14% of agriculture workers are women – majority are elderly

Feb 2 2022

The agricultural sector continued to get smaller over the past 10 years. From a survey called Ċensiment tal-Biedja which was conducted in 2020, the agricultural holdings, of which the majority are made up of the farmer’s families, decreased by 15%.

Many of those who work fields are also older in age, found the survey. The National Statistics Office (NSO) and the Agricultural Directorate reported the results, stating that older age and less holdings were the main findings contributing to this.

Ronald Tanti, the chief of the environment, agriculture and fishing sector in the NSO said that the information was compiled between October 2020 and February of 2021.

He said that this was the first survey of agriculture wherein information was gathered about every field which is toiled. This thus provides a picture of products which were grown in each one.

The survey resulted that around 13,500 people work in agriculture, 14% are women. The survey showed that there are 11,400 hectares of agricultural land in Malta.

Half is land rented from the government, 22% is rented from private sectors and the rest belongs to the same people who work the field. Three quarters of the land worked is used to grow products like flowers and other plants, as well as wheat.

Less than 10% of these fields are taken up by trees, with 18% used to raise products which are for personal use.

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Photo Source: Friends of the Earth Malta

Police report filed by union over hate speech against educators

Feb 2 2022

The Malta Union of Teachers filed a police report over comments which they state amount to hate speech and even incitement of violence against educators.

The MUT, in a statement, referred to Facebook comments written under a news article, with the union calling for the protection of the educators affected by the comments. While not reproducing them publicly in order not to continue damaging the individuals affected, the screenshots were passed on to police.

The MUT said that it is frequently attacked on social media, most notably when it defends educator’s rights. It also said that police have thus far taken no action against this offence. They said that hate speech and incitement of violence cannot be tolerated and any such comments reported by its members will be referred to the police.

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Photo Source: Malta Union of Teachers FB

Billie Eilish breaks Instagram again with new black hairstyle

Feb 2 2022

Pop-star Billie Eilish is back in black following a whole run of sporting every single colour as a hairstyle.

With a new tour around the corner, the California singer showed off her new all-black look with a social media post. Captioning her selfie ‘I’m back’, she complimented the hair style with a black mask and a black hoodie.

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A post shared by BILLIE EILISH (@billieeilish)

As of time of writing, the post has garnered a whopping 5,825,178 likes (we dread to refresh the page). This comes 9 hours after it was posted, but the singer has been known to break like records on the social platform before.

Back in May, Eilish broke the record for the second time when she shared her cover shot from British Vogue Magazine. The post reached one million likes in just under six minutes. As it stands, the post has over 16 million likes, verging on 17 million.

She debuts the new look on the eve of her Happier Than Ever world tour, which starts Thursday February 3rd in New Orleans. She is also nominated for seven Grammy Awards for her sophomore set.

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A post shared by BILLIE EILISH (@billieeilish)

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2023 Games of the Small States of Europe launched in Malta

Feb 2 2022

An announcement by Minister for Education and Sport Clifton Grima kicked off the Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) which are to be held in June 2023.

This marks the third time Malta will be hosting event since the Games’ inception in 1985. The games were formed for countries with populations of fewer than one million people, and feature the same events seen in the Olympics.

The Sport Minister said that this is the occasion through which our country continues to raise its profile in the world of sport. The games will bring well over 1,200 participant and officials from the small European states who will all compete in a number of disciplines in facilities of the highest calibre.

Since the first GSSEs, Malta’s athletes received 331 medals, with 32 and 44 medals won in the two occasions it was held in Malta. They were held on the island in 1993 and 2003. SportMalta also received €5 million in funds to create the best environment for the games.

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Source: Clifton Grima FB