In a move presented by the Culture Minister Owen Bonnici as highlighting the important work carried out by enthusiasts “in strengthening national traditions and promoting Malta’s cultural heritage”, the Arts Council is giving fireworks factories €170,000 from the newly-created Pyrotechnics Fund to improve safety and infrastructure.
The Pyrotechnics Fund will be open to all fireworks factories having a valid licence and registered as voluntary organisations. Each one will be eligible for a maximum grant of €5,000, which may be used primarily for restoration, investment in infrastructure or equipment and safety training.
At least 60 per cent of the money must be used for infrastructure, while the balance could cover current running expenses, such as police and fire safety duties for pyrotechnic displays, firing systems and manufacturing materials. A board of evaluators will decide which proposals will be eligible for the grant.
Fireworks safety in Malta has been – and remains – an issue of paramount importance. Fireworks are made by amateur, not professional, pyrotechnics enthusiasts. While they produce fireworks displays that are literally world class, the fact is they are made...
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Stress on fireworks safety
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Exhibition on Rovati
The 12th edition of Gaulitana: A Festival of Music is being launched tomorrow with an art exhibition entitled Costanzo Rovati: Percorso di Vita, at Sentinella in Victoria.
Costanzo Rovati was born in Milan in 1939. Since childhood, he always showed a great aptitude for drawing, with a particular predisposition to curiosity and originality.
The works of Rovati are on display in important public and private collections in Italy, the US, France, Germany, Switzerland, England, the Netherlands, Martinique and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The exhibition opens at Sentinella, Victoria, tomorrow at 11.30am. It will be open daily between 9am and 5pm, until April 29. For more information about the festival, call 7703 8971, send an e-mail to gaulitanafestival@gmail.com or visit www.gaulitanus.com.
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Victim run over by car in Marsascala
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Notes held out to dry outside Pilatus Bank
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Greenland’s courting of China for airport projects worries Denmark
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Double standards on pensions
How heartwarming to read in The Sunday Times of Malta (March 18) about how MPs take care of their pensions.
It is great to read about Judge Philip Sciberras receiving his special pension with arrears.
May I ask our Prime Minister and Finance Minister why I and other ex-International Aeradio Ltd (IAL) employees have been deprived of our due Treasury pension, when we have clear evidence from the Labour Office that we had been employed with the Department of Civil Aviation? I myself worked from January 1959 to March 2002, which is over 42 years.
I must say that this injustice has been dragging on under both Nationalist and Labour governments, with no progress made.
Does anyone care about us ex-IAL pensioners?
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Pilatus for beginners - Mark Anthony Falzon
It is not easy for non-specialists to make sense of the latest Pilatus business. Speaking for myself, for example, I am not a leading expert on global finance, the siphoning of money from tax to haven, or banking. Still, make some sense we must, because politically it involves us all. As it happens, three words come to our rescue.
First, association. Strictly speaking, we have seen nothing so far that links Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad’s arrest to his Pilatus outfit in Malta. The charges brought against him have to do with sanctions-busting transactions carried out elsewhere.
Aside, I’m not sure I would classify that as wrongdoing anyway. On the contrary, a good part of me is pleased that there are people in the world who, flawed though they might be, are rich and daring enough to blow a raspberry to the bully-boy tactics used by the US to intimidate countries it doesn’t like. (Apparently the US also assumes that its own policies and legislation automatically apply in third-party countries.)
Nor is there anything finger-in-wound tangible that links the Prime Minister or members of government to Pilatus Bank. There has been talk in the press of a damning FIAU report locked away in a...
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Thank you from South Sudan
I would like to express my deep gratitude to the Mission Fund for their untiring efforts, altruism and generosity towards the community-based healthcare programme of the Medical Missionaries of Mary (MMM) in South Sudan.
The Mission Fund helped us address the problem of water-borne diseases as well as a lack of water and access to healthcare. MMM has been in South Sudan for five years and we have seen a reduction in preventable diseases, such as polio and water-borne diseases, through an expanded programme of immunisation and the drilling of seven boreholes, giving access to potable water to over 3,000 people and providing food to internally displaced people.
A Healing Centre in a most challenging environment is now very close to completion. We would not have been able to come this far without the support of the Mission Fund. Benefactors, deceased and alive, are always remembered in our prayers and Masses. I urge you all to continue to send used stamps and donations to the Mission Fund. Donations can be made online or by direct bank transfer to one of the following accounts: HSBC (Account no: 061 197 448 050); BOV (Account no: 163 007 980 19); APS (Account no 200 008 207 62); or...
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No to a buffet style morality - Fr Joe Borg
Last Sunday in St Julian’s the Prime Minister spoke, among other things, about xenophobia and abortion. He said that he is against both. Bully for him. It is good to read that he is no longer in favour of pushbacks of migrants. Positive developments are always welcome.
Muscat was speaking in the wake of another anti-foreigner wave on the social media. (Up till now the feeling is mainly manifested on Facebook as strong, popular support in the ballot box or during public manifestations has, so far, eluded far right politicians.) The mainstream media unfortunately spread the untrue story that a Maltese young man was killed by a Bulgarian man. The police later said the man had not died as a result of the blow. The media failed in their duty to double check the story.
Muscat gave quite a good rendering of the anti-foreigner feeling that many Maltese share. The fact that in the Paceville case a Bulgarian was involved shows that some Maltese react negatively to the presence of foreigners and not just coloured foreigners. This shows the complexity of the problem.
There is no doubt that there are many racists among us. But most Maltese are not racists. Their negative attitude is fuelled...
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Mgr Charles Vella – a progressive factor
Mgr Charles Vella (1928-2018) was an influential, progressive factor in the 1960s and 1970s among youths and families in Malta. In broadcasting he will be remembered mostly for the programme Djalogu on MTV in conjunction with Charles Xuereb and others. This dealt critically with contemporary issues generally in a Christian direction; it was not sensationalist or vulgar.
Partly at his behest, and together with Louis Galea, Colin Apap and others, I helped organise the national housing campaign ‘Djar għall-Maltin’, which collected 74,000 signatures on a door-to-door basis. His Cana Movement at that time was worried because engaged couples could not afford homes to get married. That was during the housing boom and its aftermath.
Mgr Vella was a bubbly, bouncy character who loved families, friends and food. His Irish friend Mgr Eamon Casey could transform his ground floor Amery Street apartment into a sing-along folk club. I visited him once in Milan, where he was much involved with the San Raffaele Hospital and became a spokesman on ethics.
I then largely lost touch with him as we went our separate ways in different parts of the world. His autobiography Sinjali Maltin ta’ Żmienna...
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Defenders of bad governance - Petra Caruana Dingli
The US arrest of the Iranian head of Pilatus Bank sent shock ripples through Malta. We have not forgotten the memorable evening, soon before the general elections last June, when this same Seyed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad walked around the back of Whitehall Mansions in Ta’ Xbiex carrying a mysterious bag, followed and questioned by journalists, while our police commissioner enjoyed a fenkata.
Hasheminejad was arrested in the US in connection with a probe which has not been linked to Malta or Pilatus Bank, but the Financial Times carried a headline referring to him as “Malta bank chief”, noting the bank was “a frequent target” of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Building up a good reputation is hard, but losing it is so much easier.
I hope the defenders of dubious governance are now not going to accuse Maltese journalists or MEPs of influencing and manipulating the American justice system, or the Financial Times for that matter.
Pilatus Bank had taken steps to initiate libel cases against Daphne, viewed as SLAPP lawsuits intended to shut her up, and also pressured other sections of the Maltese press. Ironically, Sadr recently said in a public forum that the financial...
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Trolling entertainment – the sequel
History is indeed repeating itself. The premiere (not the Cafe this time) of the ‘Oliver Twist’ production was a ‘sell-out’, thanks again to the Prime Minister’s direct involvement. The scheduled performances have been heavily booked by the power-hungry Labour trolls, and they are now fighting among themselves to secure the best position in the front row, just in case the ‘Artful Dodger’ makes a quick exit.
This undignified response has further emboldened the already bloated ego of would-be impresario (now turned desperate scavenger of memorials) Jason, who, it is believed, is already planning to stage two further productions, viz: ‘Gaslight’ (courtesy of Shanghai Electric) and ‘Florence Nightingale’ (courtesy of Vitals).
Joseph will play an important role in both productions, which will have a Panama setting and will be entrusted to ‘wonder-kid’ bashful Konrad.
The script will be in the hands of mastermind (for the wrong reasons) Keith, in view of his extensive ‘offshore’ connections. So Malta will soon be brimming with culture.
Meanwhile, the Oliver Twist production has already received several nominations for the ‘You’ve Got Talent’ Academy Awards. Joseph is a natural...
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Russia’s dangerous behaviour - Stuart Gill
On a quiet Sunday in one of Britain’s most beautiful cathedral cities, a father and daughter were struck down by the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since World War II.
Sergei and Yulia Skripal are still lying stricken in hospital. A police officer who went to their aid fell into a critical condition. Another 35 people were forced to seek medical treatment simply because they were nearby when the nerve agent was released.
What happened in Salisbury on March 4 was a brazen attempt to murder civilians on British soil, endangering anyone – of any nationality – who chanced to be in the vicinity. If this could happen in Salisbury, the blunt truth is that an incident of this kind could happen anywhere.
Our scientists have identified the substance used against the Skripals as a Russian military-grade nerve agent known as ‘Novichok’. Today, only Russia combines a record of State-sponsored assassinations with an avowed motive for targeting Sergei Skripal – and a history of producing ‘Novichok’ agents.
After the attack, the British government gave the Kremlin an opportunity to explain if any of this substance had gone missing. But this request was contemptuously ignored,...
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Idiot’s guide to the Pilatus Bank scandal - Kristina Chetcuti
On a lovely day back in January 2014, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat cut the ribbon of a small bank within the grand, luxurious White Hall mansions in Ta’ Xbiex. When the white flag with an image of a lion sculpture went up, no one really raised an eyebrow.
Pilatus Bank, as it was called, was a quick-set-up affair. After the March 2013 elections, Pilatus Bank chairman Ali Sadr filed an application at the Malta Financial Services Authority to open shop here, personally providing €8 million in capital.
The job of the MFSA is to carry out a due diligence before issuing licences to make sure that there is nothing dodgy about the operation or the owners. Did it ask where those millions came from? Did it ask why Mr Sadr was at the time under investigation by the FBI? Because he was.
We do not know what they asked. What we know – according to a leaked report – is that the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Keith Schembri, appeared to be on a “high level of familiarity” with the Mr Sadr and “he took a personal interest in the licensing process”. A case of “Joe, irranġalu ’il dan”?
For two years we were totally oblivious of this bank. But the bank was not oblivious to shady people – who...
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Michael Ellul
Prof. Mario Buhagiar writes:
The memory of Michael Ellul, who passed away on March 3, deserves to be honoured and given deserved credit for his great contribution to Maltese cultural heritage in general and architectural history in particular.
He was one of the great stalwarts of a generation of scholarly pioneers, among them Joseph Cassar Pullicino and Dr Paul Cassar, whose studies paved the way forward to institutionalise Maltese History as an academic discipline.
His was a life dedicated to learning. To me he was a mentor and an inspiration and I consider myself fortunate to have had the privilege to collaborate with him for what now amounts to a great many years.
It is one of his great merits that while head of the Antiquities Section of the then Public Works Department he saved from destruction precious documents of the British Administration, which formed the nucleus from which stemmed the now soundly founded National Archives at Santo Spirito Hospital, Rabat.
One of my fondest recollections is the tenderly care and loving affection he lavished on them when the damp rotting files where brought to his office at Casa Leone, Santa Venera.
He was also the pioneer of scientific...
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Pharmacies open today
Chemimart City Gate Pharmacy, City Gate, Valletta (2123 8355);Chemimart International Pharmacy, 650, St Joseph High Road, Ħamrun (2123 6477);Lantern Pharmacy, 46, Regional Road, Santa Venera (2144 4648);Mackie’s Pharmacy, L. Casolani Street, Ta’ Paris, Birkirkara (2149 6089);Charing Pharmacy, Mimosa Street, Pietà (2123 2954);Pembroke Pharmacy, 87, Giuseppe Malfeggiani Street, Pembroke (2137 2784);Chemimart Pharmacy, 4,5,6, Il-Piazzetta, Tower Road, Sliema (2133 8369);Iklin Pharmacy, Geronimo Abos Street, Iklin (2141 5499);Mġarr Pharmacy, Main Street, c/w Vitale Street, Mġarr (2157 7784);El Medina Chemist, Fliegu Street, Qawra (2157 6308);De Paola Pharmacy, 36, Antoine De Paule Square, Paola (2182 6408);Milia’s Pharmacy, 73, Cottonera Road, Vittoriosa (2760 0126);Hompesch Pharmacy, 207/2011, Triq Hompesch, Fgura (2180 7503);Beta Pharmacy, 50/52, St Mary Street, Għaxaq, (2166 3311);Bronja Pharmacy, Sonata, Bronja Street, Żurrieq (2168 2251);Spiżerija Ħal-Mula, Dun Salv Ciappara Street, Żebbuġ (2146 1693);Nova Pharmacy, 142, College Street, Rabat (2145 4247);Castle Pharmacy, 2, Independence Square, Victoria (2155 6970);Għajnsielem Pharmacy, Independence Square, Għajnsielem (2720...
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Azzopardi the leading candidate to replace Camilleri as Chief Justice
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World's first non-stop flight between Australia and UK lands in London
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Announcements - March 25, 2018
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When banking supervision fails
Banking is one of the most intensively regulated industries. Stringent regulations are meant to prevent rogues posing as financial entrepreneurs from exploiting customers, shareholders, taxpayers and governments by using the banking system to hide their financial crimes.
Last week, Seyed Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, the chairman and owner of the Maltese-registered Pilatus Bank, was arrested in the US on charges that he tried to evade US sanctions and funnel more than $115 million paid under a Venezuelan construction contract through the US financial system.
How could it be that Pilatus Bank was granted a licence to operate in Malta in January 2014 when its chairman was at that time being investigated for money laundering by US authorities?
The bank licensing process is not merely a box-ticking exercise by the Malta Financial Services Authority. Nor is it, presumably, based on regulators communicating by nods and winks with influential people in politics or business. The MFSA must have done due diligence to determine how an entrepreneur in his early 30s was proposing to set up a bank. What real banking experience did Hasheminejad have apart from the fact that he came from a wealthy...
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