Malta could host 2023 Under-19 UEFA Championship Finals

Apr 19 2021

It seems that the Executive Committee will approve Malta’s hosting of the 2023 U19 Championship Finals. The Malta Football Association (MFA) posted on Facebook stating that ‘indications are that UEFA EXCO will be considering favourably Malta’s bid to host U19 UEFA Championship FINALS in summer 2023’. Both 2020 and 2021 U19 were cancelled due to COVID-19, with 2022’s finals due to take place in Slovakia.

📢 The UEFA Executive Committee has officially confirmed on Monday that Malta has won the bid to host the U19 UEFA Championship in summer 2023 ⚽️🏆🏟🇲🇹#UnitedForMalta #UEFAU19

Posted by Malta Football Association – 1900 on Monday, 19 April 2021

Should Malta indeed host the 2023 finals, it will mark the second time our country has hosted a UEFA tournament after having hosted the U17 finals in 2014. The MFA stated that it first entered the bid to host in 2024, but it seems it could be happening a year earlier.

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The Lord of the Rings series to cost $465 million for first season

Apr 19 2021

Amazon is planning a series based on the J.R.R Tolkien novels ‘The Lord of the Rings’, and the first season alone is set to cost the production company $465 million. The immensely anticipated series is said to be ‘the largest television series ever made’ and the apparent first season cost seems to back it up. Stuart Nash, Minister for Economic Development and Tourism in New Zealand, where the series is set to be filmed, said that Amazon is going to spend about NZ$650 million in season one.

If we were to compare it to other productions, Game of Thrones cost about $100 million per season. The series itself is set thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, showing fans of the Middle-Earth universe the very formation of their favourite fictional world.

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US backing Japan’s plan to dump radioactive Fukushima water into Pacific Ocean

Apr 19 2021

Japan has made news headlines when it announced that it will be dumping radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean. The US has just stated that it supports Japan’s plan to do so. One million tonnes of contaminated water will be dumped into the pacific following the catastrophic nuclear accident ten years ago.

The plans have raised controversy from its neighbours and the wider globe, including South Korea, China and Russia. US climate envoy John Kerry stated that the US is confident that the ‘government of Japan is in very full consultations with the [International Atomic Energy Agency].’ He added that Japan’s plans would be monitored to make sure there are no public health threats.

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Jose Mourinho sacked by Tottenham Hotspur

Apr 19 2021

Tottenham Hotspur coach Jose Mourinho has been sacked by the team just a week ahead of Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Manchester City. Mourinho had replaced Mauricio Pochettino in November 2019, signing a deal until the end of the 2023 season. However, the club confirmed this Monday morning that Mourinho and his coaching staff had all ben ‘relieved of their duties’.

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy stated that ‘Jose is a true professional who showed enormous resilience during the pandemic. On a personal level I have enjoyed working with him and regret that things have not worked out as we both had envisaged. He will always be welcome here and we should like to thank him and his coaching staff for their contribution.’

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