Nationalist MPs called on Saturday morning to Tas-Silg retreat house for a morning of 'discussions'
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Saturday, October 1, 2016
Nationalist Party’s parliamentary group meets at tas-Silg retreat house
Spice Girls scold Simon Cowell for asking contestant to 'peel away' make-up
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International Day of Older Persons celebrated at Casa Antonia
Contrary to the widely-held ageist stereotypes, research from the International Federation on Ageing shows that the older you are, the happier you become. This optimism was on display at Casa Antonia Nursing and Residential Home where residents celebrated the International Day of Older Persons (IDOP) with a captivating show of singing and merrymaking.
The day began with a humble thanksgiving mass but as it wore on, the vibrancy of the elderly persons could not be contained as residents sang together classic Maltese oldies such as Ċeklem Ċeklem Karozzin, Lanċa Gejja, It-Tifla tal-Kampanja, It-Tieġ tan-Neputija, among others.
The festive spirit continued as residents recalled some of the best memories of their life in what became an enriching discussion. The path down the memory lane highlighted both interesting personal anecdotes and historical events of significance.
The International Day of Older Persons is a designated international day of the United Nations system and is an opportunity to highlight the important contributions that older people make to society. Held on 1st October each year, the theme for 2016, Take a Stand Against Ageism, challenged everyone to consider ageism – the negative attitudes and discrimination based on age – and the detrimental impact it has on older people.
Dr Sarah Cassar, Casa Antonia General Manager, said: "Age is truly just a number. Celebrating the vibrancy of our residents on occasions such as the International Day of Older Persons is an opportunity to share their wisdom and impact on society but also to dispel the stereotypes of ageing that perpetuate ageist attitudes."
Casa Antonia residence has established itself as one of Malta's top nursing and residential homes. Employing over 120 well trained staff enables the home to offer a holistic services and truly personalised care for residents. The 150-bed facility offers long-term care, short-stay convalescence, rehabilitation and respite care and extra services such as hairdressing, beautician, social activities, and catering for private parties amongst others.
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Lewis Hamilton takes pole position at Malaysian Grand Prix
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton put himself in the best possible position to wrest back the lead in the Formula One drivers championship by claiming pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix on Saturday.
Hamilton beat his teammate and title rival Nico Rosberg by four tenths of a second in qualifying.
The British driver headed Mercedes' first-ever front-row lockout in Malaysia and set a new Formula One lap record at the Sepang International Circuit with a time of 1 minute, 32.850 seconds.
While Hamilton has been unconvincing in race starts this season, his impressive performance Saturday should provide a timely confidence boost after Rosberg's hat trick of race victories in the preceding races.
"Today the car felt fantastic, I really enjoyed the lap," Hamilton said. "It could have been faster.
"I don't feel anything is going to stop us (in the race). As a team we have great pace and if you look at the last race, we had pretty good starts and we continuously work on that. That's not something I'm going to let in my mind. I'm thinking of getting a launch off the grid and the car feels really good on the long runs."
Rosberg was marginally off Hamilton's pace throughout his last flying lap and a wobble on the final corner put paid to his pole chances. He denied that he went out on that last lap only targeting second, given Hamilton's superb time.
"Of course I was going for pole, what else would I be doing out there?" Rosberg said. "It would have been close but I made a mistake going into the last corner.
"Second place, I have to live with that now, it doesn't mean a victory is not possible tomorrow. I'm still optimistic."
Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo qualified third and fourth respectively, ahead of the Ferrari pair of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.
Force India drivers Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg were seventh and eighth, followed by McLaren's Jenson Button ninth for his 300th F1 start, and Felipe Massa of Williams 10th.
While Mercedes will be expected to convert its front row spots into a race win — the team has won all but one race this season, with the exception being caused by a collision between its two drivers — Red Bull and Ferrari had both shown strong race pace in practice, equal to that of the Mercedes.
"We've made changes after Singapore and it seemed to work," Verstappen said. "The long run pace looked promising and I'm very pleased to qualify behind the Mercedes cars."
Race strategy is not expected to be significant on Sunday, with two pitstops and long stints on the medium and hard tires expected by all runners due to the low levels of tire degradation on the very smooth new surface.
"I don't think it's going to be too exciting strategy-wise because the tires are pretty similar," Rosberg said. "I don't think it'll be such a deciding factor."
Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso made no serious attempt to get out of the Q1 qualifying period due to a slew of grid penalties for installing all new engine parts, and was going to start last regardless.
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Pink October: breast cancer campaign launched today - Edith Hili shares her battle with disease
The annual month-long international breast cancer initiative, Pink October, kicks off today with a number of informative and fund-raising events set to take place throughout the month.
The three main aims of this initiative are to spread information, raise funds for the purchasing of equipment that will facilitate breast cancer treatment and lastly promote awareness amongst men and women to get regular check-ups.
Malta registered the second highest incidence rate for breast cancer in 2011, according to Eurostat figures. Since then, the absolute number of newly registered cases of breast cancer per year have gone down marginally, from 349 in 2011 to 209 in 2013, the most recent data from the national directorate for health information shows.
Speaking with The Malta Independent about her ordeal with breast cancer, Edith Hili shares her story and the message to all those battling cancer to fight as hard as they can.
"I was diagnosed on 11 December 2013 – a date in your life you never forget.
"It happened through a routine visit to my gynaecologist, nothing to do with the breast at all. I was actually wondering if anything else that was wrong because I was putting on weight and thought I was become gluten intolerant. She discovered the lump on my breast."
She explained that her treatment entailed an "immediate ultra sound following the discovery of the lump, and biopsy. The results take 10 days to come out, and that is a nightmare in itself. They immediately told me that I had cancer, because it was obvious from the ultrasound, and you can tell by the look on the doctor's face. It turned out that I had invasive grade 3 breast cancer, meaning it can spread very quickly so we had to get the ball rolling. I had surgery on the 29 December. Things moved very quickly. After the lumpectomy more tests were done, and histology didn't assure us that it hadn't spread elsewhere so we had to start chemo, which happened on 9 January.
"It is important to understand that people can't dilly dally, you need to read and you need to take action.
"I had surgery again, massive surgery – designed and programmed followed by radiotherapy. Unfortunately because you are so weak from the treatment I got an infection and had to have another surgery. Mentally it was quite destroying and last cosmetic surgery."
Asked whether she is in the clear, Ms Hili promptly said "nobody is ever in the clear, no doctor will tell you that, but they said that I am in remission. People need to understand that cancer survivors live with this nightmare, will it come back? You live in fear.
"For me the mental pain was much worse than the physical pain. I have two adult children and I am single. One was heavily pregnant and the other is at a cross-roads so I mainly worried about them. I couldn't worry about myself. The physical pain is all clinical, you do what the doctors tell you, to the letter. I studied everything I could about this situation and decided to fight back as hard as I could. I walked every day, even the day after chemotherapy, I tried to do what exercise I could. I ate healthily, sanitisation had to multiply because of infection, a lot of medication, pills and comfort medicine were given to me to get through the treatment.
"You never think it could happen to you. We are all aware, I had already done a mammogram two years before but you never think it's going to happen to you. I drink in only social occasions, I don't smoke and I have been an athlete my whole life. I was shocked from the physical aspect."
She said that she never carried out any self-examinations.
"But I had done two mammograms. The strange thing is that nobody on either side of my family had breast cancer. I found out through a simple, routine check-up, but I'm the type of person that does a full blood test every two years.
"There is a lot of awareness, newspapers and magazines cover the issue all the time, but you never think it's going to happen to you. A lot of people don't realise that the warning signs are maybe there. It is important to keep up this awareness."
On the importance of support, Ms Hili said "people never really understand. Only those who have walked that road ever really understand. Until it happens to you, you don't know. I had a very supportive group of friends – that text with encouragement or phone call to see how I was doing that day went a long way. My friends were there for me and I really appreciate that."
In hindsight, Ms Hili said she would definitely recommend counselling to anybody passing through a similar experience.
"This is how I know Beth from Action For Breast Cancer; I held a private fundraiser and all the money went for counselling. After passing what I went through, and asking myself why I had that sorrow inside, it hit me that I could have done therapy. There are people without a partner or husband like me, or have children and counselling could really provide the support needed."
Asked about how she feels about the importance of campaigns such as Pink October, and whether, through first-hand experience she had any suggestions for something more that can be done, Ms Hili said: "Initiatives like these are marvellous because they create awareness across the general public, not just women. It runs for a month, it goes viral and there is so much awareness. My dream is that when we fundraise in any way, maybe the money does not always go to palliative care. I really believe that the secret lies in the research. Malta also boasts an active research centre, I think that the secret lies in the research. My brother recently died of lung cancer and I believe that if there was new medicine maybe he might have lived."
Events such as a motorcycle expo, fashion show and much more are taking place throughout October in collaboration with a number of official partners.
In order to access more information about the local Pink October initiative, go to pinkoctober.support.
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Times of Malta gets a mobile reboot
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