Bologna has been voted the food capital of the world

Oct 31 2022

Calling all food lovers – northern Italian city of Bologna has just been voted the food capital of the world. It also means that us Maltese aren’t that far away from this cuisine haven!

Despite the likes of Paris, New York and Hong Kong vying for the top spot with all their gastronomic blends and culinary experimentations, it was this northern Italian city which came out on top.

Bologna is the largest metropolis of the Emilia-Romagna region and is offering up more than just agù alla bolognese. These regions are responsible for balsamic vinegar, mortadella, parmesan cheese and parma ham.

It is also reportedly where lasagne and tortellini sunken in broth were first created. But Bologna is boasting more than just food origin stories as it has many food hubs and centres to munch down in.

Michelin star restaurants and local icons populate the city which give the already medieval piazza feel a tasty sensation. The city reportedly gets over 1.5 million visitors every year and for us Maltese it’s just a short flight away!

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Parking at Uni becomes a bigger nightmare (and pricier) than ever for students

Oct 31 2022

Many students have expressed their disapproval of new car park tariffs as Campus Hub revealed it will be charging upwards of €6.50 for 5 to 13 hours of parking.

Campus Hub, which students can visit for restaurants, accommodation, outlets and underground parking bays, introduced new new tariffs which have angered many attending University.

Free parking is only offered for the first 15 minutes. Students, or lecturers for that matter, will have to pay €1.50 for 15 to 60 minutes of parking.

Anyone attending a 1 to 2 hour lecture will end up paying €2.50, whereas those who have a 3 to 4 hour stay at the campus will pay up to €4.50. The price for 13 to 24 hours or for an additional day is set at €12.

Before this, users could park their car in the facility underground parking for a flat €2 fee. Parkers can also obtain two hours of free parking if they purchase items from outlets within Campus Hub.

Meanwhile, students pay KSU a flat fee of €3.50 to obtain a parking permit valid for an entire year. The new tariffs saw many students taking to social media to lament about the new system given the rising cost of living, seeing this as unnecessarily expensive.

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Photo Source: Free Hour, Times of Malta

November will be warmer than usual: cold winds to hit later on

Oct 31 2022

According to various weather forecast portals, stronger winds and colder temperatures are set to envelop the Maltese islands as November rolls around.

However, according to Malta Weather Facebook page, November 2022 looks like it will be another drier than usual month across the islands.

The page revealed that the first few days will start off pretty much similar to the past few weeks which were relatively summery. ‘A more pronounced change to seasonable autumnal weather will be begin in the first weekend of November.’

This is set to occur with some ‘blustery rain showers and cooler weather.’ This will be accompanied by a prolonged period of scirocco wind and thus result in heavy rain in the nearby Italy and Sicily and cloudy weather over Malta.

As for the immediate weather this week, the islands are set to have mainly sunny weather, with temperatures feeling as high as 25 degrees Celsius.

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Photo Source: Igors Formosa (Via Malta Weather)

610kg of cocaine found in shipment of bananas at Freeport

Oct 31 2022

Yesterday, during an operation, Customs officials stationed at the Freeport Terminal, seized 610 packets of Cocaine weighing 1 kilogram each, and which were concealed within a shipment of Bananas.

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The container was selected by the Customs Monitoring Unit following a meticulous risk assessment on containers transiting through the Malta Freeport. The unit was scanned along with a number of other containers, and Customs officials at the Scanning Facility flagged discrepancies in the image of that particular unit.

The container, which was transporting bananas, departed from Guayaquil in Ecuador and was en-route to Batumi in Georgia. The Customs Officials, together with members from the Malta Police Drug Squad who were later called on scene, opened the reefer and physically inspecting all boxes. 20 Boxes of Bananas were found to contain 20 packets of Cocaine each whilst another 10 Boxes contained 21 packets each.

Once the drugs were elevated, the case was handed over to the Malta Police Drug Force for further investigation – duty Magistrate Monica Vella is leading the inquiry.

In the past 3 years, Malta Customs seized the following amounts of Cocaine:

2019: recording a total of 750kg (in 13 separate seizures);
2020: 612kg (in 1 seizure);
2021:740kg (in 1 seizure) and;
2022: 800kg and a record breaking 1494kg;
and today’s seizure of 610kg

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Source: Customs Malta Communications