Новости за 22.08.2018

Would-be tenants at the lower end of the income ladder are being outbid by groups of eight or more foreigners who have no qualms about living in overcrowded apartments meant for two or three, according to the Federation of Estate Agents. Simon Debono, who heads the federation, told Times of Malta he had seen countless single mothers, and other vulnerable people forced into homelessness as the property market spiralled out of control. “We get Maltese people with budgets of say €200-300 a month. There’s... Читать дальше...

Become a Times of Malta premium member and gain access to more than 80 years of news stored in our digital archive.   10 years ago - The Times Friday, August 22, 2008 Massive aviation fuel spill kept secret for a week Two Enemalta employees were suspended and their manager put on forced leave following a massive spill of aviation fuel at the corporation’s Wied Dalam plant in Birżebbuġa, which was kept under wraps for over a week. Around 31 tons of the fuel were spilled into Birżebbuġa valley from... Читать дальше...

Ranked among the best progressive rock guitarists and garnering praise from the likes of Steve Vai, Australian solo musician Plini will be performing at the Valletta Campus Theatre today. At 26, Plini has already amassed critical praise from fellow musicians. Guitarist Steve Vai described Plini’s debut album Handmade Cities as “one of the finest, forward thinking, melodic, rhythmically and harmonically deep, evolution of rock/metal instrumental guitar records I have ever heard”. Plini was also ranked... Читать дальше...

Measuring the extent of the shadow economy in any country is a notoriously tricky and controversial task. The size of the shadow economy should take into account all economic activity, including the official and unofficial production of goods and services. This comprehensive exercise is essential in the formulation of economic policies. The different names used for the shadow economy are confusing as there may be subtle interpretation nuances linked to the terms used. Hidden economy, illegal economy... Читать дальше...

Police investigators on Tuesday extracted data from the servers of the private wealth management firm allegedly at the centre of the Malta-Venezuela money laundering scandal. Sources said investigators seized servers containing data on wire transfers and other contentious material from Portmann Capital Management, the Sliema-based investment firm that reportedly helped launder $1.2 billion in funds looted from Venezuela’s State fuel company. The story hit the international headlines in recent weeks after a criminal complaint... Читать дальше...

I am going to start this article with comments, which some readers might not agree with, and I myself would be grouped among these people if I was reading it. Complicated? Not really. We Maltese live in properties that are much too large. We drive cars that are too large. We use trucks and buses that are too large and we wonder why our country is overbuilt and our roads overcrowded. But that’s another topic, that could be discussed on its own. Before the 1960s, the Maltese did not normally build or own their own properties. Читать дальше...

CHAMBERS. On Monday, August 20, at Mater Dei Hospital, JOHN, of Swieqi, aged 76, comforted by the rites of Holy Church. He leaves to mourn his great loss his beloved wife Ninette, née Galea, his beloved daughters Louise and Suzanne and her husband Stefan Sammut, his greatest treasure his only grandson Matteo, his sister-in-law Doris and her husband Petros Iordanidis, Therese and her husband Tony Schembri, his brother-in-law Anthony Galea DeMarco, his beloved nephews and nieces, other relatives and friends in Malta... Читать дальше...

Just over 15 months ago, Magistrate Aaron Bugeja was appointed to carry out an inquiry. The objective of the magistrate’s inquiry was straight-forward: to establish whether or not the Prime Minister’s wife was the owner of a €1 million secret off-shore account, the so-called Egrant account, as alleged by Daphne Caruana Galizia in her blog. Let me preface what I am about to write next with a clear qualification. As I have repeatedly said, I fully understand the heartbreak and pain which the Caruana... Читать дальше...

Good morning, the following are the top stories in Malta's newspapers. Times of Malta gives prominence to concerns by the Superintendence of National Heritage over an unauthorised tunnel survey in connection with the Santa Luċija project. It also reports that police have lifted data from the offices of a wealth management firm reportedly at the heart of a Venezuelan money laundering scam. MaltaToday also reports on the Venezuelan scam, saying Bank of Valletta filed a suspicious transaction report against the wealth management company... Читать дальше...

The Malta Football Association is adopting a holistic approach in a bid to improve the level of the futsal competitions, the national team and coaching education. Malta FA Vice-President Dr Matthew Paris gave an overview of the 2018-19 futsal competitions and the plans for the national team, now under the guidance of Dutch coach Vic Hermans who was presented to the media on Tuesday. “There is a collective willingness to try and improve the level of the domestic competitions as well as the image of... Читать дальше...

A major earthquake of magnitude 7.3 struck the northern coast of Venezuela on Tuesday and shook buildings as far away as the capital, Caracas, the US Geological Survey said. Cell phone footage from Reuters showed people in a supermarket reacting to the tremor as items fell from store shelves in the city of Puerto Ordaz. In Caracas, framed pictures hung on office walls swayed as the quake shook buildings. The quake was centered near the town of Carupano, an area of poor fishing communities and was... Читать дальше...

Going to Sliema nowadays is a shock to one’s system. Is it time to change its name to something more apt? Ħal Ħoss is great but, unfortunately, Sliema is not a village. May I suggest a competition for the best name with the winner to be awarded a bicycle or a couple of trees to be donated by the local council or the Planning Authority.

Critical comments by US President Donald Trump about the country’s central bank saw the dollar fall for the fourth straight day in its worst spell since March, boosting emerging market stocks and currencies in the process. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Mr Trump said he was “not thrilled” with the Federal Reserve under his own appointee, chairman Jerome Powell, for raising interest rates, and said the Fed should do more to help him to boost the economy. American presidents have rarely criticised... Читать дальше...

Evil is always condemned. It is destructive and shutters our relationship with God, with each other and ourselves. The Bible gives us the following remedy to counter evil: overcome evil with good (Rom 12:21). Good is the practice of virtue. The sixth-century monk and Abbot, St Dorotheus of Gaza, writes: “We must practise each virtue in such a way that we reach it and it becomes a habit for us. Thus… we are a good and skilled builder, able to build our house securely.”