European champions Chelsea running out of money

Mar 12 2022

Over the past few days, European champions Chelsea have been quickly running out of money after the UK government announced that Russian owner Roman Abramovich had all of his assets seized. This comes after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Abramovich’s close ties to Russia president Vladimir Putin.

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This news has left the London based club not being able to sign or sell players, renew contracts and sell merchandise and tickets. This essentially means that Chelsea will not have any income in the coming future. To add salt to wounds various sponsors such as shirt sponsor Three UK have suspended their partnerships with the club.

This also means that the club can’t be currently sold even though that was the intention of Abramovich only a couple of days ago. According to various British reports with no money able to come into the team, and without Abramovich being able to sell, they could in theory be out of money in just 17 days time.

The Blues will now hold talks with the UK government to see if any sanctions regarding the club can be soften in order for the club to be run normally. As of right now the only fans able to see matches at Stamford Bridge will be season ticket holders. The club might be allowed to be sold if the Russian can prove that the sale will not be benefitting him.

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Rita Ellul’s partner spontaneously admits to strangling her during cigarette break

Mar 12 2022

The man who stands accused of murdering partner Rita Ellul in Gozo last month confessed to the police that he strangled her due to him thinking she was cheating on him.

The confession came spontaneously while the accused was smoking a cigarette as he waited to enter the interrogation room, police inspector Kurt Zahra revealed.

Lawrence Abina, a 30-year-old from Ghana, stands charged with the murder of 49-year-old Rita Ellul on the 26th of February 2022. Ellul was discovered dead in an Ghajnsielem apartment in Triq Dun Frangisk Mizzi last month.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech was told that despite there being no signs of violence on her body or any signs of altercations inside the apartment, autopsy concluded that the cause of death was asphyxiation due to pressure around the neck.

The accused and the victim had been in a relationship, with Ellul crossing over to Gozo frequently to spend time in his apartment.

Inspector Ellul said it was Abina who called 112 on February the 26th, claiming he found her dead in bed after he arrived from work. He said he last spoke to her before leaving for work at 7am.

Inspector Zahra revealed that while waiting for the second interrogation, Abina asked to go smoke a cigarette after which he spontaneously admitted to killing Ellul. Bursting into tears, Abina said that he did it because she was cheating on him. He also revealed that he thought of killing her the previous evening.

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Photo Source: Times of Malta

Student wanted to ask Bernard Grech if he still felt Greek moderator reveals

Mar 12 2022

Following the University debate, which was, suffice to say, an event which received much social media attention, the moderator revealed what the ‘inappropriate question’ intended to ask.

During the debate, moderator and 5th year law student Yasmine Ellul picked out questions from a box which the students had submitted to ask the political leader.

One of the very first questions picked was immediately put to the side due to it being inappropriate and not relevant to the debate. Speaking to Newsbook, Ellul revealed that the question wanted to ask whether Bernard Grech felt Greek anymore.

The question was in reference to a 2020 story wherein Bernard Grech allegedly stated that he pretended to be Greek when abroad as he felt ashamed of what Malta had become due to corruption.

Grech had denied that he felt ashamed to be Maltese, saying that this is yet another spin by the Labour government to tarnish his reputation as leader of the Opposition. He said he did so because his surname Grech is close to the word Greek and makes it easily believable.

However, he had also said that he could not defend the Prime Minister and his clique and was afraid of what people would say if they found out he was Maltese. The moderator revealed that if she asked the question, the students would not have learned anything from it and so, she decided to skip the question.

Following the debate, Yasmine revealed that she felt grateful for the opportunity and all the positive messages she received for her leading of the debate. The debate itself saw the two main party leaders going head to head for the first time in public since Abela was anointed Prime Minister.

It was also the subject of much criticism after many students chanted party catchphrases such as ‘Viva Labour’ or Nazzjonalisti’ and even booed some politicians, including Grech himself.

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People planning to cancel Netflix due to price increases and new platforms

Mar 12 2022

Following the news that, yet again, streaming giant Netflix will be increasing its prices to customers, some have expressed the consideration of deleting their subscription.

On the 10th of March, the service confirmed that users would be paying more each month, with basic and standard plans set to go up by £1.

It is unclear whether this would impact European (and by extent Maltese) accounts, but many users worldwide are seeing their costs spike considerably.

A spokesperson for Netflix said that the company always focused on providing members both quality and clear value for their membership. The range of payment plans is designed so that customers can choose a price best suited for them.

However, some polls by different international newsrooms found that many customers are not pleased with this new price spike. In fact, LadBible polls found that around 48% of users would be cancelling their subscriptions.

Some are considering downgrading from the higher plans, whereas others aren’t too bothered about the increase in price. Some are also finding it more costly, choosing to switch to platforms such as Disney+ or Amazon Prime.

Then there were those who simply didn’t care, as they acknowledged not having a subscription; ‘We’re all just using the same (account) that only one person is paying for.’

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