6 Important Stories Overshadowed by the Eurovision
1. A cyclist was killed on the road yesterday
A 50-year-old cyclist was killed in Mosta yesterday. He was hit by a Toyota Vitz driven by a 29-year-old. Without getting into the merits of the case, perhaps it’s time to start a serious discussion on road safety. A study once found Malta was the worst EU country for cycling. We shouldn’t accept this.
2. PN presented a proposal on easing traffic … And it’s pretty weak
Publishing this long-awaited report during Eurovision week was a bad idea already. What’s worse is that the proposals seriously lack imagination. In three phrases: More studies, more voluntary incentives and more awareness campaigns. If you’re going to make a big deal about proposing ways to address the traffic situation, you really need more than that.
3. ‘Occupy’ has come to Castille
A group of environmental activists have set up camp outside Castille in Valletta, which houses the Prime Minister’s office. Encouraged by a recent victory where a development was rejected at Wied Ghomor following their opposition, they’re vowing to stay there until their voice is heard and Malta stops raping itself with overdevelopment.
4. Meanwhile, expect more development…
The Sunday Times today reports that two massive towers for “high-end residential apartments” are to be built on the former ITS site in St George’s Bay. The land was reportedly sold to the Seabank Group for €6.5 million but is estimated to be worth up to €100 million.
5. Panama is back with a vengeance
Sure, we’re all bored of talking about Panama. But things are about to get interesting again thanks to The Times of Malta and The Malta Independent becoming official media partners of the ICIJ. They’ve already released a couple of new stories over the weekend: one claiming the Mizzi-Schembri duo wanted to avoid alerting Maltese banks to their structures and another claiming Keith Schembri had $750,000 injected into his British Virgin Islands company in 2014 – the same year his Maltese holding company declared losses of over €400,000. Most likely a goof though.
6. We finally know how much CHOGM cost the country
Remember last year when we hosted a bunch of world leaders in two back-to-back summits and somehow ended up with a giant knot turd on Castile Place to commemorate them? Well, turns out those two summits cost the country more than €17 million – that doesn’t include the €200,000 spent on the monument.
