Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1246053
4 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 13 MAY 2020 NEWS SCOOTER 001 SHARING THE PRESENT, SO WE CAN BUILD A BETTER FUTURE. One app. Over 450 shared vehicles. Pay per minute, per hour or per day. goto.com.mt/download * Rate per minute for Scooter trips on the GoTo Business Plan. Terms and Conditions apply. €1.50 PAGE 2 PAGE 5 Silvio Schembri apologises for 'unfortunate' foreign workers comments Banking customers offered home loan moratorium due to Covid-19 THURSDAY 19 MARCH 2020 • ISSUE 50 WWW.BUSINESSTODAY.COM.MT DAVID HUDSON A rescue package worth €1.8 bil- lion has been unveiled to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on the economy. PAGE 3 PAGE 2 Editorial PAGE 9 RIDING OUT THE STORM AND SAVING JOBS Coronavirus Government announces €1.8b rescue package to mitigate crisis Robert Abela BOV registers pre-tax profit of €89.2m • Government to pay companies €350 per employee on quarantine leave • Businesses ordered to shut down temporarily, will receive two days of assistance per week per employee Id-dinja dieħla f'riċessjoni? U Malta? www.illum.com.mt ARA PAĠNI 12 u 13 €1.25 IL-ĦADD 22 TA' MARZU 2020 • NRU 701 'Il-Gvern huwa rrassenjat li se nitilfu x-xogħol. Mentri aħna rridu nsalvawh' 'ROBERT GĦINNA QABEL IKUN TARD WISQ' Il-GWU, l-MHRA, il-GRTU, il-FATTA u l-UĦM mal-ILLUM iwissu li jekk il-Gvern mhux se jħabbar miżuri ġodda se jibdew jingħalqu n-negozji u jintilfu l-impjiegi, speċjalment fit-turiżmu, fir-ristoranti u d-divertiment! ARA PAĠNI 4 u 5 PAĠNI 10 u 11 SUNDAY • 22 MARCH 2020 • ISSUE 1064 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY €1.95 maltatoday This won't work, Robert EDITORIAL MT2 ROBERT Abela's package does not go far enough and will not work. Malta has entered a war which has destabilised the economy and all its workers. Abela cannot be scared of spending and rack- ing up the necessary government debt needed for a national stim- ulus now: the risks of not acting will be greater than what lies ahead in the next months. He must alleviate economic hard- ship during the epidemic to pre- vent lasting damage to the econ- omy by stopping this recession from turning into the next Great Depression. What Malta needs is a form of universal credit for all, to keep aggregate demand up and so that idle workers at home can return straight to work at the end of the crisis and restore the supply chain. STAY IN, STAY SAFE, WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT/COVID19 Our appeal is simple: Maltese businesses must be sustained by keeping workers in a job with a social insurance that sustains their wages CLAUDIO GRECH 'We cannot allow Maltese businesses to fail. We would be failing society' INTERVIEW MT2 Never before has your support of free and independent journalism been so crucial Support us with a subscription or a donation maltatoday.com.mt/maltatodaydigitaledition MATTHEW VELLA A petition started by the Out- door Recreation and Camping Association Malta to defend public access to Aħrax and Miżieb has surpassed the figure of 10,000 signatures. The petition, also hosted by NGO Coalition Spazji Miftuħa, is demanding that access to l-Aħrax and Miżieb remains open all throughout the year instead of being sealed off to a lobby for nine out of twelve months. In just a few days since its launch, Spazji Miftuħa has also received the backing of more or- ganisations, reaching a total of 30 groups endorsing the coalition and its demands. The coalition has sent out a sec- ond open letter to Prime Minister Robert Abela reminding him of the request for a meeting about the issue, sent on Tuesday 28 April, to which no official reply has been received. In their letter, Spazji Miftuħa say they are deeply concerned that Abela is considering granting the lands at Aħrax and Miżieb to hunting lobby FKNK to manage. "This will deprive the general public of two very important pub- lic open spaces. It will spell the end of outdoor activities in these areas, in a country where outdoor space is already very limited due to our size and also the repeated encroachment on such areas by various lobbies. Spazji Miftuħa said they are rep- resenting at least 10,000 people who have petitioned in favour of keeping public access open to such areas, and reiterated its re- quest for a meeting so as to un- derstand better how his Cabinet decision will impact the general public. The Lands Authority is formu- lating an agreement for hunting grounds in l-Aħrax tal-Mellieħa, and Miżieb to be turned over to hunters under a formal manage- ment agreement. A government source told Mal- taToday that while no final agree- ment has been reached, discus- sions remain ongoing. The source added that the agreement would be formulated on the basis that exclusivity to hunters would only be allowed during hunting sea- sons. In April, the proposal was float- ed during a Cabinet meeting, with no resistance being raised over the suggestion. The proposal was meant to for- malise claims the main hunting lobby FKNK has over the lands, which they occupy during the spring and autumn hunting sea- sons. There is a long-standing dis- pute between hunters and en- vironmentalists over whether the Miżieb woodland is a legal hunting reserve. In 2017, Magistrate Charmaine Galea acquitted a BirdLife Mal- ta volunteer, Nimrod Mifsud, of criminal charges of trespassing in Miżieb, brought by the police in 2014 following a report by the hunting lobby FKNK. Mifsud had accompanied BBC natural- ist Chris Packham to Miżieb for part of his documentary series on spring hunting in Malta. Last week, a group of environ- mental NGOs formed a coalition in defence of open spaces, which looks to preserve access to public open spaces. Spazji Miftuħa was formed in response to a proposal by government to restrict access to the two woodland areas of l-Aħrax and il-Miżieb to the hunt- ing lobby. Over 10,000 back petition to keep Mizieb and Ahrax free and open CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 He had been previously charged with a violent crime. Borg's mother had gone to the police on 21 July 2019 to report that her son had swallowed the con- tents of a box of pills and become aggressive, smash- ing a TV. He was found in a room on the roof. After police convinced him to come down, as he was com- ing down the stairs, he had dislodged some bricks and fell into a shaft, having to be helped out by the police. Some 45 pills were found in his trouser pock- et. They had not been prescribed to him and he had not taken any of them, he said. Whilst being spoken to by the police, he had gone into a bedroom where his mother and younger brother were sitting. He had grabbed a mobile phone from his brother's hands and smashed it on the floor. Shortly afterwards, he had picked up the family dog, a black Chihuahua called Otis, who had been barking. Holding the dog by the legs, Borg had swung the dog against the bedside table twice. He was handcuffed after a struggle and taken to the Birkirkara police station. Two officers were slightly injured in the struggle. Borg had pleaded guilty to the charges, after con- sulting with his lawyer, Simon Micallef Stafrace. In his judgment on the matter, Magistrate Joe Mifsud said he "wanted to send a clear and unam- biguous message to society" about the obligation of proper care and treatment of animals. It was unacceptable for the accused to try and jus- tify his actions by saying that the dog didn't want to stop barking and neither was the court willing to tol- erate any violence against the police, he said. Borg was cleared of breaching bail as the case in question was decided before this one. Magistrate Mifsud also said he could not find guilt on the breach of a suspended sentence charge because it emerged that "the sentence had been misplaced and could not be found." The court sentenced Borg to imprison- ment for two years together with a fine of €5,000. Inspector Christina Delia prosecuted. Magistrate's 'clear and unambiguous message to society' on animal care