Valentine’s Day has quite the bloody and bizarre history

Feb 14 2022

The colour red is highly associated with Valentine’s Day – the roses, the hearts and the teddy bears donning scarlet. However, the colour red might be associated to the holiday in a far gorier and bloodier fashion as the holiday has a history of beheadings, martyrdom and power-hungry emperors.

Valentine’s Day is a celebration of Saint Valentine, a martyr within the Catholic Church. However, Saint Valentine might have been one of three Valentines, all of whom died under Emperor Claudius II.The first one was allegedly a romantic and rebellious priest who went against the emperor’s order to ban soldiers from marrying as Claudius believed that single men made better troops.

This Valentine married them in secret, leading to his beheading upon being caught. The second Valentine was also beheaded, with the third being arrested for helping Christians escape Roman prisons.Due to a lack of historical records, it is difficult to tell whether Saint Valentine was one or all three of these men. As with legends and other such events, the Valentines were moulded into one celebration.

Some have suggested the holiday is there to commemorate the saint’s death but others have argued that it is a replacement for the festival Lupercalia. This was a Roman fertility festival, in which which priests would gather at a cave where the founders of Rome, Remus and Romolus, were said to have been raised by a wolf.

Here animal sacrifices- possibly of goats and dogs – were allegedly carried out, followed by some bizarre rituals carried out to increase fertility. Again, take all this with a grain of salt. Today, the holiday is estimated to cost people around £40 on average on Valentine’s day. It was found that around one in ten people claim to buy their partners flowers, but let’s be honest – that’s better than sacrificing a goat for them.

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Orizzont editor Victor Vella suspended following social injustice reporting

Orizzont editor Victor Vella suspended follow social injustice reporting

Feb 14 2022

Editor-in-chief of newspapers L-Orizzont and it-Torċa Victor Vella has been suspended by Union Print, owner of the newspapers. The writer was suspended last month after he refused to stop publishing stories about workers’ rights, migration and other social injustices. The suspension was revealed by Newsbook on Sunday evening.

Vella will be facing disciplinary proceedings, risking being sacked from the post after a 27-year journalism career. Union Print is owned by the General Workers Union and union President Victor Carachi is listed as the publisher’s sole director. A GWU spokesperson however denied that the suspension had any link to the newspaper’s editorial line and described it as a purely administrative matter.

The GWU spokesperson said that the union would be assisting Vella in his disciplinary proceedings with Union Print, its own subsidiary. Despite denial by the GWU, sources close to the newspapers informed Times of Malta that persons high up in the union were unhappy with Vella’s editorial policy on social issues as it ‘put the government in bad light.’

Both l-Orizzont and it-Torċa ran stories about people working on low salaries and in precarious situations. They also wrote about people struggling to cope with rising costs of living, people facing housing difficulties, migration and a report on the urge in food prices in supermarkets.

After newspapers were issued, the newsroom would get calls from above and be pressured to stop publishing such stories, with migration being one of their biggest bones of contention. Vella declined to comment pending disciplinary proceedings when contacted by Times of Malta.

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Around 1 million tourists came to Malta in 2021 as sector improves

Feb 14 2022

Around 1 million people visited Malta during 2021, meaning the numbers recovered slightly when compared to the previous year when the pandemic hit.However, numbers still remain significantly lower than 2019, as 2021 registered a total of 969,246 visitors entering the island. The National Statistics Office (NSO) released the data on Monday.

This is a 47% increase over the 659,513 visitors who came to the island during the pandemic’s first year. This is still far below the 2,771,888 of 2019. Around 42.1% of visitors were aged between 25 and 44 years, while another 28.3% were aged between 45 and 64. 21.9% were people aged under 24, with the remaining visitors aged over 65.

Nights spent also improved as the total increased by 60.5%, surpassing 8.3 million nights. The total tourism expenditure was estimated at €870.7 million.This was an increase of 91.3% compared to the previous year. The total expenditure per capita stood at €899, increasing from €691 in 2020 and €807 in 2019.

Tourists coming from Australia spent the most days when compared with other tourists. This was followed by tourists from the USA, Switzerland, Ireland and the UK. With most travelling to Malta on holiday, 71.2% of the visitors were first-time tourists travelling to Malta. This doubled from the amount of first time tourists who came in 2020 when the pandemic hit, with visitors even staying longer.

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Two men arrested over massive 30kg drug bust

Feb 14 2022

Two Maltese men were arrested in connection to a bust of up to 34kg of drugs, suspected to be cannabis set for importation. It’s value is set to amount to up to €700,000.

The arrests were carried out after days of observation of the suspected persons who were bringing in drugs into Malta from Sicily. The men were using a garage in Ħaż-Żebbuġ.

The Police Drug Squad, assisted by the Rapid Intervention Unity (RIU), followed a van late on Saturday night after it landed in Malta from Sicily. The vehicle made its way to the Żebbuġ garage, out of which two cars emerged.

However, police surrounded the vehicles, arresting the two men. Police found a bag filled up with approximately €300,000 in cash. Due to suspicions of fake compartments in the vehicle, police dismantled the metal to find the drugs.

The two men, one 39-years of age and another 36-years-old, are being kept under arrest in the police general headquarters in Floriana. They are expected to be taken to court later today, accused of association with drug trafficking and possession of drugs as well as money laundering.

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