Meet the first openly gay UK male professional footballer: Jake Daniels

May 17 2022

Jake Daniels has just come out as the first openly gay male professional footballer in Britain. He said that he felt ready to be himself after ‘such a long time of lying’ about who he is.

The 17-year-old Blackpool forward told Sky Sports News that for a long time he thought he would have to hide his truth because he wanted to become a footballer, and managed.

‘I asked myself if I should wait until I’ve retired to come out. No other player in the professional game here is out’ he said. ‘However, I knew that would lead to a long time of lying and not being able to be myself or lead the life I want to.’

‘Since I’ve come out to my family, my club and my teammates, that period of overthinking everything and the stress it created has gone. It was impacting my mental health.’

The striker signed a professional contract with the club in February, scoring 30 goals for the under-19s this season. He made his first team debut earlier this month, on the last season game.

He revealed that he knew he was gay since the age of around five or six, but feared that his sexuality wasn’t compatible with his dream of becoming a professional footballer. ‘I’ve had girlfriends in the past to try and make all my mates think I’m straight, and it was just a massive cover-up. So it has been a struggle.’

The Professional Footballers Association (PFA) commended Daniels, saying that they are extremely proud of Jake. ‘He has the complete support of everyone at the PFA.’

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Traffic in Paola after large metal coils fall off truck & into street

May 17 2022

Photos sent to this newsroom shows what seem to be large bundles of large metal coils having collapsed onto Triq Kordin, Paola near the locality’s MCAST building.

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The wire seemingly fell off a truck carrying the coils after they unravelled off the spindle, causing a bit of traffic due to the incident. The truck seemed to have dropped the coils after getting a puncture in one of the tires. Police were seemingly on site, directing traffic and assisting workers to remove the hazard.

More information as it emerges.

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404 children born through IVF in Malta as of 2013

May 17 2022

According to a report by the Maltese Authority for the Protection of Embryos, it was revealed that in the last 9 years, 404 babies were born through the IVF process.

260 out of these 404 children, which Health Minister Chris Fearne has repeatedly described as ‘little miracles’, were born in Mater Dei Hospital.

The report was presented in parliament last Monday as the newly appointed Labour government focuses on changing the law when it comes to IVF after Prime Minister Robert Abela pledged to address the issues within 100 days of being elected.

Throughout last year, 904 procedures were approved for assisted procreation. There were a total of 194 cycles of IVF, as well as 123 cycles of insemination. These resulted in a total of 57 pregnancies.

Of these, 51 were IVF and 6 were carried out through insemination known as IUI. Two of them involved the donation of sperm. The same report shows that, ever since the amendments were implemented in 2018, there were 364 embryos which were used in the process of IVF.

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Speaker keeping face list to remember all 79 MPs in parliament

May 17 2022

In a snapshot from the Maltese parliament, Speaker Anglu Farrugia could be seen with a folder on his table with what seem to be the faces of all the MPs which have entered parliament.

Malta’s parliament now has a record 79 members, making it the largest one in all of Europe. This legislature also saw the implementation of the gender quota mechanism, bringing in 22 women into the House.

This means that there is an MP for very 6,532 citizens in Malta. The adding of so many members also created some logistical issues since the Renzo Piano parliament building did not have enough seats.

A photo uploaded to Facebook showed all of the MPs amassed together in parliament following their swearing in. The Maltese house of representatives has 19 more members than the second-largest per capita parliament in the EU, Luxembourg.

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