Free Republic

The Maltese language is costing European taxpayers €30 million a year, we learnt last week. Of course, the 500 million European taxpayers spread over 27 countries only don't fork out money for the Maltese language -- there are 22 other languages to provide for. In fact, the EU's translation and interpretation operation outstrips that of the United Nations, which only has six official languages, despite a record number of 192 member countries. Roughly, the cost of all language services in all EU institutions amounts to around €2 per person per year. To be sure, that's not a lot. For a...

The Russian security service released the crew of the Arctic Sea in Moscow on Sunday. The 11 members of the crew of the hijacked ship were flown from Cape Verde to Russia nearly two weeks ago. The Russian news agency Interfax reports that the men returned to their home town of Archangelsk, where they were met by their families. On Sunday, Russian authorities gave conflicting accounts of whether or not all of the crew would be released. The online portal life.ru reported that only nine members of the crew had been released. Rabbe von Hertzen of the Finnish National Bureau...

A group of ancient tombs dating back to the Punic period were discovered during excavation works for the construction of a new primary school at the Archbishop's Seminary in Tal-Virtù... According to Nathaniel Cutajar from the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, the discovery is of "great scientific interest" and "confirms the archaeological importance" of the Tal-Virtù area in Rabat. The superintendence is responsible for all scientific investigation of cultural assets, including archaeological excavations. An investigation of the discovery is under way by its team of archaeologists. The Archbishop's Seminary has a planning permit to build a primary school extension to its...

The excavation being carried out at Tal-Log'g'a in Mg'arr ix-Xini. An archaeological site being excavated at Mg'arr ix-Xini has further enforced the notion that viticulture and wine production have been an important part of the Maltese economy since the Classical period. The excavation site, at Tal-Log'g'a, is in a field next to where two troughs dug into the rock were found and is believed to have been used for grape pressing. The field is being excavated in a bid to shed more light on the troughs' use. Some 15 sets of troughs have been found in Mg'arr ix-Xini valley to...

If there is one thing most people work to avoid, it is abject poverty. But this is just what Michael Farrugia, 33, chose, and he seems very happy about it. A brother with the Poor Friars, a religious community which embraces total poverty, Michael, born of Maltese parents in Australia, relies on God's providence and people's generosity to get through life, and travels around Europe just by hitch-hiking. When contacted by The Times to arrange an interview, Brother Antonio, the name chosen when he joined the order, politely enquired whether it would be possible to get a lift from Qormi...

On the Trip to Malta "The Plan of the Love of God Is Even Greater Than the Storms" VATICAN CITY, APRIL 21, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today at the general audience in St. Peter's Square. * * * Dear brothers and sisters: As you know, last Saturday and Sunday I undertook an apostolic journey to Malta, on which I would like to reflect briefly today. The occasion of the pastoral visit was the 1,950th anniversary of the Apostle Paul's shipwreck on the coasts of the Maltese archipelago and of his sojourn on...

Victims of clerical sex abuse in Malta have described how they wept as they prayed with the Pope today after he agreed to meet them on his trip to the island. They said that the Pope also had “tears in his eyes”. The eight victims, who were abused systematically at an orphanage in Malta in the 1980s and 1990s, have long campaigned for the Church authorities to recognise their suffering in the face of decades of cover-ups from the Vatican downwards. Vatican officials said that the Pope, who the Vatican claims has “done more than anyone” to clean up the...

One of the eight child abuse victims who met the Pope this afternoon said that the meeting had given the group peace in their hearts. The group had a 20-minute meeting with the Pope at the Apostolic Nunciature. Malta's bishops shed tears during their meeting, Lawrence Grech said. "I admire the Pope for his courage in meeting us. He was embarrassed by the failings of others". One of the victims told the press that it had been a deeply moving meeting, at the end of which the Pope presented rosary beads to all the victims. One of the victims asked...

Pope Benedict XVI about to give his address at Malta's airport. For readers who’d like to know more about Malta’s interesting Christian history, here’s a summary of the main events, courtesy of the Archdiocese of Malta. CHRISTIANITY IN MALTA At Paul’s Shipwreck on his way to Rome in AD 60 saw the beginning of Christianity in Malta. We read in the Acts of the Apostles (28, 1-11) that the people of the island showed no small courtesy to Paul and his companions and loaded them with such things as were necessary. According to St John Chrysostom, this shows that Paul...

Pope Benedict XVI, accompanied by Malta's Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi (3rd L) and President George Abela (3rd R), waves to gathered children in front. While the sex abuse crisis is inevitably part of the subtext to Pope Benedict XVI’s April 17-18 visit to Malta, so far it has not been the top note in the pope’s own remarks. Instead, Benedict has interwoven notes of gratitude for Malta’s Catholic past with strong pleas to preserve the that identity in the present. In his brief remarks at Luqa airport, Benedict applauded the rich tradition of Maltese missionaries, and called upon Malta to...

Pope Benedict XVI. Vatican City, Apr 16, 2010 / 10:20 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Just one day before his first Apostolic Journey for 2010, Pope Benedict XVI is celebrating his 83rd birthday today. This afternoon he will spend some time resting as the final preparations are being made for his whirlwind trip to the Mediterranean island of Malta. The Holy Father will spend his birthday in the Vatican, before an event-filled weekend in Malta. Besides separate morning audiences with Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who is the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, five Brazilian bishops finishing up their “ad Limina”...

Centuries ago, come September, galleys would be rowed into Mg˙arr ix-Xini harbour and loaded with amphorae filled with wine that had been pressed in the valley. Winemakers would fill shallow basins with grapes and, once pressed, the juice would flow through holes and channels into a deeper collecting holder, all carved into the rock. These wine presses, said to date back to 500 BC, can still be seen embedded in the Gozitan valley and are being studied and documented in a project carried out by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and the Sannat and Xewkija local councils with the support...

Douglas Kmiec has all the characteristics one would expect of an American ambassador (to malta - a small island off the coast of Sicily with a 99% devout Catholic population -P9) appointed by Barack Obama: intelligent, academic, articulate, soft-spoken and a strong believer in consensus, dialogue and engagement. The Pepperdine University professor of constitutional law is also a devout pro-life Catholic who worked in the Office of Legal Counsel for President Ronald Reagan and until recently considered himself to be a Republican. Why then did he endorse Barack Obama, who is in favour of keeping abortion legal, for President, when...

Desmond Zammit Marmarà Thursday, 3rd September 2009 1565 As Malta celebrates the historically important victory of the Great Siege of 1565, it is worthwhile to ponder on some important points usually overshadowed by the purely military aspect of the Great Siege. The events of 1565 took place against a background of the clash between the Christian and the Islamic religions as well as the contemporary dissonance between Western and Eastern cultures. Few people, however, are aware that commerce played a very important part in the Turkish decision to attack Malta. Attacks on Turkish shipping by ships flying the flag of...

Valletta, Malta, Jul 8, 2009 / 12:14 am (CNA).- The editor of a Malta newspaper has commented on President Barack Obama’s choice of Prof. Doug Kmiec as ambassador to Malta, describing the appointment as “somewhat of a poisoned chalice” and noting the controversies concerning Kmiec and his campaign to elect Obama to the American presidency.Noel Grima, editor of the Malta Independent Online, said that though Kmiec was a Catholic and a pro-life person he has “fallen foul” of some Catholic leaders for his public stances on abortion and other pro-life issues.Noting Kmiec’s past as a law school dean, a law...

President Obama has tapped a prominent conservative legal scholar to serve as ambassador to scenic Malta while handing a big donor the opportunity to represent the United States in the Netherlands. Obama will nominate Douglas Kmiec, a Pepperdine University law professor and former head of the Office of Legal Counsel under President Reagan, to be ambassador to Malta, a small island nation in the Mediterranean just south of Italy. Kmiec caused a stir during the 2008 presidential election when he publicly backed Obama, citing healthcare costs and the Iraq war as his motivation. A committed Catholic, Kmiec was later denied...

I was one of those who went “toe to toe” with my colleague during the last hotly contested Presidential campaign in the United States of America. For me, it was never about my being an enthusiastic supporter of the other major candidate - I was not. It was about the threshold foundational concern that reveals the very heart of Catholic Social Justice thought, the inviolable dignity of every human life. This is the key to the whole social justice teaching of the Catholic Church. I contended then and now that it must also be the door through which we proceed...

Washington, DC -- President Barack Obama has named Douglas Kmiec, the Pepperdine University law professor who has become a key impediment to pro-life Catholics as the ambassador to Malta. The move is sure to spark opposition in Catholic circles given Malta's strongly pro-life stance.

MANHASSET, N.Y. — Global Foundries has sent a formal commitment letter to New York state for the construction of the Fab 2 project at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in upstate New York. The letter initiates the construction phase of the Fab 2 project and triggers the process of issuing state bonds for reimbursements payments and incentives to the company for the development of the estimated $4.2 billion wafer fab. The purchase of 223 acres of land from the campus is set for Wednesday (June 10). Global Foundries also has completed a development agreement with two New York townships which...

Professor Zvi C. Koren has recently given a lecture entitled 'The Fashionable Colours of Antiquity Uncovered by Scientific Analyses' at Heritage Malta's Institute of Conservation and Management of Cultural Heritage (ICMCH) in Bighi, Kalkara. Professor Koren's lecture was based upon the study of ancient colorants, which opens a historical window in the field of ancient technologies... The presentation discussed the various botanical and animal sources and the dyeing technologies associated with ancient colorants. The vegetal sources of dyestuffs that produce yellow, red and blue colours include amongst others, plant roots, leaves, flowers, tree bark and branches. These colours were also...