Weekly News highlights

Veteran Swedish aerobatics champion Gábor Varga, 45, was killed on Sunday when his stunt plane, which was taking part in the Aero Grand Prix of Malta, collided with another driven by Irish pilot Eddie Goggins, and crashed into the sea at the entrance of Marsamxett harbour. Goggins survived after his red parachute opened when he was just about to hit the water.

Gábor's autopsy report said the pilot, who had sustained many injuries, including a ruptured lung, was still alive moments after his plane crashed into the sea, but died of drowning.

On Wednesday, a magistrate ordered the withdrawal of a provisional arrest warrant issued against Goggins.

Migrants rescued

A total of 57 illegal immigrants arrived in Malta on Sunday in two groups, one of which was rescued from a sinking boat by a passing tug.

The AFM Operations Centre were informed by the local agent of a Panamanian tugboat that it had picked up 23 men, three women and two children from a sinking boat while towing an oil rig about 26 miles northwest of Gozo.

The migrants were later transferred to a patrol boat and brought to Malta.

Six years jail for cannabis trafficking

Ambrose Zammit, 29, of Mellieha, was jailed for six years and eight months and fined Lm3,800 on Monday after he admitted to trafficking almost two kilos of cannabis resin three years ago.

Motorcyclist critically injured

A 53-year-old motorcyclist from Sliema, who was hit by a car on Sunday morning, was still in danger last Monday, police sources said.

The motorcyclist was the victim of a 'hit and run' accident while driving along The Strand. A 19-year-old man from Gzira, who drove on after the accident in a Smart car, was later traced by the police.

Malta to host Euro-Med Parliamentary Assembly

The secretariat of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly is to be based in Malta, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi announced on Monday.

The assembly, set up in 2003 in Naples, is the parliamentary dimension of the Euro-Med partnership, which covers the 25 EU countries and 10 countries of the Mediterranean rim.

Dr Gonzi told journalists that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Anton Tabone, who was leading a parliamentary delegation in Amman, Jordan, had given him the news.

The Euro-Med Parliamentary Assembly is to be housed in Spinola Palace, St Julian's.

A booking a minute for Ryanair's Malta flights

No fewer than 6,000 advance bookings have been made for Ryanair's Malta routes in just four days - which works out at a booking a minute, airline communications head Peter Sherrard told The Times last week.

The airline seats were snapped up between September 7 and 10, the majority of which were for the Luton route. Foreigners made around 85 per cent of all bookings.

Ryanair has allocated around 30,000 flights at the cost of a nominal one euro cent on the Malta route until March, although other charges then raise the final ticket price to around Lm40.

Meanwhile, officials from the other earmarked low-cost airline EasyJet held a meeting with the Malta Tourism Authority on Monday.

More medicines at lower prices

Agreement was reached on Tuesday between the government and medicine agents to import hundreds of products that have not been available in pharmacies for the past two years.

Months of discussion ensued after importers blamed a medicine regulations regime introduced upon EU accession - which drastically reduced the number of medicines that could be imported - for the increase in prices.

Government had, however, maintained that the price hikes were caused by cartels and had threatened to re-introduce price orders.

A board on which importers' and distributors' representatives will sit is expected to come up with reference prices for locally sold products, benchmarked against the price of the same medicines sold in other European countries.

It was also agreed on Tuesday that instructions on information leaflets, and the outer package of a product, need not appear in both Maltese and English.

During talks a suggestion to amend the Medicines Act, so that doctors would no longer be allowed to prescribe branded medicines, was turned down by the government on Wednesday. The Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprise (GRTU) claimed patients should not be forced to buy a branded product when they could get generic medicines. These medicines imitate branded drugs but are cheaper because they are patent-free.

Four charged after police seize three kilos of cocaine

Yanez Pinon Miguel Angel, 42, was the second Mexican to be charged with conspiring to deal in 1.5 kilos of cocaine and importing the drug on Monday night.

On Tuesday, Enrique Martinez Burgoa, 38, was charged with conspiracy and importation of the same amount of cocaine, while another two men - Jose Edgar Pena, a 37-year-old Colombian, and Domingo Ricardo Duran Navas, 29, of Panama - were charged with conspiracy.

The four were arraigned after police cracked down on what they believe is a drug trafficking circle originating in Mexico. A total of three kilos of cocaine were seized by Customs and police, estimated to have a street value of over Lm100,000.

On Sunday night Customs officials stopped Burgoa, who had just arrived from Amsterdam on a flight in transit from Mexico. A search discovered two packets containing 1.5 kilos of cocaine hidden in a false bottom of his luggage.

Four charged over September 8 incidents

Police arraigned a fourth man - Antoine Aquilina, 35, of St Julian's - on Friday over the disturbance caused in Floriana during the Victory Day regatta. Aquilina pleaded not guilty to forming part of a crowd of over 10 people and causing damage to tables and chairs at the Vilhena Band Club in Floriana on September 8.

On Tuesday, three Valletta men - Jesmar Caruana, 42, Christopher Micallef, 30, and Dieter Dalli, 22, were charged with assaulting police and slightly injuring Marsa supporter Dominic Andrew Spencer during the regatta.

Aquilina, like the three men arraigned before him, was granted bail against a Lm400 deposit and personal guarantee of Lm1,000.

Second highest seizure of new designer drug

The seizure of over 50,000 mCPP tablets by Maltese police ranks the second highest catch of this drug in Europe, The Times has learnt.

It was topped by Ireland where some 125,000 pills were found.

Many mCPP tablets are off-white with multi-coloured spots, while others bear logos, such as Rolls Royce, Three Links, Lacoste or Versace.

Teenager shot in leg

A 16-year-old boy was accidentally shot in the leg by his 23-year-old friend on Wednesday morning while the two were bird hunting in Mistra, the police said.

The police, an ambulance and members of the Civil Protection Department were called on site, but the boy had to be taken to hospital by helicopter since the site was inaccessible.

EU joint patrols "to go ahead"

The European Commission has decided to forge ahead with joint patrols in the Mediterranean in an attempt to stem illegal immigration, despite Libya's opposition.

A spokesman for the Commission on Thursday told The Times that although the EU still wished to have Libya on board, Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini had instructed the EU's border agency, Frontex, to put in place the last technical requirements to start the operation.

However, the spokesman declined to comment on reports in Brussels that talks between the Commission and Libya on this issue have officially come to a standstill.

The operation Jason 1, scheduled to start on September 7, was postponed, after which the inter-ministerial meeting on illegal immigration between Italy, Malta and Libya was meant to take place in Valletta a couple of weeks ago, was also postponed at the eleventh hour after Libya indicated it would join the EU sea patrols in return for co-operation on patrols in the desert.

On Wednesday, Italy and Libya unexpectedly announced they had struck a deal for bilateral collaboration, which includes joint patrols in Libyan waters, an agreement welcomed by the Maltese Government on Thursday.

Contract with Brand Malta consultant renewed

The Malta Tourism Authority has renewed Brand Malta international consultant Christian Sinding's contract despite the anger and frustration expressed by the authority's board of directors following the campaign's false start.

Neither MTA chairman Sam Mifsud, nor Mr Sinding, would however confirm or deny whether any part of the consultant's €30,000-a-month fee has been withheld by the MTA as a "sort of penalty".

In a confidential letter to board members leaked by The Times on Tuesday, Mr Mifsud branded the first stage of the campaign designed to boost tourism as a "relative failure".

In the letter - which was never sent to Mr Sinding because the board decided to have a face-to-face meeting with him instead - Mr Mifsud had suggested withholding €15,000 from the consultant's next 30-day contract.

Mr Sinding would not comment when asked on Friday if the financial terms of the renewed contract were different from what he had negotiated with the MTA's former chairman Romwald Lungaro Mifsud.