Police report filed by union over hate speech against educators

Feb 2 2022

The Malta Union of Teachers filed a police report over comments which they state amount to hate speech and even incitement of violence against educators.

The MUT, in a statement, referred to Facebook comments written under a news article, with the union calling for the protection of the educators affected by the comments. While not reproducing them publicly in order not to continue damaging the individuals affected, the screenshots were passed on to police.

The MUT said that it is frequently attacked on social media, most notably when it defends educator’s rights. It also said that police have thus far taken no action against this offence. They said that hate speech and incitement of violence cannot be tolerated and any such comments reported by its members will be referred to the police.

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Photo Source: Malta Union of Teachers FB

Billie Eilish breaks Instagram again with new black hairstyle

Feb 2 2022

Pop-star Billie Eilish is back in black following a whole run of sporting every single colour as a hairstyle.

With a new tour around the corner, the California singer showed off her new all-black look with a social media post. Captioning her selfie ‘I’m back’, she complimented the hair style with a black mask and a black hoodie.

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A post shared by BILLIE EILISH (@billieeilish)

As of time of writing, the post has garnered a whopping 5,825,178 likes (we dread to refresh the page). This comes 9 hours after it was posted, but the singer has been known to break like records on the social platform before.

Back in May, Eilish broke the record for the second time when she shared her cover shot from British Vogue Magazine. The post reached one million likes in just under six minutes. As it stands, the post has over 16 million likes, verging on 17 million.

She debuts the new look on the eve of her Happier Than Ever world tour, which starts Thursday February 3rd in New Orleans. She is also nominated for seven Grammy Awards for her sophomore set.

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A post shared by BILLIE EILISH (@billieeilish)

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2023 Games of the Small States of Europe launched in Malta

Feb 2 2022

An announcement by Minister for Education and Sport Clifton Grima kicked off the Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) which are to be held in June 2023.

This marks the third time Malta will be hosting event since the Games’ inception in 1985. The games were formed for countries with populations of fewer than one million people, and feature the same events seen in the Olympics.

The Sport Minister said that this is the occasion through which our country continues to raise its profile in the world of sport. The games will bring well over 1,200 participant and officials from the small European states who will all compete in a number of disciplines in facilities of the highest calibre.

Since the first GSSEs, Malta’s athletes received 331 medals, with 32 and 44 medals won in the two occasions it was held in Malta. They were held on the island in 1993 and 2003. SportMalta also received €5 million in funds to create the best environment for the games.

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Source: Clifton Grima FB

Jabs at film awards after St Paul procession permits refused

Feb 2 2022

Organisers have revealed that the authorities have so far refused to issue a permit for the procession on the feast of St Paul’s Shipwreck on February 10th.

Taking to Facebook, the Għaqda tal-Pawlini stated that sit-down events planned for February 8th and 9th have been given go-aheads, but the request for the procession has not been accepted at this stage.

Organisers said they are still seeking a meeting with the authorities for a solution which safeguards public health to be reached. This comes after the Band Clubs association said last week that traditional village feasts could once again start being celebrated from April as long as it is done responsibly.

This also comes after a meeting with Prime Minister Robert Abela, Health Minister Chris Fearne and Superintendent for Public Health Charmaine Gauci. In reaction to this refusal of the Valletta procession, Nationalist MP Claudio Grech said that it was clear that somebody did not want the feast to be held, with COVID being used as a ‘comfortable pretext.’

Grech made reference to the Malta Film Awards at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, saying that this closed space was full of people with total lack of observance of mask waring rules and social distancing.

‘But for the health authorities, a reduced procession in the open streets of Valletta was riskier, and the organisers request was therefore denied’ he said. ‘Whoever thought Valletta’s citizens were puppets or fools was surely mistaken’ he added.

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Photo Source: Claudio Grech FB, Johann Grech FB