MARSAXLOKK, July 3, 2008 (AFP) - Mediterranean tuna ranches are feeling the pinch after the European Union moved to prevent the depletion of fish stocks.

'This year, we will probably process only 500 tonnes,' said Saviour Caruana, a co-owner of Fish and Fish, a bluefin tuna ranch with a capacity of 1,200 tonnes.

VALLETTA, June 27, 2008 (AFP) - Visiting French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier complained Friday of a 'lack of transparency' in the European Commission's decision to cut short the bluefin tuna fishing season.

VALLETTA, June 10, 2008 (AFP) - An Italian coastguard vessel has rescued a number of immigrants and recovered a body in the sea off Malta.

The armed forces said Tuesday that the Fiorilla picked up 20 illegal immigrants who were in distress at sea and a body 56 miles south of the island.

VALLETTA, June 8, 2008 (AFP) - Malta's President Eddie Fenech Adami was briefly hospitalised for a heart problem, the presidency said on Sunday.

Adami was admitted to the cardiology unit of the Mater Dei hospital in Valletta for treatment on Friday and returned home shortly after, his office said in a statement.

VALLETTA, June 8, 2008 (AFP) - Two vessels carrying 56 illegal migrants capsized off the coast of Malta but all the passengers were rescued, military officials said Sunday.

The first boast carrying 28 people, including a pregnant woman, capsized after hitting a tuna pen being towed by a tug boat on Saturday, the armed forces said.

VALLETTA, May 26, 2008 (AFP) - Five clandestine immigrants are missing presumed drowned in the Mediterranean according to 13 survivors picked up by an Italian fishing vessel, Maltese armed forces said Monday.

VALLETTA, May 25, 2008 (AFP) - Malta is working through diplomatic channels in an effort to free the Maltese oil worker kidnapped in Nigeria, the government said in a statement.

Malta said it had made contact with Nigerian authorities about Gorg Scerri, 62, who was abducted on Friday.

LAGOS, May 23, 2008 (AFP) - Unidentified gunmen on Friday kidnapped two foreign oil workers, one Pakistani and one Maltese, in southern Nigeria, the military said.

The two men worked for the Lonestar drilling company and were kidnapped in the southern oil town of Omoku, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Musa Sagir said.

VALLETTA, May 10, 2008 (AFP) - Malta's government pledged to slash its budget deficit to achieve a balance by 2010 as the new eurozone member officially opened its parliament on Saturday following March elections.

President Eddie Fenech Adami also expressed concern over economic conditions worldwide.

VALLETTA, May 8, 2008 (AFP) - A third body of an illegal immigrant was found floating off the coast of Malta Thursday, sparking fears a possible larger tragedy may have unfolded.

The armed forces were called to a small bay in the south of the Mediterranean island where the corpse was found.