Новости за 14.05.2021

Ferran Torres scored his first Manchester City hat-trick as the newly-crowned English champions twice came from behind to beat Newcastle 4-3 on Friday. With a third Premier League title in four years sealed with three games to spare, Pep Guardiola again took the chance to hand a number of his fringe players an opportunity to shine two weeks ahead of the Champions League final. Goalkeeper Scott Carson was handed his City debut at 35 and a first Premier League appearance for almost 10 years. Continue reading this article on Sports Desk. Читать дальше...

The Turkish Grand Prix, which was only drafted onto the Formula One calendar as a replacement for the cancelled Canada GP two weeks ago, was itself axed on Friday. Formula One chiefs, forced into another change due to COVID-19 protocols, announced that they will instead return to the sport’s safe haven of Austria. The decision was made in the wake of the “announcement of new travel restrictions imposed by several countries in which F1 teams are based, affecting travel from Turkey”, they said.... Читать дальше...

Israel faced a widening conflict on Friday, as deadly violence erupted across the West Bank amid a massive aerial bombardment in Gaza and unprecedented unrest among Arabs and Jews inside the country. The West Bank clashes, described as among the most intense since the second intifada that began in 2000, left 10 people dead from Israeli fire, the Palestinian health ministry said, as overall fatalities from strikes on Gaza rose to 122. Hamas Islamists and other Palestinian armed groups in the enclave... Читать дальше...

Goalkeeper Andrea Cassar has announced that he is parting ways with Floriana FC after his contract expired this month. Cassar joined Floriana two seasons ago but his spell with the Greens was marred by a series of injuries that hampered his hopes of establishing himself as the club’s no. 1 The former Ħamrun Spartans and Tarxien Rainbows goalkeeper issued a statement to show his gratitude towards the Greens. Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of the Times of Malta

Malta has become the first country to be placed on Denmark's yellow list for travel category, with the Danish authorities advising against non-essential travel to all other countries. Effectively, this means that Danish tourists can visit Malta, with no quarantine or isolation requirement upon their return. This follows similar travel advice by Germany some days ago when the country removed Malta from its COVID-19 risk list. Germany’s move had come on the same day as the UK's surprise announcement... Читать дальше...

“The figures are coming back to me,” Joyce Camilleri excitedly reported back to a friend, following a few days of experimenting with the way she handled her paintbrush. “I knew it would have been a journey to get here,” she laughs, revealing the inductive, spontaneous approach that characterises Camilleri’s current residency at MUŻA. Entitled Ochra et Nigreos and a mixed media commingling of printmaking and drawing, the residency is an exercise in constant redirection reflected in the choice of medium. Читать дальше...

Maltese human rights entities have written to the Foreign Affairs Minister expressing solidarity with Palestine and urging Malta to do and say more. Israel bombarded Gaza with artillery and airstrikes on Friday following a new barrage of rockets from the Hamas-run enclave, intensifying a conflict that has claimed more than 120 lives. The most intense fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza since 2014 has been accompanied by an unprecedented outbreak of mob violence between Jews and Arabs inside Israel. Читать дальше...

Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi "is not very well", key ally Matteo Salvini said Friday, but he and others insisted the 84-year-old would soon be out of hospital. The media mogul, who has suffered from increasing health problems in recent years, was admitted to San Raffaele hospital in Milan on Tuesday for complications linked to a coronavirus infection last year. "I spoke to Berlusconi ... he's not very well but he'll pull through, being the fighter that he is," Salvini, leader of the far-right League party, told RAI public radio. Читать дальше...

The Maltese jury for a European literature prize has pushed back against claims that it agreed with a decision to disqualify a local author from being eligible for the prize.  In a statement issued on Friday, jury chair Albert Marshall said that there was "full written evidence" that showed that the jury he leads had reacted negatively to the decision to disqualify Aleks Farrugia from participating in the EU Prize for Literature.  Farrugia was disqualified from participating in the EUPL because the media house that published his book... Читать дальше...

Two Malta Enterprise engineers had inspected printing machinery purchased by Progress Press from Kasco Engineering Ltd, confirming that it was in line with the investment proposal covered by the €1.6 million grant.  Both engineers took the witness stand on Friday in the ongoing compilation of evidence against former Progress Press managing director Michel Rizzo and former financial controller Claude Licari, who are both pleading not guilty to fraud and money laundering, allegedly stemming from... Читать дальше...

Cutting into craggy mountains, meandering through plains and eventually hitting Albania’s shimmering Adriatic, the Vjosa river’s untouched landscapes are a national treasure, but one that is under imminent threat. Activists feel that time is running out to save what they call Europe’s last major “wild river” – one whose course is unaltered by industry, cities or dams – recruiting A-listers like Leonardo DiCaprio to their cause.  The immediate concern is a plan to build a 50-metre-high hydroelectric dam. Читать дальше...

An area in Inwardar Park is to be turned into a permanent barbecue area, partially in an attempt to stop people from damaging native plants through beach barbecues. Some 200 square metres - an area slightly smaller than the size of a tennis court - has been set aside for the recreational area in the park on the border of Marsaskala, Żabbar and Xgħajra. The €200,000 project will include paving works, five recyclable plastic benches, large permanent barbeque sets and six containers. Announcing the investment on Friday... Читать дальше...

Gozo Channel is currently operating a shuttle service between Malta and Gozo due to long queues of cars waiting to board the ferry now that travel restrictions to the sister island have been lifted.  Travel to Gozo has been limited to the bare minimum since March 10 with restrictions being lifted on Monday. As the weekend approached, many drove up to Ċirkewwa on Friday and queued for the ferry. Restrictions lifted on Monday also include the reopening of restaurants and snack bars, albeit until... Читать дальше...

AXL Affiliates Ltd venture into community service and the promotion of local sports as they plan to sponsor Rinella Tennis Club in Kalkara ahead of the commencement of competitive sports in Malta. Marketing is not all that there is to AXL Affiliates Ltd. The online marketing agency based in Malta has continually supported, encouraged, and promoted local sports clubs. It is no surprise that they have indicated an interest to support and sponsor Rinella Tennis Club in Kalkara. This sponsorship deal... Читать дальше...

The Ta’ Qali indoor pool could well remain open as the Times of Malta can reveal that talks are ongoing between Parliamentary Secretary for Sport, Dr Clifton Grima, Sport Malta, and the Malta Football Association so that the facility will be transferred to the government. On Wednesday, the Malta Football Association announced that during its Executive Committee, president Bjorn Vassallo said that 25 metre pool will be closed as it was not financially viable for the local governing body to maintain... Читать дальше...

Sedqa, the national agency against substance use disorder and addictions, has urged the government to frame the debate on the legalisation of cannabis within the wider context of a much-needed updated comprehensive drugs policy.  Its position has also been proposed by Caritas, a church organisation that works with drug users, which said such a policy should set the direction for supply and demand reduction policies and should be informed by research on what keeps young people away from drugs and what are risk factors for use. Читать дальше...

Russian oil giant Rosneft said on Friday that its earnings were back in the black in the first quarter after oil prices recovered following Moscow’s production deals with OPEC. State-controlled Rosneft reported a net profit of 149 billion rubles (€1.6bn) in the first quarter, compared with a loss of 156 billion rubles in the same period last year. It is the latest major oil company to report a spike in quarterly profits thanks to rising crude prices. Global oil prices, already low amid growing competition... Читать дальше...

The WHO urged wealthy countries Friday to stop vaccinating children against COVID-19 and instead donate doses to poorer nations, while warning that the pandemic's second year looked set to be more deadly. World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus voiced outrage that a number of rich countries were now vaccinating children and teenagers, while poorer states had barely begun vaccinating health workers and the most vulnerable groups. Instead of offering jabs to young and healthy people... Читать дальше...

Independent candidate Arnold Cassola has filed a constitutional case against the government, challenging the gender balance mechanism approved by parliament last month. "The constitutional amendments approved in parliament are discriminatory in favour of PN/PL women and against all other women who are not affiliated to one of the two big parties. Worse than that, it is an insult jointly concocted by the Partit Laburista and the Partit Nazzjonalista,” Cassola said in a statement announcing the filing of the case. Читать дальше...

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says he will speak to Sadio Mane after the Senegal forward snubbed him following Thursday’s 4-2 win at Manchester United. Klopp left Mane on the bench for the first 74 minutes of the crucial Premier League clash, deciding to start Diogo Jota instead. Following Mane’s brief substitute appearance, Klopp approached him at the final whistle to celebrate a crucial victory in the race to qualify for the Champions League. Continue reading this article on Sports Desk. 

Cryptocurrency fans have counted Tesla boss Elon Musk as among their champions, but this week he rocked their world by questioning the future of the digital assets and singling out carbon emissions from bitcoin mining for particular criticism. Bitcoin mining is the process of creating a new coin that involves using computers to solve complex mathematical algorithms or puzzles. “Energy usage trend over past few months is insane,” Musk tweeted on Thursday, sharing a chart from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI)... Читать дальше...

Yorgen Fenech, the man who is charged with being an accomplice in the Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination has called upon the public inquiry into the murder not to refer to him in its final conclusions so as not to “trample further” upon his rights. After repeated requests to the inquiry board went unheeded, Fenech’s lawyers have filed a note highlighting the procedure followed throughout months of hearings before the panel of judges. Leading questions, tinged with sarcasm and with a manifestly... Читать дальше...

Toshiba on Friday announced a return to an annual net profit and stressed it would consider “credible” buyout offers, after a proposal from a private equity fund stirred turmoil within the storied Japanese firm. The conglomerate – once a shining symbol of Japan’s advanced technology and economic power – has been rocked by turbulence, facing scandals and losses before staging a recovery. It rejoined the prestigious first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in January after sweeping restructuring... Читать дальше...

Italy on Friday said it was scrapping quarantine requirements for visitors from the European Union, Britain and Israel who test negative for coronavirus, as it seeks to woo back tourists. Under new rules that come into force from Sunday, Italy will also extend so-called “COVID-free” flights, currently in place to and from the US, to Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates. Naples and Venice will also be served by such flights, in addition to Rome and Milan, a health ministry spokesperson said. Читать дальше...

The Labour Party has come out against a parliamentary proposal to decriminalise abortion, saying a private members’ bill pushing for the change “chokes” debate about a sensitive issue.  Labour MPs met on Friday morning to discuss the party’s position on a motion presented by independent MP Marlene Farrugia on Wednesday, calling for the criminal code to be changed to ensure women and medical professionals who commit an abortion do not face jail time.  In a statement issued on Friday, the PL indicated... Читать дальше...