Weekly News highlights

The Hunters' Federation on Wednesday gave the government until the end of last week to publish amendments to the hunting regulations. Unless this is done, the federation would resort to national protests to show its disapproval of the prevailing situation.

Last Sunday hunters and trappers were instructed by their federation to stand by in case street protests are announced. The announcement was made three days after the hunters' federation backed out of a meeting of the Ornis committee in protest against the existing hunting regulations, which it wants to change.

Committee members, led by federation president Joseph Buttigieg, said members were being subjected to unnecessary hassle because of unjust regulations that placed Maltese and Gozitan hunters and trappers at a disadvantage against their European counterparts.

On Friday BirdLife called on the government to announce the proposals to the new hunting laws before legislating to ensure enough time for consultation.

BirdLife said it had proposed a number of changes to strengthen the hunting laws in favour of the environment and included provisions that would enable the public to reclaim the countryside, which, it said, has become the exclusive property of hunters and trappers.

These changes include a ban on hunting within 200 metres of the coastline in view of the recreational and tourist importance of these areas, a ban on the importation of firearms that are capable of firing more than three rounds, an increase in fines for second or major offences, the confiscation of firearms for shooting protected species and a restriction of hunting in September afternoons to protect birds of prey.

Magistrate claims discrimination

Senior magistrate Dennis Montebello filed a judicial protest against the government on Monday, claiming a violation of fundamental human rights.

In his protest the magistrate said he had held the post of senior magistrate for over 15 years. Under the current law, he was due to retire when he turned 60 (on Tuesday), but the government was planning to amend the Constitution so that the compulsory retirement age for magistrates would be 65. The bill would not be enacted until the end of the month, thus he would not be able to serve for another five years, even though he was prepared to do so.

Man charged over Balzan incident

Joseph Compagno, 24, on Monday was charged with trying to seriously injure two police constables when he allegedly threatened and assaulted them while in possession of a knife and a metal bar in Balzan last Sunday.

Compagno was remanded in custody after he pleaded not guilty.

Post office robbery

Two armed and hooded robbers stole around Lm2,000 from the Maltapost branch in Guardamangia Hill on Monday afternoon. The branch was closed but there were two employees inside. The car used by the two robbers was later found by the police.

Malta criticised on racism by EU agency

Malta is one of five countries that have been criticised by a EU agency for not giving due importance to the problem of racism and xenophobia.

The other four are Greece, Spain, Italy and Cyprus.

In its annual report for 2006 analysing racial discrimination and racial crime data, presented on Tuesday at the European Parliament in Brussels, the EUMC, responsible for the monitoring of racism and xenophobia, said Malta is still not implementing two important EU directives - the Racial and Employment Equality Directives.

Around 3,000 students graduate

Close to 3,000 graduates of the University of Malta received their degrees in 12 ceremonies starting on Tuesday.

The graduation ceremonies continued until Friday at the Jesuits Church, Valletta. Between tomorrow and December 12 they will be held at Sir Temi Zammit Hall at the University of Malta.

MTA in bid to boost seat capacity

The Malta Tourism Authority is to pay for part of the lease of an aircraft that will be used on different routes next summer, wherever spare capacity is required, chairman Sam Mifsud said in an interview last week.

The balance of the cost will be covered by Air Malta, which will operate the flight.

Mr Mifsud also said that the number of segments catered for by the MTA had been reduced from seven to five. These are MICE (conference and incentive); English as a foreign language; sports; cruise lining; and culture.

Surcharge cut to 54 per cent

Enemalta Corporation is seeking the approval of the Malta Resources Authority to reduce the surcharge on electricity from 59.5 per cent to 54 per cent with effect from January 1, when the next surcharge revision is due, the Ministry of Investment and Industry said on Wednesday.

The corporation has also asked for authorisation to reduce the price of thin fuel oil by between Lm6.50 and Lm8 per ton with effect from last Friday.

Enemalta said it will be retaining the current price of lead replacement petrol, unleaded petrol, diesel, kerosene and light heating oil until the end of February, since the supplies that were brought over the past months were enough to satisfy the demand.

Two cleared of attempted murder

Lawrence Attard and George Grech, who were charged with attempted murder, hugged each other tightly when they heard a judge declaring them not guilty on Wednesday after a three-day trial by jury.

After three and a half hours of deliberation, jurors found Attard, 40, not guilty by a 7-2 vote, while Grech 46, was cleared with an 8-1 vote.

The verdict cleared the men of trying to kill Michael Depasquale, who was shot on January 21, 2000, at about 1 a.m. in Zabbar. The incident took place when Depasquale drove around Zabbar and Marsascala while looking for his wife following an argument.

As he drove round the area with his brother-in-law he passed by Brooklyn Bar in Marsascala several times. Jurors heard how Depasquale was shot by the bar owner who suspected that he had been sent as a threat by someone the bar owner had clashed with.

Gzira lotto office hold-up

No-one was hurt on Wednesday evening when two armed and hooded men rushed into a lotto office in Turu Rizzo Street, Gzira, and made off with an undisclosed sum of money, the police said on Wednesday. The robbers rushed off in a vehicle after holding up the lotto office owner and an employee.

Charged with raping daughter

On Wednesday a 37-year-old man was charged with raping his 17-year-old daughter and defiling another 12-year-old girl over the past months.

The man, who pleaded not guilty, was remanded in custody.

The man's name was not published by court order, to protect his daughter's identity.

Private investigator jailed

Joseph Zahra, 53, of Marsascala, a private investigator, was jailed for two years on Thursday after a magistrate found him guilty of fabricating a report in which he claimed there had been irregularities in the allocation of a Mater Dei Hospital tender.

Magistrate Giovanni Grixti handed down the judgment after noting that the report compiled by Zahra "contained fictitious allegations of national scandal, could have led to criminal procedures being taken against innocent people and could have also had very serious repercussions..."

In July, 2004, Zahra was charged with filing a report against people he knew to be innocent and spreading false news that could alarm the public when he compiled the report dated December 25, 2004.

He was also charged with simulating an offence, fabricating evidence and false news, defaming people and working as a private investigator without a licence.

In the compilation of evidence that followed, Magistrate Grixti heard how the case originated when Simed International, Hospitalia GmbH and INSO SpA submitted bids for the Lm25 million contract for the supply of a new hospital's medical equipment.

When the director of contracts awarded the tender to INSO, the other two bidders appealed.

In early November 2003, an appeals tribunal annulled the decision by the director-general of contracts, disqualified Hospitalia from the tendering process and ruled that Simed ought to be given the opportunity to clarify aspects of its bid in order to satisfy certain conditions of the tender documents.

In December 2003, the board decided to award the tender to INSO again and then Finance Minister John Dalli also decided in favour of INSO.

For this reason Simed decided to appoint a private investigator to look into why the contract had been awarded to INSO.

Man wins Lm2,000 in moral damages

Luqa Farrugia was awarded Lm2,000 in moral damages on Thursday after a court ruled that his rights had been breached when a court case against him dragged on for over 11 years.

On May 14, 2005, Mr Farrugia filed a constitutional application arguing that the "unreasonable and unjustified" time lapse in his regard amounted to a breach of his human rights.

In the application, filed against the Attorney General in the First Hall of the Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction, Mr Farrugia explained that on March 18, 1994, he had been arraigned over breeding 165 pigs without a licence in an Mqabba farm on and before February 24 that year. By November 7, 1994, the prosecution and the defence declared they had no more evidence and on February 27, 1995, the case was put off for judgment for the first time. But 11 years on, the case had not been decided.

Charged with threatening mother

A 22-year-old man from St Paul's Bay was charged with threatening his mother and other members of his family with a kitchen knife on Thursday.

The man, who pleaded not guilty and was granted bail against a personal guarantee of Lm1,000, will be residing in a shelter for the time being.

Suspect spirits seized

Close to 4,000 bottles of spirits, suspected to have been imported without the payment of excise duty, were seized by Custom officials during inspections in various outlets over the last two weeks, a spokesman for the Customs Department said.

Granted bail after 22 months in jail

Marco Pace, known as Il-Pinzell, who is charged with trying to kill a police officer during a stand-off in Qormi last year, was granted bail on Friday, 22 months after his arraignment, exceeding the 20-month threshold stipulated by law.

Pace was arraigned on February 17, 2005 and charged with trying to kill PS George Farrugia by firing a gun in his direction on February 15 that year. The accused has been in preventive custody ever since.