The Lord of the Rings series to cost $465 million for first season

Apr 19 2021

Amazon is planning a series based on the J.R.R Tolkien novels ‘The Lord of the Rings’, and the first season alone is set to cost the production company $465 million. The immensely anticipated series is said to be ‘the largest television series ever made’ and the apparent first season cost seems to back it up. Stuart Nash, Minister for Economic Development and Tourism in New Zealand, where the series is set to be filmed, said that Amazon is going to spend about NZ$650 million in season one.

If we were to compare it to other productions, Game of Thrones cost about $100 million per season. The series itself is set thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, showing fans of the Middle-Earth universe the very formation of their favourite fictional world.

#MaltaDaily

US backing Japan’s plan to dump radioactive Fukushima water into Pacific Ocean

Apr 19 2021

Japan has made news headlines when it announced that it will be dumping radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean. The US has just stated that it supports Japan’s plan to do so. One million tonnes of contaminated water will be dumped into the pacific following the catastrophic nuclear accident ten years ago.

The plans have raised controversy from its neighbours and the wider globe, including South Korea, China and Russia. US climate envoy John Kerry stated that the US is confident that the ‘government of Japan is in very full consultations with the [International Atomic Energy Agency].’ He added that Japan’s plans would be monitored to make sure there are no public health threats.

#MaltaDaily

Jose Mourinho sacked by Tottenham Hotspur

Apr 19 2021

Tottenham Hotspur coach Jose Mourinho has been sacked by the team just a week ahead of Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Manchester City. Mourinho had replaced Mauricio Pochettino in November 2019, signing a deal until the end of the 2023 season. However, the club confirmed this Monday morning that Mourinho and his coaching staff had all ben ‘relieved of their duties’.

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy stated that ‘Jose is a true professional who showed enormous resilience during the pandemic. On a personal level I have enjoyed working with him and regret that things have not worked out as we both had envisaged. He will always be welcome here and we should like to thank him and his coaching staff for their contribution.’

#MaltaDaily

60 COVID-19 cases registered with 41 recoveries

Apr 19 2021

Malta has registered 60 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours from 1,580 swab tests, while 41 patients have recovered. This information was announced by the official Facebook page of Malta’s Ministry for Health.

As of Monday 19th April 2021, 276,516 vaccine doses were administered of which 84,933 were 2nd doses.

To date, Malta has registered 30,026 COVID-19 cases in total, of which: 29,003 have recovered, 409 died and 614 are still active.

#MaltaDaily