Новости за 06.01.2021

Donald Trump's supporters on Wednesday stormed a session of Congress held to certify Joe Biden's win, as a desperate last-minute bid by the president to overturn his election loss sparked chaos and accusations of a "coup" attempt. Hours after an extraordinary rally by Trump challenging his defeat, his flag-waving backers broke down barricades outside the Capitol and swarmed inside, with the special session going into an emergency recess as protesters entered the chambers. Trump supporters, waving... Читать дальше...

Three goals in the first half propelled Gżira United  to an easy victory over bottom team Senglea Athletic in yesterday’s opening game at the Centenary Stadium. The comprehensive 4-0 victory was a legitimate reward for the Maroons’ sprightly football showing. The scoreline clearly indicates the gulf in class that exists between the two sides as Gżira laid bare Senglea’s fragile confidence and not even the introduction of newcomer Sergio Uyi in defence could help to steady the ship. Gżira newcomer... Читать дальше...

Updated 10.45pm, adds government statement State school teachers will go on strike on Thursday and Friday after union talks with the prime minister ended without agreement.  The Malta Union of Teachers said all their members across primary, secondary, university and kindergarten would not turn up for work unless lessons are held online.  This means that all schools in Malta and Gozo will have to close for the remainder of the week or offer online options, MUT head Marco Bonnici said. An assessment... Читать дальше...

January 6 marks Epiphany, the feast of The Three Kings, in which the Catholic Church celebrates the Wise Men’s visit to Jesus, offering him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Today also traditionally marks the end of Christmas festivities, when all the festive decorations, such as the Christmas tree, wreaths, cribs and lights, are taken down and stored away. Christmas street lights, which illuminated towns and villages for the past month or so, are also set to be turned off. Two students from... Читать дальше...

The publisher of a satirical news site facing contempt of court proceedings has stood by a controversial social media post labelling Yorgen Fenech’s legal team “mafia lawyers”.  Tongue-in-cheek ‘news’ site Bis-Serjetà is expected to face contempt of court proceedings after Fenech’s lawyers complained to magistrate Rachel Montebello about a meme uploaded on Facebook referring to them as “Mafia lawyers”.      The publisher of the site, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Times of Malta that the... Читать дальше...

The US logged its highest ever daily death toll from the coronavirus Wednesday as the world prepares to turn the page on a grim year defined by the pandemic, with much of the globe united in one hope for 2021: that a slew of new vaccines will stamp out COVID-19. New Year's Eve marks one year since the World Health Organization first mentioned a mysterious pneumonia in China later identified as COVID-19, which went on in 2020 to kill more than 1.79 million people and devastate the global economy in unprecedented ways. Читать дальше...

Work is currently under way by the Department of Culture to enlist the Maltese feast in the list of intangible cultural heritage under UNESCO, Arts Minister José Herrera said on Wednesday. The minister was speaking during the launch of a national bands festival, to be held for the first time in May, should the health situation permit. The festival will be open to all band clubs in Malta and Gozo.  Four clubs will be selected to hold a programme in Cottonera in the second and third week of May, subject to public health regulations. Читать дальше...

The European Union authorised the coronavirus vaccine developed by US drug company Moderna on Wednesday, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said, hours after medical regulators gave it the green light. The Moderna vaccine is the second to be approved by the European Medicines Agency and the commission has organised a joint purchasing programme to provide doses for member states. “We are providing more COVID-19 vaccines for Europeans. With the Moderna vaccine, the second one now authorised in the EU... Читать дальше...

The editor of satirical news site Bis-Serjetà and university lecturer Simon Mercieca are set to face contempt of court proceedings over posts they published online regarding Yorgen Fenech.  This was the outcome of a decree delivered by Magistrate Rachel Montebello at the end of the last hearing in the murder compilation in December, following complaints made by Fenech's lawyers and the Attorney General’s Office about certain negative media reporting targeting lawyers on either side of the judicial process. Читать дальше...

Updated 5.55pm  A senior police officer has been suspended after testing positive for cocaine.  Sources told Times of Malta that Maurice Curmi, a superintendent, was subjected to a drugs tests earlier this month after a whistleblower flagged the use of narcotics by the officer over the holidays.  Curmi has been suspended and will now have to appear before the Public Service Commission that will decide whether or not he should be sacked from the force. Replying to questions, a police spokesman confirmed... Читать дальше...

China's crackdown in Hong Kong escalated dramatically on Wednesday with police arresting more than 50 opposition figures in their largest operation since a draconian security law was imposed on the financial hub. The sweep is the latest salvo in Beijing's battle to stamp out dissent in the semi-autonomous city after millions hit the streets in 2019 with huge and sometimes violent democracy protests. Police confirmed 53 people - including a US citizen - were arrested for "subversion" in an early morning... Читать дальше...

For months, officials pledged the flow of goods and services between Britain and the EU would remain smooth after Brexit, but a series of hiccups and delays shows the days of frictionless trade might well be over. Here are some of the problems that have cropped up since Britain’s official exit from the bloc on January 1, despite a last-minute deal on future trade relations. Supply strains  New customs and administrative formalities are now required for British goods entering the European Union – except... Читать дальше...

More than 500 earthquakes took place in the vicinity of Malta over a 19 year period, with most so small they weren't felt by residents. Scientists from the University of Malta's Department of Geosciences identified the tremors in the country's first national earthquake catalogue.     The 500 earthquakes took place around the islands between 1995 and 2014 - equating to 26 a year. They were the recorded on the only seismic station operating on Malta during this period, code-named WDD and located at Wied Dalam, limits of Birżebbuġa. Читать дальше...

Church schools will not be reopening their gates on Thursday as planned as a result of the sharp spike in new COVID-19 cases.  Most Church schools were set to reopen for the second term on Thursday, along with all State schools.  But in a statement on Wednesday, the Secretariat for Catholic Education (SfCE) in consultation with the Church Schools Association (CSA) said the first two days of the new term will be carried out online.  "This will allow schools to offer an education which safeguards the health and safety of students... Читать дальше...

An 89-year-old woman died and another 18 pensioners were hospitalised, some with severe burns, after a fire ripped through an elderly care residence in Spain, rescuers said Wednesday.  The blaze began late on Tuesday at the care home in the southern city of Seville, with some 170 police, medics and rescuers involved in the operation in which another 78 residents had to be rehoused, the emergency services said in a statement. "An 89-year-old woman died as a result of the fire... and 18 people were taken to different hospitals in the city"... Читать дальше...

A man convicted of procuring the heroin that led to a woman’s death by overdose has had his jail term reduced on appeal in a judgement on Wednesday that followed a 21-year court saga.  Lawrence Attard, now 56, had been arraigned back in November 1999, pleading not guilty to having procured the drug that had been administered to 20-year old Therese Agius by a third party, Joseph Azzopardi. The woman’s body was discovered floating at sea off the Delimara coast, hands and feet trussed up with blue nylon wire. Читать дальше...

Veteran player David Camilleri has returned to Mellieha Libertas as confirmed by the club on Tuesday. Camilleri, who is a threat from deep, is Mellieha’s latest addition and the first for the new year as the side have struggled with 1-3 record so far in the season. The former Hibs, Hamrun Liberty, Floriana, and Siggiewi player is known for his record 11 threes scored in one game, a 2005 record which is yet to be beaten.   Continue reading this article on Sports Desk, the new sports website by Times... Читать дальше...

Civil society group Repubblika expressed concern at the government’s insistence that former prime minister Joseph Muscat should not be invited to answer to a parliament about an €80,000 contract to former minister Konrad Mizzi. The Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday endorsed the findings of an investigation by the Standards Commissioner into the case. But it then ran into conflicting views about whether Muscat, who resigned as an MP last year,  could be summoned to explain with government MPs insisting he shouldn't. Читать дальше...

A teenage boy is in hospital after having been seriously injured on Tuesday when a motorcycle being driven by a 17-year-old crashed in Xewkija. The police said the accident happened in Triq is-Salvatur in the late afternoon. The driver was only slightly injured but the passenger, also 17, was seriously hurt. The police are investigating.

Rapper Kanye West and his reality TV star wife Kim Kardashian West are living separately and undergoing marriage counseling, NBC News reported, citing a source close to the family. For the past few months West, 43, has been living in Wyoming while Kardashian West, 40, and their four children stayed in California, the source said Tuesday. The mega-celebrity couple, who married in a lavish ceremony in Italy in May 2014, have been repeatedly dogged by gossip-press speculation that their marriage was on the rocks. Читать дальше...

British new car sales crashed to the lowest level for almost three decades in 2020, with demand ravaged by chronic coronavirus fallout and Brexit uncertainty, industry data showed on Wednesday. Sales tanked by 29.4 per cent compared with 2019 to 1.63 million new vehicles, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealed in a statement.  That was the lowest level since 1992. The sector suffered a revenue loss of £20.4 billion (€22.6bn) meanwhile.“2020 will be seen as a lost year for automotive... Читать дальше...

The EU's medicines watchdog approved a coronavirus jab by US firm Moderna on Wednesday, giving a shot in the arm for Europe's slow-moving vaccine roll-out. The vaccine is the second to be authorised by the European Medicines Agency for the 27-nation bloc after Pfizer-BioNTech's got the green light in late December. The Moderna approval comes as criticism mounts of the EU's sluggish start to its vaccination campaign, which is lagging behind the United States, Britain and Israel. "This vaccine provides... Читать дальше...

Street graffiti which claimed that COVID-19 is fake has been removed by the San Anton Hotel.  The blue spray-painted words included “Corona is fake” and "covid is fake” were found on the outer walls of the hotel at Triq C. Tanti in St Paul’s Bay.  “The graffiti was removed first thing this morning. Unfortunately we have no information about who vandalised the hotel,” a hotel spokesperson explained. On Wednesday it was announced that new COVID-19 cases rose to a record of 224.  The graffiti was first flagged by Graziella Galea... Читать дальше...

More restrictive public health measures could be announced in the coming days if daily COVID-19 case numbers continue to rise, Health Minister Chris Fearne said on Wednesday. Malta recorded a record 224 daily new cases on Wednesday, beating the previous high of 218 which had been established in November.  Speaking at a news conference, Fearne said that public health experts believed three key factors could be behind the rise in cases. The first was the Christmas holiday season, with people meeting... Читать дальше...

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will have to remain in custody, pending a US appeal that blocked his extradition to face charges for leaking secret documents, a judge ruled on Wednesday.  Judge Vanessa Baraitser told Westminster Magistrates Court: "I am satisfied that there are substantial grounds for believing that if Mr Assange is released today he will fail to surrender to the court to face the appellant proceedings."