Weekly News Highlights

A badly decomposed body, thought to be that of a woman, was found around three miles out from the Grand Harbour by a French vessel last Sunday.

Assistant Police Commissioner Manwel Cassar said on Monday that the corpse had been legally buried at sea some four years ago.

Police recover stolen paintings

The police on Tuesday recovered the 30 paintings stolen three weeks earlier from the residence of Judge Giovanni Bonello in Old Bakery Street, Valletta. All the paintings, except the Caravaggio, were found behind a false wall in a garage in Canon Pirotta Street, Birkirkara. The Caravaggio was found in a storage space under a bed in a house, also in Birkirkara. A tip-off led to the find.

Four men from Birkirkara, aged between 29 and 45, were arrested in connection with the find. One of them, Joseph Portelli, 32, was arraigned on Thursday before Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani Grima and charged with the theft of paintings. Portelli was also charged with causing voluntary damage worth over Lm500 and with receiving stolen goods. The other three suspects were released but investigations continue.

Former dock workers to join private firms

Workers of the government-owned Industrial Projects and Services Limited will be redeployed to the private sector, under a new agreement between the government and the Federation of Industry. IPSL was set up to absorb workers who had been laid off and who had not accepted early retirement in the shipyards' restructuring process last year.The workers had been redeployed according to 'necessity' but the problem of excess workers was not resolved even though the government had bound itself to keep them on its payroll.

But thanks to the arrangement signed on Wednesday, the 482 ex-shipyard workers will be retrained and employed by the private sector over a three-year transition period. At the end of the three-year period, or even before, companies could choose to employ the workers permanently. If not, they would return to government services. In the meantime they will still be on the government's payroll.

Child abuse referrals rise by 300

Child Protection Services last year received 20 per cent more child abuse referrals over the previous year, according to a study by Appogg. A total of 1,383 abused children were referred to the CPS, about 300 more than in 2002.

Dockers complain of little work

Workers at Malta Shipyards have expressed concern over the fact that there is little or no work for them at the yards since very few major contracts have been won since the shipyards were restructured last year. Following a short meeting outside the shipyards' main gate in Cospicua on Thursday, workers walked to the management's office and delivered a letter addressed to the chairman, John Cassar White.

The letter said the shipyards had never had such a small labour force which, together with the existent productive capital available, should make it easy for the yards to win contracts. The workers called on the management to act and said that should the situation not change for the better they would ask for the resignation of those executive officials responsible for getting work to the docks.

President drops libel cases

President Eddie Fenech Adami on Thursday withdrew five libel claims he had filed when he was Prime Minister, so as not to put the courts in an embarrassing situation.

The libel suits were against Glenn Bedingfield, author of the book Il-Gurament published in July 1999; Labour leader Alfred Sant, who made claims during a press conference at MLP headquarters that Dr Fenech Adami had been blackmailed by Joseph Fenech, known as Zeppi l-Hafi; Super One Radio editor Felix Agius and Labour MP Anglu Farrugia over comments made during the programme Tajjeb li Tkun Taf on July 14, 1999, and the editor of l-Orizzont Frans Ghirxi over an article that alleged corruption.

Dr Fenech Adami also withdrew his claim against the MLP in which he and another five ministers claimed they felt libelled by an advert published by the MLP in l-Orizzont on June 28, 1999. The ministers will continue with their case.

Intex closes down

Intex Hosiery Ltd of Marsa has halted its manufacturing operations in Malta, citing increasing disparity in production costs between Malta and other more competitive countries. Director Christian Cassar Torreggiani said the company would be increasing its joint ventures overseas and focusing more on them. Intex employed eight people down from 120 to 150 up to two years ago.

Government debt reaches Lm1.28 billion

Government debt went up by Lm145.7 million at the end of March, to Lm1,279.5 million, an increase of 12.9 per cent, the National Statistics Office said on Friday.

This includes the debts of the ex-Malta Drydocks Corporation and of the ex-Malta Shipbuilding Co. Ltd following the assumption of their debt by the government. The structural deficit during the first quarter amounted to Lm58.2 million, Lm0.6 million more than for the same period last year.