Weekly News highlights

Tunisian minister's visit
Salwa Ayachi Labben, Tunisian Minister for Women, the Family, Children and the Elderly, arrived on Sunday night for a four-day official visit.

On Monday Mrs Labben met Minister Dolores Cristina, paid a courtesy call on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Anton Tabone, and visited Access Community Resource Centre in Vittoriosa.

She has also called on President Fenech Adami, Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono, Foreign Minister Michael Frendo, Helen D'Amato, Parliamentary Secretary for the Elderly and Community Care, and Sonia Camilleri, Commissioner for Children.

Girl, 15, 'invited' man for sex
Richard Attard, 24, was given a two-year jail term suspended for four years for defiling his 15-year-old neighbour after a magistrate heard last week how the girl was and still is obsessed with him, was never forced into doing anything and often tempted him into having sex with her.

Woman fined for assaulting facilitator
A woman was conditionally discharged for two years and fined Lm300 last week when she admitted to assaulting her son's facilitator almost five years after learning that the boy was not being allowed out during his break.

Magistrate Abigail Lofaro heard how the boy was kept indoors when a doctor at a health centre, who did not examine the boy, wrongly informed the facilitator that he suffered from an infectious condition that could be spread to other children.

Regional Policy Commissioner's visit
European Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hubner has urged Malta's social partners to help Government invest EU funds wisely "to build the island's future".

While pointing out that Malta's share of cohesion funds per capita were higher than the other new EU states, Ms Hubner applauded the local authorities for the way they were tapping EU funding so far.

The Commissioner met representatives of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development during a meeting at the Stock Exchange on Monday, before holding a meeting with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi on Tuesday.

Ms Hubner was in Malta to discuss the overall impact of cohesion policy on the economy, the progress of the implementation of the 2004-2006 programming period and the preparations for the new period 2007-2013.

Church to investigate child abuse reports
A commission has been set up to investigate allegations of physical and psychological abuse of minors in a home run by the Church in Gozo.

Bishop Mario Grech decided to go ahead even though a report drawn up by a similar commission following an initiative by his predecessor Mgr Nikol Cauchi had concluded that the 1999 accusations were unfounded.

Mgr Grech said he had set up the commission for a number of reasons, one being that Church agencies may assist the persons who allegedly suffered the abuse.

The commission will also make sure that the previous report in 1999 left no stone unturned and will allow anybody to come forward with fresh evidence.

Man critical after fall
A 56-year-old man from Serbia-Montenegro was in a critical condition on Monday after falling a height of two storeys at a construction site at Tigné Point, Sliema.

Yachts destroyed by fire
Three yachts, costing tens of thousands of liri, went up in flames early Monday morning at a Manoel Island marine yard.

Nobody was injured in the incident, which could have been caused by an electrical fault on board one of the vessels, police sources said.

AFM rescue immigrants
Twenty illegal male immigrants were rescued from a boat which developed an engine failure by the Armed Forces of Malta on Tuesday. The boat was about 55 miles south east of Grand Harbour.

An AFM patrol boat brought the migrants ashore at Haywharf, in Pietà, the base of the army's maritime squadron; they were then handed over to the immigration police.

Two face drug charges
A teenager was charged with trafficking in Ecstasy on Tuesday and, in a separate case, a 20-year-old Gozitan was accused of possessing the same drug with the intent to sell.

The 17-year-old boy, of St Paul's Bay, pleaded not guilty to trafficking in 100 Ecstasy pills but admitted to the simple possession of Ecstasy and cannabis resin and breaching a probation order. He was granted bail against a personal guarantee of Lm2,000.

The Gozitan, who pleaded not guilty, was granted bail against a Lm1,000 personal guarantee.

Bill for Gozo to be declared one district
The prime minister served notice of a Bill on Wednesday to amend the Constitution and the Nationalist Party said the idea was to declare Gozo a single electoral district.

The PN said the Bill would be moved after all-party talks over the past year, aimed at improving the electoral system, failed to yield an agreement. It said the latest meeting was held on Tuesday evening.

Michael Falzon, the Labour Party's deputy leader for party affairs, said the MLP was in favour of Gozo being one single electoral district.

Driver critically injured
A Luqa man was in danger of dying after a traffic accident at Ta' Kandja, limits off Siggiewi, on Wednesday, when a Mercedes truck driven by a 32-year-old man from Gudja was involved in a collision with a Toyota Tercel.

The 29-year-old Toyota driver was rushed to hospital where he was found to be in danger of dying. The truck driver was not injured.

Thief caught on camera
Johan Zammit, 30, of Zabbar, was jailed for 15 months on Wednesday for stealing from his aunt's house in Marsascala last June after a magistrate heard how he was caught red-handed thanks to a closed-circuit television system.

Young worker crushed to death
Daniel Spiteri Sacco, 24, of Pietà, died while handling marble slabs in Qormi Thursday morning.

The man, who got caught between a marble slab and a van, was working in Anthony John Coleiro Street, at Tal-Handaq industrial zone.

Personnel from the Civil Protection Department were called to free the worker, who died on the spot.

Designer Ray Ashley dies
Leading fashion designer Ray Ashley (Zammit) died at St Luke's Hospital on Thursday afternoon, aged 43.

Mr Ashley, who ran a fashion studio in Bahar ic-Caghaq, used to design and produce all types of gowns although his expertise lay primarily in designing exclusive wedding dresses.

Cannabis courier jailed
Libyan Saad Eabaied, 38, who was apprehended at the airport allegedly carrying cannabis hidden in his shoes, was jailed for three years and fined Lm2,000 on Thursday for importing the drug.

Eabaied pleaded guilty to conspiring to deal in 325 grammes of cannabis resin and importing the drug into Malta from Tripoli in June 2004.

Woman claims she was PM's top security officer
A magistrate heard how Carmen Zammit, 41, of Qawra, charged with defrauding seven people of over Lm10,000, posed as the Prime Minister's chief security officer and even forged his signature.

Zammit, who pleaded not guilty, was granted bail against a Lm3,000 deposit and a personal guarantee of Lm6,000.

Appeal rejected in libel case
The Court of Appeal on Friday confirmed a judgment of the First Hall of the Civil Court ordering former members of the Drydocks Council to pay Lm600 in damages to former government minister Michael Falzon.

Mr Falzon had felt libelled by a poster stuck to the Malta Drydocks Corporation building in Cospicua which read "Michael Falzon Ministru Mbroljun Jaghti l-Offerti Oghla b'Miljun".

The poster was seen on September 24, 1990, and for many subsequent days.

Charged with attempted murder of policeman
Michael Mifsud, 20, of Zabbar, was charged with shooting at a police constable during a car chase and injuring two women when the stolen car he was driving crashed into the car the women were in.

On Friday, Mifsud pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of PC Felix Sammut when he fired a shotgun in his direction while in a residential area in Cospicua on Wednesday at about 2.15 a.m.

Mifsud was also charged with the illegal possession of the shotgun and ammunition, stealing a Citroen Berlingo, driving it dangerously and without insurance cover, crashing into another car and seriously injuring Rowena D'Amico and slightly injuring Karen Muscat.

Extradition request over rape of girl
Australian authorities are requesting the extradition of Maltese-Australian John Mary Chircop, 41, for 17 counts of violent indecent assault and the rape of a girl, aged under 14, over a year.

Chircop appeared in the Magistrates' Court under arrest on the strength of a provisional warrant issued by Magistrate Lawrence Quintano.

The defence, who said that their client was currently under psychiatric care as he had tried to harm himself, requested that he be detained at Mount Carmel's Forensic Ward. Magistrate Myriam Hayman upheld the request.

Arson in Hamrun
Nobody was injured when unknown individuals broke into a house in Hamrun and started a fire inside.

The police were informed at around midnight on Friday that a fire had broken out in a Hamrun street.

Investigations showed that nothing was stolen from the residence, though the front room was damaged by the fire. Civil protection firemen were called to the scene.

The police confirmed that the fire had been started intentionally after finding a number of jerry cans inside.

The incident is probably unconnected to the issue of illegal immigration, sources said.