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MT 13 April 2016

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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 13 APRIL 2016 News C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Euro Times.pdf 1 30/03/2016 10:55 Malta experienced driest winter in 93 years WITH 99.6 mm of precipitation, winter was almost four times drier than it was last year, be- coming the driest winter on re- cord. This allowed the Maltese islands to enjoy weather tradi- tionally experienced in spring early but caused parched fields and poor crop yield, the Malta International Airport weather station reported. A quick look at last winter's weather – one of the mildest in living memory – shows that lo- cally rain was scarce and sea and air temperatures were higher than usual. In fact, the highest air temperatures registered for each month of winter were close to the maximum temperatures recorded in April and May 2015. This year's unusually warm win- ter was a phenomenon that hit most of Europe, impacting ani- mal behaviour and plants' f low- ering patterns. Locally, days were much brighter than usual with 19 Feb- ruary enjoying a maximum of 10.2 hours of sunshine, which is only 0.4 hours less than the mean sunshine hours recorded for August 2015. Exceptionally bright days were also experi- enced on December 23rd, de- lighting those who left Christ- mas shopping to the last minute, and 26 January. Although December was the wettest month of winter, the 45.8mm of precipitation regis- tered were still significantly less than the 104.8mm norm for this time of the year. With a mere 2.6mm of precipitation, last February was both the driest month last winter, as well as the driest February on record since 1923. Between them, January and March registered just over 51mm of precipitation and the two hail occurrences for winter. Peaking at 23.6°C, last Febru- ary's temperature became the highest temperature for this month in 93 years. Interestingly, in the United States, Alaska also experienced its warmest Febru- ary in a stretch of over 90 years. Locally, the highest temperature in winter was reached in March at 24.6°C, while it dropped to a lowest of 5.9°C in January. The sea was also warmer than usual throughout winter, with January registering the highest ever sea-surface temperature for this month at 17.6°C. In Decem- ber, raincoats could practically be traded for swimsuits and wet- suits as sea temperatures were in the region of 18.6°C. Winter temperature peaks at 24.6°C in March, February driest month last winter and in 93 years PM addresses Beirut citizenship seminar as Henley opens new office MATTHEW VELLA PRIME Minister Joseph Muscat will address another Henley & Partners conference in Leba- non when the citizenship plan- ning firm opens its Lebanese on Wednesday. Henley was granted the con- cession for the sale of Maltese citizenship under the Individual Investor Programme. Muscat led a business delega- tion this week to Jordan, where he will also cross over to Beirut in Lebanon to open an office for Henley, in conjunction with a Global Citizenship Seminar which will cover key develop- ments in residence and citizen- ship planning. Muscat will deliver a keynote speech. Muscat and government min- isters are contractually bound by the government's agreement with Henley, which has been tasked to sell the 'golden pass- port' at €650,000, to promote the IIP on roadshows organised by Henley. The Beirut office will be headed up by Marc Menard, the Manag- ing Partner of Henley & Partners Lebanon, and who previously held the position of Managing Partner of Swiss Insurance Part- ners (Hong Kong) Ltd, a Henley & Partners group company. "We see an increasingly high number of second citizenship applicants from Lebanon be- cause for a number of years the region has been grappling with issues related to political stabil- ity, security and travel restric- tions," Menard said. Joseph Muscat addressing a business forum in the Jordanian capital Amman

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