Marisa Abela stars as Amy Winehouse in new biopic

Jan 14 2023

Marisa Abela, a performer with Maltese-Libyan descent, has just shared the first look at her portrayal of Amy Winehouse in the new ‘Back to Black’ biopic.

Abela is an English actress who has had television roles in the BBC Two and HBO series Industry as well as the Sky One series COBRA.

She was born in Brighton to Caroline Gruber and director Angelo Abela. Her father is of Maltese-Libyan and English descent, whilst her mother is of Polish Jewish and Russian Jewish ancestry.

Having attended Roedean School and taking drama classes with the Theatre Workshop, she pursued acting after changing her mind about following a human rights lawyer career.

Abela has also joined the cast of Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’, which is currently in post-production. The Amy Winehouse biopic is set to begin filming on January 16th in London.

Mitch Winehouse had been adamant about casting a relatively unknown actress to play is daughter. “What we want is somebody to portray Amy in the way that she was…the funny, brilliant, charming and horrible person that she was” he said.

#MaltaDaily

Miss Thailand honours garbage collector parents with soda tab dress

Jan 14 2023

Miss Thailand Anna Sueangam-iam wowed the crowd with a dress made of soda tabs as the Miss Universe pageant kicked off this week with the preliminary competition.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Anna Sueangam-iam (@annasnga_1o)

Sueangam-iam has already made headlines with her evening-gown round, rocking up well over 160,000 likes on Instagram.

However, it was her caption that caught the attention of both audience and jury as the model wrote how the gown was inspired by her childhood.

‘Growing up with garbage collector parents, my life as a child was among piles of garbage and recyclables. This unique gown was purposefully tailored-made with discarded and recycled materials, namely the ‘Can Tab’ to present to the UNIVERSE that what’s considered worthless by many actually possesses its own value and beauty.’

The dress was designed by the brand Manirat and is known as the ‘Hidden Precious Diamond Dress’, combining the aluminium pull-tabs of soda cans with Swarovski crystals.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Miss Universe Thailand (@missuniverse.in.th)

The 24-year-old model was born and raised in a slum in Bangkok, with her family later sending her to a temple to protect her from an unsafe environment. She reportedly grew up among Buddhist nuns, eating mostly leftovers for years.

She now aims to use the beauty pageant to give a platform to underprivileged children.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Miss Universe Thailand (@missuniverse.in.th)

#MaltaDaily

2022 was Malta’s second driest year in the past decade

Jan 14 2023

According to data released by the Malta Meteorological Office, 2022 was the second-driest year of the past decade, having registered just 368mm of rain.

The year clocked a much higher than average amount of sunshine, totalling 3,124 hours. The amount of sunshine far outmatched the amount of rainfall, making 2022 the second driest year of the island in the past 10 years.

December broke any hopes that the onset of the meteorological winter would bring the rainfall measured throughout the previous 11 months of the year closer to the normative 543mm. December saw just 6.4mm of precipitation, with 1.0mm of said precipitation descending in the form of dew.

December 2022 became the driest one since 1922, as well as the 8th consecutive drier-than-average December. December mornings saw mist, fog and heavy dewfall, particularly during the latter half of the month.

These resulted from clear skies, light and variable winds as well as evaporation from surfaces that were still water-charged with November’s above-average rainfall. This accounted for 41% of the year’s total precipitation. November was both the wettest month as well as the stormiest one, with six thunderstorms out of a total of 17 which battered the island.

Meanwhile, May, July and September were all wetter than normal as the rest of the months produced less rain than the monthly quotas. February saw 4.0mm of precipitation rather than the expected 69.0mm, making it one of the driest on the records.

The first four months of 2022 were all colder than expected, with the first three months each having a day with hail. January 2022 was the coldest January in Malta since 2019 (with the lowest temperature of the year at 4.2°C.

#MaltaDaily

Man reports argument in police station with injuries to his face

Jan 14 2023

Yesterday, at around 2000hrs, police were informed that their assistance was needed in Triq San Ġorġ, St Julian’s.

Before police could convene on site, a 24-year-old Gambian man resident of St Julian’s enters the police headquarters of the same area with injuries to his face.

He alleged how he was involved in an argument in an establishment a few minutes earlier in Triq San Ġorġ. Police convened on site and fund a 33-year-old Pakistani man resident of Sliema, who had also suffered some injuries.

The two men were transported to Mater Dei for further medical attention. The 24-year-old was later certified as having suffered light injuries whereas the other man was confirmed to have suffered grievous injuries.

Police investigations are ongoing.

#MaltaDaily