Weekly News Highlights

Two Libyan cousins - Basam Mohammed Gaballa Ben Khial, 27, and Thafer Idris Gaballa Salem, 29, on Monday were jailed for 22 years and fined Lm32,000 between them for importing nearly half a kilo of heroin from Libya. Both men pleaded guilty to conspiring to deal in heroin and importing it while Ben Khial alone also pleaded guilty to trafficking on September 13, 2001.

Skins of protected birds found in suitcases

Customs officials on Monday intercepted two suitcases containing over 200 skins of protected birds with a street value of around Lm8,000. Two men in their 30s from Zejtun and Zabbar were arrested in connection with the find.

Among the skins found were those of white pelican, white stork, black stork, Egyptian vulture, spur wing plovers, kingfishers, great white egrets, eagle owl, spoonbills and long legged buzzard. The skins were ready to be stuffed and mounted.

Jailed for forgery, fraud

Jon Lawrence Formosa, 25, of Senglea, on Tuesday was jailed for 19 months for forgery and fraud. He pleaded guilty to regularly forging and making use of cheques to the detriment of Marketing Services Ltd, Bank of Valletta and others, and defrauding them of Lm215.46 between October 1999 and February 2000. He also admitted forging the signatures of Tommi Magri and others and breaching a probation order.

New premises for social work agency

Appogg will soon be relocating most of its specialised social work services to premises in Guardamangia. These services include child protection, looking after children, fostering, family therapy, psychological services, and on domestic violence.

Management and corporate service functions such as research and policy development, human resources development, marketing and communications and administration will also move to these premises.

Electric van developers to invest Lm3.2 million

An electric delivery van which has been hailed by its makers as "the perfect vehicle for Europe" was launched on Tuesday at the Technopark in Mosta.

Innovan was built by ITS (Malta) Ltd and will sell for €20,000 (Lm8,300). It was researched and developed in Malta over the past seven years. ITS (Malta) Ltd is a fully-owned subsidiary of Innovative Transportation Systems AG, based in Frankfurt.

178 candidates for general election

A total of 248 nominations for the general election of April 12 have been submitted by 178 candidates, of whom 84 for the Nationalist Party, 77 for the Malta Labour Party, 15 for Alternattiva Demokratika, and two independents. A number of the candidates will be standing for two districts.

MLP raises Lm129,000

The Labour Party on Wednesday collected Lm129,000 in a fund-raising marathon, which started at 11 a.m. and ended at midnight. The marathon, broadcast live on the party's radio and television stations, was addressed by party leader Alfred Sant and deputy leaders George Vella and Joe Brincat.

Fined Lm1.6 million for customs evasion

The Court of Criminal Appeal on Thursday fined businessmen Andrew Ellul Sullivan, director of Tessons Ltd, and Charles Ellul Sullivan, director of J. Cachia Caruana Ltd, Lm1.63 million between them for evading duty by removing merchandise from Customs on the strength of entries bearing a forged stamp.

Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono found them guilty of making use of forged documents, defrauding the government and evading duty regularly over the two years preceding February 1992. He thus overturned a lower court's acquittal of the two men, upholding the Attorney-General's appeal.

The Ellul Sullivans were also sentenced to a two-year jail term suspended for four years for forgery and fraud. Andrew Ellul Sullivan was given 36 months to settle the fine at Lm28,118 a month, while Charles Ellul Sullivan was given 20 months at Lm17,130.09 per month. In default, even of one payment, the fine would be converted to a jail term.

Woman's heirs awarded Lm1,368 damages

The heirs of a woman injured in a traffic accident were on Thursday awarded Lm1,368 damages by Mr Justice Noel Cuschieri in the Civil Court. The writ was originally filed by Shirley Caruana who claimed that she had sustained a permanent injury on February 19, 1994, when a car driven by Bezzina had emerged suddenly in front of the ambulance she was in. The court found that the accident made her totally bedridden and completely dependent.

Two badly injured

A 20-year-old man from Zurrieq was seriously injured on Thursday when the Mercedes he was driving in Luqa skidded and hit a tree. In another accident, a 66-year-old man from Qormi was seriously injured when the Daewoo Espero he was driving was involved in a collision with a Toyota Starlet being driven by a 57-year-old Briton along the Coastroad in Bahar ic-Caghaq.

PM in Brussels

Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami was in Brussels on Friday to attend a working lunch with leaders of member states, accession and candidate countries at a special EU summit.

Dr Fenech Adami said he was congratulated on the positive referendum result by all the leaders at the summit.

At the summit, Greek prime minister Constantinos Simitis, who currently holds the rotating EU presidency, confirmed that if Malta does not sign the EU Accession Treaty in Athens on April 16 there will not be another opportunity to join for a very long time.

After the meeting European Commission President Romano Prodi said he was confident that Malta would be present for the Athens signing, while Greek foreign minister Georgios Papandreou, when contacted by reporters, praised the island and welcomed "Malta to the family".

University student groups unite for council election

Seventeen University student organisations formed a united front on Friday contesting next month's student council elections. Studenti Demokristjani Maltin president David Zahra said the "id f'id ghalik" joint campaign's 10 candidates will be working for the good of University students, ensuring representation for students from all faculties, including international students.

The students' front will be publishing its manifesto tomorrow, and it will be available on www.zone45.com/idfidghalik.

New co-operative 'a breakthrough'

The Equal Partners Foundation, in collaboration with the College of Agriculture, set up the Koperattiva Socjali Franco Sì to provide persons with disability the chance to earn their own living in an inclusive, yet protected, environment.

The founding members, including eight persons with disability and four others, have undergone a two-month training course in basic agricultural skills, communication and team work.