Matthew Grech to be charged in court for conversion therapy breach

Jan 17 2023

Matthew Grech, a member of the pentecostal evangelical group River of Love, has revealed that he has just been charged with breaching Malta’s gay conversion therapy ban following a live-streamed discussion.

Grech said that he had been charged, along with the producers of PM News, which is run by Mario Camilleri and Rita Bonnici.

Grech is a former homosexual who ‘converted’ through his Christian faith, renouncing his sexual orientation. Grech also formed part of the ABBA political party.

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Grech said he will be arraigned in court on the 3rd of February on charges of breaching the ban on advertising gay conversion therapy. Gay conversion itself was banned in 2016 but advertising it became illegal this year.

Grech called this ‘political revenge’, pointing to how the charges come weeks after police charged satirist Matt Bonanno over a complaint by River of Love Gordon Manche.

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Total of 174,460 tourists visited Malta in November 2022

Jan 17 2023

During November 2022, a total of 174,460 inbound tourists were estimated to have visited Malta. 144,631 of said tourists visited the island for holiday purposes whereas 23,615 visited the island for business purposes.

The largest share of inbound tourists were aged between 25 and 44 (ranking at 40.7%), followed by the 45 to 64 age bracket at 35.4%.

The United Kingdom, Italy and France had the most residents making up the number of inbound tourists, making up 42.4% of the total.

The total nights spent went up 36.3% when compared to the same month in 2021, surpassing 1.2 million nights at 1,203,802 nights.

The largest share of guest nights at 81.1% was spent in rented accommodation establishments, whereas the average length of stay for total inbound tourists stood at 6.9 nights.

€144.1 million was surpassed as the total tourist expenditure for the month, which is up 55.8% over the same month in 2021. The average expenditure per night was estimated to be around €119.7.

The first eleven month of 2022 saw 2,150,174 inbound tourists, whereas the total nights surpassed 15.6 million nights. The total tourist expenditure was estimated to be at €1.9 billion, with total expenditure per capita decreasing to €889 from €914 in 2021.

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New nursing simulator inaugurated by IDEA Academy

Jan 17 2023

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health Chris Fearne inaugurated a new nursing simulator at educational institution IDEA Academy situated in Mosta, which serves to train nurses who attend the courses in the same institution.

Idea Group Managing Director, Silvio Debono explained how IDEA Academy’s courses are aimed at adults who wish to continue their studies. Silvio Debono said that ever since health courses started being offered at IDEA Academy, 150 medical professionals have graduated whilst another 300 people are currently undertaking the health course.

Chris Fearne praised the Maltese educational institutions for the high level of training being offered to nursing students, who are also being trained in simulators like the one inaugurated by the IDEA Academy.

These simulators include mannequins in a hall environment so that nursing students are confident working in this atmosphere once they start training on patients.

During a press conference, Chris Fearne explained how all nurses who graduate from Maltese educational institutions are given the opportunity to work with the public health sector. He also referred to the continuous efforts being made to attract more people to this vocation whilst explaining that the demand for new nurses requires the Government to recruit foreign nurses.

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The Travellers tackle gender transition and love in new music video

Jan 17 2023

After a very successful and busy year for local band The Travellers, there seems to be no plans of slowing down this year. Just yesterday, 16th January 2023, the iconic Maltese band released a brand new music video for their latest single ‘Ħdejja’.

The official launch frames the song completely around love, asking: ‘What are you willing to go through for love? And above all, what is love exactly? Is it enough?’

The music video captures the story of a couple as the husband seeks to understand their own gender identity and how this journey of self-discovery impact their relationship through grief, understanding and acceptance.

With 16,000 views already racked up since its release as of the writing of this article, the song is already trending as #3 on YouTube for the category music and definitely pushing the boundaries for music videos on the island.

Have you given it a listen?