Times of Malta
Fr Hilary on Pelé, Politics and Unknowingly Giving a Lift to an Escaped Prisoner
- Title
- Fr Hilary on Pelé, Politics and Unknowingly Giving a Lift to an Escaped Prisoner
- Runtime
- 18:49
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- As he approaches his 90th birthday, Fr Hilary Tagliaferro welcomes Mark Laurence Zammit into a Millennium Chapel buzzing with life. He recalls his friendship with Pelé, the time he unknowingly gave a lift to an escaped prisoner and the occasion he eulogised the wrong person at a funeral.
Read the full story here: https://timesofmalta.com/article/fr-hilary-pele-politics-unknowingly-giving-lift-escaped-prisoner.1086094
- Title
- Meet Malta's Environmental Rangers
- Runtime
- 6:07
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- When the Malta Ranger Unit approached two drivers to let them know they had driven into a national park illegally, the rangers had no idea what was in store for them.
Upon leaving his car, one of the drivers began swearing and threatening them with violence.
Despite his threats to give them “a beating” and “make your life miserable” if they called the police, the man was eventually taken to court and fined €600.
The incident, which took place last spring, is not an isolated case.
According to chief patrolling ranger Cami Appelgren, there have been “plenty of times” when the rangers felt unsafe.
“You never have a clue what you’re walking into,” explained Appelgren, who, in December 2022, had filed a police report after being threatened by three hunters and who has faced ongoing online abuse for her work.
Read the full story here: https://timesofmalta.com/article/the-rangers-risking-safety-p...
- Title
- Maltese in the Digital Era: The First Maltese Chatbot is in Training
- Runtime
- 3:21
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- If the Maltese language were ever to be at risk of dying, the technology being developed for the first Maltese chatbot could come to the rescue.
A University of Malta team is currently ‘training’ a basic language model to converse with clients of banking, finance, insurance and investment service providers.
The €3 million project is a collaboration between researchers from the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology, the government and the private sector.
Read the full story here: https://timesofmalta.com/article/the-first-chatbot-maltese-training.1086118
- Title
- Palestinian-Maltese Woman Set to Go on Aid Journey to Gaza
- Runtime
- 2:27
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- A Palestinian-Maltese woman who will be travelling with a shipping container carrying donations from Malta said she is “ready to die" to make sure it reaches Gaza.
On Tuesday, food, clothing and other items collected by volunteers over the past few months were loaded into the container in Marsa before being shipped to the Gaza Strip later this week.
Speaking to Times of Malta, Arabic Culture Information Society (ACIS) president Sanaa El-Nahhal said she was “ready to die” in her upcoming journey to make sure the donations reach Gaza.
Read the full story here: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/i-ready-die-palestinianmaltese-woman-aid-journey-gaza.1085041
- Title
- Palestinian girl Selah Hajras arrives in Malta for medical treatment
- Runtime
- 0:42
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Selah lost her mother and brother in an airstrike. Now she will be treated in Malta, following an offer by the Maltese government. Read more - https://bit.ly/3UL1S2y
- Title
- She Was a Sweet Child... Until She Started to Beat Her Mum
- Runtime
- 3:57
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Eighty-year-old widow Filomena* had no choice. She had to report her only daughter to police for beating her and emotionally abusing her.
“I didn’t want her to end up in court. But what if that was the only way? I had been telling her to stop. Not a day passed that she did not tell me something hurtful or hit me. I never imagined she would do this to me. She bossed me around… She even told me when I could use the toilet in my own home. I couldn’t take it anymore,” said Filomena who wanted to remain anonymous out of a mix of fear and not wanting to expose her daughter.
Filomena is one of the 325 elderly people who have been abused by their adult children over the past three years.
According to data revealed in Parliament some weeks ago, since 2021 568 domestic violence reports have been filed by parents about their children. The reports involved 630 people, 325 of whom were over 60. Court action was taken whenever the reports were backed ...
- Title
- Meet the Wrestlers of Pro Wrestling Malta
- Runtime
- 3:53
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- As professional wrestling grows in popularity, Daniel Ellul steps into the ring with some of the most terrifying personas.
Laura Krasuckaite always wanted to become a professional wrestler but there were no opportunities for her dream in Lithuania, so she moved to Malta.
“In Lithuania, or any nearby countries, we don’t have professional wrestling, so I had to find a country that had it,” said the 25-year-old. “I moved to Malta purely for wrestling.”
After training for seven months, she will make her debut tonight under the alias ‘Loraleen’ as one of the wrestlers taking part in Pro Wrestling Malta’s Carnival Clash event at Monte Kristo.
In the garage of a Safi field with an inbuilt wrestling ring, Times of Malta spoke to the wrestlers as they prepared for the event.
Read the full story here: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/i-moved-malta-wrestling.1081707
- Title
- X Factor Malta Controversy: Mamaclay Opens Up About Elimination
- Runtime
- 4:32
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Rose Marielle Mamaclay and Sean Kumati, two foreign X Factor Malta singers who were eliminated during Sunday’s show insist they have no hard feelings for those who did not vote for them.
“If people chose to vote for the others instead of me, I have no bitterness in my heart,” Mamaclay told Times of Malta.
A professional singer from the Philippines, Mamaclay dominated the show for weeks but was surprisingly eliminated in Sunday’s semi-final together with Namibian singer Sean Kamati.
Their elimination came after weeks of comments on social media urging viewers to “penalise” the foreign singers to ensure that a Maltese national wins the fourth season of the show.
Audiences were shocked by their elimination and X Factor judge and producer Howard Keith Debono said he was “uncomfortable” with the outcome.
Read the full story here: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/watch-i-no-bitterness-heart-say-xfactor...
- Title
- From Viral Video to Farm Protests: Michael Caruana's Agricultural Journey
- Runtime
- 3:08
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Michael Caruana has faced many challenges in his years of growing and exporting potatoes, but few have been as daunting as the prospect of being undercut by producers outside the EU.
Caruana first came to national attention over a decade ago, when a video interview he gave about his dedication to agriculture went viral.
He has spent the ensuing years growing his potato business into a thriving one, and was one of many farmers who took to Malta's streets on Friday to join Europe-wide protests against EU rules they say are punishing them while helping non-EU farmers.
Read the full story here: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/watch-this-us-farmers-protesting.1081821
- Title
- Inside the World of Frank Portelli: Behind-the-Scenes of a Unique Art Experience
- Runtime
- 3:36
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- TAMARA FENECH, the granddaughter of artist Frank Portelli tells Fiona Galea Debono why she is inviting audiences behind the scenes of a low-key pioneer of modern art in Malta.
Frank Portelli was a private man with “quiet energy” but his meticulous approach to documenting his art has convinced his granddaughter Tamara Fenech to fling open to the public the doors of his former studio.
Twenty years after his death, audiences of the interdisciplinary project Frank u Jien (Frank and I) will get a glimpse into the mind of Portelli, a co-founder of the Malta Modern Art Circle in 1951.
The sold-out project takes place in the late artist’s studio-archive in Attard between February 15 and 25.
Portelli distinguished himself not only as an artist but also as an interior designer, and became renowned for two important artistic developments, known as Crystallised Cubism and his Contours series.
His seminal work is La Vie (1951), ...
- Title
- Eurovision: Meet the 12 Contestants Hoping to Represent Malta
- Runtime
- 18:13
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- The Malta Eurovision Song Contest will come to its grand final on Saturday, where one out of the 12 contestants will be crowned the winner.
Selected by a jury and the public through televoting, the winner will represent Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö in May.
It’s been quite a journey, with 36 initial participants, a writing boot camp and four semi-finals.
Throughout the week, TVM will host interviews with the finalists, running until January 31. On February 1, music videos of the contestants will be released and the finale will be aired on February 3.
But, who are the finalists?
00:00 Matt Black
01:57 Erba’
03:02 Nathan
04:40 Miriana Conte
06:09 Haley Azzopardi
07:23 Janvil
09:11 Ryan Hili
11:41 Gail Attard
13:38 Denise
14:57 Lisa Gauchi
16:00 Sarah Bonnici
16:58 Greta Tude
Read the full story here: https://timesofmalta.c...
- Title
- 100 and Thriving: A Day in the Life of a Centenarian
- Runtime
- 6:14
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Meeting Mary Gauci in her tiny home in Għajnsielem makes you wonder whether she really turned 100 last week. She looks more like 85.
The Gozitan centenarian lives in a small house sandwiched between two larger houses on a quiet street.
She does grocery shopping on her own, cooks every day, sweeps and cleans the house, washes and hangs clothes, uses a mobile phone to make calls, does not use a walking stick and climbs up and down a companion ladder that leads to her roof.
She takes things more slowly nowadays, she has no illnesses, loves to eat cakes and sweets, occasionally drinks alcohol, watches game shows on television, follows the news and has a lucid memory and clear mind.
Read the full story here: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/no-idea-i-lived-long-says-centenarian.1080693
- Title
- Inside the Queen's Home in Malta.
- Runtime
- 2:33
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- A repeated reference to the late Queen Elizabeth II’s happy Malta home in the final season of The Crown may have aroused global interest in Villa Guardamangia but it will not be opening to the public as a tourist attraction any time soon.
The home of Britain’s then Princess Elizabeth between 1949 and 1951 will remain a “war zone for quite some time, because the needs are extensive”, said Heritage Malta COO Kenneth Gambin.
He estimated that its restoration would take “at least another five years” – almost a decade after the national agency was entrusted with the project.
But although the prestigious, albeit crumbling, property looks much like it did five years ago, when the government bought it, intensive behind-the-scenes work has meant EU funding can finally be applied for, further discoveries have been made – and even more damage borne.
The application for co-financing will be submitted by March, but Heritage Malta i...
- Title
- Son and Survivor Speak 20 Years on
- Runtime
- 4:35
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- This video was originally published on October 12, 2022.
For Maltese-born Sylvia Dalais, Bali was her escape from the responsibilities of her daily life in Melbourne that included caring for an elderly mother and a sister with mental health problems.
Twenty years ago, she visited the popular Indonesian island for the tenth time to celebrate her 56th birthday.
But 10 days before her birthday – on October 12, 2002 – Dalais was killed in a terrorist attack at her favourite bar, the Sari Club, a popular venue with Australians.
She was one of the 202 victims of two bombings that night that also resulted in the death of another man of Maltese origin: Anthony Francis Cachia, 33, from Melbourne.
The two names are listed on the large memorial that names the victims of the two explosions on Bali’s Kuta strip – one at Paddy’s Bar and the other at the Sari Club.
The attacks by the Southeast Asian militant group...
- Title
- Foreign Minister Ian Borg prepares to preside over the permanent council meeting of the OSCE
- Runtime
- 10:55
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Malta is not being pressured to join NATO, Foreign Affairs Minister Ian Borg said on the eve of the official launch of Malta’s take-over of the world’s largest regional security body.
The vast majority of the Maltese people support Malta’s military neutrality and have no intention of changing that position, he told Times of Malta in Vienna.
He was fielding questions on whether he fears the Ukraine war could spread across Europe.
“Malta cannot join military alliances and we expect all countries to act responsibly and refrain from invading other territories without reason,” he said.
“Russia started the war and if it stops it, then most other problems will stop with it.”
Late last year Malta was unexpectedly chosen to lead the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) throughout 2024, after Russia vetoed Estonia’s bid for the chairpersonship.
The presidency rotates annually and ...
- Title
- 82-year-old fractured a hip when she tripped over an uneven pavement outside her Sliema home.
- Runtime
- 2:11
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Up until December 4, Carmelina Borg was an independent and active 82-year-old woman who went on her daily walks in Sliema and even went for morning swims in the summer.
But an incident that day put a stop to that and Carmelina now fears venturing outside her apartment in High Street, Sliema.
As she made her way to the hairdresser that morning, she tripped over an uneven, cobbled pavement, a few metres up the road from her home, fracturing her left hip.
The trip led to more than a month of pain and rehabilitation, and she now has to use a Zimmer frame to walk.
The elderly woman also missed out on a planned trip to London to visit her youngest daughter over Christmas.
But while her hip is slowly healing, Carmelina lives in fear of falling again.
“I’m afraid. I don’t want to fall again. It was so painful. I’m still doing physiotherapy. All this has cost me and my children lots of money – medical bills ...
- Title
- CYRUS ENGERER on His Future in Politics, Political Parties and Second Chances.
- Runtime
- 8:07
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Labour MEP Cyrus Engerer was non-committal when asked if he would run for a second term in the European Parliament, saying he would soon announce whether he will seek re-election.
“The moment will come soon where I announce what I will be doing because there is now not much time (before the election),” Engerer said.
In any case, he would remain active in the Labour Party, Engerer told Times of Malta at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Sitting PL MEPs Josianne Cutajar and Alfred Sant will not be running again for the European Parliament, while Alex Agius Saliba will be on the electoral ballot come June.
Read the full story here: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/cyrus-engerer-silent-seek-reelection-pl-mep.1079331
- Title
- Remembering Pelin Kaya: A Year Later, Family Still Gripped by Pain
- Runtime
- 1:22
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- The family of Pelin Kaya have spoken about the way their lives were savagely uprooted when she was killed by a speeding motorist in Gżira just hours into her 30th birthday.
“We have no joy, no desire. Each of us is waiting for the day we will reunite with her. I always say we all died but only one of us was buried,” Derya Kaya, the victim’s sister, said.
One year on from the crime that shook the country, Derya, however, said she has “absolute faith” in the Maltese justice system and that the accused will be punished in the “harshest” manner.
The 30-year-old Turkish interior designer was walking on Msida Road, in Gżira on January 18 when a BMW ploughed into her before the car crashed into a petrol station and the glass window of a KFC restaurant.
Read the full story here: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/we-died-one-us-buried.1078347
- Title
- ANDRE PIZZUTO on Aesthetics, Policy and Ethics.
- Runtime
- 30:17
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- It’s been yet another year of controversial building permits and tasteless designs – and there appears to be no end in sight. Kamra tal-Periti president ANDRE PIZZUTO spoke to James Cummings about aesthetics, policy and ethics.
Read the full story here: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/watch-i-don-t-think-planning-authority-credibility.1075572
- Title
- Gladiator is More Than a Story for this Superfan
- Runtime
- 2:37
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- When Josef Camilleri plays Subbuteo he rubs his hands together before a match, to mimic the actions of the film character Maximus in the blockbuster Gladiator, which he has watched 1,537 times.
For Josef, an avid collector, the movie – filmed in Malta and released in 2000 – is more than just a story.
Its message provided a source of motivation and inspiration in his late teens and even later in life – when his mother was diagnosed with cancer and during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is why over the past 20 years Josef has spent 165 days of his life watching Gladiator.
Read the full story here : https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/the-maximus-fan-spent-165-days-life-watching-gladiator.1076838
- Title
- Archbishop Scicluna Unveils Views on Politics, Greed and Priests Getting Married
- Runtime
- 26:09
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Mgr Charles Scicluna fields questions about politics, greed, gay unions, Church land... and explains why he tears up during Mass.
0:00 Intro
0:10 Priests in relationships
03:34 Same-sex couples
05:25 Cardinal Mario Grech as Pope
06:14 A moral crisis
15:31 What about Church lands?
21:45 Good leaders
22:57 Tearing up during mass
Read the full story here: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/watch-don-t-expect-church-opposition.1076682
- Title
- How a Sudden Infection Changed Shawn Mifsud's Life
- Runtime
- 2:27
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- On a hot August day last summer, Shawn Mifsud felt like he was coming down with something while enjoying the feast of St Helen with his family.
Little did he know that the fever would lead to him losing both his hands and legs a little over three weeks later.
Rushed to hospital by ambulance, Shawn was told by doctors that he was in critical condition and was put into an induced coma as the intensive care team fought to save his life from the viral infection that was ravaging his body.
When he woke up two weeks later, he knew instantly that the prognosis on his limbs was not good.
“When I looked at my limbs, they didn’t even look like hands and legs anymore, they looked monstrous, I was genuinely shocked,” Shawn told Times of Malta in an interview on Wednesday.
“When the doctor told me they would have to be amputated, I knew in that moment that there was nothing to be done about it. If I had said no the infecti...
- Title
- The highs, lows and surprises of a rollercoaster 2023
- Runtime
- 5:18
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- It was the year of Love Island and scandal, a year of tragedies and an indomitable woman's quest for justice. It was a year of economic highs, and the year of Air Malta's low. There was a bit of everything in 2023 and Times of Malta was there to report it.
The year got off to a heartbreaking start with the gruesome murder of young Turkish pedestrian Pelin Kaya when a car mowed her down and crashed into a petrol station in Gzira.
It was a year dominated by the aftermath of the construction site death of Jean Paul Sofia and his mother's ultimately successful efforts to get the government to appoint a public inquiry.
It was also a year of scandal, notably in the way some driving tests were conducted and how a former Labour MP, Silvio Grixti, and other government officials were implicated in helping hundreds of people fraudulently receive monthly disability payments they were not entitled to. The National Audit Office also concluded that former Labou...
- Title
- He used to run a thriving business. Then it was all put in deep freeze
- Runtime
- 3:10
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- George Tabone used to run a successful jewellery business. Then the police came knocking, and it all came crumbling down. By the time he cleared his name six years later, Tabone had lost control of his business and ended up in a minimum-wage job.
His story illustrates the challenges of Malta’s existing asset freezing laws, and why the government has said it wants to change them. The bill was passed from second reading on Monday.
Read the full story here: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/watch-he-used-run-thriving-business-then-put-deep-freeze.1073382
- Title
- As Malta grapples with overpopulation, one man at the centre of it all – Identità CEO MARK MALLIA
- Runtime
- 13:04
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- As Malta grapples with overpopulation, one man at the centre of it all – Identità CEO MARK MALLIA – tells Mark Laurence Zammit the problem is not foreign workers but that we have reversed the principles of recruitment: Malta is bringing in more workers than it needs, with the skills it doesn’t need.
Read the full story here : https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/watch-identita-ceo-were-going-numbers-that-be.1073580
- Title
- Can Malta's building resist an earthquake?
- Runtime
- 14:10
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Many modern buildings are not robust enough to withstand a moderate earthquake, let alone a strong one, a former government construction advisor has warned.
Architect Martin De Bono told Times of Malta that a tremor sustained for long enough could send several buildings crumbling to the ground, and he fears we might not be far from one.
“Malta is typically hit by one big earthquake every 100 years… And it’s been more than 100 years since the last big one.”
Not all buildings are facing such a risk, he said, but the most concerning are those with showrooms, shops or big open spaces on the ground floor, and on top of which there are several other floors of offices or apartments.
They are called 'soft storey' buildings, typically because their ground floor or basement is mostly made of a number of pillars holding the rest of the storeys on top of them. Often there are few other walls holding the building.
The more mod...
- Title
- University students are building Malta’s first electric race car
- Runtime
- 2:30
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- In between lectures and during break times, a handful of university students make their way to a small garage located on the Msida campus, where they can be found designing and building a first-of-its-kind project, Malta’s first fully-electric race car.
While the race car is still in the initial building stages, the University of Malta’s racing team plans to have all works completed by April 2024 and to compete in Italy or the UK in July.
UM Racing is Malta’s only Formula student team that designs, funds and builds Formula-style race cars. The cars are then raced against vehicles built by other universities from around the world in different competitions.
Set up in 2012, UM Racing has competed in seven international competitions with four different race cars. Last year, in Silverstone, UK, the team successfully placed third overall out of 110 teams.
Read the full story here: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/watch-universit...
- Title
- Mother recounts terrifying housefire as community rallies around her family
- Runtime
- 3:21
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- The Paola community is rallying around a young family after a terrifying fire destroyed most of their belongings, left them temporarily homeless and killed their pet just weeks before Christmas.
“Last year my family and I donated toys under the tree at Castille in Valletta. This year, strangers are donating toys to my children because they lost all their toys in the fire,” mother-of-two Christine Gatt told Times of Malta as she described her family's ordeal.
She was folding clothes on Tuesday afternoon when her five-year-old son Zaylen burst into the room, holding his two-year-old brother Zyon’s hand to tell her there was a fire in their bedroom.
Read more at timesofmalta.com
- Title
- Gozo's 92-year-old Coney Island bar to shut down
- Runtime
- 3:22
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Two elderly sisters behind Victoria’s Coney Island Bar thought they would “be born and die” there. But the pastizzi and te fit-tazza joint is closing this month after almost 100 years, and they will have to reinvent their lifetime routine.
For more than six decades, Maria Debrincat, 80, and her younger sister Georgia, 76, have run the central Gozo bar, welcoming without fail the piping-hot pastizzi trays at 6.15am every morning – and the office workers, who followed the breakfast trail.
That chapter is set to end by the close of the year, when the sisters will hand over the keys of the bar that has been in the family’s hands since 1931 back to the landlord.
Priced out – rent shot up from almost €100 a year to €16,000 – they harbour no rancour and their feelings of nostalgia are seasoned with a reasoned understanding of the owner’s situation and a good dose of humour.
“What can you do?”, the sisters shrug, ackno...
- Title
- Athlete in 24-hour run in aid of soup kitchen
- Runtime
- 2:51
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- A Maltese ultrarunner is encouraging the public to grab a pair of running shoes and join him this weekend as he runs for 24 hours to raise funds in aid of Soup Kitchen OFM.
At 1pm on Saturday, Stephen Sammut Nurminen will start running around the university track in Msida and, for every one kilometre he runs, one meal will be donated to Valletta’s Soup Kitchen OFM.
Every hour he will take a break of a few minutes where he could eat and drink.
Last Christmas, the 37-year-old managed to provide 770 meals for the Soup Kitchen. This year, he hopes to provide a month’s worth of meals, with costs covered through donations and sponsors.
“That would translate into 3,000 meals and it would be fantastic if we manage.”
Runners joining him will also be doing their part and additional meals will be donated for every kilometre covered by other athletes.
Times of Malta joined Sammut Nurminen on the track and ran 4k...
- Title
- Governance in focus: Navigating ESG challenges
- Runtime
- 2:58:54
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Governance in focus: Navigating ESG challenges
- Title
- Artist who received a cornea transplant presents unusual gift to donor's mother
- Runtime
- 2:37
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- An artist who underwent a cornea transplant seven years ago has presented a close-up image of his eyes to the mother of his donor as a sign of gratitude for her son’s gesture.
The cornea Alan Azzopardi, now 46, got in 2017 belonged to a 23-year-old Irish musician, an organ donor, who died in an accident while in Malta. The tragedy was reported in the media and Alan figured out who his donor was.
“I remained in contact with his mother on Facebook. When I realised this franchise (Iris Photo Art – Malta), which took detailed eye images, came to Malta I wanted to give her a gift – an image of my eye and that of her son.
“She liked it. It was very emotional. We never had a photo together. I did not know her son. But, now, it’s like we have one together. Thanks to him, today, I can see. Had he not become a donor I would not be able to,” said Alan, a donor himself, as he encouraged people to become organ donors.
Alan’s eye pr...
- Title
- Israeli ambassador to Malta
- Runtime
- 11:33
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Just minutes before an interview on Wednesday, Israel's ambassador to Malta Ze'ev Boker pulled out his mobile phone to show Times of Malta a video.
It showed graphic images of bullet-ridden bodies, charred corpses and blood-splattered and partially destroyed houses.
The video was a stark reminder of the brutal wave of terror attacks launched on Israel six weeks ago by Hamas militants which left 1,200 dead and saw 240 taken hostage.
But public opinion seems to have turned against Israel since then, following a massive retaliation which, according to Gaza health officials, has left 10 times that number dead on the Palestinian side, almost half of them children.
Boker insists, however, that his country does not want children to be killed in the conflict with Hamas and that civilian deaths should be seen in context.
“Each child in Israel or in the Palestinian Authority or in Gaza is important. We care about children, we...
- Title
- This is what happens to the grey bag contents at Magħtab
- Runtime
- 2:29
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- All of Malta’s grey bags make their way to the Magħtab plant every Thursday, where they are mechanically opened and loaded onto a series of conveyor belts along which the waste is separated into different categories.
Workers first remove the plastic bags, allowing the waste to flow into a ballistic separator which separates 2D from 3D objects. Thin and flat objects, like paper and cardboard, are directed in one direction, and containers, like bottles and cans, go another way.
Strong magnets then pick up the metal cans, leaving the plastic containers which, in turn, make their way onto another conveyor belt and into a machine that is able to detect each kind of plastic in a split second.
A jet of air blows clear plastic in one container and coloured plastic in another. Clear and coloured plastic are baled and sold for recycling separately.
Waste then makes its way onto other conveyor belts that are manned by workers who manually sor...
- Title
- Knives, gas cylinders, carcasses... the grim discoveries inside our bags
- Runtime
- 3:14
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- A gas cylinder, a long, pointed knife and an industrial fan were among the highly dangerous objects that made their way into the grey recycling bags this month.
Wasteserv, the waste management company, continues to grapple with tonnes of highly flammable or hazardous objects that are illicitly thrown in the grey bags and that could set the recycling facility up in blazing flames.
Yet, WasteServ CEO Richard Bilocca said he believes the country has largely improved its separation of waste and is set to reach record recycling figures this year.
A visit to the WasteServ facility in Magħtab this week showed the high technology being used to separate the increasing waste being generated by an increasing population. Yet, despite a continuous educational campaign for both households and industry, WasteServ keeps weeding out dangerous and potentially explosive material.
“Let me tell you how serious this is. If the gas cylinder gets pinched ...
- Title
- Mercury Towers 'will be a landmark,' says Joseph Portelli
- Runtime
- 5:27
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- The first phase of Malta's tallest building Mercury Towers opens its doors to the public for the first time on Friday with a three-level shopping mall and piazza.
The previously walled-in Mercury House on St George’s Road in Paceville is now opened up with a paved walkway leading up to the shopping mall, as the hulking 33-floor glass tower - designed by renowned architect Zaha Hadid - looms above it.
On Thursday evening, workers were still scrambling to assemble the finishing touches. Amidst the flurry of activity, controversial developer Joseph Portelli - the brains behind the project - was overseeing the final preparations before opening.
The project was approved in 2018 and was met with criticism about the scale of the high-rise tower and whether it was appropriate for the area.
Read more at timesofmalta.com
- Title
- ‘I felt ashamed for not delivering my baby alive’ – shattered mother
- Runtime
- 7:54
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Chris and Maria Spiteri Blanco lost their daughter hours before she was born. They tell Mark Laurence Zammit all about it.
In Chris and Maria’s home, there is sometimes an eery silence. Their biggest wish – to become parents – was shattered by a stillbirth which rocked them to the core.
A black urn sits prominently on a table in their home. It contains the ashes of Emily Jane, who never got to see the world.
A majestic grand piano sits in one corner of the living room, surrounded by a violoncello and other musical instruments. All of them have been silent for weeks. Maria has not had the energy to play.
“I felt a great sense of failure because I did not deliver and for a long time I felt ashamed,” she said.
“You know... a pregnant woman is supposed to deliver a baby, alive, and I didn’t. And I kept apologising to Chris and both our families.”
Chris and Maria entertain people. She is a professi...
- Title
- Drivers stuck in 2km jam as Pembroke works begin
- Runtime
- 2:43
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Motorists were stuck in traffic jams stretching back two kilometres on Monday morning as major roadworks on the second phase of Pembroke junction project got under way.
One driver said she was already late for work while another said that a typical 20-minute journey took him 45 minutes.
Last week, Infrastructure Malta warned of delays on the main road between Swieqi and Pembroke and urged people to take alternative routes for the next four months.
However, drivers who spoke to Times of Malta while they were stuck in an 8am traffic jam on Pembroke’s Triq Alamein said they had no other option because they worked nearby.
“I usually arrive at 8am, but it’s taken me 45 minutes to get from Buġibba to here,” Simone Micallef said.
Read the full story at timesofmalta.com
- Title
- A luxury Vittoriosa hotel with a ghost story to tell
- Runtime
- 4:23
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Tucked away in the central courtyard of a newly restored palazzo in Vittoriosa is a small archway that was once the opening into an old baker’s oven and the source of a ghostly legend.
For centuries, locals passed down the story of a young boy, the son of a wealthy baron, who they say was killed in the early 1700s by greedy relatives for his inheritance and pushed into the oven.
Many have, over the years, told and retold ghost stories about the building, which spent decades in a state of abandonment.
Now, the palazzo has been painstakingly restored into a four-star luxury boutique hotel, Palazzo Bettina, which forms part of the IBB Hotel collection.
- Title
- We're preserving Maltese history, one photo at a time
- Runtime
- 3:37
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Times of Malta is partnering with the National Archives to digitally preserve its collection of physical photos.
Conservators at the archives are cleaning, scanning and cataloguing tens of thousands of photos taken over the previous decades.
- Title
- Budget 2024 - What do people in Valletta want?
- Runtime
- 3:45
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- People in Valletta tell Mark Laurence Zammit what they want to hear in Budget 2024.
Video: Karl Andrew Micallef.
- Title
- Could one income tax change help Malta's average earners?
- Runtime
- 11:49
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Steve Ellul, an economist who leads state agency Project Green, thinks a new income tax band for people making between €15,000 and €22,000 a year could solve many problems.
Interview by Mark Laurence Zammit. Video by Karl Andrew Micallef.
0:00 New economic direction
0:50 ‘Slash taxes on green interests’
2:52 ‘Incentives for green buildings'
4:38 A new tax bracket
6:30 Are you contesting the election?
7:20 E-scooters controversy
- Title
- Malta's Finance Minister Clyde Caruana discusses his Budget 2024 plans
- Runtime
- 1:30:42
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Times of Malta editor-in-chief Herman Grech interviews Clyde Caruana ahead of the Budget 2024 speech.
0:00 Welcome
1:00 Quickfire questions
2:40 Are we running out of money?
5:15 Energy subsidies
8:50 Government spending
14:40 Inflation
16:30 Cartels
18:55 What about COLA?
21:50 Minimum wage
22:20 Tax evasion
30:00 Vox pop
34:30 Caruana's population bomb
39:00 Worker exploitation
42:20 Tourism numbers
44:40 What about the 'new' Air Malta?
50:00 Overloaded infrastructure
52:00 Malta's poor return on education spending
55:50 Why the emphasis on GDP growth?
1:12:40 Time to reform environmental taxes?
1:23:20 The problem with hiring workers
1:28:55 Golden passports not going anywhere
- Title
- Aspiring musician, chef who calls Malta home 'stuck' in legal limbo
- Runtime
- 4:19
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- He’s just a regular 21-year-old studying to be a chef and trying to build a career in the music industry, where he is known as YSR Stan. But Stanley, a Nigerian national who moved here at 13 and calls nowhere else home but Malta, is caught in a bureaucratic limbo with no document showing he is here legally.
Stanley Tamaradenyefa Iskawski came to Malta with his mother and her partner, an EU citizen. Mother and son both held “family member of a Union citizen” residency cards. Four years later, however, his mum’s partner left Malta due to serious health issues requiring treatment in his home country and was unable to return, the young man told Times of Malta.
Read the full story here: https://tinyurl.com/mp5pa8nk
- Title
- ‘They treated me like a criminal’ – Son jailed over debt to father
- Runtime
- 3:40
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- A man who was escorted to jail over a €200,000 civil debt owed to his father is claiming that he was treated like a criminal inside prison, despite the case’s civil nature.
“It’s horrible inside. I spent all night crying because they put me in Division Six, the worst division,” Noel Gafà told Times of Malta on Thursday after walking out of the Corradino Correction Facility.
Gafà, a 41-year-old technician with no brushes with the law, was escorted to prison on Tuesday by court marshals who were executing a warrant issued by a civil court upon the request of Gafà’s estranged father, Mario.
The dispute centres around rental arrears on a garage which Noel Gafà rented from his father to use for business. In June 2022, the court of appeal confirmed that the son was to pay the creditor – his father – €69,881 plus interest and costs.
The full amount added up to some €200,000, a sum which the son lacked the means to set...
- Title
- We showed Labour MPs some of the texts sent in the driving test scandal
- Runtime
- 4:49
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Labour MPs have closed ranks following a driving test scandal involving their colleague, Foreign Minister Ian Borg.
Times of Malta sought their reaction after exposing a scandal in which Transport Malta's director licencing was directed to "help" select candidates.
We asked Labour MPs whether they would forward messages from voters asking for their daughter to be “bumped up the queue” or for driving test examiners to “go easy” on specific candidates.
- Title
- An interview with European Council President Charles Michel
- Runtime
- 17:53
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- As European Council President, Charles Michel is tasked with helping the EU's 27 member states agree on the continent's most contentious political issues.
On the fringes of the September 2023 Med9 summit in Malta, he spoke to James Cummings about the EU, its challenge with migration and the threat of the far-right.
- Title
- Revealed: The WhatsApp chats leading to a driving test racket
- Runtime
- 14:49
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Former Transport Malta director Clint Mansueto received hundreds of requests to help specific candidates sitting for their driving test.
Some of those requests came directly from his minister, Ian Borg.
Our journalists Mark Laurence Zammit and Jacob Borg walk you through those chats and reveal the people who sent them.
Read the full story - https://bit.ly/3ZCETHs
- Title
- Who is to blame for Malta's construction site tragedies?
- Runtime
- 14:32
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- Malta's OHSA boss Mark Gauci is about to retire. But he's got a few things to get off his chest before he does so.
Interview by Mark Laurence Zammit. Filming and editing by Karl Andrew Micallef.
Read the full interview https://bit.ly/3PQQwY4
- Title
- Their landlord blocked their front door. Now they plan to quit Malta
- Runtime
- 4:56
- Date posted
- 3 years ago
- Description
- A couple who returned to their rented home last week to find their front door blocked by stones and concrete have protested over inaction by the authorities and say they are planning to leave Malta.
“I think I’ll be flying to Germany [with] my girlfriend this weekend because we can’t take this anymore,” Jan Gerber, a German national, told Times of Malta on Tuesday.
This, he said, was a forced eviction, without the three months notice laid down by law. Their belongings were still locked inside, and yet the authorities were refusing to take action, with the police considering it a civil matter.
The couple have had a long-running dispute over rent and they say the door was cemented over on Thursday in retaliation for them being unwilling to keep forking out an additional €400 in monthly payments after the landlord failed to carry out promised renovations to the property, particularly the roof leaking in several places.
Acc...
