€52,500 in undeclared cash and magic mushrooms seized in massive Customs busts

Nov 12 2021

Customs seized upwards of €52,500 in undeclared cash, 30,800 contraband cigarettes, and several packages of drugs.

Two passengers boarding the ferry to Sicily were stopped after canine Charlie indicated that an Italian passenger had undeclared cash.

The passenger stated that he had around €5,000 to €7,000 in cash, but investigations revealed a total of €11,760.

A second passenger was also stopped. A Syrian man travelling by ferry said he was carrying less than €10,000. In fact, however, he was carrying up to €10,990.

Two other passengers were stopped at the Malta International Airport, with a Ghanaian man carrying €19,091 on the person and a Burmese national carrying €270 and $12,475.

30,825 cigarettes were seized from an Msida shop, a private residence and garages in Zejtun. The Zejtun garage alone yielded 13,800 Business Royals Red, all found without an excise stamp.

Customs officials at the UPS Bond seized two parcels after canine Stan made a positive indication. The packages contained 2.65kg of cannabis between them. Another package addressed to a St Julian’s residence had suspected cannabis seeds.

Another two small plastic bags contained more suspected seeds and magic mushrooms. Some of the the drugs were hidden in what appeared to be a doll skirt attached to a playing card.

#MaltaDaily

Lydia Abela meets US Vice President Kamala Harris at Paris Peace Forum

Nov 12 2021

Lydia Abela, wife of Prime Minister Robert Abela met and shared her experience with US Vice-President Kamala Harris.

Lydia Abela posted a stunning image to social media, captioning it with some reflective observations. ‘The inequalities which still exist around the world need addressing’ she started her post.

‘This is not through a sense of charity but because we have an obligation towards every person to work together in order to guarantee a good quality of living for all. This was an important message which emerged during the Paris Peace Forum’ she revealed.

She went on to state how, alongside her husband, she attended the event organised at the Élysée Palace thanks to an invitation by President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigette.

‘US Vice-President Kamala Harris’ presence was significant. From large to small countries, we all have a role to play in favour of peace.’

#MaltaDaily

Photo Source: Lydia Abela FB

Youtube to hide dislike counts to protect content creators from harassment

Nov 12 2021

YouTube will be making a massive change to it’s platform as it tries to protect its content creators from harassment.

The giant video-streamer will be hiding dislike counts on videos, with the service rolling out a new feature on Wednesday which keeps counts private and only viewable to the person who uploaded the content.

The dislike button will still remain available however, so views can still tune their personal recommendations. The change was in turn prompted by an experiment conducted by YouTube earlier this year.

The experiment tested whether changes to the dislike button could help protect content creators from harassment and ‘dislike attacks’ (wherein viewers purposefully dislike a video to drive up the count).

YouTube stated that smaller creators and those just getting started were constantly being attacked by such behaviour and this measure would help their progression as creators.

For a little bit of trivia, the most disliked video in the world is YouTube’s very own ‘Rewind 2018: Everyone Controls Rewind’ at 19.67 million followed by the Baby Shark Dance video at 14.45 million.

#MaltaDaily

Shark Tank Malta is here – dive in to chase your entrepreneurial dream!

Nov 12 2021

Launched during Malta Enterprise’s Start Up Festival, Shark Tank Malta will be bringing the critically acclaimed reality show to our shores!

The show is centred around entrepreneurs attempting to convince the Sharks, a panel of tough, self-made business moguls, that their business and/or product is worth investing in.

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‘The Sharks will give people from all walks of life the chance to chase the business dream and potentially secure business deals that could them turn their ideas into a viable business.’

The Sharks have a goal too, and that is to get a return on their investment and own a piece of the next big business idea. ‘When the Sharks hear an idea worth sinking their teeth into, there more than ready to declare war and fight each other for a piece of it.’

The local licensed producers of Shark Tank Malta, Anton Attard and Mark Grech from Greatt Company Limited, thanked Malta Enterprise for their sterling work in the industry.

‘We believe that this programme will bring the necessary awareness and the ideal opportunities for many young founders that need that extra set of skills and capital injection that only the ‘sharks’ can bring to the table.’

This is the chance for all local entrepreneurs – it will be hitting Maltese TV screens on Television Malta in April 2022. To apply, follow the link here!

#MaltaDaily