Times of Malta : Wednesday, 1st September 2010
Ivan Camilleri

The European Commission yesterday refused to react to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's latest request for €5 billion a year to stop illegal immigrants from Africa entering the EU through its southern border.

Col Gaddafi’s comments, in which he also said Europe could soon become “black”, were made during an official visit to Rome on Monday.

Asked for a reaction, European Commission spokesman Matthew Newman said the EU executive did not wish to give any reaction on what President Gaddafi said.

When pressed, he only said that, “through dialogue and comprehensive cooperation, the EU can improve the situation ... in particular with regard to prevention of irregular migration”.

Commission sources said this was not the first time Col. Gaddafi or other Libyan officials made financial requests to the EU in exchange for help over the illegal immigration issue.

“Some years ago, the Libyan government sent the EU a list of military equipment it needed to police its borders against illegal immigrants. The equipment costs much more than the € 5 billion Col. Gaddafi mentioned last Monday,” the sources said.

The sources acknowledged that Libya did hold the key to control the flow of illegal immigrants as the bilateral agreement between Libya and Italy had shown.

Independent Online : 01 September 2010

As is customary at this time of year, hundreds of fried egg jellyfish (Cotylorhiza tuberculata) have been spotted and reported by the public as part of the Spot the Jellyfish campaign along different Maltese coastal areas, especially around Comino, the north coast of Gozo, Wied iz-Zurrieq and Marsascala. Testimony to the precise timing of the occurrence of the fried egg jellyfish swarms, the species is also known in Maltese as ‘tal-lampuki’ (in clear reference to the dolphin fish, which is caught at this time of year) as well by the descriptive monicker of ‘qassata’, which is a traditional Maltese pastry. Despite its size, the fried egg jellyfish is innocuous and its occurrence is short-lived, normally extending till the start of October at most.

Last year, thousands of the creatures were fished out of the water by boaters and bathers alike, who feared that they might be stung by the qassata, as it is known locally. The truth is that these creatures do not sting and are benign. Their stingers do not aggravate human skin and they are harmless.

Interestingly enough, juveniles of mackerel are frequently observed sheltering amongst the purple-tipped tentacles of the jellyfish. Way back in 1977, Guido Lanfranco reported the occurrence of large numbers of the fried egg jellyfish in Maltese bays, especially in those facing the south and south-east. The size of fried egg jellyfish aggregations so far are nowhere near the staggering dimensions of those observed in September of last year. Sightings of the fried egg jellyfish received so far make up five per cent of the over 300 jellyfish sightings reports received so far. A total of nine gelatinous plankton species have been recorded so far as part of the Spot the Jellyfish initiative.

Times of Malta : Monday, 30th August 2010

The part of Qawra beach that had been declared unfit for swimming by the health authorities has now been given the green light.

The Environmental Health Directoratesaid in a statement that the beach was once again fit for bathing following repeated sampling of seawater carried out on a daily basis during the last days.

Times of Malta : Monday, 30th August 2010

Foreign birdwatchers will once again return to look out for illegal hunting and trapping on the islands as from next month.

Spokesman Axel Hirschfeld said the Committee Against Bird Slaughter will be recording the shooting and trapping of protected birds and identifying and reporting those responsible to the police.

Referring to past incidents between the birdwatchers and hunters, he said the committee will now be escorted by security guards for protection and install video cameras on their vehicles to deter and identify vandals.

"All offences will be rigorously documented and the material turned over to the police for use as evidence in prosecutionws," he said.

Birdwatchers will arrive from Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The Committee Against Bird Slaughter is an international bird conservation organisation based in Bonn, Germany.