Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/608340
Queen Elizabeth tours the Grand Harbour where crew members from HMS Bulwark saluted the British monarch YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT maltatoday Newspaper post Win with Air Malta! INSIDE Two tickets up for grabs with our travel contest SUNDAY • 29 NOVEMBER 2015 • ISSUE 838 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY 17 16 Avoiding Taxodus! Boy, 3, hospitalised after Montekristo tiger lashes out A three-year-old boy was grievously injured when a tiger on a leash at the Montekristo Zoo lashed out at the child. The incident occurred yesterday at 4:30pm at the Mon- tekristo Estate's zoo, which is itself an unlicensed zoo that has however been allowed to operate. Police said the boy was with a 56-year-old man from Zabbar at the time of the incident. The boy was hospitalised, and certified to be suffering from grievous injuries but was not in danger of dying. An eyewitness, Ritienne Spiteri, was there with a friend and eight children when the incident occurred. "The kids were playing on the carousel while most parents were sit- ting at the café opposite. The two tiger handlers came close to the café where two women were taking photos of the animal. The kids rushed to view the tiger... one child crossed over a passageway whereupon the tiger grabbed the child and appeared to have locked him in a hug. The handler started hitting the tiger until the animal released the boy." Spiteri said that there was blood on the ground, and cleaners were called in to clean up the scene. Police carried out interviews with witnesses and the two handlers who were monitoring the tiger. Jean Paul Sammut, the CEO of Montekristo Estate, which is owned by construction developers Polidano Bros, expressed solidarity with the family. "From prelim- inary investigations it transpires that the tiger was being walked by two handlers, and was lying on the floor at the point of incident. At one point the boy moved towards the tiger, and the tiger wrapped her paws around the boy con- sequently hitting the boy with its nail [sic] in the face. At no point did the tiger bite the boy or any of the sort took place." PAGE 13 BEHIND CHOGM'S PAGEANTRY Newly mushroomed firm takes lion's share of Commonwealth meeting's chauffeur business • PAGE 3 Nationalist MP employed at gaming authority goes AWOL Foreign delegations forced to get black market euros JURGEN BALZAN OPPOSITION MP Kristy Debono has not shown up for work at the Malta Gaming Authority since June, a reply to a parliamentary question has revealed. Debono, the authority's manager of information analysis, earns up to €34,000 a year but she has only completed eight hours of the 1,016 working hours she was expected to put in this year. The MP's maternity leave is excluded from the hours she was expected to work in 2015 and the information tabled by economy minister Chris Cardona says that Debono was expected to return to work on 22 June. According to Cardona, the authority accepted the opposition MP's demand to work from home, which would have seen Debono complete 50% of her working hours through teleworking. But the MP has not shown up at the authority's of- fice or completed any work through teleworking since June, meaning that Debono only com- pleted 1% of the working hours due in 2015. PAGE 6 PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY malta Win with Air Malta! Two tickets up for grabs with our Two tickets up for grabs with our Two tickets up for travel contest grabs with our travel contest grabs with our SUNDAY • €1.40 44 Gaming in Malta Malta is today a major player in the global remote gaming industry. Gaming has now surpassed fi nancial services in contribution to the Maltese economy JOE CUSCHIERI, MGA ANGELO DALLI, BIT8 HENRIK PISKI, GAMING CONSULTANT JOHAN STYREN, LEO VEGAS NADIA PACE, WORLD AVIATION VLADIMIRO COMODINI, RSM maltatoday ENRICO BRADAMANTE, NetEnt RUSSELL MIFSUD, KPMG Part 2 from our series on the European Parliament INSIDE Gaming in Malta Malta is today a major player in the global remote gaming industry. Gaming has now surpassed fi nancial services in contribution to the Maltese economy ANGELO DALLI, BIT8 HENRIK PISKI, GAMING CONSULTANT NADIA PACE, WORLD AVIATION VLADIMIRO COMODINI, RSM today ENRICO BRADAMANTE, NetEnt RUSSELL MIFSUD, KPMG Our special 20-page supplement on gaming And Virtu Ferries tickets to Sicily with MaltaToday's caption contest 11