Show Notes
Michael Stivala is one the country's biggest developers and president of the Malta Development Association (MDA). Wayne Flask is a long-time environmental activist and secretary general of the NGO Il-Kollettiv. The two agree on almost nothing when it comes to construction and development - which is why this week they went head to head in this Times Talk debate on the highly controversial planning reform.
More from Times Talk by Times of Malta
A black man was shot dead late one night seven years ago. His murder has since been called the first racially motivated homicide in Malta's history. One of the alleged killers has gone on trial this week, and in this Times Talk episode, court reporter Clara Farrugia tells Mark Laurence Zammit how the first few days in the trial of Lorin Scicluna unfolded - and why this will likely be remembered as a landmark case.
In an exclusive interview with Times of Malta, Melvin Theuma, the middleman who helped arrange Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder, tells Mark Laurence Zammit why he stands by every word of his evidence against Yorgen Fenech, and why the acquittal has not changed what he knows.
At the end of an intense trial that lasted over two months, the nation held its breath on Wednesday evening as the jury announced a verdict that acquitted Yorgen Fenech of all charges over the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, by eight votes to one. Reactions, comments and protests stretched late into the night. And the morning after the verdict Clara Farrugia sat down with Mark Laurence Zammit to unpack what happened during the verdict and its aftermath, for a Times Talk episode that will be the last in the series produced during the trial.
Editorial note: A version of this episode with English subtitles will be available on the Times of Malta YouTube channel As the trial of Yorgen Fenech approaches its end, Clara Farrugia answers some of the many questions readers have sent us about this trial. Is any vote by jurors valid? If Fenech is acquitted, will Melvin Theuma be charged with perjury? Why don't courts use lie detectors during trials? Herman Grech hosts this episode in the absence of Mark Laurence Zammit.
A version of this show with English subtitles will be published on the Times of Malta YouTube channel. Yorgen Fenech is the man in the dock. This past week, he was the man on the witness stand, too. The Tumas Group heir and business magnate spent four days testifying in his own trial, as he seeks to defend himself from charges of complicity in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Fenech said many things while testifying. Some we had heard before. Others were new. His central argument - that he is being framed by his old friend Keith Schembri and taxi driver Melvin Theuma - remained unchanged throughout. In this Times Talk episode, Mark Laurence Zammit and Clara Farrugia go over what Fenech said, what prosecutors asked and what jurors will have to think about after hearing from the man at the heart of this criminal trial.