Customs canine Zekkin sniffs out €15,030 undeclared cash

Feb 16 2022

Customs canine Zekkin intercepted €15,030 in undeclared cash at the Malta International Airport departures lounge.

A young Maltese woman was en-route to Dubai when she was stopped by Customs Officers after the canine gave positive indication towards the passenger.

Customs Officers asked the woman how much money she was carrying, to which she replied €10,000. The woman was then asked to present all the money she was carrying, with the woman revealing around €10,030.

A thorough search however led to the discovery of another €5,000. The woman was offered an out-of-court settlement to which she agreed to and was administered a fine.

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Photo Source: Customs Malta

€80,000 annual pay for PBS executive chairman

Feb 16 2022

Minister Carmelo Abela revealed that Mark Sammut, the executive chairman at Malta’s national broadcaster PBS, is being paid a salary of €80,000 annually.

Abela confirmed this following a parliamentary question by PN MP Joe Ellis. The Opposition MP asked for a copy of the contract but this was not provided.

Abela insisted that Sammut’s appointment is different to his predecessors since he now occupies both roles of CEO and chairman. Sammut was appointed to the role in April of 2021, replacing University of Malta Pro-Rector Carmen Sammut and Charles Dalli.

This follows a Nationalist Party constitutional case launched over the national broadcaster’s ‘Labour propaganda.’ The party claimed that news coverage during the 20:00 slot has at times been taken up with over 50% Labour directed messaging.

The opposition claims that the service no longer offered balanced views on sensitive topics of national importance.

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$5.7 billion in Tesla shares donated to charity by Elon Musk

Feb 16 2022

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has donated roughly $5.7 billion worth of the company’s shares to charity. The donation of 5,044,000 shares was revealed on Monday in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, having been gifted last year between November 19th and November 29th. Tesla’s stock was trading above $1,000 per share at the time of donations.

Shares donated were worth $5.7 billion based on the average of the highest and lowest quoted price on the date of the transaction. This would make Musk the second biggest US donor in 2021 as the CEO now trails only Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. The latter gave $15 billion last year, according to an annual ranking by the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Previous filings show that Musk sold Tesla shares worth over $16 billion in the final two months of 2021. Donated shares are not subject to capital gains tax. Tesla did not immediately respond when asked for more details on the donated shares.

This comes after the director of the UN World Food Programme challenged Musk, the world’s richest man, to make a donation that would help solve world hunger. The WFP did respond with a plan to a tweet by Musk, but there hasn’t been any word by the CEO yet.

David Beasley, the WFP executive director, said that there are millions of people around the world on the brink of starvation. He exclaimed excitement that Musk had engaged with the donation but it remains to be seen whether Musk will go through with it.

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28-year-old motorcyclist dies after truck incident in Aldo Moro Marsa

Feb 16 2022

A 28-year-old man has died after a truck was overturned in Aldo Moro Road, Marsa earlier today.

The Nepalese man worked as a food courier and was reportedly driving on the other side of the road when a truck collided with a pole on the road’s centre strip, deviating off its path and causing it to overturn. The driver of the truck is reported to be a 56-year-old Bormla resident who lost control of his truck, causing it to turn over.

Two other cars were involved in the incident but police have reported that no other injuries were sustained. An inquiry into the incident has been opened while police investigations are currently under way.

RIP

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