Two killed by Russian missiles in Polish village as tensions mount

Nov 15 2022

Two people have reportedly died Tuesday afternoon after a projectile struck an area in Przewodów, Poland near the Ukrainian border.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has called an emergency meeting of the top national security and defence officials of the country.

Government spokesman Piotr Mueller did not immediately confirm the information on the missile strike but said that the meeting was held due to a crisis situation.

A senior US intelligence official confirmed to AP that Russian missiles crossed into Poland, which is an EU and NATO member bordering Ukraine.

The White House could not confirm the information on the two missiles either, but President of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda said that the news was concerning. ‘Every inch of NATO territory must be defended’ said the Prime Minister.

This is a developing story.

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Plans to rebuild world’s largest plane following Russian bombing

Nov 15 2022

The destruction of the world’s largest commercial plane, the Antonov AN-225, came as a heartbreak to many aviation geeks around the world.

The plane was destroyed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine after the aircraft was bombed in February at its base in Hostomel, just near capital city Kyiv.

The manufacturers tweeted out saying that the dream will never die and it seems as though they will stay true to their word and have blueprints and plans forming to rebuild the air vehicle.

Nicknamed ‘Mriya’, which is Ukrainian for ‘dream’, the massive plane was built back in the 1980s to carry the Soviet space shuttle. It was then used as a cargo transporter with twice the hold capacity as a Boeing 747.

This earned it cult status amongst fans of aviation. Stretching 84 metres, it had the longest wingspan of any fully operational airplane as well as being considered the heaviest aircraft ever built.

The nose of the aircraft had apparently taken a direct artillery hit and was completely destroyed. There was extensive damage to the wings and some of the engines. The tail end section was spared from any large impacts.

The rebuild project has already started, with the estimated repair costs predicted to bill over €500 million to get it back into the air. The company reportedly has 30% of required components for rebuilding established.

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€51,988 in undeclared cash intercepted during October 2022

Nov 15 2022

A total of €51,988 in undeclared cash were intercepted by Customs Malta at the Malta International Airport during the month October 2022.

The cash was intercepted in 4 separate cases whereby a Russian, two Ukrainians and a Libyan man were found to be carrying substantial amounts of undeclared cash.

They were all en route to Istanbul before they were stopped by Customs Malta. All passengers were offered an out-of-court settlement to which they all agreed upon and subsequently fined.

Since January 2022, Customs Malt intercepted up to €750,204 in undeclared cash in 52 separate cases.

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A 2.1% increase in teaching and non-teaching staff during 2020/21

Nov 15 2022

According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), the total teaching and non-teaching staff in formal education during the 2020/21 academic year amounted to 18,061. This is an increase of 2.1% when compared to the previous academic year.

Classroom teachers and academic staff in pre-primary to tertiary education institutions during the same year increase by 0.6% over the previous year. This was a total of 9.731.

Of these, 26.5% were teachers at the upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary levels. 21.6% were primary teachers. The largest share of teaching personnel were females at a total of 66.7%.

Full time teachers accounted for 85.7% of the total. The total tertiary level male academic staff stood at 1,303 (63%). The same year saw 16.3 of all teaching staff between the ages of 30 and 34. This was followed by the 40 to 44 age group at 15.4%.

The proportion of teaching staff in state-run institutions corresponded to 74.2$ of the total teaching staff. Church schools followed suit at 15.6% and then private schools at 10.3%.

The overall teacher to student ratio stood at 8.9 pupils per teacher. The highest ratio was recorded in private schools at 11.5 pupils per teacher.

Non-teaching staff in education amounted to 8.870 during the same year. This is an increase of 3.8% when compared to the previous academic year. Females represented 73.7% of non-teaching staff. More than half were teacher aides at 50.9% (4,518).

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