Red Arrows returning to Malta end of September

Sep 15 2021

The famed aerobatic team of the Royal Air Force, The Red Arrows, will be returning for the Malta International Air Show on the 25th and 26th of September 2021. The last the aircrafts flew over the island was back in 2014, with this year’s performance made possible following the cancellation of a planned display in Avalon, Australia.

This will be the team’s ninth visit to Malta but they face an uncertain future with the Royal Air Force as it stated recently that it will discontinue operations of its Hawk aircraft. The Red Arrows hd flown around 5000 displays in 57 countries by the beginning of 2021, making this the team’s 57th season. Thy are based at RAF Scampton.

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Photo Source: Jean-Paul Caruana FB

Cocaine ring with links to Malta busted by Italian police

Sep 15 2021

An international cocaine smuggling ring with connections to Malta was busted by Italy’s finance police on Tuesday. The ring is run by the ‘Ndrangheta crime group, with over 400 officers carrying out dawn raids across the country wielding 57 arrest warrants following a four year investigation. The investigation was dubbed ‘Crypto’ and delved into investigating over 90 suspects from many known mafia families.

The cocaine was shifted in large quantities from Northern Europe and Spain to Italy, hidden in false bottoms of car boots. The drug was sometimes moved it on to Malta by boat. Captain Carmine Virno, whose team lead the investigation, revealed how the group communicated via a ‘complex code matching numbers to apparently random letters of the alphabet, without any spaces or punctuation.’

Families of the ring in Gioia Tauro and Rosarno in Southern Italy forged direct contacts with South American suppliers through Dominican Republic intermediaries. Another suspect living in Germany in a mob stronghold acted as both courier and another intermediary with dealers. Using disposable German sim cards, the traffickers communicated purely by text message in order to avoid identification through their voices.

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Algerian athlete’s 10-year-ban for refusing to fight Israeli could spell end of his career

Sep 15 2021

Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine has recently been handed a 10-year ban after forfeiting from the Olympics because of fears of facing an Israeli opponent. The fight he forfeited was supposed to be held on the 26th of July and had he won, he would have had to face Israeli judoka Tohar Butbul. This isn’t the first time Fethi has done this, as he also forfeited from the 2019 world championships for the same reasons.

The International Olympic Committee decides to suspend the Algerian Fethi Nourine for 10 years for withdrawing from the Tokyo Olympics after learning that he had to fight an Israeli. Dignity is not for sale!
Fethi solidarity! pic.twitter.com/bjBwVbgaAB

— ✌️🇵🇸✌️ Mohammed Najjar (@hamada_pal2020) September 8, 2021

He will now miss the next two Olympics in Paris and Los Angeles but since he’s 30 will most probably not compete in Brisbane 11 years from now. Speaking to Sky News he said “We worked a lot to reach the Olympics, and the news came as a shock, a thunder. […] But the Palestinian cause is bigger than all of this.”

In a statement by the IJF (International Judo Federation) they said that Fethi and his coach had “used the Olympic Games as a platform for protest and promotion of political and religious propaganda” Fethi and his coach will also be banned from all IJF events meaning this will probably spell the end of his career.

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Refunds for all Maltese residents forced to quarantine in hotel says Bernard Grech

Sep 15 2021

Following public outcry for Maltese residents to no longer quarantine in hotels after coming from dark red countries, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech issued a statement calling for refunds to all who had to do so. In a tweet, Grech said that besides changing the policy following pressure from the Nationalist Party, Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne should see to the refunds of all the residents.

Besides changing policy TOMORROW, as @chrisfearne has pledged to do following pressure from @PNmalta Opposition, we also expect immediate refund to all 🇲🇹 residents who have been forced to stay at hotel.
Govt. must stop issuing rules that cannot stand up to human rights scrutiny.

— Bernard Grech (@bernardgrechmt) September 14, 2021

He concluded his tweet saying that the government should stop issuing rules that cannot stand up to human rights scrutiny. The health minister is expected to address these concerns and amend the regulations today 15th September 2021 following the rise in stories in which Maltese residents expressed concerns over the quarantine system for travellers. Do you agree with Grech’s refund statement?

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Photo Source: Business Insider, Bernard Grech Twitter