Weekly News Highlights

Toni Abela and Wenzu Mintoff, who had founded Alternattiva Demokratika but who now militate within the Labour Party, were mobbed by Nationalist Party supporters during last Sunday's PN mass meeting on the Granaries in Floriana, after the two began asking PN supporters questions on the EU referendum. The cameraman accompanying them was slightly injured and required hospital treatment.

An informed source told The Times that the two political parties made reciprocal arrangements for their reporters and cameramen to be provided with all the facilities they required, including security during such events, but Dr Abela and Dr Mintoff, who collaborate on the Friday Robin Hood discussion programme on Super 1, had not informed the PN about their intention to attend the meeting.

Kalkara protesters arrested

Dominican friar Mark Montebello, Ephraem Mallia and Chris Mizzi of the Save the Kalkara Valley Front were arrested on Monday after, together with other members of the front, attempted to obstruct the driver of a mechanical digger operating in the valley, and argued vociferously with the police, calling on them to stop the digging for the building of a plot owned by Mark Vella since 1995. He and his wife were issued with a development permit last year.

Annalise Falzon, representing Nature Trust, said the front was protesting against the destruction of the valley. It has the backing of 20 environmental non-government organisations, including Nature Trust.

IHI bond issues fully subscribed in two hours

International Hotel Investments' two bond issues, valued in total at Lm9.37 million (€22.5 million), were fully subscribed only two hours after officially opening to the public and subscription lists were closed on Monday at 10.30 a.m.

Tourist sentenced after drug find

A 35-year-old Swiss tourist, Gary André Kohenof, on Tuesday was given a three-month jail term suspended for six months after he pleaded guilty to importing 18 grams of cannabis resin into Malta for his own use. Kohenof was arrested by the Drug Squad after the Customs Anti-Drug Squad (CADS) discovered the cannabis resin in his bag on arrival at the airport from Zurich on Sunday evening.

Hoteliers strongly for EU

Hotel operators overwhelmingly support Malta's accession to the European Union, according to a survey commissioned by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, and presented by Deloitte & Touche during the association's "EU decision time" conference on Tuesday. Just one per cent of hotel respondents said they were against membership, and nine per cent were undecided; while two-thirds of restaurant owners said they agreed with accession (24 per cent were undecided).

MP calls for inquiry

Labour MP Evarist Bartolo on Tuesday called on the Auditor-General to hold an investigation into the General Pharmaceutical Service, which spends Lm1 million every month on the purchase of medicines. Mr Bartolo claimed, among other things, that bagfuls of medicines, some of them dangerous, were abusively handed to people who were not entitled to them.

Teacher threatened by parent

A primary school teacher on Thursday was threatened and verbally abused by a parent at Patri Felic Sammut School, in St Paul's Bay, prompting the Malta Union of Teachers to call once again for more security at schools. The MUT said although the teacher was not physically harmed, the parent had barred her exit from the classroom and frightened the nine-year-old pupils.

Call for Carnival to be postponed

About 80 per cent of persons involved in making floats on Friday signed a petition requesting to postpone Carnival until after Easter or another suitable date, since this year it ends just four days before the March 8 referendum and local elections. Float leaders and helpers said they would prefer to leave their floats indoors if a satisfactory solution were not found, resulting in a mediocre event shorn of much of its colour and spectacle.

The Labour Party yesterday said it agreed with the request made by Carnival float-makers, and urged Government to postpone this year's Carnival.

Arson attack

An arson attack early on Friday morning on the home of Water Services Corporation chief executive Anthony Rizzo caused damage to the façade of the building in Ta' Bistra Street, Mosta, but no one was injured. The police said that preliminary investigations revealed that an unknown person daubed the front door of the residence with flammable liquid before being set alight. Mrs Rizzo and their 16-year-old-son and 13-year-old daughter, who were in the house, managed to extinguish the fire but the front door had already been destroyed.

Elderly man dies after fall

Giuseppe Micallef, 67, who was critically injured in a fall while working on the parish church of Kercem on Tuesday, died at the intensive therapy unit of St Luke's Hospital on Friday morning.