- GEOLOGICAL OVERVIEW OF THE ST JOHN’S CO-CATHEDRAL PROJECT

The problem is related to permissible risk in view of the importance of St John's. The following are the geological problems of excavation:
1. Tension cracks in rocks (technically called joints) would be expected to be common at the top of Sceberras Hill where St John's is located.
2. Joints (tensional features) in rock may be expected to decrease with depth, because of greater confining pressure. However, the structural geology of Valletta is also affected by numerous faults of Late Miocene age which are poorly studied. These are clearly visible wherever there are rock outcrops in Valletta. These faults have created stresses in the rocks which release jointing. An example of deep jointing is found in the tunnel linking the Floriana car park to the waterfront. The roof of the tunnel shows classic cases of wedge failure of rock which occurred during or after tunnelling, indicating the presence of joints even at deep levels....(Read Full Article)

- Census of Population and Housing 2005....(Read Full Article)

- Controlling air pollution in the Los Angeles basin presents a challenge unrivaled anywhere in the United States. Local topography and weather conditions are ideally suited to the generation of air pollution. Los Angeles' cherished, yet pollutant-trapping, ring of mountains set the stage for a dilemma long before millions of cars and trucks filled our freeways. Indeed, lore has it that early inhabitants referred to the San Gabriel Valley as the "Valley of Smokes" - and on many days that name still seems apt....(Read Full Article)

- EU countries are beginning to incorporate environmental justice clauses into their legislation, and Malta has in fact followed suit with its ratification of th ?arhus Convention1. As a result of EU accession, Malta has undertaken to:

“Protect, preserve and improve the state of the environment and to ensure sustainable and environmentally sound development, recognise that adequate protection of the environment is essential to human well-being and the enjoyment of basic human rights, including the right to life itself.
Recognize also that every person has the right to live in an environment adequate to his or her health and well-being, and the duty, both individually and in association with others, to protect and improve the environment for the benefit of present and future generations.”...(Read Full Article)

- This study focuses on the macro elements of the Maltese landscape - that is those landscape elements which are relatively large components of the Maltese Landscape. Aditionally, a large collection of small landscape comoponents are also considered to collectively constitute a maco element of the landscape. These are considered to be the essential character determinants and are ultimately utilized to develop the assessed landscape quality of an area....(Read Full Article)