Prime Minister Robert Abela puts pressure on Education Minister to resign

Dec 20 2021

Despite being reluctant to kick her out himself after a damning report by the Standards Commissioner, Prime Minister Robert Abela is placing pressure on Education Minister Justyne Caruana to resign.

‘Everyone should shoulder their own responsibility’ the Prime Minister told MaltaToday. When asked if retaining Caruana would put a blot on his government’s effort to promote good governance, he said that from day one as Prime Minister, he was clear on wanting everyone to shoulder their responsibilities.

MPs on the Ethics Committee decided to publish the report compiled by Standards Commissioner George Hyzler which found Caruana having breached ministerial ethics when she awarded a contract of service to footballer Daniel Bogdanovic.

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Photo Source: Justyne Caruana FB, Robert Abela FB

COVID-19 vaccination for children supported by paediatric association

Dec 20 2021

The paediatric lobby group has expressed its support of vaccinating children with the COVID-19 vaccine as ‘serious complications from the virus can occur in healthy kids’.

Despite virus complications being uncommon, the Maltese Paediatric Association released a statement backing the vaccination rollout for those aged five to 11.

The association said that ‘children respond well to the currently approved COVID-19 vaccine, which has been shown to be 90%. The vaccine has been shown to be safe when used in several million children in the USA.’

Kids between the ages of 5 and 11 began to receive the jab on the 14th December, with the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine approved by the EMA last month. Two injections are given three weeks apart, with the jab being a third of the dose of that of adults for kids.

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Photo Source: Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials

Around 5000 people in quarantine Charmaine Gauci revealed

Dec 20 2021

Superintendent for Public Health Charmaine Gauci revealed in her segment ‘Ask Charmaine’ that around 5,000 people are currently quarantined due to COVID-19.

The number is set to rise, as Malta currently has 2190 active cases, with 252 registered in the last 24 hours. The number of people quarantined also includes those who came from dark red countries and are/or are not vaccinated.

Around 85% of those who tested positive are showing symptoms, with others showing mild symptoms or none whatsoever. In terms of the booster dose, it seems to show 90% effectiveness against the Omicron variant.

The newly registered variant, first found in South Africa, is expected to be the dominant strain by the start of next year. Malta currently has no cases of the variant, but it is only a matter of if and not when, revealed Health Minister Fearne last week.

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Photo Source: Charmaine Gauci FB

Spider-Man No Way Home with third biggest box office opening in history

Dec 20 2021

The third instalment to the web-slinger’s official MCU presence, Spider-Man No Way Home has had the third biggest box office opening in all of history.

It managed to rake a whopping $587.2 million around the world, bested only by Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. But that’s not really an issue for Holland as he appeared in both those films as well, with Marvel leading the charge.

This is made even more impressive considering that the movie is releasing amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and the surge of the Omicron variant.

According to Sky News, the film has already taken $253 million in the US and $334.2 million form around 60 overseas markets. It is currently on course to surpass the current highest grossing film of 2021, No Time To Die.

With a superb cast in terms of heroes and villains, theories about the film raged like wild-fire. It’s success seemed inevitable, with Marvel clearly doing right by the friendly neighbourhood hero.

Rotten Tomatoes currently has a 94% critic score and a 99% audience score. Holland himself thanked the fans for the massive support, promising a heart-warming, enticing and surprisingly mature take on the hero.

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Photo Source: Den Of Geek, quicktelecast