10 years ago - The Times
Monday, March 16, 2009
6,000 waiting for cataract operation
A staggering number of patients – 6,000 – are waiting for a cataract operation, with the waiting list increasing by 400 in seven months.
Last July, the waiting list stood at 5,544 patients according to figures released in Parliament last year. But this number jumped to 5,951 by the end of last month.
The 20-minute operation includes removing the clouded lens of the eye through a micro incision and replacing it with an artificial implant.
Two critically injured in Baħrija fall
A 25-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl were critically injured when they fell a height of four storeys off a cliff in Baħrija on Saturday night.
The incident happened when David Attard from Dingli and Jessica Borg from Qormi were with a group of friends walking in Baħrija.
The police said they were informed at about 11.30pm that the two had fallen a height of about four storeys at a location known as Il-Blata tal-Melħ. Sources said the Armed Forces of Malta deployed a helicopter and Ms Borg was found lying semi unconscious and critically injured.
25 years ago - The Times
Sunday, March 16, 1994
Woman sues court registrar
A woman is suing the court registrar for failing to return a court exhibit.
According to the woman, Joanna Vassallo, the registrar is claiming that the exhibit – foreign currency – was stolen from his custody.
Vassallo is asking the civil court to declare the court registrar as the custodian of the exhibit and to order him to return the foreign currency or its equivalent in Maltese liri.
Air services agreement with Germany – Air Malta chief complains of restrictive provisions
Provisions in the current air services agreement between Malta and Germany are not equitable to the Maltese national carrier – it limits Air Malta to six German airports but lays no such restrictions on the two German scheduled airlines flying to Malta, Lufthansa and LTU, Air Malta chairman Joseph N. Tabone said.
“In our view the agreement does not allow the forces of the market to determine the level of capacity required to satisfy the demand which has been generated for air travel between the two countries,” he said.
Half a century ago - Sunday Times of Malta
Sunday, March 16, 1969
£13,000 Malta cigarettes undelivered
Crown Counsel Dr Joseph Borg, by a judicial letter on behalf of Mr Agostino Laurenti, Comptroller of Customs, intimated Mr Abramino Farrugia of Valletta, and Mr Joseph Grech Marguerat of Gżira, to pay within two days, jointly and severally, a sum of £13,000 on a cargo of cigaretted undelivered at their port of destination, Zara, in Jugoslavia.
On January 14, 1969, Mr Farrugia and Mr Grech Marguerat undertook to export to Zara 177 cartons of 10,000 cigarettes each. In default they obliged themselves to pay the sum of £13,000 jointly and severally.
Special costumes for The Cliffhangers
Some of the costumes for The Cliffhangers (Manoel Theatre for five nights this week) have to conform to a quality of existence that extends from the present of a hotel on a hill-top to similar situations in the past.
Thus, an evening dress has to convey much more than decorativeness. The special costumes for the entertainment in the second act had to be devised with an eye on speed and more than surrealistic effect.