San Anton open day

Hundreds of people last Sunday walked through the doors of the newly restored staterooms at San Anton Palace, which were opened to the public for the first time.

What made the headlines

‘Roads lack safety’: Cyclists often found themselves in danger because of a lack of road safety, a lobby group said yesterday soon after a fatality on the Kappara flyover. A 53-year-old Serbian cyclist died after he was hit by a car early yesterday morning, the police said.

Pilatus Bank chairman to be released soon: Pilatus Bank owner Seyed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad would be released on bail “in the next week or two” once US court conditions were met, his lawyers told the Times of Malta last Monday. Mr Hasheminejad was charged with money laundering and violating US economic sanctions on Iran. Mr Hasheminejad’s bail conditions set by a New York court included electronic monitoring.

Pilatus owner ‘set up social housing firm’: Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina revealed in Parliament that Mr Hasheminejad had set up a Maltese company for “social and mass housing” projects, intended to enter the construction industry, as a subsidiary of the bank. Dr Aquilina questioned whether funds were transferred by Pilatus Bank through this company and whether it was used to circumvent US sanctions.

Cardona’s Acapulco libel cases cancelled: Following his repeated failure to turn up in court, two libel suits filed by Economy Minister Chris Cardona against Daphne Caruana Galizia were cancelled by the presiding magistrate. The cases were about reports on his alleged visit to a brothel in Germany. The proceedings had been expected to reveal call logs and mobile phone data. The request to cancel was made by Ms Caruana Galizia’s lawyer Joseph Zammit Maempel.

Italian police smash bird-smuggling ring: A bird-smuggling racket between Malta and parts of Italy – organised from Reggio Calabria in southern Italy – was dismantled by the Italian police and the EU’s law enforcement arm, Europol. Nine people – all Italian – were arrested on suspicion of belonging to a criminal network aimed at illegally trading protected wildlife – mostly songbirds. They are believed to have smuggled thousands of song birds into Malta, with a value of more than €400,000.

Malta faces €179m cut in EU funding: Malta could be among the biggest losers in the next EU budget as Brussels is proposing a €179 million cut in cohesion policy funds when compared to the existing seven-year budget that ends in two years’ time. The Commission is proposing an allocation of €597 million for Malta for the period between 2021 to 2027, that is, 23 per cent below the current budget. Hungary, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Estonia face reductions of up to 24 per cent. In contrast, Greece’s allocation will grow by eight per cent to €19.2 billion, Italy by 6.4 per cent to €38.6 billion and Spain up by five per cent to €34 billion. The total cohesion funds budget under this proposal for all Member States totals €373 billion.

Sharp rise in litter fines: Anyone repeatedly caught littering could soon face fines of up to €15,000 as penalties for the illegal dumping of garbage rise drastically in the coming months. Apart from heftier fines for repeat offenders, litter louts will also be subject to higher penalties as the government seeks to repeal the Littering Act by making amendments to the Environment Protection Act. Fines for those who dump litter in public areas will be more than doubled, with penalties rising to €300. Similarly, anyone caught tampering with waste collection infrastructure would be fined between €150 and €500, an increase of between €58 and €116.

Efimova says Greek police wanted to arrest her: The Greek police wanted to once again arrest whistleblower Maria Efimova when she reported being threatened, the Russian national said. Ms Efimova said filing the report was “not an easy task”, adding she spent three hours at a police station in Crete, where she resides. “When I went to the police station they wanted to arrest me again on grounds that the Maltese warrant of arrest is still valid,” she told the Times of Malta.

Minister rules out Comino development: The new ‘Comino Master Plan’ focused on berthing arrangements at the Blue Lagoon and did not envision any new development, Environment Minister José Herrera told the Times of Malta. Dr Herrera said the plan did not foresee any new development on the island, a protected Natura 2000 site in its entirety.

What trended

Cycling tragedy

A 53-year-old cyclist was the fifth person to die on local roads in 2018 when he was mowed down by a car on the Kappara flyover.

Within hours of the Friday morning crash being reported, readers were already pointing fingers. Cyclists blamed local roads, saying that accidents were inevitable if authorities continued to build roads with cyclists and their needs as an afterthought.

Others dismissed that line of reasoning and found another scapegoat – from “reckless drivers” we all love to hate to the “irresponsible cyclists” many motorists often blame when things go wrong.  Could it be an issue of inadequate or unsuitable rules, though? Some certainly thought so.

“Not all roads are designed to accommodate cyclists,” argued one. “Some are designed purely to ease traffic congestion, and letting cyclists use them defeats their purpose.”

If there was one comment which betrayed local road users’ mentality, it was that by the reader who compared Regional Road with London’s A1 motorway or a German autobahn.

“There are no highways in Malta,” another reader crossly ticked them off, suggesting they move to another country.”

Blessing or curse?

The road leading to St Peter’s Pool in Delimara is to be given a lick of tarmac, as part of a larger €1.8m project to pave roads all across the rugged Tas-Silġ and Xrobb l-Għaġin area.

If Transport Minister Ian Borg thought that the news would be welcomed, he was mistaken.

“There goes the neighbourhood,” one reader sighed upon reading the news.

“There was a reason for leaving that road in a bad state,” another agreed. “And anyone with a sane mind should know it.”

As readers rued what would follow once the asphalt trucks completed their work,  a couple of others felt the timing reeked of special interest pressure.

“What an extreme coincidence,” one sarcastically exclaimed. “Does this have something to do with the new hotel [to be built in the area]?”

Heavy responsibility

Two in every five Maltese children are overweight, with a significant number of children aged seven obese, the WHO noted this week.

And while readers blamed laziness, local culture or even disposable income – “carbs are cheap, an avocado costs as much as five ftiras” – one reader suggested that it was high time the law caught up with reality.

Having obese children, the argued, “is an unrecognised form of child abuse.”

What they said

“Some families decide to adopt, others go for science. We want to help both families.”

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat speaking on One radio, where he defended his government’s policy of giving a €10,000 grant to couples adopting children from abroad, as well as the amendments to the Embryo Protection Act.

“The Nationalist Party will fight to secure every euro stolen from people.”

Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia speaking at the PN club in Attard where he promised to refund consumers who have been overcharged by ARMS, the State-owned utility billing company.

“We sell citizenship for money but, please, what sort of investment? An Azeri colony to service a few Azeri businessmen at Pilatus Bank in Malta? Is that investment?”

MEP Frank Engel, from the EPP Group, speaking in the European Parliament about cash-for-passports schemes in the European Union.

“Whether it’s from Castille or Mile End (the Labour Party headquarters), there’s no doubt that people are being fanned by others to write.”

Fr Joe Borg, academic and columnist for The Sunday Times of Malta, replying to a question on Times Talk about whether Labour trolls on the social media are controlled by the Office of the Prime Minister.

“We received verbal, unofficial advice from multiple police officers and detectives not to remain in the country or to return.”

Matthew Caruana Galizia, son of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, speaking to this newspaper about the “dire” situation faced by the family and the Maltese people in general.