Three-year ‘breather’ period proposed for Malta-UK medicine imports

Dec 18 2021

The European Commission announced on Friday that it plans to give Malta a three-year reprieve from medicines import rules to help lessen Brexit pressure on local distributors.

The proposals are a means to ensure the continued supply of medicines from the UK to Malta as well as Cyprus and Ireland. Malta will be benefitting from a number of derogations and exemptions for a three-year period if implemented.

Medicines from the UK will not, for that period, require manufacturing authorisations nor new batch testing if already tested to be allowed into the country. The plan will need approval by the European Parliament and EU leaders.

With Malta historically relying on imports of medicines from the UK, the arrangement was put into muddy waters due to UK’s exit from the EU. The UK is now considered a third country by the EU and thus no longer part of the single market for pharmaceuticals.

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Photo Source: Dachser

How freezing cold will it actually get this weekend? Forecasters explain all

Dec 18 2021

Earlier this week, Malta Weather posted an update about this weekend’s weather forecast which predicted intensely cold temperatures feeling like below freezing.

And despite it seemingly being a clear and sunny day, most forecasts are preparing us for what might be one of the coldest nights on the island. It’s not that we don’t experience cold in Malta, but the predicted temperatures are set to be somewhat more intense.

Malta Weather’s Facebook post predicted that a strong continental North Northeast Force 7 wind is expected to hit Malta early Sunday and will drive the wind-chill factor to below freezing. Soft hail is also slightly probable.

Aggornament tat-Temp also hailed something similar, but also emphasised that it might be short-lived. Tonight will be the climax, the page said, ‘where the night is concretely indicated to touch 6 degrees Celsius.

The page forecasted how the temperatures are set to switch to higher levels due to an area of high pressure very soon afterwards. Malta International Airport’s weather page is also expecting a low 8 degrees Celsius, albeit with highs of 16 throughout the day.

Despite all this, we recommend you huddle up, whether at home or if you’re going out as it’s set to be one cold night. And if we’re lucky, we’ll see some hail-covered streets!

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Photo Source: Father Julian’s Blog, Malta Weather Page FB

Kanye West first artist in history to have 10 albums streamed over 1 billion times

Kanye West first artist in history to have 10 albums streamed more than 1 billion times

Dec 18 2021

Kanye West is no stranger to massive achievements, but his game changing album 808s & Heartbreaks managed to register more than a billion Spotify streams.

This means that West, now legally named Ye, has become the first artist in history to have 10 studio albums to be streamed a billion times each on the platform.

Ye has around 46 million active listeners on his Spotify account every month, with most artists settling for having a single song reach a billion streams.

The albums in this list are College Dropout, Late Registration, Graduation, 808s, Yeezus, My Beautiful Dark Twist Fantasy, Watch The Throne, The Life of Pablo, Ye, and Donda.

The rapper managed to do that a whopping 10 times across 10 different studio albums. Only Jesus is King, Kids See Ghosts and collaboration album Cruel Summer haven’t yet reached a billion streams.

To make matters more impressive, more than half of the albums in the list came out before the streaming era had kicked off. Donda, his latest project, got a billion streams within just a few weeks of release. He is followed by Eminem and Drake.

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Photo Source: Sky News

Police seize 1kg of cocaine and 15kg cannabis off Italian man

Dec 18 2021

Following several days of investigations and observations by Malta’s anti-drug police squad, a 29-year-old Italian man was arrested over the possession of a large amount of drugs.

The man, resident of San Pawl il-Bahar, was approached by police on Wednesday. The police found 15kg of cannabis and 1kg of cocaine in his garage, amounting to a total value of €450,000. Around €250,000 in cash was also discovered.

Just days after parliament approved legalisation for the personal use of cannabis, drug trafficking will still remain illegal under the new rules. Magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo is overseeing the inquiry.

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Photo Source: Malta Police Force Communication