Police are searching for a white pick-up truck which fled the scene after it struck a 42-year-old Xewkija man on Mgarr Road, Xewkija yesterday afternoon. The victim, who subsequently died from his injuries after being rushed to Gozo General Hospital, has been named as Joe Grima from Xewkija. Mr Grima had been involved in an fight with a relative and during the altercation is understood to have moved out into the middle of the busy road, where he was tragically struck by the white pick-up. Police sources say they do not believe that the driver of the pick-up had any connection with the argument that was taking place.

At a Press Conference held in Gozo, Arnold Cassola, Chairperson of Alternattiva Demokratika, said that, once again the measures planned for Gozo lacked precise time frames to indicate the start and expected completion dates of the projected reforms. Government's declared intention to embark on a reform of the public transport service as a first priority is praiseworthy. However, it is not known when this exercise is due to be finalised nor has any reference been made to the Gozo Channel monopoly which is supposed to end by this year. Mr Victor Galea, AD spokesperson for Gozo, commended the Government on its commitment to develop Gozo's economic activities based on the principle of sustainability and specifically ... Read more...

The manner in which the 2009 budget will impact Gozo, and whether it meets the expectations of the Gozitans in addressing the island's economic realities, will be the theme of a public discussion to be organised by the Circolo Gozitano at its premises, 7 Sir Adrian Dingli Street, Victoria, Gozo, on Friday, the 14th of November 2008. The panel for the discussion will include Prof. Lino Briguglio, Mr Joe Grech, President of the Gozo Business Chamber (GBC) and Mr William Portelli, President of the Confederation of Maltese Trade Unions (CMTU), and member of the Malta Council of Economic and Social Development (MCESD). A representative of ... Read more...

The last population survey among a random sample of 1,755 people between the ages of 18 and 65 years was conducted in Malta in 2001. The response rate was 68.3 %. The survey questionnaire was based on the European Model Questionnaire for surveys on prevalence of drug use in the general population developed by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), to which questions about lifestyle, gambling and service utilisation were added. The reported last year prevalence of cannabis was 0.8 % and of these 0.5 % were current users. The use of cannabis appears to be predominantly experimental. Lifetime experience with other illicit ... Read more...

The Alfred Mizzi Foundation is assisting a Heritage Malta project to establish a Fototeka which will ensure that the agency's considerably rich collection of photographic material is conserved and stored. The sponsorship made it possible for Heritage Malta to provide training to one of its employees to attend training in the conservation of photographs and to develop a storage and handling plan for the collection. Lindsay Buttigieg who works in the Book and Paper Conservation Department of the Conservation Division of Heritage Malta attended a seven-week course in London aimed at introducing and developing knowledge and skills in the preservation, conservation and restoration treatments of photographic materials. This was followed by a four-week 'Master Class' which consisted in a practical workshop, which ... Read more...

Since 1998, Teatru Unplugged has been entertaining patrons with its diverse range of musical genres from upcoming local musicians. Held annually at the Manoel, the contrast of fast moving musical acts creates a unique event against the backdrop of the classical theatre. This years' line-up includes Sasha & Sam, Scar, Simon & Phil from Sixth Simfoni, Peter & Papps, Ray (THE CHARACTERS, THE RIFFFS ) with special guest star Ira Losco. But don't think you've seen it all before! The Teatru performers show off their craftsmanship with all the props, loud sound and lights 'unplugged.' What's left is simply the artist, their instrument and the audience. They will be presenting a set comprising of extracts from musical masterpieces that ... Read more...

WasteServe took part last month in a three day clean up campaign at various sites across Malta and Gozo. They stated that while it is more than obvious that they could not solve Malta's environmental problems in just three days, they truly believe they have managed to raise awareness with regards to keeping the local environment clean. The various activities also produced some very noticeable results. Some of the main sites cleared up during this campaign were, a clean-up with heavy machinery in a stretch of coastline between Zonqor Point and Xghajra effected by workers from the Works Division of the ministry, sea-beds both ... Read more...