Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1490819
6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 25 JANUARY 2023 NEWS NEWS MATTHEW AGIUS A BirdLife official testified about having observed and filmed a hunter who was allowing a child to handle and fire a shotgun in Mizieb. The NGO's Head of Conserva- tion, Nicholas Barbara, took the witness stand as the compilation of evidence against Julian Xri- ha continued before Magistrate Elaine Mercieca on Tuesday. Xriha's brother Daniel is the di- rector-general of the Federation for Hunting and Conservation (FKNK). Barbara told the court he had been accompanying two BirdLife volunteers in the Miżieb area of Mellieha on April 3, 2021, the last day of that year's hunting season. "The spring hunting season for quail was open at the time and the area was popular with hunt- ers. At the time, the hunting of turtle doves was not permitted," he said. He had arrived in the area at around 6am, he said. At around 7:45 am, he had noticed a person inside a hunting hide (known as a "dura" in Maltese) around 200- 250 metres away. "I turned the camera on and, as I zoomed in, I realised that there were, in fact, two persons inside the hide." "I realised that the second per- son was a boy, less than 16 years old. The adult guided the boy to shoot at something low on the ground. I couldn't see what the target was, but I heard the shot," Barbara explained, also exhibit- ing photographs of what he had seen. He had informed the police after establishing the exact loca- tion of the hide. When the police arrived, they found two persons inside the hide – the accused and the minor, and one of the shot- guns. At one point the footage showed the accused handling the weapon incorrectly, causing a negligent discharge of one of the shotguns, which went off close to the boy's head. Luckily, the boy was un- harmed, but the video shows him holding his ears, the witness said. Barbara also exhibited stills from the footage. "Later, when the police arrived, the other volunteers told me that they had seen the accused leave the hide for some time, before re- turning," Barbara said. The wit- ness explained that he suspected that this could have been an at- tempt to hide the second shot- gun. The police had, in fact, only recovered one shotgun from the hide, but after this was pointed out to them, a wider search re- covered the second shotgun hid- den in a bush some distance away from the hide. Prosecuting police inspector El- iott Magro asked the witness who he had seen firing the shotgun. "The son," Barbara replied. A police officer from the Envi- ronment Protection Unit who had been on duty on the day in question, took the stand next. The footage he was shown was clear, he said. "There was a boy, an adolescent, in a hide accessible by a ladder, holding a firearm and firing it." The officer had then approached the hide, noting two persons in- side and around it. He recognised them from the footage previous- ly shown to him by the BirdLife team, he said. "I asked Mr Xriha for his documents and told him he had the right to remain silent and the right to speak to a law- yer." Xriha did not ask to be as- sisted by a lawyer, he said. Xriha told the officer that his son had shot at some cans, he said. Xriha's Beretta shotgun and hunting licence were seized. A police constable who had been stationed at the EPU at the time confirmed the account giv- en by the previous witness, from the stand. He, too, recalled the accused as saying that the minor had been shooting at cans, he said. The defence requested the court order a social inquiry report into the accused's circumstances be drawn up. The prosecution did not object to the request, which the court then upheld. The case was adjourned to April for the defence to submit its evi- dence. FKNK director-general's brother filmed giving child shotgun Witness also tells court of boy's lucky escape after shotgun went off next to his head by mistake THE Doomsday Clock – a symbolic timer on the world's global security – was set at 90 seconds to midnight, due largely but not exclusively to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the increased risk of nuclear escalation. It is the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been. The new Clock time, mandated by scien- tists from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, is also influenced by continuing threats posed by the climate crisis and the break- down of global norms and institutions needed to mitigate risks associated with ad- vancing technologies and biological threats such as COVID-19. Rachel Bronson, PhD, president and CEO, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said: "We are living in a time of unprecedented dan- ger, and the Doomsday Clock time reflects that reality. 90 seconds to midnight is the closest the Clock has ever been set to mid- night, and it's a decision our experts do not take lightly. The US government, its NATO allies and Ukraine have a multitude of chan- nels for dialogue; we urge leaders to explore all of them to their fullest ability to turn back the Clock." The war in Ukraine may enter a second horrifying year, with both sides convinced they can win. Ukraine's sovereignty and broader European security arrangements that have largely held since the end of World War II are at stake. Also, Russia's war on Ukraine has raised profound ques- tions about how states interact, eroding norms of international conduct that un- derpin successful responses to a variety of global risks. As Russia's war on Ukraine continues, the last remaining nuclear weapons treaty be- tween Russia and the United States, New START, stands in jeopardy. "Unless the two parties resume negotia- tions and find a basis for further reductions, the treaty will expire in February 2026. This would eliminate mutual inspections, deep- en mistrust, spur a nuclear arms race, and heighten the possibility of a nuclear ex- change," the BAS said. Founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein and University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists created the Doomsday Clock two years later, using the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and the contem- porary idiom of nuclear explosion (count- down to zero) to convey threats to human- ity and the planet. The Doomsday Clock is set every year by the Bulletin's Science and Security Board in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes 10 No- bel laureates. The Clock has become a uni- versally recognised indicator of the world's vulnerability to global catastrophe caused by manmade technologies. Doomsday Clock set at 90 seconds to midnight with threat of Russian escalation