Tomorrow, Saturday, the 22nd of November, a Christmas musical will be staged at the Don Bosco Oratory, Victoria, Gozo. The musical, 'Marija ta' Nazaret,' celebrates the 125th anniversary of the Calling of Our Lady of Ta' Pinu, and also the 150th anniversary of the Lourdes apparitions. There will a second performance on this coming Sunday, the 23rd of November, and a third performance on the following Saturday, the 29th of November. Tickets for the musical can be obtained by calling on telephone number 21556616 or on mobile number 99487751. Tickets may also be obtained by calling in person at the Don Bosco Oratory in Victoria. All three performances commence at 7.30pm each ... Read more...

On the occasion of the 5th Anniversary of the Ghaqda Muzikali Vizitazzjoni Gharb, MaltaPost has announced that a special hand postmark - 5 Snin Anniversarju - Ghaqda Muzikali Vizitazzjoni - 22 ta' Novembru 2008, will be used at the MaltaPost branch in Gharb. The special hand postmarking service will be available tomorrow, Saturday the 22nd of November 2008, between 8.00am and 12.30pm. Envelopes cancelled with this special postmark can also be ordered from the Philatelic Bureau, 305, Triq Hal-Qormi, Marsa MTP 1001, on telephone number 25961749, or by email to philately@maltapost.com....

In October 2008, cruise passenger traffic in Malta comprised 72,721 persons, an increase of 25.0 per cent over the comparative month in 2007. October 2008 - The total cruise passenger traffic of 72,721, showed an increase of 14,535 passengers over the same month in 2007. Embarkations from and landings in Malta in this month stood at 1,290 and 1,461 persons respectively. January-October 2008 - Total cruise passenger traffic in Malta amounted to 496,283, an increase of 16.5 per cent over the same period last year. Passengers from EU countries accounted for 77.8 per cent of total traffic, the main markets being Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany. On the ... Read more...

Three men have been charged with gang-raping a 21-year-old Qala woman at a construction site in Qala on Wednesday morning. Aaron Camilleri, 28, and Mark Cutajar, 31, both from Nadur, and Paul Xerri, 46, from Xaghra, pleaded not guilty to raping the woman, holding her against her will and slightly injuring her. The prosecuting officer, Police Inspector Josric Mifsud, objected strongly to a request for bail arguing that important prosecution witnesses had yet to testify and that there was the possibility that the accused would tamper with the evidence. However, the court, presided over by Magistrate Paul Coppini, upheld the request and granted Mr Camilleri and Mr Xerri bail against a deposit of €1,000 and a personal guarantee of €2,000. Mr Cutajar, who ... Read more...

This Saturday, at the Teatru Astra, Victoria, in its annual symphonic concert, the La Stella Philharmonic Band will play an array of musical excerpts ranging from Puccini classics to local compositions and well-known light music pieces such as those from the popular Disney cartoon musical The Lion King. The band's resident music director Prof Mro Joseph Vella has opted to include a colourful Puccini selection from the magnificent opera Tosca, as a fitting conclusion to the Festival Mediterranea's celebration of the 150th anniversary of the immortal composer's birth. The selection chosen includes some of the better known arias for soprano, tenor and baritone. The arrangement is scintillating ... Read more...

A photo exhibition featuring the projects implimented during the past four years in Malta and Gozo through co-financing under the Malta Structural Funds Programme 2004-2006 and the Cohesion Funds Programme, is being held at the exhibition hall at the Ministry for Gozo. Gozo, together with Malta, benefited from the five structural funds which include the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the European Agricultural Giudance and Guarantee Fund and the Guidance Section, the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance and the Cohesion Fund. The Minister for Gozo, Giovanna Debono, visited this exhibition which portrays photos of the projects implimented in Gozo. The Minister explained that Gozo has benefited substantially through EU ... Read more...

The Office of the Commissioner for Children is inviting the public for a discussion on Work, which will focus on the recommendations made in the Manifesto for Children. The Manifesto for Children was launched earlier this year, in order to increase awareness of matters requiring urgent attention with regards to children in Malta and Gozo. The participants in this discussion will be given the opportunity to voice their opinion and concerns, and make their own recommendations in this field. The Manifesto for Children outlines various improvements to be made within the field of work. Child labour is a persistent problem which is often linked to absenteeism in schools, and there is a need for increased efforts in order ... Read more...

A European Commission report published recently shows that mobile workers from the countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 have had a positive impact on Member States' economies and have not led to serious disturbances in their labour markets. Workers from the EU-8 as well as Bulgaria and Romania have made a significant contribution to sustained economic growth, without significantly displacing local workers or driving down their wages. Both for the EU as a whole and for most individual countries, labour flows have been limited compared to the size of labour markets and to inflows from non-EU countries. "The right to work in another country is a fundamental freedom for people in the ... Read more...

In the construction sector, seasonally adjusted production decreased by 1.3% in the euro area (EA15) and by 1.5% in the EU27 in September 2008, compared with the previous month. In August, production grew by 0.4% and 0.2% respectively. Compared with September 2007, output in September 2008 dropped by 3.8% in the euro area and by 3.1% in the EU27. These first estimates are released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. Monthly comparison Among the Member States for which data are available for September 2008, construction output rose in eight and fell in five. The most significant increases were registered in Slovakia (+7.2%), Portugal (+6.8%) and Bulgaria (+5.9%). The largest decreases were recorded in the United Kingdom (-8.5%) and ... Read more...

Cable-laying works on the second submarine link to Sicily owned by GO, due to start tomorrow, have been postponed due to unforseen circumstances, the company said this evening. The process of laying the cable between St Paul's Bay and Mazara Del Vallo, south of Palermo, will last around two weeks and the new cable system is expected to be functioning by early 2009. GO's second submarine cable will be linking Malta to Italy via the pan-European network operated by Interoute, which connects 93 cities in 22 countries across over 56,000 cable kilometres of fibre. The submarine cable project is being referred to as the GO-1 Mediterranean Cable System. The cable-laying ship that will be handling GO's second international ... Read more...

Social Policy Minister John Dalli and the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) held a meeting today on the current shortage of nurses and have agreed to meet again next week. In the meantime all directives for industrial action by nurses have been suspended. Commenting on the the decision, Alternattiva Demokratika said it welcomes the beginning of a constructive dialogue between the government and the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses(MUMN). Arnold Cassola, Alternattiva Demokratika Chairperson, said, "We applaud the sign of maturity of the MUMN and Minister Dalli who have not plodded on obstinately in their path of confrontation but have decided to sit around the discussion table to tackle concrete problems existing in public health care services." "Putting ... Read more...