Parliament on Tuesday cleared the way for the SmartCity project by unanimously approving a motion for the transfer of land at Ricasoli for the $300 million ICT project.
The motion was moved by Public Investments and IT Minister Austin Gatt, who said the unanimous approval showed that in such important moments, Parliament could rise above partisan politics.
Opposition deputy leader Charles Mangion said the opposition was voting in favour of the motion while maintaining the reservations it had raised during the three-day debate in committee.
In the meantime, Tecom Investments and Sama Dubai, both members of Dubai Holding, last week announced the formation of SmartCity.
SmartCity will combine Tecom's specialised expertise in the creation and management of knowledge-based industry clusters with Sama Dubai's strength in international real estate development to create an infrastructure and environment catered for the requirements of knowledge-based companies and knowledge workers.
Enemalta's Gas Division to be privatised
The Cabinet on Tuesday accepted the adjudicating committee's recommendation on the commercialisation of Enemalta's Gas Division to consider the GASCO consortium as the preferred bidder.
Gasco consists of Multigas Ltd, a Maltese company, and Liquigas Spa of Italy, each having a 50 per cent shareholding.
The privatisation unit on Tuesday advised the bidders of the government's decision and talks with GASCO will shortly follow.
The Cabinet has also decided that, in the event of a final agreement being reached, employees at the Gas Division could either join the new operator or retain their job at Enemalta.
L-Ispjun producers reject claim
L-Ispjun producers have filed a counter-protest, arguing that allegations made by two Dutch companies, claiming a breach of intellectual property rights, were unfounded.
Endemol International BV and Endemol Nederland BV on Tuesday filed a protest claiming they were the owner and author of Big Brother and that L-Ispjun was in breach of their intellectual property rights.
The protest was filed in the First Hall of the Civil Court against Melita Cable plc, Public Broadcasting Services Ltd and Watermelon Media and Communications Ltd.
Watermelon, the production company, filed the counter-protest on Friday, arguing that Endemol's claims were "completely unfounded" and held the companies liable to damages.
Lm10,000 fine
Nazzareno Zarb, 34, of Marsascala, was fined Lm10,000 last week after an appeal court found him guilty of illegally operating a financial institution by loaning money at high interest rates.
The Magistrates' Court last year had cleared Zarb of operating the financial institution without a licence. The magistrate had heard several witnesses explain they had borrowed money from Zarb at interest rates as high as 50 per cent.
The judge ordered the Lm10,000 fine to be converted into a six-month jail term if it was not paid within a month.
Malta given a month to reply to spring hunting charge
The EU executive, meeting on Wednesday in Brussels, has given Malta one month to reply to the Commission's charge that the island is breaching the EU Birds Directive.
Speaking to The Times after Wednesday's decision, European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said he hoped the Maltese authorities would comply with EU law on spring hunting without the need to take this matter to court.
Commission sources explained that the decision is both technical and political.
Mr Dimas said Malta is not the only member state where hunters claim they should be allowed to hunt in spring.
The government has expressed regret that in the spring hunting issue the European Commission was acting as though the subject was not even discussed during EU negotiations.
The government reiterated its position that it acted in line with the understanding reached during Malta's accession talks. It downplayed the EU's tough talk, including that of Mr Dimas, and said it will respond to the Commission's decisions once these have been communicated to it.
On Wednesday four hunters filed a judicial protest, claiming that together with thousands of hunters and trappers they had been "deceived" by information released by the Malta-EU Information Centre (MIC) in October 2002.
Emanuel Zarb, John d'Amato, Michael Galea and Rodney Micallef filed the protest in the First Hall of the Civil Court against MIC and against MIC officials Carmel Attard and Elaine Cordina as the authors of the article Kacca u Nsib (hunting and trapping) that had appeared on the MIC publication Aggornat.
On Friday four men - Christopher Azzopardi, 29, and Tony Farrugia, 41, both of Qormi, Stephen Caruana, 26, of St Paul's Bay, and Massimo Bartolo, 22, of Birkirkara - were charged with forming part of a crowd to commit a crime during the hunters and trappers' demonstration held in Republic Street, Valletta, earlier this month.
They were arraigned in three separate cases before Magistrate Doreen Clarke.
Azzopardi and Farrugia, who pleaded not guilty to trying to injure several police officers by hurling glass bottles at them and threatening and assaulting the officers, were granted bail against a Lm200 deposit and a personal guarantee of Lm1,000.
Caruana and Bartolo, who were charged separately, pleaded guilty to the charges.
The magistrate put off Caruana and Bartolo's cases to tomorrow for judgment. They were both granted bail against a personal guarantee of Lm200.
Four Men were fined over Lm12,000 for failing to declare thousands of liri worth of bird skins of restricted species imported from Egypt.
Mario Ellul, George Galea, Joseph Grech and Godwin Zahra had just arrived in Malta by air on April 12, 2001 and passed through the green channel when Customs officers found they had birds or bird skins in their luggage.
Marsa rape - four arraigned
On Wednesday three Somalis and a Sudanese were charged with raping a 26-year-old Maltese woman in Marsa early on Monday.
They are Somalis Abuker Ahmed Abdilrahman, 18, residing in Marsalforn, Muhammed Ali Hasan and Omar Osman Omar and Sudanese Anwar Otman Hasan, all 28, and who reside at the Marsa open centre.
The four men pleaded not guilty to holding the woman against her will, using violence to force her to do their bidding, raping her and slightly injuring her.
Abdilrahman and Hasan were also charged with threatening and assaulting a foreign man who was with the woman.
The men were remanded in custody.
Magistrate insists on jail
Nabil Kelfe Hipleg, a 20-year-old Libyan, on Wednesday was jailed for two years for defiling a 13-year-old girl as she was walking home from school a couple of weeks ago.
Magistrate Giovanni Grixti handed down the punishment after noting that he disagreed with both the defence and prosecution who suggested a suspended jail term.
Hipleg pleaded guilty to the violent indecent assault, holding the girl against her will and defiling her in Mgarr, Malta, last Tuesday week.
PBS to post Lm200,000 profit
Public Broadcasting Services is expected to post a Lm200,000 profit at the end of the financial year ending in September, Investments Minister Austin Gatt said on Wednesday.
Dr Gatt said the state broadcaster had gone from making an annual loss of Lm2.4 million a year to being a profit-making company. PBS made a profit for the first time in many years - Lm60,000 - in the financial year which ended last September.
Formal EU request to amend car registration tax
The European Commission on Wednesday decided to send a formal request to Malta to amend its car registration tax rules which discriminate against second-hand cars imported from other member states.
The request is a "letter of formal notice", the first stage of the EU infringement procedure. If the Commission does not receive a satisfactory response within two months, it may proceed with the second stage and eventually bring the case before the European Court of Justice.
The tax rate, which depends on the vehicles' engine capacity, is the same for new and used cars. The rate is calculated on the vehicle's value, which is determined by the Maltese authorities. However, differently from new vehicles, there is a minimum amount of tax fixed for used cars.
Meetings between three ministries - Roads, Finance and the Environment - will be held to try to meet these requests.
Vandals leave their mark
A Bus Shelter, a farmhouse and a stretch of rubble wall close to Hagar Qim and Mnajdra Temples were vandalised on Thursday night.
Graffiti sprayed on the walls relating to the ongoing hunting and trapping issue were directed mainly at Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, Environment Minister George Pullicino and the Nationalist Party.
Lm60,000 Super 5 prize unclaimed
The winner of the Super 5 jackpot amounting to Lm60,000 held on March 7 has not yet claimed the prize, Maltco Lotteries said on Thursday.
The winning numbers of draw No. 139 were 4, 37, 25, 39 and 16. The winning ticket expires on April 9.
Cheques thief jailed
On Thursday a 21-year-old man was jailed for nine months for stealing three cheques from the Social Action Movement, depositing them into his bank account and cashing the money.
Magistrate Lawrence Quintano noted that the young man was only 17 when he stole the cheques from the movement's offices in Valletta on February 11, 2003.
He deposited the three cheques, amounting to Lm1,700, into a BoV account he opened in his name. Soon after he deposited the money, he withdrew the full amount.
Cleared of human trafficking charges
A Chinese woman, 41-year-old Tao Yu Yi, was cleared of human trafficking charges on Thursday after a magistrate heard that she was unaware that her boss had given her a passport to help someone try to leave Malta illegally.
Magistrate Lawrence Quintano cleared Ms Tao of the charge after hearing Police Inspector Mario Haber, prosecuting, explain that on November 19, 2006, the Chinese woman and her employer Lin Xin had checked in at the airport for a flight to England. Having checked in, they handed over their boarding passes to another couple who were later apprehended at the departure lounge in possession of forged passports bearing the names of Tao and Lin.
Xin was jailed for six months on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to human trafficking.
Bail for man charged with importing heroin
Silvio Buttigieg, 33, of Cospicua, one of four men charged with importing seven kg of heroin into Malta two years ago, on Wednesday was granted bail against a Lm7,000 deposit and a personal guarantee of Lm2,000.
Buttigieg is pleading not guilty. He was arraigned in June 2005.
New Air Malta destinations launched
Air Malta will be serving three new destinations - Liverpool, Venice and Benghazi - this spring and summer.
With 12 aircraft based in Malta and three operating from the UK, Air Malta will serve no fewer than 46 scheduled destinations, with 200 flights a week, the airline's CEO Joe Cappello, said during a press conference on Friday.
The airline will also be expanding its intra-European operations with a new service between Catania and Munich and between Catania and Geneva. In the peak summer months, Air Malta will be operating a weekly flight between Reggio Calabria and Barcelona in July, August and September. It will also be the first airline to operate between Italy and Morocco, Mr Cappello said.
Meanwhile Air Malta announced it would operate 30 flights to Rome to carry Maltese wishing to attend the canonisation ceremony of Blessed Gorg Preca at the Vatican on June 3.
Brothers charged with Ghaxaq hold-up
Two brothers, Christian, 22, and Justin Fenech, 25, on Friday were charged with carrying out a hold-up at a pharmacy in their home town of Ghaxaq two weeks ago.
The two brothers pleaded not guilty to stealing about Lm250 from St Philip Pharmacy, holding an employee against her will and being in possession of a weapon on March 10. The 22-year-old was also charged with relapsing.
The two brothers were granted bail against a deposit of Lm200 and a personal guarantee of Lm1,000 each.