Weekly News highlights

Sammy spiteri, 23, of Xewkija, died tragically on Sunday when his car hit a tower crane and was crushed under the weight of concrete blocks as the crane toppled over. The victim was driving a red Mitsubishi Lancer.

The crane keeled over and three of its four counterweights, each weighing over 150 kilos, fell onto the car and flattened it. The accident happened in Triq Ghajn Qatet, Victoria.

Spiteri appeared to be practically unscathed although his car was flattened. But a post mortem on Monday revealed that he died of ruptured lungs on impact.

Second Notte Bianca

A preliminary estimate has put the number of people who entered Valletta yesterday week for Notte Bianca as higher than the 77,000 who attended last year.

Tourism and Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said a survey would be carried out to determine the figure, but he believed it could be close to the 100,000 mark.

Successful MUT strike

Monday's strike by the Malta Union of Teachers at the institutes run by the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology was a complete success, union president John Bencini said.

The strike, which was held between 10 a.m. and 12.30 p.m., elicited a response from the MCAST management that phoned the union, asking to meet on Wednesday.

One bone of contention between the two sides - the presentation of counter-proposals to the collective agreement - seems to be close to being solved, with MCAST telling the union it would have these by last Friday.

On Wednesday, the union had to discuss three other stumbling blocks: the issue of adverts calling for the post of ICT lecturer with a salary of Lm11,900; the union claiming that MCAST is breaching the collective agreement; and the union wanting the administrative work of each lecturer to assess students by means of the BTEC system to be distributed equitably.

11.5 kg heroin haul

Ismail Tirso, a 46-year-old Turk who was charged with importing about 11.5 kg of heroin into Malta on Tuesday, insisted he was unaware of the contents of his luggage where the drug was allegedly found.

Tirso said someone in Istanbul had given him the luggage to pass on to a friend in Malta. He claimed he was a taxi driver and a construction worker. He pleaded not guilty to conspiring to deal in drugs, importing the heroin and being in possession of the drug with the intent to sell.

Meanwhile, close to Lm200,000 in cash and a considerable amount of gold and diamonds were found in the house of a relative of one of two Maltese being held in connection with the drug haul.

The two men - Dean Martin, 27, of Sta Lucija, and Joseph Grech, 40, of Mosta - were charged in court on Wednesday with conspiring to deal in drugs, and Grech, together with his 64-year-old mother, Stella Grech of Marsa, charged with money laundering.

Awarded over Lm9,000

A judge on Tuesday ordered Malta Freeport Terminals Ltd to pay over Lm9,000 in damages to Renato Spiteri, a port worker who was injured while at work in December 2001.

Polidano ordered to repair bypass

Government is threatening building contractors Polidano Brothers with legal action over the unfinished section of the St Paul's Bay bypass, months after it claimed that the developers had agreed to carry out repairs "unconditionally".

The developers were given till last Friday to agree to repair the section of road, which collapsed in 2000 as a result of illegal excavations in nearby land belonging to Polidano.

If they do not agree, the work will be carried out by the authorities and Polidano will be taken to court over the expenses.

Abortion doctor's visit

Several hundred peaceful protesters against "the message of death and destruction" of Dutch pro-abortion doctor, Rebecca Gomperts, far outweighed the handful that attended her public discussion at the Castille Hotel in Valletta on Wednesday night.

Just before it started, people gathered outside the hotel, red candles flickering, and spontaneously started to recite the rosary.

When it was over, they were urged to continue praying in their hearts by the organisers, Gift of Life, to stick to the plan of a silent protest and because the issue was not necessarily religious for everyone.

Inflation at 1.83 per cent

The 12-month moving average rate of inflation stood at 0.81 per cent last month, when the annual rate was 1.83 per cent, the National Statistics Office said on Wednesday.

The Retail Price Index increased by 1.11 per cent to 112.21 from 110.98 in August. This primarily reflected an increase of 9.82 per cent in the clothing and footwear index, mainly due to the introduction of the winter stock in the market.

Three charged with animal theft

Three men - Kevin Portelli, 30, of Zabbar, Louis Ronayne, 24, of Kirkop, and his 20-year-old brother Salvino, of Marsascala - on Friday pleaded not guilty to stealing animals from Ir-Razzett tal-Hbiberija, animal cruelty and causing damage at Ir-Razzett on September 30.

A monkey with a missing molar bit one of the three men who are facing these charges, a magistrate heard on Friday.

Police Inspector Christopher Pullicino explained how a court expert had been appointed to compare the monkey's dental pattern with a bite mark found on the back of one of the men. The officer was making submissions on bail during the men's arraignment.

Dog helps identify injured woman

A dog identified its owner on Wednesday afternoon, an elderly woman who was found lying on the ground seriously injured in a Birkirkara street.

After the mishap, the dog, which was accompanying the 74-year-old woman, returned to her home and stood by the front door. When this was brought to the attention of the police, neighbours helped identify the injured woman as the dog's owner.

The woman, who was found in Triq il-Qasab, Birkirkara, was still in critical condition on Thursday.

Traffic accident victim robbed

An elderly man who had just been hit by a car ended up being robbed by the driver and passengers who had offered to help him.

The bizarre incident happened in Marsascala on Thursday morning and is being investigated by the police. The 68-year-old was hit lightly by a car and knocked down.

Lm2,500 in libel damages

Glenn Bedingfield, a former journalist, was ordered to pay Education Minister Louis Galea Lm2,500 in libel damages after a judge ruled that allegations he made in a book he wrote, Il-Hbieb tal-Hbieb (Friends of Friends), clearly showed he acted out of malice and were libellous.

Priest critical after road accident

Fr Joseph Caruana, 87, of Paola was in critical condition on Friday, after he was run over by a van in his hometown.

Dun Guzepp, as the priest is known, was very popular with many generations in Paola, having set up the first Catholic Action Movement's Paola Youth Centre in 1958.

The incident happened in De Paule Square, not far from the youth centre, when the elderly priest was crossing the road and was hit by a Toyota van driven by a 41-year-old man from Paola.