Istrina is today and it’s celebrating its lucky 26th birthday!

Dec 26 2021

Today, 26th December 2021, marks the 26th edition of the annual charity event Istrina. This also marks it’s lucky 26tg birthday since it’s inception.

The marathon makes a yearly appeal among the Maltese and Gozitan people to collect well-needed funds for the Malta Community Chest Fund.

Under the patronage of President George Vella, the event will be taking place at Hal Kirkop’s Sport Complex, and transmitted live from mid-day onwards. Donations will be open throughout the event for anyone wishing to contribute to this iconic initiative.

The President took to Facebook to announce the event a few days ago, despite him and his wife not being able to physically attend the event due to self-isolation.

Nonetheless, it is an event which highlights the generosity of the entire island’s population, with last year’s Istrina gathering up to €6,573,105. Here’s to more!

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Photo Source: President George Vella FB

News channel wrongly announces Pope Francis’ death on Christmas

Dec 26 2021

Despite Pope Francis being very much alive and well, an ITV newsreader accidentally announced the church leader’s passing on Christmas.

Starting off as a report about the Pope’s Christmas address, in which he spoke about the importance of healthcare, dialogue and vaccination, the news segment ended with a rather peculiar, and shocking, statement.

The presenter started off by saying ‘His death was announced…’ before cutting the sentence off to say ‘Erm…excuse me’. The news reporter could be seen looking down at the script with considerable confusion, before moving on to the next item.

This blew social media up, as many took to Twitter to address the incident. Many assured everyone that the Pope was in fact very much alive, with others making light of the matter.

In his speech, the Pope prayed for an end to the pandemic, called on for dialogue to prevail in resolving the world’s conflicts and also encouraged fairer distribution of the COVID vaccine.

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Photo Source: Sky News

France registers whopping 100,000 COVID cases in 24 hours

Dec 26 2021

France has also been hitting record high COVID cases as on their third consecutive day a whopping six-digit figure was reached.

Infections reached 104,611 on Saturday in France, just ahead of a video-conference meeting set for Monday by President Emmanuel Macron which seeks to discuss new pandemic safety measures.

With officials concerned about the effect of the spike of the Omicron variant all across the continent, the health authorities recommended adult receive a booster jab three months after first vaccination on Friday.

The government is also moving to make the health pass issued to those who received the vaccine valid only if people get their booster.

This is required for cafes, restaurants and even international travel. With some regions already enacting their own safety measures, the spike is worrying most of the world.

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Photo source: State Department, Financial Times

More cancellations as 480 flights for early 2022 cut due to pandemic

Dec 26 2021

Up to 480 flights from and to Malta scheduled to operate early 2022 have been cut as passengers fear the spike in COVID-19 cases.

Malta International Airport chief executive told Times of Malta that the first quarter for 2022 was already looking dismal for air travel.

He largely attributed this to the ‘hotchpotch’ of uncoordinated travel restrictions all across Europe, which are confusing and destroying consumer confidence in air travel.

The holiday season is typically very busy for Malta’s airport, with around 246,000 available seats on flights operated on up to 87 routes to and from Malta.

A well-needed recovery, Borg said, is being put into question due to the massive spike in cases both locally and abroad. This is leaving airports and airlines having to bear the worst of such restrictions.

Air Malta also revealed that it had around 2,000 cancellation refund requests just this month, with figures still going up. A spokesperson said that 2,000 were received in November and another 2,000 were requested as of last Tuesday.

As of the start of the pandemic, Air Malta has received around 300,000 ticket refund requests, refunding up to €32 million.

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Photo Source: Air Malta, Fodors Travel Guide