The international credit ratings agency, Standard & Poor's, has lowered Malta's local currency sovereign credit ratings, citing as reason the government's failure to control its deficit.
The ratings have been lowered to A+/A-1 from AA-/A-1+. At the same time, S&P affirmed its A/A-1 foreign currency sovereign credit rating on Malta. The outlook is stable. The lowering of the local currency ratings reflects a deterioration in Malta's medium-term fiscal prospects, according to S&P's credit analyst Mary Nnachi.
Hotel cafeteria blaze
Thirteen residents at the Park Lane Aparthotel, Qawra, had to be treated for smoke inhalation on Monday morning after a fire engulfed the entire cafeteria adjacent to the establishment's reception area.
The fire, suspected to have been caused by a short circuit, started when most of the residents were still asleep. Eyewitnesses said a policeman was immediately on site and tried to get in to alert those inside, but found that the reception's main door was locked since the receptionist on duty was on his daily routine of buying bread for residents from a nearby shop. Nobody was in the cafeteria of the five-storey aparthotel at the time, since it was scheduled to open at 11 a.m.
250 to be discharged
Denim Services Ltd and its subsidiary Denim Sportswear Ltd, which together employ 1,200 workers, will be declaring 250 employees redundant following a sudden cancellation of orders linked to reduced consumer spending in Europe, according to a company spokesman.
Immigrants paid up to $1,050 for escape
Illegal immigrants who escaped from police headquarters in July told police they had paid fees ranging from $150 to $1,050 to get away from Malta, Inspector Jeffrey Cilia said in court on Monday.
Inspector Cilia was testifying before Magistrate Giovanni Grixti in the compilation of evidence against Philip Azzopardi, 59, of Birkirkara, and Joseph Vella, 47, of Marsalforn, who are pleading not guilty to assisting illegal immigrants escape from police custody and conspiring to help people leave the island clandestinely.
One escaped Sudanese told the court on Tuesday how he was taken to the Marsalforn Hotel after fleeing from Floriana. They were waiting to be taken to Italy. Another escapee told the court how he found the detention centre door open, enabling him to escape.
In the meantime, Francis Xerri was charged with conspiring to help people enter or leave the island clandestinely and holding people against their will at the Marsalforn Hotel. Xerri was granted bail against a deposit of Lm2,000 and a personal guarantee of Lm5,000 and bound not to leave his house except for work. The case continues.
'Carjacking' in Qawra
Four armed men in a van on Monday stopped a Euroexchange courier who was driving along Qawra road and took about Lm10,000 in cash and cheques, mostly in foreign currency.
Shipyards restructuring "will not be hindered"
Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi warned on Tuesday that unless talks on the shipyards' collective agreement were concluded by the end of September, "the government will take the necessary decisions to ensure that the restructuring process will not be hindered".
Dr Gonzi also referred to the recent decision by the industrial tribunal in favour of the GWU in the dispute over the appointment of 15 chargemen at the shipyards. The tribunal had not accepted the management's argument that the vacancies should not be filled at this stage because of the restructuring process taking place at the yards.
But Dr Gonzi said the restructuring process had now become more urgent in the light of the tribunal's decision. That was why discussions were going on about the collective agreement, which had to be concluded by the end of the month, he said.
Austrians charged with extortion attempt
Two Austrians - Marco Cristoph Martinz, 25, and Bernd Derrant, 27 - were charged on Tuesday with kidnapping a man with the intention of extorting money and injecting him with a substance that was injurious to his health yesterday week. They pleaded not guilty to holding Greek businessman Konstantinos Anastasiou against his will with the intention of extorting money and threatening him with death in Maghtab on August 23.
The two men were also charged with maliciously administering or causing Anastasiou to take a poisonous or noxious substance and using violence to compel him to do their bidding. The case continues.
Motor scooter driver dies in crash
Peter Camilleri, 40, of Marsascala died on Wednesday, a few hours after the motor scooter he was riding hit a truck in Marsa, the police said. Police sources said Camilleri was riding his Gilera Piaggio Runner behind a Bedford truck carrying soft drink bottles driven by 27-year-old Ronald Farrugia of Floriana. Another vehicle, a Nissan Micra, driven by 19-year-old Matthew Muscat of Sta Lucija, was also involved in the accident, though he managed to swerve to the left and avoid the truck, police sources said.
However the motor scooter also collided with the Nissan Micra, the police said. Mr Camilleri, who was married, was rushed to St Luke's Hospital in an ambulance, but died soon after.
Maltese-Australian murdered in Victoria
Mark Mallia, a 37-year-old Maltese-Australian, was shot dead and his body burnt and thrown into a well in Sunshine, Victoria, Australia. The murder was committed on August 18 and it took police a week to identify the body, which was badly burnt, relatives said.
Mr Mallia's parents, originally from Msida, were informed only last week that the body was of their son. The police identified Mr Mallia after an autopsy indicated that he had had a heart transplant.
Missing fisherman found after three days
Paul Gauci, 55, of St Paul's Bay, who was reported missing by his wife on Monday afternoon after he failed to return on his fishing boat, was rescued at sea some 60 miles south-east of Delimara on Thursday, more than 60 hours after his boat engine failed.
He had just two bottles of water and one loaf of Maltese bread when he set out on Monday, and an intensive search had been going on for him, co-ordinated by the Armed Forces of Malta and involving the Italian military mission in Malta, the Italian coast guard, and American naval planes stationed at the NATO base in Sigonella, Sicily.
Gauci's 16-foot kajjik was in fact spotted by an American Piper aircraft. Found in reasonably good health, he was then taken by an Italian military mission helicopter to St Luke's Hospital. He had no mobile telephone or VHF radio on board.
Structural deficit widens by Lm55.3 million
The structural deficit rose by Lm55.3 million to Lm127.7 million in the first seven months of this year as ordinary revenue dropped by 4.3 per cent and expenditure rose by 8.2 per cent over the same period last year. The National Statistics Office (NSO) said on Friday that ordinary revenue totalled Lm376.8 million and made up 48.9 per cent of this year's budget forecast.
Compared to the same period last year, recurrent revenue declined by Lm16.8 million, or 4.3 per cent. Recurrent revenue last year had included Lm21 million as a consequence of the Malta International Airport part-privatisation process. Total expenditure in the first seven months of this year amounted to Lm510.7 million, an increase of Lm38.6 million, or 8.2 per cent, over the Lm472.1 million spent in the same period in 2002.
The public debt rose to Lm1,200.3 million in July, up by Lm170.8 million, or 16.3 per cent over 12 months earlier.