Quotes of the week

"We must wait until the end of the year..."
A Finance Ministry spokesman insists the government will meet its projections to end the year with a deficit of €68 million, despite registering a €283 million deficit in the first seven months of this year.

"A civil prison should be run by a civilian."
NGO Mid-Dlam għad-Dawl encourages authorities to choose a new prison director who is not a member of the police force or the army in the wake of Sandro Gatt's resignation.

"They were in a very poor shape... all said there were 70 more people at sea."
Captain of the Madonna di Pompei fishing vessel, which plucked eight illegal immigrants from a semi-submerged dinghy, saying 70 more were still missing.

"Too generous."
The Malta Standards Authority believes the Malta Transport Authority is too charitable when it applies the least rigid test to route buses.

"A scandal."
Ian Castaldi Paris, Lija mayor, describes the construction of a private road, which encroaches on the safety buffer zone of the St Michael's Fireworks Factory.