Rural environment fires part of Mediterranean natural cycle says professor

Jun 12 2022

Speaking with TVMNews, the University’s Biology head professor Sandro Lanfranco said that fires in the rural environment are part of the Mediterranean natural cycle.

Due to a lack of rainfall for months on end as well as the soil surface heat which contributes to heatwaves, such fires can only be expected.

Lanfranco said that dry grass serves as a fuel to fire, with human activity sometimes increasing the risks. Despite not damaging the soil, fires do however destroy what lies beneath.

Whereas some naturally occurring plants adapt and even use the fire to their advantage to free themselves from competitive plants, many farmers lose much of their agricultural product.

Also speaking with TVM, the Civil Protection Department revealed that it received 174 calls since the start of the year to control fires in rural areas. The two biggest fire-fighting operations occurred during the past two weeks.

In these cases, fire-fighters only use water to control the fire. Up to around 120,000 and 65,000 litres of water were used in the fires in the two latest cases of rural fires.

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Photo Source: Civil Protection Department, Steve Zammit Lupi FB

Ukrainian chemical plant hit during Russian shelling

Jun 12 2022

Russian shelling has caused a massive fire at a chemical plant in Ukrainian city Severodonetsk as non-stop fighting continues between the two military forces.

Ukrainian TV stations were informed that Saturday’s blaze started after a leak of tens of tonnes of oil from damage radiators at the Azot plant. Hundreds of civilians are allegedly sheltering at this same infrastructure.

The city has become the focus of Russian shelling efforts as it advances into Eastern Ukraine. With fighting lasting more than three months, Russia’s attempt to capture larger cities like Kyiv failed.

They are now instead trying to capture the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, which is collectively known as the Donbas region. Most of the city is already occupied by Russian forces, with the chemical plant sustaining shelling for hours on end.

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Billie Eilish pauses London show due to fan safety issues

Jun 12 2022

After several fans got into difficulties in immensely hot temperatures, singer Billie Eilish briefly paused her show at London’s O2 arena on Saturday to make sure everyone was ok.

This is not the first time Eilish has interrupted her show due to safety concerns when it comes to her fans. During her London show, she asked the O2 security team to distribute water to the audience.

At one point, fans started to yell out that they were being squished, prompting the young singer to halt the music until the pressure at the front of the stage calmed down.

At the O2 concert in London, fans even took matters into their own hands as one group formed a protective circle and turned on their phone lights to alert security. E

‘Take a step back, give everybody some space. If someone looks a little woozy, just tell someone’ she said. Back in February, Eilish interrupted her Happier Than Ever tour show in Atlanta after a fan was noted to be struggling for air.

She did not continue until the person could access an inhaler. And later that month she paused a show in New York’s Madison Square Garden to tell fans that they can sit down and take a breath.

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Gold medals for Maltese athletes during Small States Championships

Jun 12 2022

A quartet of female athletes managed to win three gold medals for Malta with some amazing results at the Championship for the Small States.

Janet Richard, Claire Azzopardi and the women’s quartet won gold in the 400m race, long jump and the Swedish relay respectively. The overall effort saw a second-place finish with 110 points, just behind Cyprus at 117 points.

Richard claimed the first Gold medal in the 400 meters when clocking in 55.12 seconds, beating Armenia’s Gayane Chiloyan’s seasonal best at 55.64.

Martha Spiteri also set a new personal best in the first heat as she emerged victorious with a time of 58.29s. Azzopardi too hit a new personal best in the long jump at 6.21m – quite ahead from second place Irma Gunnardsottir at 5.96, and bringing in the second gold medal.

The final gold medal came in a group effort during the Swedish relay when Azzopardi, Scicluna and Richard teamed up with Charlotte Wingfield to end up first with a time of 2:10:37.

As for the men’s quartet, Steve Camilleri, Beppe Grillo, Matthew Galea Soler and Ben Micallef settled for second place behind Moldova with a time of 1:55:84. Daniel Saliba brought in the silver medal in the 110m hurdles and matching his national record.

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