Breaking: Lionel Messi officially joins Paris Saint-Germain

Aug 10 2021

Following his departure from Barcelona, football star Lionel Messi has signed a two-year deal with Paris Saint-Germain. The deal is worth some £25m per year after tax, with the player having the option to extend the deal for a third year and receiving a £25m signing-on fee. Barcelona was unable to complete a deal signing which would have seen Messi re-join his now former team for another five years.

Messi would have continued to extend his 21 year stay at Barcelona, but could not due to what the club deemed ‘financial and structural obstacles.’ Messi claimed he did everything he could to remain at the club, which includes agreeing to a 50% wage cut. PSG’s potential to compete for major trophies are seen as a key factor in the player’s decision to move to France.

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Photo Source: KickOff

51 COVID-19 cases registered with 70 recoveries

54 COVID-19 cases registered with 57 recoveries

Aug 10 2021

Malta has registered 51 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours from 3,093 swab tests, while 70 patients have recovered. No deaths were registered in the past 24 hours. This information was announced by the official Facebook page of Malta’s Ministry for Health.

As of Monday 9th August 2021, 777,181 vaccine doses were administered of which 405,073 were 1st doses. 398,128 people are currently fully vaccinated.

To date, Malta has registered 34,953 COVID-19 cases in total, of which: 33,270 have recovered, 428 died and 859 are still active.

Mater Dei Hospital is currently treating a total of 42 COVID-19 positive patients, three of whom are in the ITU. The average age of yesterday’s cases was 42.

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Marathon Olympian speaks out after cheating allegations

Aug 10 2021

Last weekend, French marathon runner Morhad Amdouni was accused of cheating as he was seen knocking down all the available water bottles but taking the last one. Morhad came under fire from many fans and viewers. These fans have been wondering if the runner will ever release a statement. They didn’t have to wait too long as Mohrad released a statement on social media.

The runner first explained that he didn’t intend to sabotage his fellow runners but it was only an accident. He also explained that “To guarantee freshness to the bottles, these are soaked in water, which makes them slippery.” Morhad also stated that “However, it is clear that I am trying to get one from the beginning of the row but these barely slide we touch them.”

He then went on to apologize to his opponents “I would like to apologize to the athletes. At one point, I was trying to be able to hold a bottle of water but I dropped some. It was not easy, trying to be able to hang on…” .

The race was not the easiest of marathons, as the unbearable heat forced 30 athletes to forfeit from the race. Morhad did finish the race in a high position, finishing the race in 17th.

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Over 300K passengers travelled through Malta International Airport in July

Aug 10 2021

The Malta International Airport totalled 311,692 passenger movements throughout July, regaining around 39% of the July 2019 traffic levels. Despite this boost, the Maltese air travel has been recuperating at a slower pace than the Southern European counterparts as their recovery rate averaged at 57%. This was revealed by the Airports Council International’s data.

Seat capacity on routes to and from Malta registered at 35.5% below 2019 levels. The seat load factor for the month stood at 52.6% compared to July 2019’s 87%. This measures the occupancy of seats available.

Travel opportunities for the local market continued to increase throughout July, especially considering Air France’s launch of three weekly flights to Paris and two new routes to Chania and Cagliari. The UK displaced Spain from June, with Italy retaining its top spot with around 60,388 passenger movements.

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Photo Source: PeakOptical