Malta officially joins the Camino de Santiago de Compostela trail

Jan 11 2023

In the coming months, Malta will be officially joining the Camino de Santiago de Compostela trail. The Maltese route was announced by Culture Minister Owen Bonnici and Foreign Affairs Minister Ian Borg during a public information session at Fort St Angelo.

The Maltese route will take pilgrims from Rabat through various localities before ending in Vittoriosa. The pilgrims will continue their journey with a ferry to Sicily and continue the route to Palermo, catching another ferry to Cagliari.

Around 400,000 people engage in the pilgrimage, with 300 of them being Maltese. The Camino Maltes is around 3,600km and will connect the island to a much larger route.

Culture Minister Owen Bonnici said that through the work of Heritage Malta something like this could be possible. On his part, Minister Ian Borg praised the work done by the Maltese embassy in Spain along with the NGO Xircammini.

Through a number of diplomatic meetings, an agreement whereby Malta is included in the pilgrimage was reached.

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The New Victorians announce dual pregnancies

Jan 11 2023

New Victorians sisters Philippa and Bettina have announced that they are pregnant at the same time, taking to social media to reveal that ‘two brand new Victorians are on the way.’

The sisters said that this means that the two new children will be cousins only a month apart as they welcome the new additions to their family.

The adorable announcement was met with massive love and support for the sisters, congratulating them for their extension to the family.

The New Victorians were conceived in 2011 as a Maltese sister-duo following their success at the Alchemy Songwriting Competition in the US. Following that, the two singers went on to produce various music and other artistic works, both locally and abroad.

On behalf of MaltaDaily, we congratulate both sisters for the announcement!

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Former foreign minister defends satirist amidst court accusation

Jan 11 2023

Former foreign minister Evarist Bartolo took to Facebook to defend Matt Bonanno, the satirist behind the page ‘Bis-Serjeta’ following prosecution by evangelical church River of Love.

Bartolo said that serious procedures are being taken against Bonanno and could possibly lead to a massive fine or even imprisonment.

Bonanno, said Bartolo, has been using the website and satire since 2011 to comment on what is happening in Malta. However, head pastor of River of Love, Gordon Manche, was offended by an ‘obviously satirical comment by Bonanno’, said the former Minister.

‘A democratic society is measured by how much it tolerates criticism’ said Bartolo. ‘We moved forward in this regard: from a time when journalists went to prison over caricatures, from a time of condemning mortal sins and to a time when journals were closed for critiquing authorities and injustice’.

‘We still have a lot to do to strengthen liberty of expression and the protection of journalists. It does not make sense that, in our country, someone is imprisoned or fined for using the weapon of satire to seriously comment on what is happening’ concluded Manche.

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BMW outsells Mercedes & Audi for 2nd year in a row

Jan 11 2023

BMW, the German automaker, outsold rivals Mercedes-Benz and Audi throughout 2022. According to vehicle sales numbers released on Tuesday, BMW sold 2.1 million cars globally last year.

This is still a fall of 5% when compared to 2021, but it nonetheless managed to outpace Mercedes-Benz’s 2.04 million cars sold.

The decrease in sales for both giants were blamed on various factors, including the ongoing fight against the COVID-19 virus as well as supply chain bottlenecks and semiconductor shortages.

BMW highlighted how its hybrid and electric vehicles sales went up by 35.6% last year, bringing in a total of 372,956 units. Mercedes sold 319,200 plug-in and fully electric cars, an increase of 19%.

Almost every second car sold by Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars in 2022 was battery powered. Audi’s global sales figures for last year are 3.9% less than 2021 at 1,680,512 cars.

Meanwhile, the best-selling Mercedes in 2022 was the MBW X3, which rivalled GLC with 342,900 units, or 3%, more than in 2021.

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