Supporters throw toys to show solidarity with earthquake child victims

Feb 27 2023

Fans of the Istanbul football club Besiktas threw thousands of stuffed toys onto the football pitch last Sunday to show solidarity with the children impacted by the earthquakes which hit the country in February.

The Turkish Super League game was paused after just 4 minutes and 17 seconds to let the fans throw the toys onto the pitch.

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Besiktas released a club statement, saying that fans threw “scarves, berets and plush toys on the ground of Vodafone Park to be given as a gift to the children in the earthquake region to cheer them up.”

As the death toll rises up to 50,000, with other earthquakes still hitting the regions, the fans wanted to raise the morale of all those undergoing the cataclysm. Players from both clubs volunteered to remove the toys from the pitch, as they will all be donated to children impacted by the quake.

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Matthew Caruana Galizia calls out George Degiorgio’s son

Feb 27 2023

Son of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, Matthew, took to social media to share an image of the reported son of George Degiorgio.

A photo of an allegedly deleted TikTok video was shared by the late journalist’s son, with the description reading:

‘I am Denzel. Son of George. The head of the local mafia. Denzel Degiorgio (@ilputzz)’. The image shared to Facebook was captioned: ‘He should be allowed to spend time with his family’.

This is of course in reference to a recent image released to social media which shows George Degiorgio at a party, despite serving a jail sentence for the assassination of the journalist back in 2017.

It was later revealed that Denzel was arrested on Sunday after leaving a Facebook comment on one of the photos of his father at the event. Denzel wrote ‘money talks’ when it was revealed that his father was allowed out of prison for a family baptism party.

He was reportedly seen entering the headquarters of the Financial Crimes Investigations Department on Sunday as he was to be interrogated.

A representative for Degiorgio insisted that everything was done legally and with all the necessary requests and authorisation from the authorities. Despite this, the photo earned the scorn and critique of many, including EP President Roberta Metsola.

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The Land Rovers Fest for charity has officially returned!

Feb 27 2023

Land Rover Fest 2023 is officially back, ready to raise funds in aid of the St Jeanne Antide Foundation.

The event is scheduled for the 29th and 30th of April 2023, and will be celebrating the Land Rover’s 7th anniversary. It will be held at the ASMK Race Track in Ta’ Qali and will be commemorating the 75 years of Land Rover between 1948 and 2023.

The foundation it will raise funds for is the St Jeanne Antide Foundation (SJAF), which is a family- and community-focused not-for profit organisation committed to identifying and supporting in a holistic manner very vulnerable and poor families. It was set up by the Malta Province of the Sisters of Charity of St Jeanne Antide in collaboration with lay persons and is administered by a Governing Board with a Chief Executive Officer.

SJAF actively works in partnership with community-based organizations, as well as state entities and NGOs that are national in scope. It engages in outreach work as a means of identifying and supporting hard-to-reach vulnerable and poor families, assisting them as close as possible to where they live.

Since its establishment, the Foundation has set up a number of core services. Being based in a local community, SJAF has naturally evolved into an organisation that is at the service of local communities neighbouring its headquarters. Its scope is local, national and international.

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Could a 4 day work week solve Malta’s traffic problems?

Feb 27 2023

There might be yet another reason as to why Malta should consider adopting a 4 day working week – and it could do with solving the well-known traffic problems the island is known for.

Simon Ursell and three other co-founders of environmental consultancy Tyler Grange in the UK decided to participate in the biggest ever four-day working week trial which took place from June to December 2022.

The increase in productivity, by around 22%, was very much welcomed and reported earlier on. However, the company wanted to measure the impact the shorter workweek on the company’s carbon footprint.

‘On average, we saw a 21% reduction in then number of miles travelled by car, explained Ursell. Employees used their additional days off offered the opportunity to reduce unnecessary travelling.

“Although climate benefits are the most challenging thing to measure, we have a lot of research showing that over time, as countries reduce hours of work, their carbon emissions fall” explained Juliet Schor, an economist and sociologist at Boston College.

‘A 10% reduction in hours is associated to an 8.6% fall in carbon footprint’, a study co-authored by Schor in 2012.

What does this have to do with Malta? Well, given the intense traffic jams which block off many roads as workers make their way to their respective work sites, a four day work week could limit a lot of travelling and open up more time for workers to find possibly community building activities on their time off.

When asked about the 4 day work week, finance minister Clyde Caruana had shut the idea down as he said that this would only be considered if the education levels of Malta improved considerably.

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