Wind alert: Gale Force 8 winds to hit Maltese islands over the weekend

Mar 25 2022

If you think last weekend was windy, get your windbreakers ready because we’re in for another weekend of wicked weather.

Various local Facebook pages have issued wind warnings over the weekend, with forecasts of gale force 7 winds on Saturday evening and early on Sunday. Local weather page ‘Aġġornament tat-temp’ forecasts cloudy weather on Saturday with southeastern winds of gale force 6 rising to gale force 7 in the evening with temperature highs of 17°C and lows of 12°C.

Meanwhile, ‘Malta Weather’ has published a ‘Gale Watch’ notice forecasting gale force 8 winds from a southeasterly direction during the weekend especially from late Saturday to early Sunday as a heat low pressure system develops over Algeria and will contrast with high pressure over eastern Libya!

“As per last weekend, this change in weather will bring dusty skies and some blood rain”, the page also warned.

What do you think of this weather

#MaltaDaily

Russia opens McDonald’s and Starbucks replacement and the logos are… questionable

Mar 25 2022

Following the global sanctions and nation-wide exits placed on Russia’s doorstep as a result of the ongoing attacks on Ukraine, a number of copycat establishments have started surfacing and we can’t believe our eyes.

Amongst others copycat brands, Starbucks & McDonald’s replacements have started popping up… with logos looking eerily similar to their American counterparts.

The Russian fast-food chain that Russian parliament’s speaker has proposed replace @McDonalds has filed for this trademark. Not kidding. pic.twitter.com/6GAUNnbHVm

— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) March 16, 2022

In the final months of the Soviet Union, McDonald’s first opened on January 31, 1990, welcoming queues of over 30,000 people on their first day. Following the recent crises, the beloved symbol of American culture is in the midst of the temporary closure of 847 branches employing 62,000 employees across the country.

Uncle Vanya’s is set to take McDonald’s place in Russia, with the logo application filed by Russia’s state duma chairman Vyacheslav Volodin. Several trademarks have reportedly been filed related to the McDonald’s name and the Golden Arches, journalist Ally Marotti has stated.

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A post shared by Кофе с собой в Севастополе (@starducks_svs)

Other copycat brands which have surfaced include a coffee chain by the name of Starducks Coffee. That’s right, Starducks.

What do you make of this?

#MaltaDaily

COVID prevention jab by AstraZeneca approved by European Medicines Agency

Mar 25 2022

On Thursday, the European Medicines Agency recommended approval for AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 prevention jab, which can be administered to individuals with issues with their immune system or severe reactions to regular vaccines.

The EMA human medicines committee stated that their recommendation “grants a marketing authorisation for Evusheld, developed by AstraZeneca for the prevention of COVID-19 in adults and adolescents from 12 years of age.”

Evusheld revealed that a test held on 5,000 people, who received two jabs, showed reduction of risk of COVID infection by 77 percent and protection for a period of six months.

The study was held before the emergence of the Omicron strain, with lab results showing that the “Omicron BA.1 variant may be less sensitive to tixagevimab and cilgavimab than the Omicron BA.2 variant.”

#MaltaDaily

14,000 voting documents uncollected as pick-up deadline closes

Mar 25 2022

Close to 14,000 voting documents have not been collected for Saturday’s election date after potential voters failed to collect their documents before the Thursday deadline.

This is a significant increase from the 2017 election, where 8,732 voting documents remained uncollected by deadline day. Last election, the voting population was 13,000 potential voters less that it is today, with the electoral commission to give an official press briefing with election-related figures on Friday.

With the amount of non-voters being taken into consideration paired with the potentially-increased voter apathy, many have been debating the potential election result with recent surveys predicting the voting margin to be around 30,000 votes in favour of the Labour Party.

What do you think the result will be?

#MaltaDaily