A new series of Love Island is upon us and, at this point in the programme’s life, we know what to expect: a group of beautiful young people will spend the summer looking for love – or at least something resembling love – and imagining how many more Instagram followers they will have when they return to the UK. The tabloid newspapers will give the stars of the programme top billing, with the usual galleries of beefcake and bikini shots. Non-viewers, meanwhile, will be mystified by Twitter trends referring to what’s happening on Love Island – and there will be a fair amount of hand-wringing from critics about why people go on the programme and why other people watch it. In 2018, Love Island’s popularity among television audiences was echoed by BAFTA voters, with the programme winning the BAFTA for Reality and Constructed Factual. Although it’s a BAFTA category that often raises eyebrows, the win reflected the programme’s presence in the cultural zeitgeist. Of course, what would have made the Islanders different to us 20 years ago – their willingness to expose themselves on television – is what makes them similar to us now. Most of us live some of our lives on screens – whether...

Nationalist Party treasurer David Camilleri has resigned with immediate effect, after finding himself embroiled in an internal power struggle within the party. In a lengthy social media post, Mr Camilleri said he was quitting the role to shoulder his burden of responsibility for the weekend’s tumultuous events, but raised the possibility that factions within the party had intentionally engineering the situation to cause the PN maximum damage. Mr Camilleri was one of the 82 PN executive committee members who voted on Saturday to decide whether Jean Pierre Debono or Kevin Cutajar should assume a seat in parliament vacated by David Stellini. Factions within the party, including outgoing executive president Mark Anthony Sammut, have since argued that Mr Camilleri should never have been given a vote during that ballot, as the PN statute precluded him from having one. Mr Sammut, PN MP Jason Azzopardi and others have suggested Mr Debono – one of the candidates for the vacated seat – was responsible for including Mr Camilleri on the list. Mr Debono has denied that claim but also announced that he will not take his oath of office, which was originally scheduled for Monday.  'Nobody...

The current system of judicial appointments is superior to the practice prevalent before 2016, and although there is still room for improvement, such a highly important and delicate matter called for caution and prudence, the president of the Chamber of Advocates, Louis de Gabriele said on Monday. He spoke on the manner of judicial appointments when delivering his address during the inaugural ceremony of Madam Justice Joanne Vella Cuschieri. Judicial appointments have recently been a subject of political controversy, with the NGO Repubblika having gone so far as to seek court action to block new appointments, and later to block the assignment of duties to new members of the judiciary, pending implementation of recommendations by the Venice Commission on the Rule of Law. Dr de Gabriele pointed out that the final discretion still rested with the executive, and it was mainly up to politicians to address the situation through wider consultation with all those who could contribute towards a solution in line with the expectations of a modern society. The independence and impartiality of the judiciary was not solely related to their appointment but also to the rigorous and intellectual...

Germany's Social Democrats could end up deciding if the country faces snap elections, the leader of Angela Merkel's party said Monday, after her junior coalition partner sank into chaos over the resignation of its leader. In a surprise announcement that rattled Berlin, Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Andrea Nahles said Sunday she was quitting her party's top jobs following an European election drubbing late last month. Merkel and other heavyweights in her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) have sought to calm nerves, saying they stood by the coalition. But CDU chief Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer conceded Monday that whether Germany goes to the polls before the end of the electoral term in 2021 would depend on the SPD's next move. «We are ready to keep this coalition going. How the SPD behaves is its decision,» she told journalists following crisis talks within her centre-right party. «There are good reasons to not end a government lightly, from the view of the situation in Germany but also the situation in Europe,» she said. Given the international challenges, it would be «anything but productive if Germany were to go into a government crisis or a lengthy election campaign». The...

Adrian Delia will discuss the internal strife within the Nationalist Party in an interview on #TimesTalk. Dr Delia is battling resignations and public slurs by members of his own party following a political battering at the European and local council elections.  The PN leader was questioned over his reluctance to put his leadership to the text and whether he could survive the onslaught to lead the party to the 2022 general election.  The full #TimesTalk interview will be uploaded on Tuesday morning. 

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has officially launched the $8 billion construction of a controversial oil refinery that experts say is likely to blowout in cost. The huge project, inaugurated Sunday, aims to boost Mexico's struggling state oil company Pemex and provide economic stimulus to the country's impoverished south. «We will build it in three years at a cost of 150 billion pesos ($8 billion). No doubt about it!» the leftwing president said. Experts however say the project will nearly double in cost and take some eight years to complete. A group of foreign firms selected by the government were first granted the tender to build the Dos Bocas oil refinery in southeastern Tabasco state - where Lopez Obrador was born. The tender was cancelled when the firms put forward completion dates and budget estimates greater than those demanded by the president. The government then gave the project to the deeply indebted oil company Pemex. Once completed, it would allow Pemex to process some 340,000 barrels of crude per day and deliver 170,000 barrels of petrol as well as 120,000 barrels of diesel. Experts however doubt Pemex has the necessary experience to see the project...

Birdlife Malta is organising an event called A Night with the Scopoli’s on Friday, June 21 from 7.30 to 10pm at Dwejra in which a small group of participants will have the opportunity to learn more about seabirds nesting in the Maltese archipelago, their habitats, the threats they face and what we can do to help them. Gozo’s west coast, on either side of Dwejra, is home to three seabird species. Over 1,000 pairsof Scopoli’s Shearwater (Ċiefa), around 150 pairs of Yelkouan Shearwater (Garnija) and a small colony of Mediterranean Storm-petrel (Kanġu ta’ Filfla) nest in the cliffs and large sea caves in this part of the island. The event will start a 100m walk from the road up to Dwejra Tower on uneven and unsurfaced paths. Participants will climb to the tower’s roof via its 17th century staircase which has steep and uneven stone steps. After sunset, participants will then walk along the cliffs (one kilometre each way along a rough path) to listen to the Scopoli’s Shearwaters’ calling frenzy. Participants unable to join the latter walk will be able to stay on the tower roof after sunset, and may still be able to hear Scopoli’s Shearwaters from there. Dwejra is one of the Maltese...

If you’ve ever stopped to admire a birch tree, you may unknowingly have something in common with a 5,300-year-old mummy called Ötzi. In 1991, hikers found Ötzi in an alpine glacier on the Austrian-Italian border, and perfectly preserved with him were pieces of fungus attached to leather cords, safely stowed in his bag. That fungus is the same one you can see growing on birch trees today: the birch polypore. Sometimes called birch bracket, and known to scientists as Fomitopsis betulina, the polypore is a parasite that slowly kills the birch before feasting on the dead tree until there is nothing left. The scientists who first identified Ötzi’s ancient birch polypore speculated that he could have used it for medical purposes, as some European cultures in more recent human history have been known to do. Ötzi lived in around 3300BC. wiki With recorded applications ranging from pain relief, wound dressing, antiseptic and even cancer treatment, birch polypore has been used as a broad spectrum therapy for various health problems. But is there a true medical basis behind the anecdotal folklore? A drug cocktail Numerous studies have revealed that birch polypore does indeed produce...

hino die every day, so why is the world mourning the loss of Tam? Tam was the last male Sumatran rhinoceros in Malaysia and was thought to have died of old age in his thirties – elderly for a Sumatran rhino. He was taken from the wild in 2008 to a sanctuary in Malaysian Borneo. His health had been deteriorating since April 2019 and he finally succumbed in May. He is survived by a single female, Iman, who cannot reproduce due to a ruptured tumour in her uterus. The news isn’t good, but an estimated 80 individuals survive in the wilds of Indonesia – not a great number, but marginally better than the Javan rhino which may be as few as 58. By comparison, the African white rhino, which draws a great deal of concern, is thought to number 20,000. But populations of the Sumatran rhino – the world’s smallest and hairiest rhino – have declined 70% in the past two decades, mainly due to poaching and habitat loss, and are now classed as critically endangered – the highest possible risk of extinction. Read more: Africa's rhinos hog the limelight while their Asian cousins head for extinction The majority of the remaining Sumatran rhino are reckoned to be on Sumatra – the largest island...

The 17th century legend of the notorious Peeping Tom is known to many, especially in the locality of Coventry, UK. It speaks of an English noblewoman, Lady Godiva, who rode naked on the streets of Coventry, covered only by her hair, while commanding all persons to keep within doors and from their windows, on pain of death. One man – Tom – could not resist peeping, earning himself not only the ultimate punishment of death (some historians say that he was merely struck blind), but also an eternal moniker that would become part of popular culture and survive well into the 21st century. Privacy and property have for long enjoyed a somewhat symbiotic relationship. Protection of property rights is even constitutionally recognised – both locally and abroad – as a significant safeguard against intrusions of the privacy interests of owners from acts by the government. Maltese property law also provides for a myriad rules against the intrusion of proprietary privacy by private actors. Most notably, the mere interference with someone’s property or possession in the exercise of a pretended right is a crime, punishable with imprisonment for a term from one to three months. Our law does not...

Richard Bilocca wants to talk shit. He wants to explain why after six years of profits, the Water Services Corporation still needs a government subvention, and that it is going to go up yet again next year, from €17.2 million to €19.3 million, even though the corporation had a record turn-over. The issue is not water production but the cost of providing drainage, for which people are not directly charged, as well as the various environmental services provided by the corporation. “We do not make a loss on the production of water – in spite of the fact that the tariffs are socially engineered to encourage lower usage,” the CEO told The Sunday Times of Malta. The corporation, which until 2003 had only provided and distributed water, had taken over the Drainage Department pretty much lock, stock and barrel. And the costs there have been getting higher and higher, reaching about €18 million a year. This is because treatment of the sewage has become much more expensive since EU accession dramatically raised the standards. Sewage treatment is also, Mr Bilocca stressed, a very energy-intensive process.  “If we were to add up all the services that we provide over and above tap water and...

The news of David Stellini leaving the local politics scene has now been confirmed. I met him first during the 2017 pre-election door-to-door crossfire at his hometown of Sannat. He instantly struck me as a very sensible, respectful individual with good brains. A very down-to-earth person whose only intention was helping the Gozitan people within the Nationalist Party structure. It’s shameful, to say the least, for Maltese politics to lose such a person. Has anybody realised we had an intelligent, well-intentioned politician elected to Parliament who resigned to return to his press officer post within the EPP? Is it not demeaning this has happened for Maltese politics? Has anybody wondered about the reasons and connotations of such a courageous step this young promising local politician made? I am not aware of the exact reasons but I can only imagine that family pressures were of prime importance. Relocating the whole family to a different culture and a far lesser paid job is not something one would wish for. It is usually the opposite. Being a member of the Maltese Parliament is not enough because you cannot feed your children with just honour. It is easy to point fingers for...

AX The Palace supported this year’s Artisans Innovating Fashion Conference which was organised by The Chamber of Fashion Malta Foundation earlier in May. The latter is a voluntary organisation working to support Malta based fashion and textile designers, students, teachers and artisans in the fashion community. The purpose of this conference was to encourage artisans to design their handmade products to appeal to global fashion buyers. The gathering together of the artisan community has strengthened collaboration between creative people. The three foreign lectures gave inspirational talks about what is happening in their different countries to support traditional crafts. AX The Palace is foremost in encouraging these events organised by The Chamber of Fashion, being beneficial to the community and to education and culture in fashion. To this end AX hosted a welcome party at Lounge 360, the rooftop lounge at AX The Palace, for the visiting lecturers on May 8. “Supporting creativity nowadays is as much about understanding how to nurture and enable sparks of ideas to be developed,” said AX The Palace general manager Kevin Callus. “At times we only see the final product and we fail...

An elderly lady, aged 87, was mugged on a Sliema road in mid-May. She and her 91-year-old husband were not walking alone, nor were they wearing flashy jewellery. Suddenly, a man approached them, ripped a pearl necklace off the woman’s neck and punched her husband with such force he knocked him off the pavement. It was still light outside when the assailant struck. Understandably, this plucky couple - who have not hesitated in drawing attention to their concerns for the safety of elderly people - are now careful about going out of their house, tending to restrict this to a short while only in the morning. They are also acutely conscious that there have been several other similar incidents of muggings and burglaries of elderly people’s homes in Sliema. Other affluent middle-class areas close by, such as St Julian’s, San Ġwann and Swieqi, have also been hit by similar crimes against elderly people. Sliema has probably the largest proportion of elderly people in Malta. As a generalisation, burglars – and muggers - are attracted to localities where they think they can prey on rich, elderly, vulnerable people. Crime statistics tend to show a regular trend of high thefts or burglaries...

A Chinese state-run daily defended the government's handling of the Tiananmen protests on Monday, saying it «immunised» China against turmoil in a rare editorial about the crackdown on the eve of its 30th anniversary. Hundreds or by some estimates more than a 1,000 unarmed civilians were killed when troops and tanks were deployed to extinguish the pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing on June 4, 1989. The Global Times' English-language edition hailed the Chinese government's handling of what it called the «incident» in an editorial titled: «June 4 immunized China against turmoil». «As a vaccination for the Chinese society, the Tiananmen incident will greatly increase China's immunity against any major political turmoil in the future,» wrote the nationalist tabloid, which is affiliated to the Communist Party's mouthpiece, the People's Daily. The paper echoed comments by China's defence minister, General Wei Fenghe, who defended the bloody crackdown as the «correct policy» at a regional security forum in Singapore on Sunday. It is rare for Chinese officials or media to publicly discuss the strictly taboo topic. Authorities have detained activists and tightened online censorship...

US coach Gregg Berhalter has named a 28-man roster ahead of a friendly against Jamaica, part of the build-up to the CONCACAF Gold Cup. «The game against Jamaica will represent an opportunity for us to evaluate new prospects as well continue to develop the group for the Gold Cup,» said Berhalter, who must submit the final 23-man squad for the regional championship on June 6. The United States are the defending champions in the Gold Cup, which will kick off with a double-header at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on June 15, when Canada play Martinique and seven-time champions Mexico face Cuba. The United States are drawn in Group D with Panama, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago -- which will give them a chance to avenge the shock 2-1 defeat against Trinidad that in 2018 World Cup qualifying that saw the US miss the finals. Veterans Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley headline the list of 28 players, which also includes Manchester City-bound goalkeeper Zack Steffen. Two notable names not on the roster for the Jamaica friendly — Christian Pulisic and Tyler Adams — are expected to be named to the Gold Cup roster and will arrive later in camp having recently wrapped up their...

Updated at 10.40pm with Jean Pierre Debono reaction Nationalist Party operative Jean Pierre Debono allowed two people to vote in an election he was contesting despite them not being eligible to do so, the party's outgoing executive committee president has implied.  Mark Anthony Sammut said on Sunday evening that outgoing MP David Stellini and treasurer David Camilleri should both not have been allowed to vote in a Saturday ballot to decide who should replace Mr Stellini in parliament.  The vote was won by Jean Pierre Debono, who beat Gozitan electoral candidate Kevin Cutajar by just two votes, 42 to 40.  In a blistering Facebook post, Mr Sammut said that keeping track of executive committee member and attendance lists was Mr Debono's responsibility as PN political coordinator.   Mr Camilleri had the right to attend the meeting but not to vote, Mr Sammut wrote.  Only one person could have added him to the voting list, he added.  «Their conflict of interest is clear. The vote result is therefore invalid.»   «It seems that not only did Gozitans have a parliamentary seat stolen from them,» Mr Sammut wrote, «but it was stolen through deception».    'Sammut is the deceptive one' -...

Stephen Curry's record-shattering 3-point shooting and Golden State's run to five consecutive NBA Finals have transformed basketball with more long shots, versatile playmakers and switching defensive schemes. It's an evolution on display in this year's best-of-seven championship series as the Warriors, seeking a third consecutive title and fourth in five seasons, meet a Toronto squad fashioned in Golden State's image. «They have definitely left a stamp on basketball in this league,» Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. Curry's uncanny ability to sink 3-pointers -- he stretched his NBA Finals career 3-pointers record to 102 with four in game one -- and create opportunities along with backcourt partner Klay Thompson has led a push outside from eras when giants dominated inside or stars like Michael Jordan or LeBron James ruled with acrobatic shotmaking. «I call him a transformational player,» Nurse said of Curry. «He has got kids all over the world shooting from 40 feet away. »As you've seen the 3-point shot become so rapidly used in the last three or four years, a lot of that is because of Golden State and Steph and Klay. Now you're seeing quickly the league start to shoot six to eight...

A motion to co-opt Jean Pierre Debono into parliament was postponed late on Sunday evening, as Nationalist Party leadership scrambled to contain fallout from a contentious vote to have Mr Debono replace outgoing MP David Stellini. Speaker Anġlu Farrugia received word late in the evening that the PN would not be presenting Monday’s motion, sources told Times of Malta. The party opted to put off the vote after it learned that a number of its own MPs intended to file a warrant of prohibitory injunction against the co-option on Monday morning, sources said, in a legal bid to block Mr Debono from being appointed an MP. The injunction had already been drafted and would still be presented if the PN sought to go ahead with Monday’s motion, the sources said. Debono under pressure Mr Debono, who won a secret ballot to replace Mr Stellini by just two votes, came under intense pressure on Sunday evening after being accused of having allowed two ineligible executive committee members to cast a vote in Saturday’s ballot, which he himself won. The PN’s Gozo regional committee was the first to flag concerns, writing party leader Adrian Delia a letter in which it noted that Mr Stellini should...

Bangladesh made the perfect start to their World Cup campaign as their highest one-day international score inspired a 21-run win over a beleaguered South Africa on Sunday. Mashrafe Mortaza's side posted 330 for six as Mushfiqur Rahim (78) and Shakib Al Hasan (75) laid the foundations of their impressive display at the Oval. Mahmudullah's boisterous 46 not out from 33 balls pushed Bangladesh past their previous highest one-day international total of 329 for six against Pakistan in 2015. Attempting to become the first team to successfully chase more than 330 to win a World Cup match, South Africa's bid to rewrite the record books fell short at 309 for eight. Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis scored 62 from 53 balls, but Bangladesh seamer Mustafizur Rahman took three wickets and economical spinners Shakib and Mehidy Hasan wrapped up a memorable victory. After reaching the World Cup quarter-finals in 2015, Bangladesh once again look capable of shaking up cricket's established order, much to the delight of their army of vociferous supporters who packed the Oval. «It will be one of our top wins,» said Shakib at the presentation ceremony. "We have done some upsets at World Cups but we...

Marc Gasol dislikes speaking about himself, but the Spaniard is the talk of the NBA Finals for how well he's playing only four months after joining the Toronto Raptors. The 34-year-old center, whose older brother Pau won two NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers, scored 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds in Toronto's 118-109 victory over Golden State in the best-of-seven opener. «There's always a sort of kind of comfort when he's on the floor,» Raptors forward Pascal Siakam said. «He's so smart and reads the defense and he's able to protect the rim for us. It's definitely great to have him, a vet that's been through it.» Gasol went 6-of-10 from the floor, 2-of-4 from 3-point range when the Warriors «gave him a couple of dare shots and he knocked them down» in Golden State coach Steve Kerr's words. «He turned himself into a very good 3-point shooter,» Warriors guard Klay Thompson said. «Great passer. Very good defender at the rim. That pickup turned out to be huge for them.» The Raptors swung a February trade deadline deal to obtain Gasol, a two-time Olympic silver medalist and 2013 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, after he spent a decade in Memphis. Ask about the excitement...

When I started writing for The Times seven years ago, I came with just the one unspoken condition: I would write about everything except politics. I figured the world was ugly enough and that if anything could save it, it was beauty. I focused on fashion, the arts and culture and when I was once accused of dedicating myself to ‘fluffy’ subjects, I simply shrugged it off, confident in the knowledge that I had made the right choice for myself. Seven years older and many battle scars later, I now know that it is harder to write about lipstick while Rome is burning. Today, angry beyond belief, I will be breaking a rule that many never knew I had. I want to discuss two very important things which happened during last week’s elections. I will start by addressing all those people who deemed it fit to give Norman “Auschwitz is Poland’s Disneyland” Lowell their first preference, all 10,000 of them. I am not sure what has happened to you in your lives that you would think giving your first preference to someone who wants to eradicate those with a disability, defends Hitler and thinks that “breeding with blacks is a sacrilege to nature”, but I hope for all your sakes that you are all...

Serena Williams' bid to win a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title was thwarted again on Saturday when she suffered her earliest exit at the majors in almost five years, prompting more questions over her long-term future at the highest level. Her 6-2, 7-5 French Open third round defeat by US compatriot Sofia Kenin meant that she failed again to move level with Margaret Court's majors record set between 1960 and 1973. She will be 38 in September and her 23rd and most recent Slam triumph was at the Australian Open in 2017 while pregnant. After giving birth to daughter Olympia Alexis in September 2017, she returned to Grand Slam tennis at Roland Garros in 2018, making the last 16 where she had been set to resume her bitter rivalry with Maria Sharapova. An arm injury torpedoed that meeting and stalled her assault on a fourth title in Paris after 2002, 2013 and 2015. Defeat in the 2018 Wimbledon final to Angelique Kerber, and at the US Open championship match, where her now-infamous meltdown overshadowed Naomi Osaka's title triumph, followed. Her Australian Open campaign in January ended in a quarter-final loss to Karolina Pliskova despite having led 5-1 in the final set and...

The Nationalist Party’s regional committee for Gozo has asked the party leadership to nullify the co-option vote held on Saturday to fill David Stellini’s vacated parliamentary seat. In a letter to PN leader Adrian Delia, the Gozo committee said that Mr Stellini should not have been allowed to take part in the vote and threatened to take legal action against its own party if the vote was not declared null and void. Mr Stellini had announced his decision to quit parliament last Tuesday, but had nevertheless taken part in the executive committee meeting and cast a vote to nominate his replacement, the committee said in its letter. Given that Mr Stellini’s membership in the executive committee stemmed from his seat in parliament, he should never have been allowed to play a part in the process, the Gozo committee argued. The PN’s executive committee on Saturday voted to have Jean Pierre Debono replaced Mr Stellini in parliament, in a hotly contested meeting which was decided by just two votes, 42 to 40. Gozitan PN supporters have been angered by the decision, saying Mr Stellini, who was elected on the 13th district, should have been replaced by another Gozitan candidate, Kevin...

The United States have dominated women's football for two decades, and although the team arrives in France at war with their national federation, there is little doubt they are favourites. The draw has handed the Americans a favourable group and the format gives strong teams time to find their feet. The first round, with six four-team groups, will eliminate just eight teams. The top two finishers in each group will advance along with four best third-place teams. In the second part of our group-by-group analysis AFP, looks at the contenders in groups D, E and F. Group D England (No. 3), Argentina (No. 37), Scotland (No. 20), Japan (No. 7)   England were semifinalists in Canada four years ago and in the Euros in 2017. That tournament was followed by the removal of coach Mark Sampson for «inappropriate and unacceptable» conduct but his successor, Phil Neville has maintained the momentum. Despite winning 59 caps for England, Neville never played in a World Cup but he is confident his squad can do well and exploit the goodwill at home.  «We have nothing to fear,» Neville said. «The crowd and media are behind us, we are going into a major tournament as the best-prepared team.» Japan...

Roger Federer made short work of Argentinian Leonardo Mayer to become the oldest man in 28 years to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final at the French Open on Sunday, while Rafael Nadal claimed his 90th Roland Garros win. The 37-year-old Federer, playing at Roland Garros for the first time since 2015, claimed a 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 win over world number 68 Mayer in a sweltering 32 degrees and will face either Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas or close friend and fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka in the last eight. Federer, the 2009 champion in Paris, is the oldest man to make the quarter-finals of a Slam since Jimmy Connors at the 1991 US Open. «It's fabulous that I can spend this time in Paris,» said Federer who last played the tournament in 2015 when he lost in the quarter-finals to Wawrinka. Tsitsipas defeated Federer in the last 16 of the Australian Open in January. «I was prepared for the worst scenario, losing in the first round in three sets. But I am super happy with my performance. »I will need to play like this again against either Stan or Tsitsipas." Federer will be playing in his 54th quarter-final at a Slam, cementing his place on top of the all-time men's list. Despite leading Wawrinka...

Richard Carapaz became the pride of Ecuador on Sunday after becoming the country's first cyclist to win the Giro d'Italia, in a journey that has taken him from riding a bicycle without tyres in his native Andes to seeing off all-comers in the Alps and Dolomites of northern Italy. The against-the-odds triumph capped the 26-year-old's incredible rise from a humble background, riding a 'skeleton' bicycle his father found in a junk yard, to the highest level of the sport. «We keep it as a family relic,» Carapaz's 27-year-old sister Cristina told AFP, as she proudly showed off the rusty old blue BMX which sparked the dream. Carapaz, now known as 'The Locomotive', used the makeshift bike to climb the dusty roads around the family's modest house in the village of Playa Alta, high in the mountains of northern Ecuador, near the border with Colombia. Selling milk represented the main source of income for the family, and young Richie worked in the fields. «When I was a teenager. My mother had cancer and for some time I looked after the (three) cows,» he said. Their father Antonio arrived home one day when with the small BMX which had no seat, no brakes or pedals. The bicycle is now kept as...

Palestinian worshippers clashed with Israeli police at a highly sensitive Jerusalem holy site on Sunday as an Israeli holiday coincided with the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Muslim worshippers at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound were angered over Jewish visits to the site holy to both religions. According to police, protesters barricaded themselves in the mosque, from where they threw chairs and stones at forces who «dispersed» them. The Muslim Waqf organisation which oversees the site said police used rubber bullets and pepper spray, adding that two people were arrested. After the clashes, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said calm had returned and visits were continuing. The incident took place as Israelis marked Jerusalem Day, which commemorates the country's capture of the city's mainly Palestinian eastern sector in the 1967 Six-Day War. This year's holiday coincided with the final days of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting. The Al-Aqsa compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is located in east Jerusalem. Sunday's visit was the first time since Tuesday that Jews were allowed into the site, according to activists. Jews are allowed to visit the site during...

Continuous staff development through different training initiatives is part of an organisation’s annual HR budget cost. Religiously catered for by best practice organisations, the allocated funds are treated as an ordinary, required and normal cost to enable staff to meet their personal and career development needs. Yet the actual return that is generated from such training and development activities is rarely calculated. Costs paid are merely gauged in relation to the budget but little or no regard of other intangible or indirect costs and benefits. To calculate training and development’s return on investment (ROI), one should quantify all costs and benefits resulting from each activity and subsequently determine if that activity met the learning objectives. Training and development can be compared to other capital investments and projects, whereby the expected rate of return is higher than the cost of capital. Similarly, when investing in human capital, the organisation should expect a similar return from its investment in training that is higher than the costs of that.  However, the crucial first step before determining the ROI from training and development is the...

Pain in the hand and wrist can cause significant disability and affect the function of the hand. The pain may be acute, as a consequence of an injury, causing either a sprain of the multiple ligaments found in this region or a fracture of one of the eight bones of the wrist (known as carpal bones), mostly the scaphoid bone or small bones of the hand. Occasionally acute pain in the wrist and hand could also be infective in origin principally as soft tissue or joint infection. In other cases, wrist and hand pain can arise from inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or gout. Arthritis In elderly patients, pain in the region of the thumb and wrist mostly results from wear and tear or arthritis in the base of the thumb or from the small joints of the fingers. The thumb contributes to 80 per cent of the hand function, so it comes without saying that anycondition negatively affecting the thumb function will be detrimental to general hand use. Arthritis of the thumb base is a very common condition affecting mostly women. There is evidence of this condition in 80 per cent of patients aged over 80. In this condition the pain is worse with gripping, twisting or turning...

A flourishing, ecumenical, male and female monastic community in the northern Italian village of Bose offers the Church a model of how to integrate an uplifting spiritual rhythm with a busy daily work routine, a community life and hospitality to visitors. Joseph Grech was recently one such guest. My alarm rang at 5.30am. I dragged myself out of bed, dressed quickly and ventured out in the cold, semi-darkness and drizzle. As I made my way to the modern church of the monastery in Bose, Italy, the church bells began ringing incessantly, calling the community of male and female monks and their guests for the liturgical celebration. I and some 40 other visitors from Malta were staying at the monastery for six days as part of a group organised by the Missionary Society of St Paul (MSSP) Oratory in Birkirkara, led by Fr Martin Cilia. Sitting in the dimly lit church with just a solitary candle alight near the tabernacle, I could make out the silhouettes of several members of our group as well as other visitors who had also managed to wake up on time. The first monk, dressed in the community’s cream-coloured hooded gown, climbed up a flight of side stairs. He lit a wick from the candle...

Malta’s America’s Cup Challenge is over after team owner Pasquale Cataldi confirmed that he was forced to withdraw the Altus Challenge from the prestigious world race due to lack of financial support. Last November, Malta had caught the headlines of the international sailing portals after it was announced that the tiny Mediterranean island was accepted as one of the entries for the 2021 Americas Cup despite fees of $1 million not yet being paid up. The challenge had the backing of Italian businessman Pasquale Cataldi and was to be under the aegis of the Royal Malta Yacht Club. Funding from the Maltese government had also been part of the financial formula, but with the money not in place the RMYC are said to have decided to withdraw the challenge. Malta Altus was one of three teams struggling to raise the money needed to campaign for the Cup, Yachtingworld.com reported. The remaining two late challengers are the DutchSail challenge and US challenger Stars + Stripes USA. Challenger of record Luna Rossa and defender Emirates New Zealand had accepted an amendment to the rules allowing their entry fees to be deferred and paid by instalments. “We leave the race with a lot of...

Labour celebrates Labour Party officials and counting agents celebrate their massive victory in the European Parliament elections last Sunday. What made the headlines Labour’s decisive victory: The Labour Party won a resounding victory in the European Parliament election, gaining 54 per cent of the vote compared to 38 per cent for the Nationalist Party. The distance between the two parties was of 42,656 votes. The result was the worst one for the PN since 1951. The small parties as well as independent candidates failed to make any headway. Labour won four seats, a gain of one, and the Nationalist Party won two seats, a loss of one. Labour’s elected candidates were Miriam Dalli, Alfred Sant and newcomers Alex Agius Saliba and Josianne Cutaja, while the PN saw the re-election of Roberta Metsola and David Casa. At the last European election in 2014 Labour got 53 per cent of the vote and the PN got 40 per cent, while at the 2017 general election Labour got 55 per cent and the PN got 43.68 per cent. There was more bad news for the PN when the local council results were announced: Labour won by 47,000 votes and captured Valletta, St Paul’s Bay, San Ġwann, Mosta and Siġġiewi from the PN.

Warren Buffett, the world’s most venerated and successful investor, is the first to admit that the mind-boggling wealth creation he has achieved with his investment vehicle Berkshire Hathaway over the years is due to the phenomenal growth of US companies in the last 50 years and the economic prosperity of the US after World War II. What he does not say is that he and a small team of colleagues, since putting up shop more than 50 years ago, have outwitted the performance of American stocks by 2.5 million per cent – a triumph of stock picking over index investing, one could argue. Since June 1990 the Standard & Poor’s index of the biggest US corporations has gained more than 300 per cent in value. Berkshire’s share price has multiplied in the same period from $7,100 to $304,115 at the time of writing, a gain of 4,183.31 per cent. Throughout the years Buffet has invested in businesses he “understood”, as he never grows tired of emphasising: everything from financials to Coca Cola to railways. He was therefore late to invest in the new economy. Amazon and Apple were very recent investments, not so much driven by the wish to unearth hidden value but by the need to handle an...

David Warner hit an unbeaten half-century on his official return to international cricket on Saturday as Australia romped to victory by seven wickets in their World Cup opener against Afghanistan. The five-time champions bowled Afghanistan out for 207 in 38.2 overs on a warm day in Bristol and then made steady progress, reaching their target with more than 15 overs to spare, with Warner 89 not out. The match was the first official Australian appearance in any format for Warner and former captain Steve Smith since the end of their year-long bans for ball-tampering. The crowd booed the pair and two fans watched the game from a balcony dressed as sandpaper after the scandal last year in which Australia hatched a plot to use the material to alter the condition of the ball. 'Nerves getting back' «It's good to be back and it's a good win for us,» said man-of-thee-match Warner at the presentation ceremony. «There were nerves getting back into the camp and getting back into the full intensity of training, but to come out and bowl the way we did helped us set the tone with the bat. »It's a positive victory and now we move onto the West Indies...There's a great buzz about this team at...