World’s most expensive cities to live in – Malta not in top 50

Dec 2 2022

Various surveys have conducted research to find out which are the most expensive cities to live in across the world – and Malta is nowhere to be seen on any list.

From a 2022 cost of living study conducted by Mercer, which compared the prices of housing, transportation, food, clothing and other essentials, a total of 55 cities were listed, with Hong Kong, China taking top spot.

The main reason the Chinese city topped the list was its over 7 million people living in it, with the competitive demand for housing sky-rocketing prices.

In another study, the Worldwide Cost of Living Index, which was released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), it was found that the average cost of living is up 8.1% in 2022.

According to this list, New York and Singapore tied in top place, followed by Tel Aviv Israel. The EIU tracked everyday expenses in 172 cities around the world. Most of this is being owed to the Ukraine war and the pandemic’s consequences.

A recent NSO report revealed that in Malta, 20.3% of the Maltese population was at risk of poverty and social exclusion. This year, the at risk of poverty threshold was calculated at €10,222.

#MaltaDaily

25 storm calls addressed by Civil Protection last weekend

Dec 2 2022

The Civil Protection Department addressed 25 storm related calls last weekend, Times of Malta revealed, after the islands were hit by severe weather.

Over 70 officers from the department were on the ground at any one time across Saturday and Sunday, helping people as vehicles got stuck in water and other debris disrupted traffic and commuting.

A CPD spokesperson told the newsroom tat the most challenging job was rescuing people from vehicles stuck in flooded areas.

Giving a shout out to NGOs who support the department on such days, the spokesperson also said that in such situations the department calls in additional resources to ensure maximum safety for all.

Heavy investment into additional vehicles and equipment massively helps, the spokesperson said, even if getting to the incident spot in such weather is a challenge in itself.

Malta was battered by rain, heavy wind as well as thunder and lightning. The worse seems to have passed for now as Malta is expected to have mainly sunny weather this weekend.

#MaltaDaily

Kanye kicked off Twitter again after saying ‘I like Hitler’

Dec 2 2022

What could officially be the final nail in the coffin for rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, came after comments made about Adolf Hitler and other incitements to violence.

Appearing on renowned conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ InfoWars on Thursday 1st December, Ye claimed he believes Nazis did good things and praised Adolf Hitler.

“Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler” -Ye pic.twitter.com/05dwYsKLXf

— Heisenberg Fan Account (PARODY) (@methalcohol) December 1, 2022

‘Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler’ said the rapper on the show. This comes after Ye was reinstated to Twitter after having it banned when Musk took over Twitter.

Apart from the Hitler comments, Ye shared images of Musk on a yacht as well as a Nazi swastika inside the Jewish Star of David. To this, he used the hashtags LOVESPEECH and LOVE EVERYONE.

This recent incident led to Musk replying to Tweets about the rapper saying: ‘I tried my best. Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended.’

In screenshots posted by Ye before the account was suspended, Musk reportedly sent a text message saying: ‘Sorry, but you have gone too far. This is not love.’ He also clarified Ye was being removed for the comments and not the unflattering photo of himself.

#MaltaDaily

Maltese couple teams up for Malta in Brussels

Dec 2 2022

MEP Cyrus Engerer and MP Randolph De Battista took part in discussions held at the European Parliament in Belgium.

This was the first time that the Maltese couple sat on the seats of the same parliament.

De Battista was representing the Maltese Parliament whilst Engerer represented the European Parliament during discussions about rule of law, democracy, and fundamental rights.

Posting on social media, MEP Cyrus Engerer shared an interesting fact: “I know of 4 different couples where one person is an MEP and the other in the national parliament or senate.”

#MaltaDaily