Refurbishment work on Dar Malta in Brussels, intended to house Malta's Permanent Representation to the EU, could finally begin by the end of February after the Belgian authorities moved a step closer to giving the go-ahead.
Detailed plans submitted by the Maltese government and Blaton, the Belgian company commissioned to carry out the works, were discussed and approved during a public meeting held at the end of last month.
Malta's Permanent Representative to the EU, Richard Cachia Caruana, who said the refurbishment will cost an estimated Lm2.5 million, expects the Maltese staff to move into the new premises by the end of the year.
Gama deal fails
The Austrian textile group Gama will not open a factory in Malta unless a financial decision by Bank of Valletta is reversed, the group's chief executive Manfred Baier said last Sunday.
The group had been planning to employ 400 of the former Denim Services employees who lost their jobs recently when their textile firm closed down.
Man arrested in Holland
Paul Debattista of Paola, known as Il-Bloqq, was arrested in the Netherlands in connection with the alleged laundering of drug money, the police told The Times last Sunday.
The 42-year-old man, who is wanted by local police in connection with a number of cases, was arrested along with a resident of Holland.
Debattista has a number of pending cases but it is still unknown whether there will be a request for his extradition.
About a year ago, Debattista was charged with trying to run over officers from the Drug Squad and for seriously injuring a police officer.
Arnold Cassola to contest Italian elections
Alternattiva Demokratika's spokesman for EU Affairs, Arnold Cassola, has been chosen by the Italian Verdi and Romano Prodi's Unione Centre-Green-Left coalition as one of the 12 Unione candidates for the European constituency (Italian voters resident in European countries) at the next parliamentary elections in Italy scheduled for April 9.
Professor Cassola holds dual Italian and Maltese citizenship.
Lm18 million hotel to open on March 1
Malta's latest five-star hotel, Le Méridien St Julian's, which overlooks Balluta Bay, is preparing to open its doors on March 1, increasing the number of five-star hotel properties on the island to 14 and the total number of beds in the category to 6,028.
The hotel represents an investment of Lm18 million.
Two charged with spate of thefts
Charles Cutajar, 42, of Marsascala, and Malcolm Brian Mercieca, 20, of Kalkara, on Tuesday were charged with stealing cash and two mobile phones during a hold-up at Terranova in Pietà, holding people against their will and being in possession of a firearm on August 30, 2005.
Both men were also charged with stealing cash from Pisani Electrical Supplies in Valletta on August 28 and with relapsing.
Cutajar was also charged with the involvement in stealing cash from the Dr Zarb Clinic, holding Christopher Zarb against his will, and being in possession of an unlicensed firearm last Wednesday week.
MEPs reject ports directive
The European Parliament on Wednesday rejected a European Commission proposal intended to open up certain services given at European seaports, amid fears that the new measures will lead to job losses.
A number of Maltese port workers, members of the General Workers Union, took part in a protest against the port directive outside the European Parliament building on Monday.
The proposal was rejected by 532 MEPs, with 120 in favour and 25 abstentions. Four of the five Maltese MEPs voted against. The head of the Labour delegation, John Attard Montalto, was not present for the vote as, according to MLP leader Alfred Sant, he was "on a political and personal mission" in Mexico.
Man charged with beating wife loses bail
The Criminal Court on Wednesday revoked bail granted to a 52-year-old man, charged with beating and threatening to kill his wife, on the grounds that he was not trustworthy and prone to "fall into particular mental states".
Chief Justice Vincent Degaetano ordered the re-arrest of the man as he upheld an application filed by the Attorney General requesting revocation of the man's bail.
The man was arraigned last December and charged with seriously injuring his wife after he hit her on the head with a wooden ornament, and with threatening to burn her alive.
Firm ordered to pay Lm35,000 in factory rent
Mr Justice Philip Sciberras, sitting in the First Hall of the Civil Court, on Wednesday ordered Mediterranean Wire Industries Ltd to pay over Lm35,000 to Malta Industrial Parks Ltd (formerly Malta Development Corporation) by way of compensation for the use of a factory in Bulebel.
The court heard that Malta Industrial Parks had allocated a factory in Bulebel to Malta Wire Industries against the payment of an allocation fee of Lm2,700 per annum in 1991.
Malta Industrial Parks said Malta Wire Industries were not paying the fee, and so it asked the court to order Mediterranean Wire Industries to do so with effect from 1991.
Petitions boards to redress unjustified fines
A Traffic Fine may from now on be waived or reduced if there is sufficient evidence that it was issued unjustly.
For fines served from January 1 onwards, a recently set-up Petitions Board can order the local tribunal to waive proceedings against an offender or order the abating of a penalty if a mistake had been made in the identity of the driver or in the identification of the vehicle.
Other circumstances where an offender's petition may be upheld is when humanitarian reasons partly justify an offence and when a driver has been condemned by a tribunal without first being heard.
Petitions may also be made for fines issued by green wardens in the case of offences that fall under the local litter regulations.
Offenders can make their case in writing not later than 10 days after the date of the offence, within 10 days since a petitioner gets to know that there are proceedings against him or within 10 days from the case being decided by a Justice Commissioner.
Petitions may be sent to The Registry, Petitions Board, c/o 21, Archbishop Street, Valletta CMR 02.
Heroin trafficking charges
Grazio Camilleri, 43, of Zabbar, and Libyan Khayris Abugdidi, 28, residing in Hamrun, were on Wednesday arraigned separately and charged with trafficking in heroin.
Both men, who pleaded not guilty, were remanded in custody.
Gunner awarded damages
Paul Mallia, a gunner with the AFM injured while on duty at Hal Far Barracks in 2000, on Thursday was awarded damages of over Lm6,000 by Mr Justice Tonio Mallia sitting in the First Hall of the Civil Court.
Mallia had sued Robert Agius, but the Commander of the Armed Forces of Malta intervened in the suit in May 2002.
Mallia claimed that he had sustained a permanent disability and asked the court to condemn defendants to make good the damages he sustained.
Coach driver cleared
Charles Zammit, a 50-year-old coach driver from Mellieha, was cleared of involuntarily causing permanent injuries to a motorist who was hit by the door of the vehicle's luggage compartment almost three years ago.
Magistrate Giovanni Grixti cleared Zammit of having, through negligence, caused permanent injuries to Victoria Sciberras who wasparalysed from the waist down during an incident on March 10, 2003.
Stowaways caught at Freeport
Seven Algerian stowaways were intercepted and marched back to their vessels on Friday morning as the Freeport's security grappled once again with illegal immigrants.
The men, aged between 18 and 25, offered no resistance after they tried to enter Malta on board two ships from Algeria.
Woman falls to her death
Dolores Schembri, 55, of Birkirkara, died tragically on Friday afternoon after falling from a height of one storey in Xemxija.
The accident happened at 1.15 p.m. when the woman was cleaning the windows of a flat in Simar Street. She fell into a courtyard and was certified dead by a doctor who was called on site.
Mater Dei Hospital work proceeding as planned
Mater Dei Hospital is losing its construction site image and rapidly taking the shape of a hospital.
During a tour of various parts of the new hospital, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said on Friday that although it was an enormous challenge to bring the hospital together, everything was progressing according to the established plan to see it open as soon as possible.
In a few weeks' time, St Luke's Hospital staff will be invited to a familiarisation visit so that they can get used to their future workplace.
The public will also be able to visit the hospital shortly.
Suspended jail term for heroin possession
Veen Johannes Marines, 29, of Birkirkara, was given a four-month jail term suspended for 18 months and fined Lm400 after a magistrate found him guilty of the repeated possession of heroin.
Magistrate Lawrence Quintano found the man guilty of the simple possession of the drug but cleared him of trafficking in heroin on and before February 1999.
GWU membership falls by nearly 600
Although still the biggest union by far, membership of the General Workers Union continued to slide with the number reported to the Registrar of Trade Unions for 2004/2005 being 588 lower than that declared the year before.
According to figures published in the Government Gazette on Friday, membership of the GWU for 2004/2005 was 45,901 as against 46,489 in 2003/2004.
Trade union membership overall dropped by 626 but the Union Haddiema Maghqudin, the second biggest union, saw its membership grow by 117 to 26,018.
Increases were also seen by all other unions which have a membership of over 1,000, namely the Malta Union of Teachers, the Malta Union of Bank Employees and the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses.
Tobacco billboards removed
About 100 tobacco adverts plastered on billboards and bus shelters are currently being stripped away after new regulations banning tobacco advertising - which were introduced last month - come into force tomorrow.
Talks have been held between the health authorities and the tobacco industry on a grace period. During a meeting last week a number of deadlines were agreed upon, including tobacco advertising material on shop canopies, sunshades, umbrellas and any other medium intended for communication outside shops, bars, other establishments or open places being removed by April 15.