This Saturday, at the Teatru Astra, Victoria, in its annual symphonic concert, the La Stella Philharmonic Band will play an array of musical excerpts ranging from Puccini classics to local compositions and well-known light music pieces such as those from the popular Disney cartoon musical The Lion King. The band's resident music director Prof Mro Joseph Vella has opted to include a colourful Puccini selection from the magnificent opera Tosca, as a fitting conclusion to the Festival Mediterranea's celebration of the 150th anniversary of the immortal composer's birth. The selection chosen includes some of the better known arias for soprano, tenor and baritone. The arrangement is scintillating ... Read more...

A photo exhibition featuring the projects implimented during the past four years in Malta and Gozo through co-financing under the Malta Structural Funds Programme 2004-2006 and the Cohesion Funds Programme, is being held at the exhibition hall at the Ministry for Gozo. Gozo, together with Malta, benefited from the five structural funds which include the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the European Agricultural Giudance and Guarantee Fund and the Guidance Section, the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance and the Cohesion Fund. The Minister for Gozo, Giovanna Debono, visited this exhibition which portrays photos of the projects implimented in Gozo. The Minister explained that Gozo has benefited substantially through EU ... Read more...

The Office of the Commissioner for Children is inviting the public for a discussion on Work, which will focus on the recommendations made in the Manifesto for Children. The Manifesto for Children was launched earlier this year, in order to increase awareness of matters requiring urgent attention with regards to children in Malta and Gozo. The participants in this discussion will be given the opportunity to voice their opinion and concerns, and make their own recommendations in this field. The Manifesto for Children outlines various improvements to be made within the field of work. Child labour is a persistent problem which is often linked to absenteeism in schools, and there is a need for increased efforts in order ... Read more...

A European Commission report published recently shows that mobile workers from the countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 have had a positive impact on Member States' economies and have not led to serious disturbances in their labour markets. Workers from the EU-8 as well as Bulgaria and Romania have made a significant contribution to sustained economic growth, without significantly displacing local workers or driving down their wages. Both for the EU as a whole and for most individual countries, labour flows have been limited compared to the size of labour markets and to inflows from non-EU countries. "The right to work in another country is a fundamental freedom for people in the ... Read more...

In the construction sector, seasonally adjusted production decreased by 1.3% in the euro area (EA15) and by 1.5% in the EU27 in September 2008, compared with the previous month. In August, production grew by 0.4% and 0.2% respectively. Compared with September 2007, output in September 2008 dropped by 3.8% in the euro area and by 3.1% in the EU27. These first estimates are released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. Monthly comparison Among the Member States for which data are available for September 2008, construction output rose in eight and fell in five. The most significant increases were registered in Slovakia (+7.2%), Portugal (+6.8%) and Bulgaria (+5.9%). The largest decreases were recorded in the United Kingdom (-8.5%) and ... Read more...

Cable-laying works on the second submarine link to Sicily owned by GO, due to start tomorrow, have been postponed due to unforseen circumstances, the company said this evening. The process of laying the cable between St Paul's Bay and Mazara Del Vallo, south of Palermo, will last around two weeks and the new cable system is expected to be functioning by early 2009. GO's second submarine cable will be linking Malta to Italy via the pan-European network operated by Interoute, which connects 93 cities in 22 countries across over 56,000 cable kilometres of fibre. The submarine cable project is being referred to as the GO-1 Mediterranean Cable System. The cable-laying ship that will be handling GO's second international ... Read more...

Social Policy Minister John Dalli and the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) held a meeting today on the current shortage of nurses and have agreed to meet again next week. In the meantime all directives for industrial action by nurses have been suspended. Commenting on the the decision, Alternattiva Demokratika said it welcomes the beginning of a constructive dialogue between the government and the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses(MUMN). Arnold Cassola, Alternattiva Demokratika Chairperson, said, "We applaud the sign of maturity of the MUMN and Minister Dalli who have not plodded on obstinately in their path of confrontation but have decided to sit around the discussion table to tackle concrete problems existing in public health care services." "Putting ... Read more...

Alternattiva Demokratika - The Green Party has congratulated NGO activist Astrid Vella for being nominated for the European Trophy for Voluntary Work. AD Chaiperson Prof Arnold Cassola said:"Astrid Vella who recently won the SOS Malta Volunteer Award, is now a candidate for the European Volunteer of the Year award." "AD is proud that a civil society activist coming from an Environmental NGO, namely Flimkien ghall-Ambjent Ahjar, is being recognised for her contribution to Maltese society".

Astrid Vella, the coordinator of the environmental NGO Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar (FAA), who was recently awarded the SOS Malta Award for Volunteering 2008, has been nominated as the Malta NGO volunteer of the year, in the European award recognizing the work of NGO volunteers. The general public are being strongly urged to cast their vote for Astrid Vella on the European award website located at www.benevolat.eu/en/vote.php.... Astrid has worked indefatigably and fearlessly to protect Malta and Gozo's heritage and environment, often around the clock, driven by concern about the uncontrolled urban and rural over-development ... Read more...

On the occasion of World Children's Day, celebrated by most countries in the world on the 20th of November, we acknowledge and give precedence to the important steps taken years ago on this day, through the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of the Child in 1959, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1989. It is a day whereby the welfare and happiness of the child is given marked attention, through the promotion of the fundamental rights which are due to every child in the world. The date marks a significant milestone in the recognition of the rights of the Child, and was given due significance by Malta ... Read more...

NGOs and Local Councils in Gozo are invited to an information meeting on Saturday, the 29th of November 2008, at the Ministry for Gozo Hall (St Francis Square, Victoria) organized by EUPA (the national European Union Programmes Agency) in collaboration with EU Programmes Information Unit (Gozo Ministry) and Gozo NGOs Association. After the registration at 9am, and an introduction by Mr Mauro Pace Parascandalo - National Coordinator, the programme (which should be concluded with questions at about noon) continues with half-hour overviews of the various programmes by relative programme Officers: Leonardo Da Vinci, Erasmus, Grundtvig and Youth in Action. Although there is no charge for participation in this useful seminar, it would be appreciated if interest is confirmed by sending ... Read more...