marsa before being forced back into the centre by the security forces almost two hours later.
Several police officers, soldiers and immigrants are slightly injured. Security personnel, called in from all parts of Malta, show great restraint in controlling an extremely tense situation.
266 more migrants
The largest group to date of immigrants is sighted off Malta’s coast after the boat they are on stalls. The 266 immigrants initially refuse the army’s assistance but then are persuaded to board an army patrol boat and brought to shore. The immigrants hail from Morocco and Egypt and are very likely to be repatriated soon.
Wednesday, 28 June
Action against hunting
The European Commission will start legal action against Malta on spring hunting, a decision taken during the weekly meeting of the college of Commissioners in Brussels, the 25-member executive that finds Malta in breach of the Birds Directive.
The Commission is not satisfied with the justifications brought up by the Maltese authorities to keep allowing spring hunting, an arrangement negotiated during membership talks.
Malta is the only EU member state where spring hunting is allowed.
MTA chief resigns
Romwald Lungaro Mifsud says he will relinquish his job as executive chairman of the Malta Tourism Authority at the end of August during a press conference held soon after the National Statistics Office announces a drop of over eight percentage points in tourist arrivals in May.
Lungaro Mifsud says his decision to resign is not a result of the rough patch the industry is going through. The MTA chairman says he had tendered his resignation in April, a revelation made public last Sunday by this newspaper, but Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech had asked him to reconsider his decision.
He will be returning to the Corinthia Group where he used to work before taking up the post.
Thursday, 29 June
Car catches fire
A Peugeot 106 is gutted by fire in St Julians in what is believed to be an accident. The fire also damages a BMW. A police officer is slightly injured when he tries to put out the flames.
More migrants arrive
A group of 28 illegal immigrants including three women arrive in Malta aboard a boat. They land at Benghisa in Birzebbuga and are rounded up by the police.
Friday, 30 June
Surcharge at 62%
The surcharge is 62 per cent for the months of July and August, government announces. The surcharge is two percentage points lower than that set for the previous two months.
Hunters object to report
The Federation for Hunting and Conservation takes up arms against the European Commission for deciding on the hunting situation in Malta based on a report it claims is laden with fallacies.
The federation says it is suspending technical talks aimed at revising the recently introduced hunting regulations and lodges a complaint with the European Ombudsman to investigate the European Parliament's Petitions' Committee and its report into Maltese hunting and trapping practices.
48 migrants arrive
Another group of 48 illegal immigrants, all men, arrives in Malta after being brought in by the army to Haywharf.
Saturday, 1 July
Woman drowns
A 48-year-old Scottish woman drowns while diving at Dwejra, Gozo. The woman finds herself in difficulties and swallows a substantial amount of water that proves to be fatal according to a police statement.
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