Maltese photographer wins gold at prestigious London Photography Awards

May 14 2022

Maltese photographer Domenic Aquilina has been awarded a gold award at the prestigious London Photography Awards for his work ‘Fan Water Splash’ in the Sports category.

The water polo shot features a water splash creating an optical illusion as it lands opposite a Romania national team player and captain Marius Tic during the LEN European Water Polo Championships Qualifying Tournament Group C on February 20th of this year.

The London Photography Awards and this year’s theme ‘Forge Your Time-Lapse’ “honours those who step out of their comfort zone and capture astounding photographs that would be etched within history itself.”

Aquilina is a respected photographer in the local scene, garnering a number of accolades for his works including awards for Sports Photographer of the Year in 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2019 in the annual Malta Journalistic Awards by the Institute of Maltese Journalists, amongst many others.

Malta accused of leaving 24 in danger of death at sea as rescue charity coordinates operation

May 14 2022

Malta has been accused of refusing to coordinate a rescue operation after a distress call was sent from migrants at sea within Maltese waters.

Non-profit- and civil sea rescue organisation Sea-Eye conducted a rescue operation, carrying 58 people to safety, after receiving a distress call on their Sea-Eye 4 vessel. The at risk migrants reportedly fled from Benghazi, Libya on 8 May and are from Eritrea, Sudan, Chad, Libya, Syria and Egypt.

Sea-Eye have reported that the oil tanker Ross Sea approached the wooden boat on 12 May, with the tanker captain stating that he attempted to reach Malta’s rescue coordination centre to no avail. “RCC Malta told me to keep on monitoring. They asked me to just stay around and keep on monitoring from distance,” the captain told the Sea-Eye 4.

The Chairman of Sea e, Gordon Isler, said the following “We regularly receive no response from the rescue centre in Malta during maritime emergencies as well. Why didn’t Malta directly ask Ross Sea to rescue the people? Malta did not send any help for three days! By now, Malta stops at nothing to prevent people seeking protection from being able to reach Malta.”

What do you make of this?

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Photo Source: Info Migrants

The Maltese Pope? Gozitan cardinal Grech eyed as potential successor to Pope Francis

May 14 2022

Cardinal Mario Grech has been mentioned among a list of cardinals eyeing a potential successor of Pope Francis at the next conclave.

Concerns towards the current Pope’s health have been rising after he was forced to cancel commitments due to a knee problem and also recently appearing in a wheelchair for the first time.

The Times of London have stated that the succession seems to be a battle between conservatives who heavily disagree with Pope Francis’ ‘mercy-before-dogma’ approach and more liberals who have supported his approach to gay Catholics and divorcees.

John Allen, editor of Catholic news site Crux stated that “Malta’s Mario Grech is also interesting since he had a conservative reputation but became pro-Francis, although some conservatives may hope he would revert to form if elected Pope.”

The list includes many candidates who are both conservative and liberal, with 117 cardinals under 80 years of age being eligible to vote.

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61% of Malta believes getting a COVID-19 vaccine is still a civic duty

May 14 2022

A Eurobarometer survey exploring countries’ approach to the COVID-19 vaccine has revealed that while 92 per cent of Malta is vaccinated, enthusiasm towards mandatory vaccination has dropped significantly.

The percentage of people believing that “everyone should get vaccinated against COVID-19 because it is a civic duty” dropped by 15 points between May 2021 and February 2022 but still stands at a considerable 61%.

Individuals believing vaccination should be mandatory dropped to 45% from the previous 52%. With regards to restriction, 66% of Maltese still sustained their belief of restricting access of certain areas to those who are unvaccinated.

The survey also highlights that 55% agree with children receiving COVID-19 vaccines.

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