Новости за 31.12.2015

Thousands of people descended on Valletta this evening to welcome the New Year. The festivities in St George’s Square kicked off at 8pm with acoustic band Musique warming up the crowd with some jazz music, followed by The Crowns. Also performing are members of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and special guests Glen Vella and Kevin Borg. Tonight’s event is also celebrating the 450-year anniversary of the laying of Valletta’s foundation stone.

In the final hours of 2015, Pope Francis has encouraged humanity to hang on to recollections of good deeds, so that gestures of goodness can be seen triumphing over evil. Pope Francis was presiding over a year's end prayer service in St Peter's Basilica, where he mused about how people are sometimes driven by "insatiable thirst for power and by gratuitous violence". He said it was impossible to forget "so many days marked by violence, by death, by the unspeakable suffering of so many innocents". Still... Читать дальше...

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this evening looked back at the success obtained this year and promised that the fruit of the work done in the first two years of the legislature would be reaped this year. In his message for the New Year, Dr Muscat said this would be the year when the new gas-operated power station would be concluded, when new projects such as the maritime hub would be implemented and when work would start on new investments, such as at the Gozo hospital, St Luke’s Hospital and the American University of Malta. Читать дальше...

A US man has been arrested on charges he was planning a New Year's Eve attack at a bar to prove to Islamic State (IS) he was worthy to join it in Syria. Emanuel Lutchman, 25, of Rochester, New York, was charged with attempting to provide material support to terrorists after being snared in an FBI sting, prosecutors said. Lutchman is a self-professed convert to Islam who claimed to receive direction from an overseas IS member and planned to carry out an attack at a bar in the Rochester area, a federal complaint says. Читать дальше...

A huge fire has broken out this evening at a hotel near Dubai's massive New Year's Eve fireworks display. It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, which ran up at least 20 stories of The Address Hotel near the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest skyscraper at 828 metres. Burning debris rained down from the building as firetrucks raced to the scene. It was not immediately clear if anyone was wounded in the blaze. Dubai planned to wow spectators with three separate firework displays. The show was to begin at the Burj Khalifa... Читать дальше...

Fireworks exploded over the Taiwanese capital of Taipei at midnight, as the country celebrated the arrival of 2016. Residents rang in the New Year with a roughly five-minute-long fireworks display that exploded from Taiwan's tallest skyscraper, the landmark Taipei 101. The world is welcoming 2016 with large fireworks displays in major cities from Sydney to Hong Kong and from Paris to New York.

A third day of widespread flooding across Missouri left vehicles, homes and businesses completely underwater. Some small aircraft were even spotted by aerial television stations at a small airport floating on the water. Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma braced for even more flooding as rain-swollen rivers, some at record heights, overflowed their banks, washing out hundreds of structures, closing major highways and leaving thousands of people displaced from their homes. Days of downpours... Читать дальше...

Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher has returned fire after a New York Post critic told her to quit acting if she did not want to be judged on her looks. In a much-criticised column, Kyle Smith said on Wednesday that Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, was a public figure who had “made millions off being pretty”. Responding to her comments earlier this week on Twitter, in which the actor and writer hit out at social media trolls who have criticised her appearance in the new Star Wars film... Читать дальше...

Work on the national flood relief project has been concluded, Infrastructure Minister Joe Mizzi said. He said that although the project should reduce the impact of floods, it would not solve the flooding problem all over the country. The government, the minister said, would be studying the effects on other areas that were not included in the project and see how it could implement additional works to mitigate the problem. The €55 million project, which was partially financed by the European Union... Читать дальше...

Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn visited York in northern England today, as the historic city tried to cope with the aftermath of severe floods. Corbyn met with Environment Agency officials and inspected a flood defense on the river Foss which failed last Saturday. As a result, water flowed from the river into the city forcing hundreds of people to evacuate their homes. Prime Minister David Cameron defended the government's record on flood defenses during a visit to York on Monday, saying it had... Читать дальше...

We do not want a Church that sits on a fence, but one that speaks and listens, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this afternoon as he exchanged New Year’s Day greetings with the Archbishop. Together with Archbishop Emeritus Paul Cremona and Vicar General Joseph Galea-Curmi, Mgr Charles Scicluna was exchanging greetings with the country’s leaders at the Archbishop's Palace in Valletta. Flanked by members of his Cabinet, Dr Muscat said the Church should express its opinion about what was going on in... Читать дальше...

An Emergency Response and Rescue Corps rescue swimmer will be spending his new year with Malta-based MOAS, the Migrant Offshore Aid Station. Ripley Davenport will be joined by another rescue swimmer from Belfast, Tim Brown, who works with the Lagan Search and Rescue. The ERRC provides a volunteer sea ambulance service in Malta. Since its inception, MOAS has rescued more than 12,000 migrants attempting the cross into Europe.

The BBC's online services, including its news website and iPlayer catch-up TV platform, were taken down this morning by a large web attack, the British broadcaster reported. The BBC's sites, which rank only behind Google and Facebook in visitor numbers in Britain, according to Internet analytics firm comScore, were hit from 8am, with many users receiving an error message rather than content. The broadcaster itself reported it had been hit by a "distributed denial of service (DDoS)" attack, citing sources within the organisation. Читать дальше...

The price of petrol, diesel and kerosene will go down as follows as from Saturday, Enemed said. The price of oil is at its lowest since 2009 but motorists in Malta still pay relatively high prices when filling up, especially for diesel, which is the fourth most expensive in the 28 EU member states. Product Maximum Retail Price For December 2015 (Eur/ltr) Revised Maximum Retail Price For January 2016 (Eur/ltr) Change (Eur/ltr) Unleaded Petrol €1.35 €1.32 (€0.03) Diesel ... Читать дальше...

Fireworks exploded over the Sydney Opera House at midnight as thousands gathered to usher in the new year in Australia's largest city. Another fireworks display kicked off at 9pm local time, a precursor to the main event. In order to cope with the large crowds and ease congestion, city officials provided more than 4,500 extra bus, train, ferry and light rail services, according to local media.

While the current crop of 16-year-olds might not have earned plaudits for their command of the English language, or for recalling major historical events, their knowledge on the economy might be second to none. A report on the performance of students sitting for last May’s Secondary Education Certificate exam (O-level) in economics has revealed a very good grasp of basic economic concepts among an overwhelming number of candidates. From issues like government expenditure, budget deficit and the downward trend in crude oil prices... Читать дальше...

Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri has backed his squad to build on their "fantastic half-season" ahead of tomorrow's Premier League clash against relegation-threatened Bournemouth. Leicester, who were on the brink of relegation last year, are behind leaders Arsenal only on goal difference and have taken the league by storm, having won 11 of their 19 matches so far. "We've had a fantastic half-season, it's unbelievable what we are doing and we must continue. We are building the team, building... Читать дальше...

Residents in the the Bolivian city of El Alto, a chaotic sprawl high in the Andes, were surprised when heavy winds hit the city on Tuesday. Local media reported that 90 houses were partially destroyed in three neighbourhoods of District Eight, due to the gale force winds. Dramatic video footage, taken by Miguel Oporto while standing behind a window, shows the moment the winds swept in, ripping off home rooftops located in El Alto neighbourhoods of Copacabana, Agosto 15 and Plan Tres Mil. Afterwards... Читать дальше...

A 32-year-old man from Birkirkara was seriously injured following a collision with a car in Birkirkara this morning. The incident happened in Triq in-Naxxar, Birkirkara, close to the Mitħna establishment. The 28-year-old car driver sustained no injuries. The motorcyclist is believed to have sustained multiple fractures. The police are investigating.

Booking a quick diving trip to Malta, Justyna Michniuk and Atze Vattersen did not expect much of the Mediterranean island they knew nothing about. Two years later, the two visitors from Hamburg are preparing to launch a blog about daily life in the place they have come to think of as their second home. “We are not your normal tourists. You won’t find us lying on the beach, enjoying the sun, but walking around, talking to people and exploring less-popular areas,” Ms Michniuk said. The pair plan to launch the blog... Читать дальше...

With fireworks ablaze at Auckland's Sky Tower, New Zealand was among the first to celebrate the New Year today. Auckland's sky was lit up with half a tonne of fireworks exploding from the city's 328-metre tall Sky Tower, the focal point of the city's firework display. The five minute, 360-degree display delighted tens of thousands of people who gathered to watch the show as bright colours erupted through the night sky over the city's harbour.

Chileans rallied on Monday to save a giant blue whale which became stranded on a beach in Iquique. Using ropes and nets, fishermen, navy personnel and passers-by all pitched in to pull the whale off the beach and out to deeper waters. Chile's navy sent two vessels to tow the huge whale in an operation that last at least three hours. The blue whale reportedly measured some 20 metres in length.

St John Rescue Corps is opening its doors to anyone interested in its life-saving services on Sunday. The corps is inviting visitors to its headquarters and training school at Fort Madalena in Madliena between 10am and 4pm for a recruitment open day. There will be demonstrations of rescue operations carried out during road traffic accidents and tips on how to prevent and handle kitchen fires. A high angle rescue operation will also be carried out and the public will have the opportunity to abseil. Читать дальше...

A small photograph of an American soldier’s sweetheart survived the war and was found 70 years later when the sergeant’s visor cap was being restored for the National War Museum in Valletta. “The cap was in good condition. I was inspecting the seam to see if it was all intact and just as I lifted the leather band, I saw a tiny, black and white photo held tight by the spike of a button. “I wondered who the woman could possibly be,” Claire Bonavia, the principal conservator at Heritage Malta, told this newspaper. Читать дальше...

Belgian police have detained six people during house searches in Brussels in an investigation into a plot to carry out an attack in the city on New Year's Eve, prosecutors said. Authorities in the Belgian capital Brussels yesterday called off the city's traditional New Year's Eve fireworks display, citing fears of an attack. A judge would decide later today whether they could be held further. Two people arrested earlier this week, named as 30-year-old Said S. and 27-year-old Mohammed K., would be... Читать дальше...