10 years ago - The Times
Friday, March 20, 2009
Somali to face trafficking charges
A Somali national is today expected to be charged with human trafficking between Libya and Malta. The man was recognised by illegal immigrants when he came to Malta, sources said. The unprecedented arraignment of the suspect trafficker working on the Libya route comes as the debate on the illegal immigration problem reached a climax last week with a parliamentary debate on the phenomenon.
Three large vessels, carrying a total of 651 immigrants, sailed to Malta this winter, something unusual for this time of year.
While it was believed the large boats were likely to have left directly from Libya’s shores, many have speculated about the possible presence of a ship in the Mediterranean offloading illegal immigrants on to smaller boats.
New EU funds for Malta-Sicily interconnector
EU leaders are today expected to allocate at least €20 million of EU funds to Malta to be used for an interconnection electricity project connecting the island to the European energy grid. The only condition expected to be tied to the funds is that the project will have to be initiated by the end of next year.
25 years ago - The Sunday Times
Sunday, March 20, 1994
Highest turnout so far in local council elections
Turnout of 71.6 per cent of registered voters voted in yesterday’s local elections, maintaining the trend of wider participation which has risen with each round of elections. A total of 35,592 electors were eligible to vote and 25,503 did. The turnout last month, then the highest, was 70 per cent. In January it was 66 per cent and in November it was 62.6 per cent.
The greatest surprise in the elections was provided by Alternattiva Demokratika, whose candidate for Pembroke, Mark Causon, obtained an astonishing 31.5 per cent of the total.
Sliema car park promoter defends his project
Businessman Carol Calleja is an impatient man. Two years into Malta’s first residential car park project he has nothing to show for his efforts, the latest set of plans having been referred back to the Planning Authority’s General Services Board for minor modifications.
The project is going ahead yet he is disappointed the idea met such overwhelming opposition. “I cannot believe how they (the Sliema Residents Association) did not support me,” he said. “We are taking 650 cars off the roads. Abroad there are car parks on every corner.”
Half a century ago - Times of Malta
Thursday, March 20, 1969
UN committee discusses Malta’s draft resolution on seabed jurisdiction
Malta today proposed a draft UN resolution which left open the distance from the coast that should define national sovereignty, but it retained the concept that the seabed beyond a depth of 200 metres should be international in character.
It asked the UN Committee on the Seabed to declare that: “The seabed and ocean floor and the subsoil thereof subjacent to water more than… nautical miles from the nearest coast and more than 200 metres deep, disregarding rocks and islands without a permanent settled population, unquestionably are and must remain beyond national jurisdiction.”
Scooter driver on danger list after truck collision
Motor-scooter driver Joseph Lia, 20, of Żabbar, was seriously injured on Tuesday afternoon when he was involved in a collision with a truck driven by Joseph Polidano, of Birżebbuġa, at Ħal Far Road, Birżebbuġa.
A police report stated yesterday that Lia was on the danger list. He is employed as a waiter at the Hotel Madalena, St Andrew’s.