€51,988 in undeclared cash intercepted during October 2022

Nov 15 2022

A total of €51,988 in undeclared cash were intercepted by Customs Malta at the Malta International Airport during the month October 2022.

The cash was intercepted in 4 separate cases whereby a Russian, two Ukrainians and a Libyan man were found to be carrying substantial amounts of undeclared cash.

They were all en route to Istanbul before they were stopped by Customs Malta. All passengers were offered an out-of-court settlement to which they all agreed upon and subsequently fined.

Since January 2022, Customs Malt intercepted up to €750,204 in undeclared cash in 52 separate cases.

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A 2.1% increase in teaching and non-teaching staff during 2020/21

Nov 15 2022

According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), the total teaching and non-teaching staff in formal education during the 2020/21 academic year amounted to 18,061. This is an increase of 2.1% when compared to the previous academic year.

Classroom teachers and academic staff in pre-primary to tertiary education institutions during the same year increase by 0.6% over the previous year. This was a total of 9.731.

Of these, 26.5% were teachers at the upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary levels. 21.6% were primary teachers. The largest share of teaching personnel were females at a total of 66.7%.

Full time teachers accounted for 85.7% of the total. The total tertiary level male academic staff stood at 1,303 (63%). The same year saw 16.3 of all teaching staff between the ages of 30 and 34. This was followed by the 40 to 44 age group at 15.4%.

The proportion of teaching staff in state-run institutions corresponded to 74.2$ of the total teaching staff. Church schools followed suit at 15.6% and then private schools at 10.3%.

The overall teacher to student ratio stood at 8.9 pupils per teacher. The highest ratio was recorded in private schools at 11.5 pupils per teacher.

Non-teaching staff in education amounted to 8.870 during the same year. This is an increase of 3.8% when compared to the previous academic year. Females represented 73.7% of non-teaching staff. More than half were teacher aides at 50.9% (4,518).

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Ta’ Qali national park enters Christmas spirit with decorations

Nov 15 2022

Minister for Planning and Public Works Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi revealed on social media that Ta’ Qali National Park has officially entered the Christmas spirit.

The formal garden area of the national park has been embellished with lit festivity themed decorations to welcome all those visiting the park.

From little Christmas gnomes to reindeer, the atmosphere of the park has been tailored towards the upcoming holidays as families spend more time together.

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Uber Green arrives in Malta to promote zero emission mobility

Nov 15 2022

Starting today, Uber Green is available in Malta. This new service allows platform users to travel in hybrid and electric vehicles at the same price as Uber’s most popular product, UberX.

The launch of Uber Green is part of the global commitment to become a zero emission mobility platform in 2040 worldwide. Uber’s commitment includes a comprehensive roadmap as well as a series of agreements with public and private institutions around the world.

The main milestones of the Uber roadmap are:

In 2025, 50% of the kilometres traveled through its platform in the seven European capitals (Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Lisbon, London, Madrid and Paris) will be in zero-emission vehicles.
In 2030, Uber will become a zero emission platform in Europe, the United States and Canada.
In 2040, the 10,000 cities in which Uber is present will have 100% of the trips made in zero-emission vehicles, public transport and micro mobility.

To achieve this goal, Uber will invest 800 million dollars in aid to drivers to cover the costs of acquiring and charging electric vehicles, the main barriers that hinder access to electric mobility. In Malta, Uber and the local partner (Rides and Eats) will invest 50K euros in its transition strategy to electric vehicles.

With today’s launch Uber Green will be available with a fleet of more than 1,000 vehicles with the aim of further increasing its offer to users who, starting from June this year, have the opportunity to access different services such as Uber X, Uber XL, Uber Comfort and, starting today, Uber Green.

Local partner, Rides & Eats, will finance a €50k yearly contribution to support drivers who wish to buy an electric vehicle: for every trip performed until the end of 2023 drivers will be getting 1€ to be spent on the purchase of a new electric vehicle, for a total of 2.5K euro per driver.

Sebastian Ripard, the CEO of Rides & Eats commented that: “We strongly believe that the electric transition in mobility is one of the key steps towards fighting climate change and we are committed to facilitating this transition here in Malta.”

Rides and Eats has also finalised an agreement with Motor’s Inc., Auto Sales Ltd. – Kind’s and Industrial Motors Ltd, three local dealers representing OEM for further discounts to those drivers who want to switch to a zero emission vehicle.

Accessing Uber Green is very simple:

Open the Uber app
Choose a destination
Select Uber Green
Find out the final price in advance and confirm the ride
Enjoy your trip and when it’s time to go home, follow the same procedure.

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