Krysten's travels

Krysten Schwartzentruber is a 19 year Canadian from Waterloo, Ontario. Her blog documents her fiels trips as a student majoring in Anthropology and Archaeology. Earlier this year, she spent a few hours in Malta on the way to Egypt:

I assumed that I was in Valletta, Malta when I got off the bus in a very populated, yet small metropolis. Only an hour later when I read the sign that said "Paolo Police" did I realize that I was still 20 mins outside of the city I actually wanted to go to. No wonder the map didn't make any sense and I couldn't find the Ocean! Holy embarrasment, batman!

... and just in case you're ever in Malta and riding public transport, the bus drivers like to honk at each other on the rode which often scares the bejeezus out of us country folk who are unfortunately stuck in the circumstance of riding formentioned bus...

I assumed because Malta was an Island it would have BEACHES. I packed my sunscreen, bikini and towel in my carry on so I could just hike to the beach on my layover. I start talking to the couple beside me and we get talking about how I'm only in Malta for about 7 hours and I tell them I'm gonna find a beach and go to it.... They respond with "A beach? It's all rock. There's only a couple beaches in Malta and none of them are around Valletta." Here I'm thinking, oh blah... what do they know.... UNTIL we approach Malta from the air and I see that INDEED, the ENTIRE exterior of the island is beautiful, solid, ROCK lined shores. Oh, blah...

Oil for food

The olive oil sector is slowly increasing its popularity with Maltese farmers, writes TMI's Bernard Busuttil, from the Olive News Blog:

..In 2004, Malta produced 10 tonnes of olive oil, while the production for 2005 was 22 tonnes, four of which were produced in Gozo. An olive registry has since been set up, and 140 hectares have been identified for olive cultivation.

Gozo Cottage Director Ruben Curmi, said his company uses olives from Maltese and Gozitan growers. The farmers are not organised into a representative group, so the company has to deal with each one on a personal basis. During the negotiation process, the two parties agree on a floor price, after which prices are left to fluctuate according to the year’s market forces. Farmers are paid according to the yield of litres of oil. Since oil is a light liquid, 10 kilogrammes of oil yield 11 litres.

Mr Curmi said Maltese growers are put off from growing olives because of the lengthy harvest period. However, he said, harvesting only takes up 50 per cent of the cost and time involved in the cultivation of olives. Olive cultivation involves one crop a year. Olive flowers are produced in spring; tiny olives can be spotted in June, and will be ready for harvesting by September to October. Olive pressing starts in September and continues until late November. As a rule of thumb, the more the tree is looked after, the earlier it will bear fruit. However, Mr Curmi pointed out a peculiarity of Maltese-grown olives. He said that if one had to grow two olive trees, one in Sicily and the other in Malta, using the same methods, soil quality and giving either tree the exact same treatment, the one in Malta would bear earlier fruits...

New life for Euro-Med

Addressing the Mediterranean Forum, foreign minister Michael Frendo called for the revitalisation of the Euro-Med partnership, by MaltaMedia News:

..In presenting a Maltese paper on the reform of the working methods of the Barcelona process which commemorated its tenth anniversary last November, Minister Frendo said that “the Barcelona Process is also as strong as its structures and mechanisms to take forward and activate the commitments made politically”. In its paper Malta made reference to the ideas paper of the EU paper on reform of the working methods of Barcelona which includes such ideas as the introduction of a co-presidency, alternating venues of meetings, the possible setting up of a Euro-Med Secretariat, and the best use of the potential of the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures based in Alexandria, Egypt, the first common institution jointly established and financed by all 35 members of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.

Dr Frendo emphasised the work being done by the Study Group on the Working Methods of the Barcelona Process which is being chaired by Malta’s Ambassador Alfred Zarb. He said that the Study Group needs to continue to meet during 2007 to made suggestions for more effective and efficient working methods which give more co-ownership and greater visibility for the process. A regular channel through meetings of Brussels-based diplomats in between meetings of senior officials was also suggested in order to prepare the ground for more focused meetings by the Officials and by the Ministers.

Minister Frendo also called for the strengthening of the Anna Lindh Foundation which required greater visibility and greater effectiveness to carry forward the ambitions of all partners for the Barcelona Process and particularly its cultural and dialogue aspects which are so fundamental to the success of the Euro-Med Partnership...It was agreed that Malta would present the non-paper on the reform of the working methods, as enhanced following the debate at the ForoMed, would be presented to the Meeting of EuroMed Foreign Ministers in Tampere in November. The meeting adopted the Alicante Declaration on the Middle East and on the continuation and deepening of the Euro-Arab Dialogue...

Is the EuroMed process going off the rails?

Krokus in Malta

Heavy metal band Krokus led by Maltese vocalist Mark Storace is currently on a European tour and will play Malta in November. They enjoyed popularity in the 1980s through MTV exposure becoming the most internationally successful Swiss rock band. In Europe, they toured with Nazareth and in the United States with AC/DC, Motörhead, Rush, and Judas Priest. Their album Headhunter was a platinum album. While touring a few days ago, Storace was left stranded in Tuelso, Denmark by his own tour bus. Read the story in MaltaMediaNews:

..In Krokus’ Newsletter, Peter Waelti explained that the tour bus driver stopped at the Tuelso Nord exit gas station to use the bathroom and to get a cup of coffee. Marc was awake and used the opportunity to step off the bus himself, stretching a little, then heading for the bathroom himself, without telling the driver, assuming she would drink the coffee inside the gas station. Instead the driver took it on board, driving towards the German border. On his way out, Marc was recognized by a couple of Krokus fans, involving him into a conversation and asking for autographs. By the time he had finished speaking to his fans, the tour bus had taken off without him.

Marc contacted Peter Waelti after retrieving his Globe Club business card, stashed away in his wallet. The tour bus was due to hit the Germany border in three hours, so Peter had to act fast. After calling the other band members and the International Directory Assistance to no avail, Peter got in touch with the German Police Department emergency line in Flensburg asking them to assist me with a telephone number for the Border Control in Denmark. “I figured they could alert their officers to stop a blue Fairline tour bus!” said Peter...

No Kyoto targets

Most of the EU's member states will have a hard time reaching their 2012 Kyoto targets designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, writes Helena Spongenberg. Malta has not set any targets yet:

..The European Environment Agency on Friday (27 October) came out with its annual projection of CO2 emissions in the European bloc. "Today's projection...shows that emissions trends are not as positive as we might wish them to be," EU commission spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich told reporters in Brussels. Brussels still believes the EU can meet its target if all planned measures and legislation are put into place, but the spokeswoman added that "we need to make a major effort if we want to reach those targets."

The so-called EU-15 countries have committed to reducing total emissions of greenhouse gases to 8 percent below their level in 1990 in the period between 2008 and 2012. The new EU countries which became members in 2004 are not subject to the collective emissions targets under the Kyoto Protocol, which was set down in 1997. But eight of the ten new member states - the EU-10 - have individual targets to cut their emissions to 6 or 8 percent below 1990 levels. Cyprus and Malta have no targets at all, while all those with targets project that they will meet them...

World Heritage Sites 360°

The Valletta Waterfront's Forni Terminal is hosting the exhibition of Malta’s World Heritage Sites 360°:

..The exhibition features impressive images taken from the book bearing the same title. Among the images included in the exhibition are two measuring seven and nine metres in length depicting the Temples at Mnajdra and the Hypogeum. Also included is an impressive aerial visual of Valletta. The imagery of the exhibition brings out the beauty and history of our islands in a way that is difficult to match. It focuses on Malta’s World Heritage Sites, including UNESCO sites such as Valletta and the Neolithic Temples, some of which date back more than 5000 years.

This showcase at the Valletta Waterfront will serve to increase knowledge and awareness about Malta’s heritage among the disembarking cruise liner passengers. The exhibition will serve as a catalyst for tourists who will want to visit these sites during their stay in Malta. The book, the latest in the renowned 360 degrees series, published by Miranda Publishers and supported by the HSBC Cares For Malta’s Heritage Fund, is the first to showcase all of Malta’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites together. The exhibition will remain open until the first week of November.

Malta World Heritage Sites

Roman mysteries

Malta is increasingly popular as a film shooting location, from Deutsche Presse-Agentur/Movie News:

Malta is doubling for different parts of the Roman Empire, including Rome, Ostia and Pompeii, in a major BBC TV children's series Roman Mysteries, being shot on the Mediterranean island nation. Filming has been going on since September 20 in various locations around the island and on the smaller island of Gozo. Maltese Investments Minister Austin Gatt, visiting the filming site on Tuesday, said Roman Mysteries was the biggest audio-visual production being shot in Malta in a year that has seen a nearly twofold increase in audio-visual activity compared to last year, Gatt said.

That figure he said does not count the filming of Steven Spielberg's film Munich, which alone involved an expenditure of some nine million dollars. So far this year there were 141 filming days, a 22 per cent increase over the previous year, Gatt said. For the next 12 months, he continued, already 160 days of shooting have been signed up and the government's film commission is working with other producers to extend even that.

Gatt said the film industry has the potential of creating more permanent jobs, adding that there is no reason why international producers should not find creative and technical skills in the country. In recent years Malta has served as the location for major film productions including Troy starring Brad Pitt, The Count of Monte Cristo with James Caviezel and Spielberg's Munich with Geoffrey Rush.

More from MaltaMedia

Notes From a Tiny Island

MaltaCalling is a blog with different kinds of travel experiences in Malta. In Going Postal, the author discusses the local postbox in Sliema:

Whenever I receive a letter or postcard from parts foreign or otherwise exotic, I always wonder where the mail was posted. Was it shoved into a green box protruding from the side of a run-down building? Was it handed to a short, funny-faced man behind 6-inches of plexiglass? (Don't laugh; I did this once!) In case anyone else shares this tick of mine, I thought it'd be splendid if you could see where your letter or postcard originated in Malta. Along with pubs, pigeon racing and driving on the wrong side of the road, the traditional red phone box and telephone box are quaint reminders of Malta's British past.

Our local postbox, phone box spot is located two blocks from us at 'Dingli Circus' -- a convergence of three roads that almost, but not quite, forms one of those quaint English roundabouts. 'Circus,' as in Picadilli Circus or Oxford Circus, of course, is the equivalent to 'piazza' (in Italy) or 'square' (in the USA), with one small difference: you can't just hang around in a 'circus' -- it would be like playing in traffic. Just yesterday, as we were passing through Dingli Circus, Anna Maria asked: "where is all the fun stuff? Where are the lions and elephants? Where is the bearded lady?"

MaltaCalling FAQs; Archived Entries

No interviews for MSNBC

Mike is a London based network cameraman who has just spent four days in Malta and Gozo working on the Foley - Mercieca case for MSNBC. He blogs about his stay here:

..The body is slow to respond feeling the lack of sleep, the maybe hour of sleep I snuck in during that 38 hour shift, the 3 flights in a European economy class airline where even I feel incredibly cramped and no coffee machine in the room. So to the shower I go to let the hot water loosen the joints. Fortunately it helps, and then in a blink of an eye it’s off to town and shooting scene setters of Victoria, the town on Gozo where Father Tony lives, a stand-up or piece to camera with Ron Mott the correspondent, back to the stake out for a bit and then to the hotel to set up the video phone for 4 or 5 MSNBC live hits. Lick-i-d-y split we set up the videophone, takes an hour, check it out, order lunch and wait. But at least we had a beautiful view stretching down across a valley out to an amazing 18th century Cathedral, our back drop, and a panoramic view of shave flat mesa’s, green grass, the Mediterranean Sea, the Island of Malta, and some good company. Not a bad way to have a working picnic. Day 3, a much easier day! And all the while, lurking in the background working the phones like Donald Trump can work a room, Sohel the producer, is getting closer and closer of getting the “get”, Father Tony.

Well, we get good knighted from MSNBC due to the fact the quality of a videophone is well, crap, and at night you can’t see a damn thing if it’s not lit like Times Square, so it’s time to pack up, clean up, and head to dinner. By the way great seafood in Gozo. But as we eat there’s an air of uncertainty, the “get” is getting closer to happening. And then it happens, the phone call. Sohel calls to check in with the Bishop here on Gozo that he had finally convinced to see our side of things and he to wants Father Tony to speak clear the air and his name of this nightmare that he has been thrust into. As the phone in the bishops office rings, it’s picked up and a voice, a different voice then that of the Bishops answers, and with the most unnatural of words from an office of the Catholic Church, “Why are you calling? There’s no men of the cloth here only Whores, Whores who sell out to the media!” And with that the phone is slammed down. Upon hearing this Sohel calls back, no answer, repeating it till he receives a call, not from the church but a local investigative reporter. Turns out he had gone to the Citadel where this meeting at the Bishops office was taking place, merely to speak to the Bishop of Gozo afterwards, only to be physically attacked by Father Tony’s layer once the door had had opened and the meeting was done. The police were called, charges threatened but not pressed, the layer that was skeptical at best about agreeing to an interview with an American network now locked in his mindset that it will never happen, the Bishop of Gozo apologizing to us for not being able to make it happen and it appears our time in Malta will be over without getting the “get”, not making it on Nightly News, The Today Show or any of their weekend counterparts. All of this for simply 4 or 5 lives shots for MSNBC...

Trekking in Peru

Joey is from Gozo but lives in Astoria, New York. He has set up a blog to chronicle his travels in Peru. In this piece, he writes about the first of 4 days of his Inca trail trekking:

..The trail is about 37km long at an altitude which at one time exceeds 4000 meters (over 13,000 feet ) above sea level. I was picked up from the hotel by our tour guide leader Casiano ,we got on the bus which there were already the porters on it and 4 others guys who were part of the group ,we drove around Cusco to pick up the last 2 members of the group as we headed towards to Piskacucho also known as KM82 , the drive was about 90 minutes long . Before we continued to KM82 we stopped for breakfast at Ollayantambo. As we got to Piskacucho we passed through park control booth to show our ID and had our passport self stamped as a souvenir of the Machu Pichu Inca trail.

The weather was great sunny and dry and no patch of cloud. It was already around 10:00 AM when we crossed the Vilcanota River bridge at 2720m/8923ft In my group we were 7 people which we got on very well. After an hour walking we stopped for short break to have our snack , everyday during the 4 days we were giving a snack, hot breakfast , hot lunch and hot dinner also we had tea time break as well...On this first day we saw a view of the Inca site Fortress (Huillca Raccay) and Inca site Llactapata ( Patallacta) . We also saw the beautiful snow-capped peak of 'W'akay Willca' (5860m/19225ft).

We arrived at our campsite for the night at a green valley near the small village of Wayllabamba (3000m/9842ft) around 5:30 PM ,where we had our tea break and later had dinner . By 9:00 PM we were all in our tent because to morrow we had to get up early around 4:30AM...

Joey's Malta photos. This link comes via Nokkli in Malta who has a tennis blog here

Shrinking IT fair

MaltaMedia editor-in-chief Martin Debattista writes about this year's Information Technology and Telecommunications (IT&T) Fair. The event, held earlier this month, is getting smaller year after year. From The Times technology supplement:

..While the organisers promoted the event, one of the major IT vendors in the country, who was a main sponsor of the same fair in the last couple of years, showered radio listeners and put up billboards declaring it has special offers but also insisting "We are not at the IT Fair". Another vendor who had been a regular exhibitor at the fair for several years adopted the same approach.

The feeling that something was wrong was confirmed when i-Tech visited the fair. The number of exhibitors at this year's edition was very low, one of the worst in the last 10 years. Two years ago i-Tech had reported that the popularity of the IT&T fair was in decline. In 2002 there were 85 exhibitors, in 2003 the number went down to 64, and in 2004 there were 53. Last year it was 50 and this year we could not check the exact figure because the organisers did not publish the official catalogue. Our count was even less than last year.

Exhibitors present this year told i-Tech that the expense to put up a stand at the IT&T fair remains hefty, running into a few thousands which are not easily recouped over five days. The biggest expense seems to be exhibition space, which in the face of desertion of exhibitors along the years, was not revised to attract more interest.

The big guns were present, as always, and they gobbled up most of the exhibitors' space. But there were several established IT companies that deserted this year's edition. Two of the four main sponsors of last year's edition were not present this year; one of them actually boasted it was not present at the fair...

Just a quiet retiree

The Mercieca - Foley case remains in the global media spotlight today. The New York Times reports:

He is known here as Father Tony, though he does not seem to be known very well, for the Rev. Anthony Mercieca spent his career as a priest far from Gozo, the tiny Mediterranean island where he grew up. And he is not sociable anyway, say people who know him. “He is a very solitary man,” said George Borg, 52, a teacher who described himself as a family friend. “He walks alone.” That quiet ended after Father Mercieca, 69, gave several telephone interviews admitting that he had had possibly inappropriate encounters in Florida in the 1960’s with Mark Foley, the congressman who resigned over explicit electronic messages to pages..

The sketchiest of portraits emerged from neighbors and church officials: Father Mercieca retired here a few years ago, having spent his career mostly in Brazil and the United States, and has not been officially active here as a priest. But he said Mass at 9 every morning for several dozen worshipers at the main church here. While abroad, he returned to Gozo several weeks a year for vacation. One church official, who requested anonymity because he did not have the authority to speak publicly, said that until the interviews on Thursday the diocese had not known of Mr. Foley’s accusations — or indeed any against Father Mercieca concerning abuse. There seemed to be little anger at Father Mercieca among his neighbors. “There are a lot of people like this,” said one, Carmel Grech, 80. “Everybody has sins. What is the big fuss here?”

Writing in the Guardian, Rachel Zoll says abusers think they're innocent

The Foley scandal

Gozo is in the world media spotlight following the case revealed by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune of an intimate relationship between a Gozitan priest and former congressman Mark Foley. The case goes back forty years and is being reported prominently by the American press and the international media. From the International Herald Tribune:

A diocese in Malta said it is opening an investigation of a Roman Catholic priest who said he fondled and shared saunas while naked with Mark Foley when the former U.S. congressman was a boy in Florida. In telephone interviews in the past two days, the Rev. Anthony Mercieca, 69, who is now living on the Maltese island of Gozo, has given different accounts of his encounters with Foley four decades ago.

On Wednesday, he told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune by telephone that he massaged the boy in the nude, was naked in the same room on overnight trips with him and had gone skinny dipping with him. On Thursday, he told The Associated Press in Rome that he and Foley used to go naked in saunas. Also Thursday, he told WPTV of West Palm Beach, Florida, that he touched Foley "once, maybe."..

Charles Buttigieg, a spokesman for the archdiocese of Malta, the main island of the archipelago, said Friday that so far he is not aware of any other complaints involving Mercieca. "I don't know of any other complaints about this priest," he said by telephone from Malta. Buttigieg said the archdiocese's response team has yet to meet on this matter, as Mercieca's case was just being referred to it.

Mercieca, a Maltese citizen, is retired and does not serve in any parish on the island, the Rev. Anthony Refalo, the Gozo diocese spokesman, told The AP. However, he regularly celebrates Mass and hears confession in the cathedral, one of two main churches on the island. Gozo, 60 miles south of Sicily, has a population of about 32,000 and is one of Malta's three inhabited islands — filled with vacation homes and holiday resorts.

"Bishop Grech, conscious of the gravity of pedophilia, reiterates that he will cooperate with those responsible for investigating such cases so that justice is done to the victims, the perpetrators are reformed and the common good is safeguarded," the Maltese statement said. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune published an interview with Mercieca on Thursday in which the priest described several encounters that he said Foley might perceive as sexually inappropriate...

How the Sarasota Herald-Tribune got the story: Interview with reporter Matthew Doig; The Mark Foley scandal: A chronology

Blending in Britain

In her Thursday article, Daphne Caruana Galizia takes a cue from the veil controversy in the UK to discuss issues of Maltese migration:

..Success is dependent on complete integration into the host society. That’s why Maltese immigrants tend to do astoundingly well in Britain but less well in Australia, Canada and the USA, where they herd together and try to recreate Maltese life and mores in an alien culture. The Maltese who emigrate to England – and most of them end up there, rather than in other parts of Britain – become more English than the English. A Maltese working-class family will morph, within the space of one generation, into a Liverpudlian or Manchurian working-class family, complete with authentic accent, attitude and habits.

Higher up the social scale, the Maltese émigrés will turn into something plucked from A Passage to India, reinterpreted in 21st-century clothes, clipping their vowels like the Queen and walking around like Prince Charles. Let’s not be mean to them, though, for they have discovered the truth of the ages-old recipe for successful survival: when in Rome, do as the Romans do. The saying is supposed to be a contraction of some advice given to (Saint) Augustine by (Saint) Ambrose: “Si fueris Romae, Romano vivito more; si fueris alibi, vivito sicut ibi” (when you are in Rome, live the Roman way; when you are elsewhere, live as they do there.”

This is what the historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto has to say about Maltese emigrants to Britain, in his book Millennium: “The Maltese and Montserratian communities show the range of adaptive strategies. The tiny island of Montserrat sent more people over in the 1950s and 1960s, proportionately speaking, than any other West Indian island, driven by the collapse of the island’s sugar industry in 1952. There are fewer than 5,000 of them but they stick together. They marry each other. They settle together in spots like Long Ground in Birmingham, named after a village in Montserrat, or worship together in Pentecostal churches in Stoke Newington. They share business, form rotating credit associations, exchange visits – called “passing” – at Christmas and are tied to home by remittances and the fear of expulsion. The Maltese, by contrast – of whom there are 30,000 permanently in Britain by a common estimate – migrate singly and live dispersed. They blend into the British background – often in conscious flight from an identity besmirched by the stereotype of the vicious ponce, the evil reputation of allegedly Maltese gang leaders who practised the “unEnglish crime” of pimping in the 1950s. The difference between the Montserratians and Maltese is not to be explained by the colour of their skins. Cypriots are keen to cocoon themselves in their own culture; Ugandan Asians to forego theirs.”...

Malta according to Godfrey Dykes

Godfrey Dykes first visited Malta in 1955 and was later drafted to Lascaris in Malta with the British navy between 1957-1959. He came back a number of times in the 1960s and 1970s en-route to Asia. In this piece he looks at his Malta experiences following a nostalgic holiday in February 2004:

..To those who know Malta but haven't returned recently, I can tell you that very little has changed from the 1950's and the place still presents itself as a loveable sleepy backwater. A good 80% of her public transport has not changed in 50 years and little appears to have been done in preparation for joining the EU...Lots of hotels have been built on hitherto backwaters; gardens have been created; rarely did I see people crossing themselves on passing the ubiquitous religious icons; gone are the ladies of the church who stood on corners of Valletta streets dressed in black and large hooped hoods inviting donations; post cards with topless beauties are plentiful and explicit lingerie shops abound, which in my time would not have been allowed by the Church.

Valletta has changed the name of its main thoroughfare [which is pedestrianised along its length but traffic criss-crosses it at many points] from Kingsway to Republic Street and apart from smart cafes replacing less-smart cafes nothing has changed and even the proverbial Maltese promenading {passegiata as they call it} continues. Strait Street is no longer the 'Gut' and they will show indifference at being reminded that there was such a place. Nevertheless, the street remains exactly the same [how, in its environment, could it possibly physically change?] and yes, it still has bars and cafes although I would wager a bet that the tills are not as busy as when the fleet hit town. Floriana's 'gut' is still physically there, but the bars have gone. Most annoyingly and 'flying-in-the-face' of tourism, is that on certain days everything stops at 1pm and the streets are deserted by the locals [but not by tourists] and all shop shutters are lowered...

Budget 2007

With the Budget for 2007 due tomorrow, MaltaMedia Online News has launched a special feature on “Malta Budget 2007”:

The feature currently provides information about Government finances between January and August 2006, the Central Bank of Malta’s second quarterly review for this year as well as introductory and background information relevant to the upcoming Budget speech. The speech will be delivered by the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Dr. Lawrence Gonzi on the 18th October.

MaltaMedia Online News, as every year, will be providing live coverage from Parliament on the day, along with the contents of the speech and other analyses. On the day, the Budget Speech in text and audio format will be provided, coupled up with a video of the press conference to follow. The Economic Survey for 2006, Financial Estimates for 2007 and Malta Budget 2007 Presentation will also feature. Read more about this year's upcoming budget on MaltaMedia's special feature: Malta Budget 2007.

Save Hondoq ir-Rummien

SOS Hondoq News is a blog set up to campaign against a new marina development at Hondoq ir-Rummien in Gozo. A petition to the Prime Minister and the Environment Minister can be signed here:

The beautiful coastal area at Hondoq ir-Rummien in Gozo is one of the few remaining tracts of open countryside left in the Maltese Islands. An area of outstanding scenic beauty, it is also a vital habitat for dwindling communities of rare plants.

Hondoq ir-Rummien, in the area stretching from the depth of the quarry and eastwards along the rocky cliffside, is now being threatened by a proposed development plan to build a five star hotel catering for 170 beds, approximately 25 Self Catering Villas, 60 Self Catering Units, 200 Multi-Ownership Residences, 731 Underground parking spaces, 10 Retail Units, 5 Dining Facilities and a marina for between 100 to 150 craft depending on the size of the vessels.

We believe that the development of Hondoq ir-Rummien will degrade the Maltese Islands as a tourist destination, not improve it. Hondoq ir-Rummien lies outside the development zone established by the Structure Plan approved by the Maltese Parliament in 1992. We request that the Malta Environment and Planning Authority adheres to this Structure Plan and does not allow development in this area.

Happy Weekend

Midsea Books Ltd has just published a collection of short stories by Immanuel Mifsud called Happy Weekend. From MaltaMedia News:

..The collection, “Happy Weekend”, includes a number of stories translated into English by different translators. Some of these translations have already been published or read during international readings in Italy, France, Czech Republic or included in anthologies published by the European Union.

In a comment about this collection, Immanuel Mifsud said that nowadays it is very important for Maltese literary works to be translated so as to pave the way for the exportation of Maltese literature to other European countries. He added that the participation of Maltese authors in prestigious international literature festivals intensifies the need for translation.

“Happy Weekend” includes some of the best stories which were published in the five short stories collections by Immanuel Mifsud, including some from the book “Kimika” published last year. “Happy Weekend” is on sale from all leading bookshops.

DJ Tiesto plays Malta

Malta made a big impression on Dutch DJ Tiesto when he visited in summer:

I've been away from home for so long that I almost forgot how beautiful Amsterdam is during the summer time. It's great to be home again after months of touring all over the World. Spending time home with my family and friends is very inspirational to me. I started the month with a great gig at the HMH in Amsterdam. One week later I did a really special gig in Rotterdam for over 150.000 people. It was a free event and my backdrop was the harbour of Rotterdam...A week later, I played the legendary venue in London called 'Brixton Academy'. Both nights were great and it's very special for me personal to achieve this in England after all those years of performing over there!

Two weeks later I played in Malta. This island made a big impression on me this time. First of all and most important, the gig was amazing! After the event I stayed for a couple of days extra and the promoters Trevor and Geraldihno took really good care of me. Spoiling me with epic dinners, sight seeing at historical sites and a great day cruising around the island on a yacht. On days like this I realize that I am the luckiest man on earth! After Malta I went back to Amsterdam for a secret performance on the famous Sensation White party. I started playing around 00.30 and the crowd was caught by surprise...

Upbeat mood

It is looking like a good week for Maltese sports. Young tennis player Matthew Asciak, son of the legendary Gordon, has just caused an upset at an international tournament in Dubai beating the top favourite. Meanwhile, Wednesday's win against Hungary remains the talk of the town with newspapers reflecting the upbeat mood triggered by the rare success of the national football team. The mood in Hungary is totally different. Writing in the Guardian, Gergely Szakacs describes the reactions in the Hungarian media:

Hungary came in for harsh criticism on Thursday after one of the worst results in the once proud soccer nation's history. The 2-1 defeat in Malta all but ended Hungary's hopes of qualifying for the Euro 2008 finals in Austria and Switzerland as they languish second from bottom in Group C, below the Maltese on goal difference. "This is an outrage," ran a headline in Hungary's only sports daily Nemzeti Sport. "It is a shame, an ignominy, a slur that a nation like Hungary with the finest pedigree loses a game against a sorry Malta team that has not won a European Championship qualifying tie for 24 years," it said.

Blikk, one of Hungary's most popular tabloids, bluntly called Hungary "the laughing stock of Europe" after what it said was a "shameful defeat for the Hungarian side." National broadsheet Nepszava labelled Wednesday's humiliating loss a "catastrophe," which left the Hungarian team scrambling for a new goal, to avoid sinking to the bottom of its qualifying group. Left-wing Nepszabadsag and right-wing Magyar Nemzet, were unusually united in their criticism.

"Rock bottom: the Maltese humiliated this company called the national side," ran a headline in Nepszabadsag, while the assessment of a resigned Magyar Nemzet article was "Two-one, but rather absolute zero." Twice World Cup runners-up Hungary, the country that gave the sport the great Ferenc Puskas, are 59th in the FIFA world rankings while Malta are 85 places behind.

The website of the Malta Football Association; from Di-ve

Rare football triumph

Malta is celebrating the first Euro qualifier win in 24 years after beating Hungary yesterday night with two goals by Andre' Schembri. The last time Malta won a competitive football game on home territory was a 2-0 victory in 1975 over current European champions Greece. Yesterday's victory was widely reported by the international media. Kevin Azzopardi, writing for Reuters, reported the end of Malta's "long victory drought". In the UEFA news site, Domenic Aquilina called it "the Malta famine". From CNN International:

Malta won their first European Championship qualifying tie for 24 years on Wednesday, humbling once mighty Hungary 2-1 in a Euro 2008 Group C clash. Andre Schembri scored twice for the Maltese to give them their first points of the campaign and virtually end Hungary's hopes of qualifying for the finals.

Hungary did manage an equalzser through Sandor Torghelle but they were reduced to 10 men after 38 minutes when Vilmos Vanczak was sent off for a late tackle. "It was an excellent performance from Malta," Malta's Czech coach Dusan Fitzel told reporters. "The players' confidence grew after we managed to take an early lead and even though Hungary equalized soon after, the team did not lose focus.

"This was one of those nights when everything just went right for my team. I just hope that this win is not our first and last in this competition." Malta, who last won a Euro qualifier against Iceland in neutral Messina in 1982, thoroughly deserved their victory as they were the better side, especially after Vanczak was red-carded for fouling Michael Mifsud. The hosts drew first blood after 13 minutes when the tricky Mifsud's shot came back off the woodwork and the 20-year-old Schembri stabbed the ball into the net...

UEFA: Malta enjoys 'moment to savour'; From the Maltese blogosphere: Jacques Rene'Zammit, Aaron Farrugia; From the Hungarian press: Kínos kudarc Máltán

What We Did on Our Holiday

A one-off drama filmed on location in Malta was broadcast last Sunday on ITV1. Caitlin Moran writes in the UK Times Online:

Meanwhile, over on ITV1, a one-off drama with Shane Richie’s first outing since EastEnders promised to explain What We Did on Our Holiday (Sunday, ITV1). The answer from Richie, it turned out, was: “Kill my Parkinson’s sufferer dad, played by Trigger from Only Fools and Horses, by floating him out to sea like a doomed Lilo.”

What We Did on Our Holiday was a curious tale, with some fairly inexplicable moral conclusions. In a nutshell, a cast who could do better — Richie, Trigger, Pauline Collins, the blonde chick from The Commitments — went off to a location that could do better — Malta — and tussled with some big subjects. Sex, parenthood, death; British men in Hawaiian shirts from Bhs. Trigger had knocked up some Maltese chick during his National Service and now, gradually fading with Parkinson’s, came to look for the Maltese son he never knew. His wife (Collins, classy as ever), son (Richie) and son’s wife (the bird from The Commitments) accompanied him on his quest.

The long-lost son, it turned out, was wealthy, considerate, charming and well-dressed. His Continental elementalism put Brit slob Richie into the shade. Richie was both terrified of committing to his wife — who wanted a baby — and looking after his ill father — who needed full-time care. The eloquent Maltese, on the other hand, made it quite clear that he could both knock up Richie’s wife and spoon-feed his dying dad, possibly both at the same time. The Maltese, we were assured, had a better set of priorities in life than his pasty, feckless half-brother. It all looked very poor for the modern values of British man.

But then, in the last ten minutes, a series of odd incidents occurred to reassure the average Brit-Lad that his values are, after all, the solid stuff that makes Britain great. First of all, the Maltese son turned out to be a conman, and ran off with all of Trigger’s life-savings. At this point, Richie’s character was redeemed by doing the following, in one, seven-minute-long sequence: making a model airplane with his dad, driving an MPV dangerously, punching his half-brother, and then drowning his dad in the sea.

Anyone watching — particularly those with experience of Parkinson’s in their family — might very well have ended the drama with their jaws dropped, staring at the television and whispering “Inform . . . and entertain” over and over again, in a flurry of confusion. For while only an idiot would use a primetime ITV1 drama as their sole source of moral steerage, primetime ITV1 dramas are also a mirror to the soul of the country. And this seemed proud to conclude that where Britain is at, right now, is playing Fatality Pooh Sticks with their ailing parents as the credits roll. Alfie Moon drowned Trigger. Extraordinary.

Aaron Farrugia's Diary

iPod addict Aaron Farrugia is the Deputy mayor of Ta'Xbiex and former President of the Labour Youth Forum. He has set up a blog here. In this piece he discusses the youth policy document launched this past weekend by the Labour Party:

..Qed ikun propost ukoll li gvern Laburista ġdid bi ftehim ma’ min iħaddem u mar-rappreżentanti tal-ħaddiema, jara li jinħoloq fond nazzjonali għat-taħriġ kontinwu. B’dan il-mod il-ħaddiema jaġġornaw il-ħiliet tagħhom minn żmien għal żmien. L-abbozz Laburista jitkellem ukoll dwar zghazagh li qed ikunu sfrutatti fuq il-postijiet tax-xoghol taghhom u jghid li gvern Laburista ġdid ikun viġilanti sabiex ma jseħħux dawn it-tip ta’ abbużi. Fl-istess hin gvern Laburista gdid jagħti prijorita` lill-implimentazzjoni tal-miri ta’ Lisbona u l-Patt Ewropew taż-Żgħażagħ bil-ghan li tkun miggielda l-problema ta’ l-illitteriżmu u pajjizna joffri impjiegi żguri u ta’ livell għoli..

Proposta ohra hija li gvern Laburista ġdid fiżikament jiċċentralizza l-amministrazzjoni u t-tmexxija ta’ l-entitajiet kollha mhux governattivi taż-żgħażagħ f’bini wieħed. Dan iċ-Ċentru Nazzjonali taż-Żgħażagħ joffri spazju fost l-ohrajn għal laqgħat u konferenzi.F’dik li hija politika dwar is-sahha taz-zghazagh, l-abbozz ta’ pjan Laburista jitkellem fost l-ohrajn dwar l-obesita, it-tqala fost l-adoloxxenti, id-droga u l-alkohol...

Outrage follows Archbishop statements

Maltese Archbishop slammed 'for address praising stay-at-home mothers', writes Gudrun Schultz in Canadian LifeSite:

Maltese Archbishop Mgr. Joseph Mercieca triggered an outpouring of criticism with his recent address calling for greater support and praise of mothers who remain home to care for their small children. The Archbishop called on the state to do everything in its power to help parents give their children the upbringing children deserve, stating that if young parents cannot raise their children together properly because both are “constrained” to work out of the home, that would be “sowing harm” in the lives of the children.

Further, Archbishop Mercieca condemned the modern depiction of the mother who stays home as a “failure” and old-fashioned, saying her noble choice should be recognized and supported in a concrete way. Outrage and dismissal from political and social leaders followed the Archbishop’s statements, the Times of Malta reported. Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity, Cristina Dolores, said his comments would generate guilt among women who had chosen to enter the workforce, and advised him to focus on the problem of missing fathers instead. The executive director of the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality reacted to the address by calling for better social structures that would allow both parents to maintain “personal development” while giving children the care they need.

Lost on Mount Etna

The Italian media reported that seventeen members of the Kilimanjaro Challenge 3 team were rescued this past weekend after getting lost on Mount Etna, From MontagnaTV:

Brutta avventura ieri pomeriggio per 17 escursionisti maltesi che si erano persi in alta quota sulle pendici dell'Etna. I gitanti sono stati localizzati e tratti in salvo solo in tarda serata dagli uomini del soccorso alpino della Guardia di Finanza. A dare l'allarme sono stati gli stessi escursionisti attraverso un telefono cellulare. Le Fiamme gialle hanno individuato il segnale nella zona pressi di Piano Vetore, nei pressi di Montenero degli Zappini. In quel momento sull'Etna c'era scarsa visibilità a causa delle avverse condizioni meteo.

Nel pomeriggio sono iniziate le ricerche da parte di Guardia di Finanza, Carabinieri e volontari della Forestale. I dispersi hanno pure acceso dei fuochi per provocare del fumo che è stato notato dall'equipaggio di un elicottero dei carabinieri. I turisti maltesi, uomini e donne di età compresa tra i 22 e i 40 anni hanno raccontato di essere partiti stamani da Nicolosi con l'intenzione di osservare l'eruzione dell'Etna, nel pomeriggio però si erano persi. Tutti sono stati riportati a valle in serata, sani e salvi, e hanno ripreso l'aereo per Malta intorno alle 22.

Three Falcons, All Maltese

Dave Kehr writes about remakes of the Maltese Falcon:

Remakes, according to a deeply ingrained critical convention, are inevitably inferior to the original films. Exhibit A in the case against that irrational assumption has long been John Huston’s 1941 “Maltese Falcon,” featuring Humphrey Bogart in his star-making role as Dashiell Hammett’s hard-boiled private detective, Sam Spade. Huston’s “Falcon” was actually the third version of Hammett’s best-selling novel of 1930 to be produced by Warner Brothers, following a reasonably faithful adaptation by Roy Del Ruth filmed in 1931 and an imaginative reworking of the material into something approaching a screwball comedy in 1936, directed by William Dieterle and retitled “Satan Met a Lady.”

All three versions are included in a three-disc set coming out today from Warner Home Video. It’s being sold separately at $29.98, but is also included, along with Huston’s “Across the Pacific” (1942), Vincent Sherman’s “All through the Night” (1942), Lloyd Bacon’s “Action in the North Atlantic” (1943) and Michael Curtiz’s “Passage to Marseille” (1944) in the box set “Humphrey Bogart: The Signature Collection, Volume II,” priced at $59.98. Though the Huston remains the definitive version — thanks as much to the miracle of casting that brought together Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet and Elisha Cook Jr. as to Huston’s direction — the two other versions have striking merits of their own...

Irish President in the Mediterranean

President Mary McAleese of Ireland began the first ever Irish state visit to Malta meeting the authorities, addressing the business community at the Chamber of Commerce and promoting bridge-building. Today she will move on to Cyprus where she will attend Ireland’s Euro 2008 qualifier game against Cyprus in Limassol. From Ireland Online:

..Mrs McAleese will also meet dignitaries in Valletta and address business leaders at the city’s Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise. After formal talks with President Dr Edward Fenech Adami and Prime Minister Dr Lawrence Gonzi, she will attend a lunch in her honour at Auberge de Castille. Mrs McAleese will later visit the Unesco World Heritage Site at Hal Saflieni Hypogeum. The president will leave Malta tomorrow to make a state visit to the Republic of Cyprus.

She will attend the Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2008 qualifier game against Cyprus in Nicosia and meet Irish gardaí serving with the United Nations peacekeeping force on the island. On Monday she will hold official talks with President Tassos Papadopoulos and receive the coveted Golden Key of Nicosia. Mrs McAleese will also deliver an address at the University of Cyprus on the theme, Europe’s New Horizons: An Irish Perspective. The president will be accompanied by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern in Malta and by Environment Minister Dick Roche in Cyprus.

Film Interruption

My New Life in Malta is a blog set up as "an attempt to capture my thoughts and observations on this country, its people and the experiences of starting a new life in a new country". In this post, the writer describes the shock of cinema internissions:

We headed for a US-style multiplex in the trendy area of Paceville. This is an area with a cinema, a bowling alley, a little beach, nightclubs, etc. I had strolled through it at night before and found the teenage crowd with their latest fashion trends and mobile phones, but during the daytime it is tamer. So in we went to see "Lady in the Water," the latest installment from M. Night Shyamalan's spooky paranormal movies with a message. I had been wanting to see it for a while. At first everything seemed pretty normal (except for the men's bathroom that had only urinals). There was no usher, even though the seats are numbered. There were a couple of ads, and the movie started. About an hour later, in a tense and crucial moment, where Malta was the furthest from my mind.... the screen went blank, and the lights went up. There was no warning or apology. Great! The reel is ruined! We'll never know what happens! I looked around and everyone seemed pretty calm. The group of teenagers got up and left, some people stretched. I turned to M in confussion, and he simply stated: "intermission."

Intermission?? The movie was not even two hours long! We had been sitting there for less than an hour! I got over my initial shock, and realized this was one of those cultural quirks I would have to get used to. M went on to say that the Maltese find it strange *not* to have an intermission. That they feel movies go on for too long without one.

After that some advertisements came on screen. Special deals on mobile phone plans. The details were yelled out in Maltese but written out in English. I asked if this was a way to get both the Maltese and the foreigners at once, but M had not even noticed. As I mentioned in the posting about language, bilingualism here is quite fluid and people barely notice it. A few more ads for a gym and restaurants, and the movie came back.

I have to say, the intermission killed this movie. Where in the first "act" I had been completely engrossed in the plot, I was never able to get into it during the second "half." It was like being woken up in the middle of the night by a ringing phone, and not really going back into deep sleep again. I wonder if I will miss the intermission one day.

Language; Maltese breakfast; Visit to the Doctor; Details of Maltese life; Jewish New Year; On illegal immigration

Reviving the Past to Build the Future

Malta to host EUTO convention and study visit, from Travel Video TV News:

During the last week of October, the Malta Tourism Society will be hosting some 60 or 70 delegates from the European Union of Tourism Officers (EUTO) to a convention and study visit. This annual event is part funded through the Leonardo da Vinci mobility initiatives which promote cultural and educational exchange across Europe.

Themed “Developing Sustainable Tourism – Reviving the Past to Build the Future,” an exchange of best practice, this year’s convention and study visit will take place between October 22 to 29. The focus will be on creating a unique experience for visitors to the island by capitalizing on all the possible cultural, social and historical resources which these small islands can offer. A number of local and international speakers are being invited to contribute to the convention and also to the study visits included in the program...

Fish farming

A two-day conference, due to be held in Malta next week, will focus on developments in offshore mariculture, from FishFarmer magazine:

OFFSHORE fish farming is a major growth area and has been tipped by industry experts as one of the top four trends likely to shape the industry’s future. This dimension will come sharply into focus at Offshore Mariculture 2006, to be held in Malta from October 11-13. The event will give an international review of developments in the offshore context and relate them to the conditions experienced in European waters. The topic has recently attracted a lot of interest. In 2004 BIM held the Farming the Deep Blue conference in Ireland. It was attended by 250 delegates from 25 countries. Furthermore, there was a great deal of interest in the offshore aquaculture sessions at AQUA 2006 in Florence.

The Offshore Mariculture conference is a three-day event featuring an international two-day conference and exhibition, and a fish farm visit in order to explore the feasibility of farming the oceans beyond the territorial seas. The conference has an impressive line-up with speakers from Malta, Ireland, the US, South Korea, Canada, the UK, Norway, Brussels, Denmark and Hawaii. Malta is a particularly apt location for hosting the conference. It is ideally placed as a deep water centre for fish farming in the Mediterranean and balances the need for a clean maritime environment for fish farming with its function as a centre for commercial shipping...

Air Malta's revenues

Vicky Karantzavelou writes in Travel Daily News about Air Malta's revenues:

Air Malta annual report and consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2006 showed that the year under review has been a very difficult one for the airline with rising fuel costs which soared to unprecedented levels while revenue figures registered a decrease. The airline recorded a decrease in non fuel costs items resulting in key cost savings in various areas.

In the financial year 2005/06 Air Malta carried 1.86 million passengers throughout its network; representing a 2.4% (46,000) decrease in passengers over the same period last year. The decrease was mainly registered in the 1st quarter 2006, in which, as reported in a recent media statement, Air Malta has seen a decrease of 30,000 passengers in this quarter. This decrease is mainly attributed in the shift in incidence of the Easter period.

During this financial year the airline faced fierce competition on the Malta route with an oversupply of seats at very aggressive pricing. Air Malta floated 2.1million seats of the Malta route; 43,000 more seats over the financial year 2004/5. At the same time Air Malta faced increasing fuel prices that reached record levels. The increased in fuel costs were partially offset by Air Malta’s beneficial fuel hedging contracts and if it was not for them fuel costs would have been significantly higher. The efficiencies and improvements in the airline’s cost base as identified in the Rescue Plan Agreement signed with the four Unions were largely achieved, and in some cases bettered, with the exception of fuel. Air Malta has seen a decrease of 9% in non-fuel cost items then expected two years ago...

Air Malta website

Philately

Malta Philatelic Society celebrate 40 years, from Gibbons Stamp Monthly:

MaltaPost issue two new Occasion Cards during this year’s MALTEX Philatelic Exhibition in order to mark the 40th anniversary of the Malta Philatelic Society. The 51c stamps used on the cards are reproductions of the 1974 Centenary of the Universal Postal Union set designed by Sandra and George Ellul Sullivan, and from the Air Transport set designed by Richard J.Caruana. Special personalised stamps and a cover will also be available but only exclusively at the MALTEX Exhibition between 6th and 8th October.

Billy Connolly's Gozo home

It has been known for q