Weekly News highlights

Malta Drydocks on Monday received a grant of Lm300,000 from the Chinese government following several meetings within the Malta-China joint economic commission.

The Chinese have put three grants of about Lm150,000 each at the disposal of the government with the objective of assisting identified areas of economic co-operation between the two countries.

Gozo warden "stabbed by man in carnival mask"

A Police Superintendent and a sergeant on Tuesday testified in the compilation of evidence against John Attard, 56, of Xaghra, and Giuseppe Farrugia, 71, of Fontana, who are pleading not guilty to the murder of Gozitan traffic warden Fortunata Spiteri on August 10 last year.

Spiteri was stabbed by a man wearing a carnival mask, specifically the white mask worn by the killer in the teen slasher film Scream, the magistrates' court was told by the superintendent.

Spiteri was stabbed repeatedly after she was surrounded by three men on the Gharb road where she was lying in wait for potential traffic offenders.

Cabinet discusses Ombudsman's comments

The Prime Minister on Tuesday said the general feeling within Cabinet was that Ombudsman Joe Sammut should never have made certain comments given the position he occupied.

Mr Sammut had drawn the government's ire over the tone of his remarks in a recent newspaper interview, in which he criticised the government for failing to take action over some of his recommendations.

In the meantime, disagreement on whether the planned debate in parliament on the controversy should be concluded by the Prime Minister or by the Leader of the Opposition on Friday led the Labour Party to present a motion requesting a formal debate in the House.

The House on Monday had decided to debate the issue during five sittings starting tomorrow, but the Leader of the House, Dr Lawrence Gonzi, said that in view of the motion the debate would have to be postponed.

Charged with raping granddaughter

A 70-Year-Old Xemxija man on Tuesday was charged with regularly raping his granddaughter 12 years ago.

The man was also charged with defiling two girls and two boys, including his granddaughter, in Qormi and Zebbug before May, 1990.

He was granted bail against a personal guarantee of Lm5,000.

Policemen facing criminal charges

Thirteen Policemen are currently suspended because of allegations that they had committed crimes, Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said on Tuesday.

They include a sergeant accused of attempted murder, a sergeant accused of fraud and constables facing charges ranging from murder to fraud, theft, violence, threatening behaviour, giving false evidence, drug possession and abuse of authority.

Woman pleads guilty to child pornography charge

Berryniece Scicluna, 22, of Zejtun on Tuesday pleaded guilty to two counts of the possession of child pornography. Judgment was put off to October 2.

Dutch women charged with importing cocaine

Two Dutch women on Wednesday were charged in court with importing cocaine and conspiring to deal in it.

Edlyn Josephine Jennifer Blasse, 28, and Charette Maria Ferdinand, 29, pleaded not guilty.

Immigrants claim human rights violation

Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants contesting a removal order on Wednesday filed a constitutional application in the Civil Court against the chairman and members of the Commission for Refugees' appeals board.

The immigrants said they had applied for refugee status in Malta but their applications were dismissed by the Commission on June 27. Their appeal was also dismissed.

They said that the sittings before the appeals board were held behind closed doors and the immigrants were not summoned to testify despite their specific request to this effect.

The procedures used by the appeals board were in violation of their fundamental human right to a fair hearing as protected by the European convention on human rights, they said.

Teacher fined Lm500 over school outing

The Malta Union of Teachers has instructed school heads not to organise any educational school outings after a junior college lecturer was fined Lm500 for providing a group of foreign students with information about the Goddess of Fertility statue during an outing to Valletta.

The lecturer, Frank Boffa, who had around ten students on the outing, was fined two months ago by the enforcement directorate of the Malta Tourism Authority, which said that only licensed tourist guides were permitted to lead "organised excursions."

Britain backs Malta on EU

New British High Commissioner Vincent Fean said on Thursday that Britain backed Malta's efforts to join the EU and was committed to EU enlargement.

He made his comments shortly after presenting his letters of commission to President Guido de Marco at the Palace, Valletta.

Mr Fean, 49, takes over from Howard Pearce, who had served as British High Commissioner to Malta since 1999, and who has been appointed Governor of the Falkland Islands.

The new ambassador to Egypt, Fatma El Zahraa Ibrahim Othman, and new Kuwaiti ambassador Abdulal Sulaiman Al-Qenaei also presented their diplomatic credentials to the President on Thursday.