10 years ago - The Times

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Archaic clause forces surgeon to retire

An orthopaedic surgeon has been forced to retire because of an archaic clause in civil service regulations even though his contribution remains crucial to reducing waiting lists at Mater Dei Hospital.

Carmel Sciberras has been unable to work or perform any operations for two months because government employees who turn 61 are forced to retire to make way for the younger generation.

He has worked for the state hospital for 25 years.

10 per cent income tax cut ruled out

The government will not be honouring its electoral pledge to cut the maximum income tax rate by 10 per cent in tomorrow’s Budget, though a “slight” change in tax bands may be announced.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech will present a green budget, with several fiscal incentives to encourage people to invest in alternative energy.

But there will be few tax cuts, The Sunday Times has learnt.

25 years ago - The Times

Tuesday, November 2, 1993

Air Malta wins out-of-court settlement over Lockerbie programme

Air Malta has won an out-of-court settlement from an independent British television company over a programme it felt implied negligence on its part in the 1988 Lockerbie Pan Am airliner bombing, lawyers for the Maltese carrier said yesterday.

Granada Television agreed to pay Air Malta Company Limited £15,005 to settle the dispute in connection with a dramatised documentary Why Lockerbie? About the bombing of the Pan American World Airways Boeing 747 over Scotland in which 270 people were killed.

The payment was made without any admission of liability, Air Malta’s lawyers said in a statement.

Air Malta had objected to a reconstruction of how the bomb might have been smuggled into the international airline system. The dramatized segment showed an Arab checking the bag on to an Air Malta flight to Frankfurt.

The Pan Am flight from London to New York, carrying some passengers who had travelled from Frankfurt, was blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988. Two suspected Libyan intelligence agents have been accused of carrying out the attack but Tripoli has not handed them over for trial.

Half a century ago - Times of Malta

Saturday, November 2, 1968

Prime Minister to meet Emperor Hirohito

Malta’s Prime Minister Dr Borg Olivier will visit Japan from November 11 to 16 for talks on trade between Malta and Japan, the Foreign Ministry said today.

It said he would have talks with Japan’s Prime Minister Mr Eisaku Sato.

Dr Borg Olivier will be accompanied by five government officials including Dr J. Spiteri, Minister of Trade, Industry and Agriculture, and Mr F. E. Amato-Gauci, Secretary at the Commonwealth and Foreign Affairs Ministry.

He will also have an audience with Emperor Hirohito and make a sight-seeing tour of Western Japan. He will be a state guest.

Italian professor to lecture at Medical School

Prof. G. B. Bettolo, Director of the Istituto Superiore di Sanita of Rome, is to arrive in Malta tomorrow on a four-day visit to give two lectures at the Medical School, Guardamangia.

Prof. Bettolo will have talks with senior officials of the Medical Health and Health Department and with the Vice Chancellor and the Dean of Medicine at the Royal University of Malta.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.