Новости за 31.12.2021

Actress Betty White, who made US television audiences laugh for more than seven decades, starring on popular sitcoms The Golden Girls and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, has died, US media reported Friday. She was 99. The pioneering Emmy-winning comedienne enjoyed one of the longest careers in showbiz history: she began regularly appearing on television in 1949 and had a voice role in Toy Story 4 in 2019.  "Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever," her agent Jeff Witjas told People magazine in a statement. Читать дальше...

Russia head into their defence of the ATP Cup with a team depleted by injuries and COVID-19, but world number two Daniil Medvedev said Friday it only made him want to win more. Three of the four team members that triumphed for a ruthless Russia in the final against Italy in 2021 withdrew ahead of the 16-team event in Sydney, which starts on Saturday. They included fifth-ranked Andrey Rublev, who contracted coronavirus at an Abu Dhabi exhibition this month. World number 18 Aslan Karatsev and world number 172 Evgeny Donskoy are also missing. Читать дальше...

Improving the environment we live in and ridding the country of hate speech are among the Prime Minister's priorities for the new year. Addressing the nation at the end of 2021, Robert Abela said the country needed to address "a new priority: the environment and our quality of life". Climate change, Abela said, was a global threat. And while Malta might be a small state, and, consequently, a small polluter, it too needed to do its part. "I very much look forward to seeing the results of the greenest incentives we have ever introduced ... Читать дальше...

Bernard Grech heralded the new year by urging voters to work with him to give the country new hope in 2022.  "I believe we both agree that our country could be better than it currently is," he addressed viewers on Facebook. "We need to continue building on hard work, generosity and the compassion that we have always shown each other." "I believe we both want a Malta that awards hard and honest work. This should be the foundation of everything: whoever works hard is successful and whoever does... Читать дальше...

Anthony Manduca pays tribute to some of the prominent Maltese people who died in 2021. Anthony D’Amato, co-owner of the world’s ‘oldest’ record store, died on January 3, aged 75. D’Amato dedicated over 60 years of his life to ensuring people’s musical tastes were catered for. His D’Amato Records was dubbed the world’s oldest record store and dates back to 1885. The international media called his business the “holy grail of record shops”.  John Aquilina, co-founder of Golden Harvest, died on January 14. Читать дальше...

Updated January 1, 2022 The world ushered in 2022 on Friday with scaled-back celebrations due to new restrictions aimed at slowing soaring COVID cases -- although hope remained for a better new year. The past 12 months saw a new US president and a fresh Adele album, the first spectator-free Olympics, and dreams of democracy from Afghanistan to Sudan and Hong Kong crushed by authoritarian regimes. But the pandemic -- now entering its third year -- still dominated life around the globe. More than... Читать дальше...

An ethics investigation into Nationalist mayor Anne Marie Muscat Fenech Adami will only formally kick-off in January, the party has confirmed. Muscat Fenech Adami has shunned calls by the party to resign as Naxxar mayor over an undeclared conflict of interest during a Planning Authority vote. She voted in favour of a massive residential and commercial complex on the parking lot of the former Naxxar trade fair grounds despite the PN saying it instructed her to vote against the project. It later... Читать дальше...

A 54-year old man was remanded in custody on New Year’s Eve following a violent incident with his sister which landed him in court facing charges of attempted homicide. The Kalkara resident, whose name is being withheld to safeguard the identity of his alleged victim, was escorted to court on Friday following the violent episode which took place at Xghajra on Thursday morning at around 10am. The violence was allegedly triggered by a dispute between the two siblings over a room that the accused rented out to his sister. Читать дальше...

Southampton’s home match against Newcastle on Sunday is the latest Premier League fixture to be called off after a coronavirus outbreak in the visitors’ camp. “Sunday’s Premier League clash between Southampton and Newcastle United at St. Mary’s Stadium has been postponed due to ongoing Covid-19 cases and injuries amongst the Magpies’ first-team squad,” said a Newcastle statement. The Premier League said it had accepted the request to postpone the match because Newcastle did not have the required... Читать дальше...

Scottish Premiership club Celtic on Friday announced the signing of Japanese trio Yosuke Ideguchi, Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate, with manager Ange Postecoglou saying they would “excite” the fans. International midfielder Ideguchi, 25, will arrive on a long-term deal from Gamba Osaka and the versatile Hatate, 24, joins from Kawasaki Frontale Forward Maeda, 24, who is also a Japan international, will join from Yokohama F. Marinos, initially on loan until the end of the season but with a compulsory purchase clause included. Читать дальше...

Nigeria have been forced to make four late changes to their final Africa Cup of Nations squad with Napoli striker Victor Osimhen and Watford winger Emmanuel Dennis missing it. Defender Shehu Abdullahi and Leon Balogun are the other two players who will sit out the biennial African football showpiece being hosted by Cameroon and which runs from January 9 to February 6. Osimhen has been ruled out after he contracted Coronavirus and has yet to fully recover from facial fractures that required surgery... Читать дальше...

Updated 3.45pm with unions' statements Schools and childcare centres will physically reopen their doors on January 10, instead of next week, as originally planned. Any lessons that had been planned for next week will be held online instead, the Education Ministry said on Friday. State schools were meant to reopen on January 7, while private schools were planning on reopening as early as Wednesday. The decision was taken by a working group made up of the Malta Union of teachers, representatives of Church... Читать дальше...

An important showcase is approaching for Maltese sensation Haley Bugeja as her Sassuolo side will be involved in the four-team Italian women’s Super Cup, next week. Sassuolo are one of the four semi-finalists that will take field on January 5, with Bugeja’s side set to meet Italian giants and tournament favourites Juventus at the Stadio Benito Stirpe of Frosinone. Continue reading this article and watch her interview on Sports Desk. 

An unintelligent comedy by an intelligently comedic director, Don’t Look Up fails to be humorous. There is a reason why the dystopian worlds of Black Mirror never try to be funny: they know better. As prophesised, the end is nigh. Temperatures rise and carbon footprints keep increasing their shoe size, global warming seems to be the hot button topic of the 21st century – the hallmark of humanity’s success lies in our blissful ignorance. And we keep talking about it. Don’t Look Up is neither a... Читать дальше...

Cheques may take up to six days to clear while cash deposits could be delayed for up to three days as of Saturday, after the Central Bank allowed banks some leeway to help them weather COVID-19 staff shortages.  The relaxed clearing rules form part of a Central Bank directive aimed at outlining banks' "contingency arrangements".  So-called Directive 17 sets the "maximum outages allowed to banks as part of their contingency arrangements when providing essential services to their clients". Such... Читать дальше...

Mosta FC have announced that they have reached an agreement to part ways with goalkeeper Marko Jovicic and defender Mehdi Metemaj. Serbian goalkeeper Jovicic and Austrian defender Hetemaj arrived at Mosta FC last September and enjoyed a consistent run in the club’s first team. The Blues opted to sign Jovicic after they were forced to enter into the market to sign a goalkeeper after Health Authorities in Malta had stopped their regular goalkeeper Christopher Maffoumbi from returning to Malta after... Читать дальше...

Updated 3.25pm A parliamentary seat left vacant by the resignation of Labour MP Silvio Grixti will be filled by whoever the government wants, after no candidates submitted nominations for a casual election to replace him.    In a brief statement on Friday, the electoral commission said no names to fill the third district seat were received by the end of the nomination period earlier on Friday.  That stands in stark contrast to what happened when a seat became available in the district two years ago. Читать дальше...

Israel on Friday started giving fourth COVID vaccine shots to people with weakened immunity, becoming one of the first countries to do so in hopes of countering a case surge driven by the Omicron variant. The effort comes almost exactly one year after Israel began a massive vaccination drive on the back of a data-sharing accord with US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer. Israel's health ministry on Thursday approved giving a fourth shot for immunocompromised people, the same day that authorities reported more than 4,000 new cases of the disease... Читать дальше...

Manchester City defender Joao Cancelo says he suffered facial injuries when he was assaulted by a gang of burglars who “tried to hurt” his family. The Portugal international posted a picture on Instagram on Thursday evening, which showed a cut above his right eye. The 27-year-old full-back did not say where the attack took place, but City said in a statement it was during a burglary at the player’s home. “Unfortunately today I was assaulted by four cowards who hurt me and tried to hurt my family,” Cancelo posted. Читать дальше...

Just five per cent of Victor Calvagna’s brain continues to function, one of his daughters said on Friday in a heartfelt social media post in which she admits that she has already “said goodbye to my father”. Calvagna, a paediatric cancer doctor who became a household name as president of children’s charity Puttinu Cares, was hit by a car as he was jogging in Qawra earlier this week. The accident caused him to lose 95 per cent of his brain function, his daughter Francesca Coleiro Calvagna wrote on Facebook... Читать дальше...

A total of 1,403 patients tested positive for COVID-19 between Thursday and Friday, the health authorities announced in their daily update as they also confirmed a 62-year-old man died while infected.  The number of new cases is the highest ever since the start of the pandemic.  According to the data, 98 patients recovered overnight meaning there are currently 11,441 active cases.  The number of patients in hospital stood at 100, with eight patients in the ITU. Both the number of patients in hospital and the ITU increased slightly overnight.

Chief Medical Officer Walter Busuttil has ruled out making self-testing kits for COVID-19 legal, citing concerns about their accuracy when compared to tests carried out at authorised testing centres.  His comments come amid reports of delays in appointments for PCR tests for those with COVID-19 symptoms.  "Different countries are taking different decisions on this issue [the use of self-tests]. So far, the decision is that we do not move towards allowing self-testing.  "The disadvantage is that... Читать дальше...

The wage supplement ought to be extended until at least March of next year, according to the Malta Chamber of SMEs, which also called for revision of the amount paid by the government for those forced to take the special quarantine leave. The CEO of the Malta Chamber of SMEs, Abigail Mamo, said when contacted on Thursday that while the extension of the wage supplement until January was a “step in the right direction”, businesses needed to plan ahead, so the wage supplement should be extended until... Читать дальше...

Spazju Kreattiv is on Saturday showing the MET Opera production of Cinderella. Laurent Pelly’s storybook staging of Massenet’s Cendrillon is presented with an all-new English translation in an abridged 90-minute adaptation, with mezzo soprano Isabel Leonard as its rags-to-riches princess. Maestro Emmanuel Villaume leads a delightful cast, which includes mezzo soprano Emily D’Angelo as Cinderella’s Prince Charming, soprano Jessica Pratt as her Fairy Godmother, and mezzo soprano Stephanie Blythe... Читать дальше...

A statue of Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has caused a stir in the southern Indian state of Goa, with locals accusing officials of insensitivity for honouring a sports star from the region’s former colonial power. Protesters with black flags gathered at the site after the statue was unveiled this week in the town of Calangute. They expressed anger that authorities had shunned Indian sports stars and chosen a player from Portugal, which granted Goa independence in 1961. Micky Fernandes... Читать дальше...