Weekly News highlights

Rachel Caruana, who lives with her family in St Elias Street, Fgura, got the shock of her life when her home shook yesterday week at about 7.30 p.m. as the driveway collapsed and her car plummeted two storeys into an adjacent construction site.

The area has been cordoned off by the police and the Caruana family are unable to live in their house for fear the entire building might collapse.

They spent the first night with relatives; they are now living in a Fgura apartment at the building contractor's expense.

The family has been living in the house for 12 years. Some time ago, the bungalow next door was sold to make way for flats and garages.

More illegal immigrants

More illegal immigrants arrived last Sunday when an Armed Forces patrol craft helped a boat carrying 29 illegal immigrants - five females and four children - to land at Wied Buni, Birzebbuga.

Lowell sues for libel

Norman Lowell, leader of the far-right Imperium Europa, has filed a libel suit against the editor, Saviour Balzan, and two journalists - Kurt Sansone and Matthew Vella - of Malta Today over three articles published on May 14, alleging that Mr Lowell was involved in an arson attack on the house of columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

First Ryanair flights

Two Ryanair aircraft touched down at Malta International Airport within 20 minutes of each other on Tuesday night, marking the beginning of the low-cost airline's association with the island.

The 184 passengers on board the flight from Pisa landed at 8.40 p.m., followed by a full planeload from Luton. Ryanair planes seat 189.

The 373 passengers were given an unusual welcome as the Arrivals Lounge hosted the nearest one can get to a small village festa, complete with a band and red-clad dancers. On the initiative of the Malta Tourism Authority, female passengers were handed a carnation and the men got honey rings.

Addressing a news conference on Monday, MIA chief executive Peter Bolech announced fiscal incentives for airlines that choose to operate new routes from four countries - Spain, Sweden, Norway and Poland - amid forecasts that low-cost carriers will fly 230,000 passengers to Malta next year. The incentives were directed at any airline that wished to operate a minimum of three weekly flights all year round from any airport in the four countries.

MIA said it will give up to 50 per cent discount on its passenger service fees and landing charges on flights from the four countries. Government will also provide market support.

Man shot by police

Kevin Gatt, 26, of Ghaxaq, who was shot in the hip by police officers when allegedly caught trying to escape during a burglary, on Wednesday limped into court to answer to the charges brought against him.

Gatt admitted to his involvement in stealing over Lm1,000 in cash from Sphynx Pastizzeria in St Venera, ramming a police car with a car he was driving and damaging both cars on Tuesday at about 3 a.m.

He pleaded not guilty to trying to kill PC Christopher De Brincat when he drove the car in his direction and to stealing Aaron Zammit's Honda Civic on October 19 and burgling Centro Casalinga in St Venera, the night he allegedly stole the car, and to relapsing.

Gatt's accomplice, a man who was with him in the car when Gatt was arrested, is still on the run.

Fraud at Medicines Authority

A senior official at the Medicines Authority is being investigated by the Internal Audit Investigation Department (IAID) and the police over the misappropriation of more than Lm50,000, The Times has learnt.

The IAID took swift action after the authority became suspicious that a number of cheques it issued had not been received by the claimed recipients, or had been forged.

The official, who joined the authority about two years ago and whose main responsibilities included accounting, has been sacked.

Sources said the alleged fraudulent activity is restricted to one individual within the authority, which derives income from a government subvention of about Lm400,000 and through licensing fees for medicines.

The man is expected to be charged with offences related to fraud once the investigations by the IAID and the police are complete.

White Paper on rent law reform

A white paper on rent law reform has been drafted and will be submitted to Cabinet, Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina told Parliament on Wednesday.

She also announced during the budget debate that the Benefit Fraud Directorate was this year expected to yield savings of Lm1 million in unlawfully claimed benefits.

UNHCR asked to help on illegal immigration

During talks in Geneva with UN High Commissioner for Refugees and former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres last week Foreign Minister Michael Frendo asked the UNHCR to help Malta with the resettlement of refugees and persons with humanitarian status.

In Geneva, Dr Frendo also met Brunson McKinley, director-general of the International Organisation of Migration (IOM), an inter-governmental organisation which deals with the management of migration.

The IOM, which collaborates closely with the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs, has 288 offices worldwide and will shortly open its own office in Malta.

Golf course plans dropped

Government is likely to drop its controversial proposal to build a golf course on the large stretch of pristine land in the North West of the island called Xaghra l-Hamra.

The area, stretching between Ghajn Tuffieha and Mellieha over some 112 hectares of land, was earmarked for the development of an 18-hole golf course in June last year.

Although the Cabinet is not known to have taken a formal stand on what to do with the proposal, government sources told The Times that, based on studies carried out by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, the proposal is likely to be given the thumbs down.

Driving test examiners banned

Two driving test examiners at the Malta Transport Authority - Jason Buttigieg and Roderick Galea - will not be able to hold a public office for the rest of their life after they were generally interdicted and conditionally discharged for three years for accepting bribes.

After hearing Buttigieg and Galea admit to accepting bribes when carrying out duties as public officers, Magistrate Miriam Hayman ruled that "the court does not want to give the defendants or the public the impression that the actions of (the accused) are to be taken lightly..."

Following their arraignment earlier this year, Mr Buttigieg, 34, of Birkirkara, and Mr Galea, 30, of Marsascala, pleaded guilty to accepting money to carry out their job.

Minivan owner wins Lm54,000 in damages

On Thursday, the Malta Transport Authority was ordered to pay damages amounting to Lm54,000 to Nazzareno Fenech after ruling that the regulator had acted ultra vires its powers at law.

Mr Justice Tonio Mallia, sitting in the First Hall of the Civil Court, heard that Fenech had a van that was licensed to carry passengers. In 1994, he had decided to replace the van with another and had requested a transfer of his licence onto the new vehicle.

He was told by the transport watchdog (ADT) that the permit would be issued provided he modified his first van so that it could no longer be used for the carriage of passengers.

Fenech carried out this conversion, but was subsequently told by the ADT that no permit would be issued on the basis of its policies.

In February 1996 Fenech contested the decision before the courts and in March 2001 the First Hall of the Civil Court had upheld his claim and had revoked the ADT's decision.

Hunter, trapper fined Lm1,300

A hunter and a trapper were fined Lm1,300 between them on Thursday after being found guilty of breaching hunting and bird protection regulations.

Alan Spiteri, 35, of Fgura, was found guilty of being in possession of a number of birds on his return from Tunisia on January 8, 2005. He was found in possession of over 100 finches, mainly greenfinches, packed in PVC tubes, most of which were already dead.

He was also found in possession of a number of bird skins, including skins of a flamingo, an osprey, an avocet, two barn owls and a great grey shrike. He was fined Lm1,000.

Jason Grima, 34, of Rabat, was fined Lm300 and conditionally discharged for a year after being found guilty of attacking police officers and trapping birds in Buskett, a bird sanctuary, on January 15, 2002.

He also possessed nine stuffed protected birds: a marsh harrier, a Montagu's harrier, two honey buzzards, a short-eared owl, a cuckoo, a grey heron, a bee-eater and a hoopoe.

Maghtab gas wells

Contractors started drilling at the Maghtab landfill on Thursday in preparation for the installation of steel wells through which gases within the rubbish mound will be extracted.

The wells, which will collect the gas generated through waste degradation and combustion within the landfill, will be drilled to a depth of about 12 metres and will form a network of pipework that covers the whole site.

A fire, which broke out in part of the landfill on Thursday but was soon under control, occurred while material within the site boundary was being shifted to stabilise the landfill and build access roads. During these works, an area was uncovered which revealed a deep-seated fire within the landfill.

Man charged with 1988 murder demands salary

Refuse collector Carmel Camilleri, who has been detained in police custody ever since he was charged with murder, has called on the authorities to pay him his salary that was stopped on his arraignment in April.

Camilleri appeared in court on April 8 and was charged with the murder of Baron Francis Sant Cassia on October 27, 1988. He has been refused bail since.

He was suspended from work and was not receiving any pay, as laid down in public service regulations. This meant that his family had to face financial difficulties.

For this reason, Camilleri filed a letter in the First Hall of the Civil Court calling on the Public Service Commission and the Attorney General to take the necessary action within a day to enable him to receive his salary. He also asked that he be given the salary owed to him since April, reserving the right to take further legal action.

Businessmen sue for libel

Four businessmen - Denis Baldacchino, Patrick Dalli, Carmelo Penza and Raymond Vella - filed libel suits against two of the Nationalist Party's media on Friday after claims on a trip to Dubai with a Labour Party delegation.

The suits were filed against In-Nazzjon editor Alex Attard, Radio 101 editor Louiselle Vassallo and journalist Nathaniel Attard.

The men claimed that a news item broadcast on Radio 101 and an article published in In-Nazzjon on October 24 were libellous and defamatory.

Labour MPs Charles Mangion, Leo Brincat and Charles Buhagiar filed a libel suit against Ms Vassallo and Mr Attard a couple of weeks ago over similar news items.

Interdicted for accepting bribes

James Fenech, a Customs officer, was given an 18-month jail term suspended for three years on Friday after he admitted to accepting bribes.

Magistrate Anthony Vella heard Fenech, 31, of Birkirkara, plead guilty to accepting bribes and abusing his position as a Customs officer on and before October 17.

He was given a suspended jail term and a general interdiction.

Jailed for theft

Claire Cassar was jailed for two and a half years after a court upheld an appeal filed by the Attorney General.

The woman had been given a two-year jail term suspended for four years and also jailed for six months after she admitted to stealing car registration plates, stealing three cars and attaching the stolen plates to one of the cars and relapsing.

Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono, sitting in the Court of Appeal upheld the appeal and ordered that the suspended jail term be converted into a two-year prison term.