Новости за 27.12.2021

Brazilian international midfielder Rafinha has joined Spanish club Real Sociedad on loan until the end of the season, Paris Saint-Germain said on Monday. Real Sociedad confirmed the news on their website with a photo of the player with a club shirt bearing the name Rafael and with the number 17 on it. “I’m excited and happy,” said the Sao Paulo born player, brother of Liverpool’s Thiago Alcantara.   Continue reading this article on Sports Desk, the new sports website by Times of Malta

Libya's parliament on Monday refused to fix a date for presidential elections meant to have taken place last week, leaving question marks over the fate of the poll. The vote, set for Friday, was meant to be the culmination of United Nations-led efforts to drag Libya out of a decade of conflict since a 2011 revolt. But it was derailed by bitter arguments over divisive candidates and a disputed legal framework. On Monday the parliamentary committee charged with overseeing the election presented... Читать дальше...

The Premier League has revealed a record 103 players and staff tested positive for the coronavirus in the period from December 20 to 26. Just a week ago, the English top-flight set a new high since testing began in 2020 with 90 positive cases. That mark has now been beaten as the Omicron variant takes its toll. Continue reading this article on Sports Desk.

Families of victims of a deadly plane crash are reuniting to recall their memory more than six decades after the horrific incident. They are relatives of 31 passengers and crew who were on a British European Airways flight from London to Malta on October 22, 1958. Minutes before landing in Naples, where it was scheduled for a stopover, the Vickers Viscount aircraft was involved in a mid-air collision with an Italian air force jet, crashing into a small Italian fishing village and killing everyone on board. Читать дальше...

Cameroon football legend Samuel Eto’o owes nearly one million euros in taxes from his time in Spain, local authorities said Monday. The 40-year-old, who earlier this month was elected president of the Cameroon Football Federation, appeared on a list published by the Spanish tax office of people and companies that owe over 600,000 euros ($678,000). The former striker is listed as owing 981,598.19 euros to the Spanish tax office. Continue reading this article on SportsDesk.

British police said Monday they were assessing a video purportedly made by a man who tried to break into a castle where Queen Elizabeth II was spending Christmas in which he said he wanted to kill her. In the video, obtained by The Sun tabloid, a masked figure in a dark hoodie holding a crossbow claims he will "attempt to assassinate Elizabeth, Queen of the Royal Family". The figure addresses the camera with a distorted voice and identifies himself as an Indian Sikh intent on "revenge" for an... Читать дальше...

Chinese tech giant Baidu on Monday took its first steps into the metaverse industry with the launch of a virtual reality app, looking to test the waters in what is considered by many to be the next phase in the internet's evolution. The Beijing-based company joins brands such as Nike and Ferrari in rushing to experiment with virtual goods against a backdrop of predictions that the metaverse could one day overtake and replace the web of today. The firm, nicknamed the Chinese Google, held a conference... Читать дальше...

Updated 8.05pm  A man who was reported missing on Monday actually died as a result of an occupational accident some days ago, the police said on Monday evening. Ahmed Adawe Diriye, a 39-year-old Somali resident in Birżebbuġa, was reported missing by the police on Monday afternoon, having last been seen last week.  But a few hours later, the police said it had resulted that the missing person was actually the worker who suffered a fall at a Marsa factory on Wednesday. He fell a height of one-and-a... Читать дальше...

Ahmed Adawe Diriye, a 39-year-old Somali resident in Birżebbuġa, has been reported missing, the police said. He was last seen a week ago in Birżebbuġa. Anyone having information about him may phone in confidence on 21 224001 or 119 or resort to the nearest police station.  

A fourth man was taken to court on Monday to face charges in connection with a false kidnapping report which saw the police launch a nationwide hunt for the alleged victim.  The case took place earlier this month when Iranian national Mohammed Tahmasebi Ghareb Shiran called the prison’s spiritual director to say that he had been kidnapped by two men and a woman. The man’s mother had received a ransom request and was told to send the money via Western Union to a Sarah Zammit. It later turned out... Читать дальше...

British American Tobacco (BAT) Malta has donated and planted over 140 indigenous trees in l-Aħrax tal-Mellieħa as part of its environment, social and governance (ESG) strategy. BAT Malta employees volunteered to plant the variety of trees within the framework of a team-building exercise, while also learning about the local flora and the importance of preserving ecological biodiversity. The tree-planting exercise took place in collaboration and guidance from the non-governmental organisation ACT. Читать дальше...

A mother and daughter holidaying in Malta will leave the country with suspended sentences after they got involved in a fight in a Paceville club on Boxing Day. Serena Maria Falzon, 49 and her 19-year old daughter Ameerrah Renata Falzon Ojo, both UK nationals, were escorted to court on Monday under arrest. The two were involved in a fight inside a Paceville club and had ended up insulting and threatening police officers called to the scene. The incident was recorded on police bodycams, prosecuting... Читать дальше...

South Africa on Monday began a week of mourning for the revered anti-apartheid fighter Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The Nobel Peace laureate died on Sunday at the age of 90, stripping the world of a towering moral figure and bringing the curtain down on a heroic South African era. His funeral will be held on New Year's Day at Cape Town's St. George's Cathedral, his former parish, his foundation said, although ceremonies are likely to be muted because of COVID restrictions. The widow of South Africa's first black president Nelson Mandela... Читать дальше...

A government spending watchdog has acknowledged that the impact of Malta’s FATF greylisting remains “highly uncertain” and difficult to ascertain. In a 100-page assessment of the government’s budgetary forecasts for next year, the Malta fiscal advisory council highlighted the greylisting as one of the factors that could affect economic projections for 2022. The government is forecasting improved economic growth and a reduction in its spending deficit for 2022. Malta was placed on the FATF’s grey... Читать дальше...

Bay Area American artist Wayne Thiebaud passed away on Sunday at the age of 101. Born a century ago in 1920 in Mesa, Arizona, and raised in southern California, he is best known for his depictions of American fast food and everyday subject matter. However, his output goes beyond this as he was also a supreme landscape artist and an excellent interpreter of the human figure. His painting career took off in the mid-1950’s. Four Sundaes. Photo: Wikiart He started out first as a graphic designer and a cartoonist. Читать дальше...

An additional 832 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Monday, as an 88-year-old virus patient died.  The man is the 476th person to die while COVID-positive during the pandemic. It is the fifth death registered this week.  There are 83 virus patients currently in hospital, a marginal increase from Boxing Day's figures. On Sunday, there were 80 patients in hospital, five of whom were in Mater Dei Hospital's ITU.  The number of patients receiving intensive treatment remained stable, at five.  With... Читать дальше...

Batches of Payless brand Xtra Hot flavoured instant noodles should not be consumed as they may be contaminated with ethylene oxide, health authorities have warned.  The product recall concerns batches of the noodles with a durability date of 20/06/2023 and lot number 000050236.  Ethylene oxide is a pesticide that is not permitted for use in foods sold in the EU but is approved for use by other countries outside the EU. Although one-off consumption of it will not harm your health, continued consumption of the chemical can be dangerous. Читать дальше...

A police force in western England formally apologised Monday to the family of ex-Premier League footballer Dalian Atkinson, six months after one of its officers was jailed over his death. Atkinson, 48, died in hospital in 2016 about an hour after policeman Benjamin Monk discharged his Taser at him three times — including once for 33 seconds — and kicked him twice in the head. Monk was sentenced in June to eight years in prison for causing the death of the former Aston Villa star, with a judge... Читать дальше...

A new Bentayga collection from Bentley Mulliner has been launched to celebrate traditional British outdoor pursuits. Three unique specifications have been curated by Bentley’s in-house bespoke division with the great outdoors in mind, with 11 cars in total to be handcrafted in Crewe.  This unique collection encapsulates three of the most iconic British outdoor activities including angling, horse riding and dog walking. Represented in beautifully-inspired interiors, full of exemplary craftsmanship and bespoke detailing... Читать дальше...

Commercial law firm Camilleri Preziosi of Valletta is admitting three new partners with effect from January 1. “It is with great satisfaction that we announce the admission of three new partners in the firm.  Training and developing young lawyers in the CP culture and core values to make partnership over time is part of a strategy of sustained organic growth that has delivered the desired results, with yet another three partners being admitted from lawyers who joined the firm as trainees,” Louis de Gabriele... Читать дальше...

A corporate service provider has been fined €60,000 by the FIAU for failing to report suspected tax evasion and money laundering by its clients. In a public notice, the FIAU said RGN Malta had failed in its duties to flag suspicious transactions to the anti-money laundering unit. The FIAU concluded from one particular customer file analysed that RGN Malta had reasonable grounds to suspect the transactions being carried out involving a company in Singapore were connected to money-laundering and tax evasion. Читать дальше...

The Malta Football Association has decided to delay the resumption of the youth competitions in the wake of the rise in COVID-19 cases. Malta has suffered a dramatic increase in the number of cases in the last few days which inevitably has affected football competitions. Earlier on Tuesday, the Malta FA announced that the Premier League match between Balzan and Sliema Wanderers, scheduled for Thursday, has been postponed for a second time due to a rise of positive cases in the Balzan camp. To... Читать дальше...

Award-winning Canadian filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallee has died at age 58, his publicist announced Sunday. "Rest In Peace, Jean-Marc Vallee. The world is far less interesting without you in it," Hive Communication Collective wrote on Instagram. The Quebecois producer and director was Oscar-nominated for "Dallas Buyers Club" in 2013, for which actors Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto both took home Academy Awards. In recent years, he has drawn acclaim for his work on HBO shows "Big Little Lies", for which he won an Emmy award... Читать дальше...

The locked-down Chinese city of Xi'an on Monday tightened COVID-19 controls to the "strictest" level, banning residents from driving cars around town in an effort to control the country's worst outbreak in 21 months. China has stuck to a "zero-COVID" strategy of tight border restrictions, lengthy quarantines and targeted lockdowns as Beijing prepares to welcome thousands of overseas visitors for February's Winter Olympics. But historic Xi'an -- where 13 million residents are facing their fifth... Читать дальше...

A raft of COVID-19 cases has forced Bank of Valletta to temporarily close four branches and restrict services at four others. Closures were forced after a number of bank employees tested positive for the virus or were forced into quarantine after coming into contact with positive cases. The bank’s Naxxar and Birkirkara branches are currently closed and will reopen on Tuesday, December 28 after they have been thoroughly sanitised. Two Gozo branches, in Nadur and Xagħra, have also been forced to close. Читать дальше...