Firefight at Chernobyl as Russia tries to seize nuclear plant

Feb 24 2022

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Kyiv’s forces were fighting invading Russian troops for control of the Chernobyl plant – a site of one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters.

Writing to Twitter, Zelensky said that Russian occupying forces are attempting to take over the nuclear plant, with soldiers giving their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 does not happen again. ‘This is a declaration of war on all of Europe.’

Russia said that the military had destroyed more than 70 military targets, including 11 airfields in Ukraine. Destroyed facilities include 11 airfields, three command posts and 18 radar stations.

With a Ukrainian military helicopter and four drones shot down, defence military spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said that separatist forces continued an offensive backed by air support of Russian forces.

An other battle is occurring for the control of an airbase on the northern outskirts of Kyiv as dozens of attack helicopters swooped on the area.

Over 40 Ukrainian and 50 Russian soldiers have reportedly died. 18 civilians in Ukraine’s Odessa were reportedly killed in a missile attack. This is a developing story.

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10% feel walking alone in their neighbourhood at night is very dangerous

Feb 24 2022

Around 10% of respondents in a survey commissioned by the Faculty of Social Wellbeing said they feel walking alone at night in their neighbourhood is very dangerous.

Just less than half, at 46.2% said they feel safe. The survey, which was carried out by Sagalytics, interviewed 600 people aged 16 and over, asking them about topics such as crime, migration, politics and the issues that are most important to them.

Male respondents registered as feeling more safe than their female counterparts, whereas the 66+ age group felt the most unsafe walking around in their neighbourhood at night. Th survey found that Gozitans felt generally safer walking alone at night.

More than half of respondents said they have little or very little trust in the police force. 15.3% said they have very little trust, whilst 37.4% said they have little trust. Only 17.8% said they trusted the police quite a lot.

When asked about how effective they think the police are in dealing with the problem of domestic violence in Malta, more than a third of respondents gave a neutral reply. People with higher levels of education were the ones who least believed the police were being effective on this manner.

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Bernard Grech defends the traffic fine freeze proposal by PN

Feb 24 2022

After promising to introduce a system which will give a second chance to drivers who get a traffic fine yesterday, Bernard Grech came to the party proposal’s defence on Thursday.

The contravention would be suspended for six months, and the fine would drop if the person who got the fine does not relapse. When challenged on whether he thinks the proposal would lead to the desired outcome or not, Grech said that the incentive would work at removing the ‘uwijja’ attitude from drivers.

The leader insisted that the initiative was of the positive reinforcement type, set to drive down the sense of impunity among law-abiding citizens. The ‘u iva mhux xorta (couldn’t care less) attitude is exactly what we don’t want. If one parks incorrectly once and repeats the contravention the following day, they will end up paying that traffic fine.’

He said that law-abiding citizens fined for parking incorrectly while buying something, or while unloading a pushchair from a car, would feel incentivised not to repeat the unintentional mistake.’

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Malta Teacher’s Union issues 60 proposals ahead of March election

Feb 24 2022

The Malta Union of Teachers has issued a list of 60 proposals to present the political parties contesting the general election.

Among these proposals, the MUT is proposing to start discussions to transform the current state education service to a public sector entity. The MUT is expecting education to be raised in the respective agenda of all political parties and to be a central theme of the election.

The proposals, the union said, reflect its continuous analysis of the sector as well as presenting solutions to current challenges. MUT president Marco Bonnici told a news conference that through its document, the union is encouraging discussion ‘so that together with those who will be entrusted with the administration of the country and the education sector after the next general election, we would start getting things done immediately.’

Some of the proposals include identifying the main reasons why the sector is not attracting enough young people to education professions and take action to rectify the situation; holding regular campaigns to promote the profession; as well as reviewing the number of students in each class for more individual attention.

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Photo Source: Collins Dictionary, Malta Union of Teachers FB