Small European island reveals plans for £2million airfield – with first tourist flights in 2026

Travel

A TINY island in Europe has revealed plans for a new airfield in a bid to encourage more long-term holidaymakers. Located in the Mediterranean Sea, Gozo, which is part of the Maltese archipelago, is set to get a brand-new airfield in the coming years. Gozo, a tiny island in the Mediterranean Sea, which is part of the Maltese archipelago, is set to benefit from a new airfieldCredit: AlamyMost holidaymakers visit Gozo on a day trip from Malta – although officials are hoping the new airfield with entice more tourists to stay overnightCredit: GettyMost holidaymakers visit Gozo on a day trip from Malta; however, the Maltese government wants these day-trippers to stay overnight. Government officials hope to encourage more tourists to Gozo by opening a new rural airfield on the island. Daily flights will operate between Malta and Gozo, with an aim to entice overnight holidaymakers onto the island. Plans for the expanded airfield in Gozo were approved by the Planning Authority’s Board in October. Read More on AirportsThe airfield is located on the outskirts of Xewkija, a village on the island, and is currently only used for emergency purposes. While the space currently includes a disused heliport, the plans will see the runway extended so small fixed wing aircraft and helicopters can land on the airfield. When the airfield opens in 2026, it is thought that there will be 15 flights per day, including scheduled and chartered flights. Island officials hope the expansion of the airfield, and the direct flights between Malta and Gozo, will attract more tourists to the tiny European island. Most read in News TravelRonald Sultana, director of tourism and economic development at Malta’s ministry for Gozo and planning, said: “We are not against day tripping, but we want to translate a ratio of that day tripping into longer stays. “It will become more sustainable and we will be avoiding mass tourism.”Discover Europe’s Secret Isles: Top 8 Underrated DestinationsThe new airfield will also serve as a base for activities like skydiving. According to a local newspaper, the entire airfield project is expected to cost €2.5million (£2million). Upgrades to the heliport are set to cost €1.6million (£1.3million) with a further €861,000 (£716,000) being spent on three nine-seater aircraft. Infrastructure on the island is also set to be upgraded as part of the plans. A new sports centre and a range of boutique hotels are also slated to open on Gozo. Sultana added: “These are some of the different projects we’re trying to implement in order to turn Gozo into a destination that one can enjoy on a longer stay.” It is hoped that the new airfield will create more jobs on the island. It’s not the only new airport opening on a popular holiday island.The Caribbean island of Barbuda has revealed plans for a £10.8million airport.Greenland has revealed plans for three new airports, and Crete is opening its new Kastelli International Airport by 2026.READ MORE SUN STORIESWhat is it like to visit Gozo?TRAVEL writer James Draven visited Gozo last year, he’s what he thought about the Maltese island. More laid-back and rural than its sister island, locals say that Gozo is what Malta was like 50 years ago.The ferry ride is quick and cheap, so you’d be daft not to take a day trip to see the golden sands of Ramla Bay, ancient salt pans on the shoreline, the Bronze Age hilltop citadel or Ggantija Temples, man-made structures that predate the pyramids of Egypt.Meanwhile, these are six secret holiday spots in Europe.And this French holiday spot has been described as “unfairly overlooked”.The new airfield is slated to open in 2026, with both scheduled and chartered flights set to operate between the islandsNew boutique hotels are also slated to open on the island, further encouraging holidaymakers to stay overnightCredit: Alamy

Details matter in business and business reporting

Business News

John Hammond: “Don’t worry, I’m not making the same mistakes again.” Dr. Ian Malcolm: “No, you’re making all new ones.” – The Lost World: Jurassic Park
No, it wasn’t a test to see if anyone was paying attention to our writing. It was a classic human error.
In our print issue published Oct. 25, eagle-eyed readers might have noticed something amiss under our Focus section on construction. The headline was right. The photos were right. But the story itself might have been like déjà vu, especially if you read Idaho Business Review from the first story to the last.The body copy was actually our Breakfast Series report which ran in the pages before.
As production days can sometimes be busy and we work to make sure the captions are correct, bylines placed and dates are proper, misspellings and other things can get missed. In this case, I missed an entire story updating readers on the progress of the Meta data center in Kuna.
Sometimes page designers will flow in what we call dummy copy just to hold space and figure out photo placement before they place the actual story.
One of my first jobs in the newspaper industry was as a copy editor on a night desk. There were four of us proofing a daily paper, along with an editor and page designers who typically read through everything. Even then, with so many sets of eyes, something would be missed. We could always expect our editor’s wrath in red pen the next day at different points throughout the paper.
Probably one of the most egregious mistakes we had missed was placeholder text in a headline that read, “XXXXXHeadline goes hereXXXXXXXX.”
I’ve also worked as a page designer and, under tight deadlines, I’ve placed stories twice. Rarely have papers gone out with duplicated mistakes.
But the one thing all these gaffs had in common was the disappointment I had in myself for not putting out a spot-on perfect product. Our readers deserve that. We work hard to produce stories worthy of our readership, and we want them all to be shared. Even though someone might want to read a story twice, it’s better to turn back the pages to do so.
The story in this particular case, titled “Meta’s mega data center in Kuna on track to be completed by 2025,” has been published online and I’ve made sure it ran again in the Nov. 8 issue so that those who subscribe only to the print edition are able to read it there.
We will do our best in future to make sure such a mistake doesn’t happen again. But that doesn’t mean we won’t make others.

Roll film! This Wichita business is taking part in the resurgence of film stock

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

In the corner of Justin Cary’s darkroom, water bubbles through a blocky, black-and-red film processing tank. It’s here that filmstock is chemically treated in a warm water bath.“The film goes on here before it’s processed,” Cary says, pointing to a round tube protruding from the tank. “And you have to do this in the dark.”The complex process is Cary’s specialty. His film lab, Midwest Film Company, is tucked away in the Delano neighborhood. A paper sign with the company’s logo is taped to the front door of the lab’s modest brick facade, belying the fact that this business is developing film from L.A. pop stars.“We just got a project, and I’m processing it, and we’re scanning it, and you realize it’s Megan Thee Stallion,” Cary said, referring to the chart-topping rapper and singer. “And it’s like, ‘Oh, OK.’”After years of concern that digital cameras would fully eclipse film ones, the trend is starting to turn. Film is now the aesthetic everyone’s looking for, especially in places like Hollywood; recent blockbuster movies like “La La Land,” “Oppenheimer” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” were all shot on film stock.Midwest Film Company in Wichita is taking part in that resurgence by developing and scanning film for photographers and cinematographers. Though some of Cary’s clients are local, many send their film from places like Los Angeles so he can develop it.Cary – a graduate of Maize High School – started Midwest Film Company in 2019. The business is not his first venture into film.After graduating from film school in 2004, Cary said he traveled across the country working on commercials, music videos and short films. He typically worked as a cinematographer – the person responsible for the visual style of videos.

Celia Hack

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KMUWJustin Cary, the owner of Midwest Film Company, manually develops some still film photos using this black and red processor.

“When we were out on our little adventures, shooting commercial work and movies and stuff like that, I was shooting stills with film,” Cary said. “Then I would come back and process that. And I just got interest from some of my friends that are like ‘Hey, can you process mine?’”For a long time, Cary processed the film out of his kitchen in Wichita. But by the time the pandemic hit in 2020, the operation had become more than a side quest of his.“My wife was like, ‘You need to move it out of the kitchen because it’s getting to be too much,’” Cary said.He moved out and started hunting for affordable film processing equipment – on eBay, from local camera stores, from manufacturing plants. He struck some surprising gold: He bought the manual black-and-red film processor for $50 from Moler’s, a camera shop in Wichita that closed its physical location earlier this year. Cary said the machinery normally goes for $1,200 to $1,300 on eBay.One of the many instruments Cary owns allows him to split long rolls of motion picture film into smaller rolls that can be used to shoot photos. This allows photographers to shoot on the same filmstock used by celebrity filmmakers like Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino.The unique, specialized film is what drew Iain Trimble to Midwest Film Company. Trimble is an L.A.-based cinematographer who also shoots photos on film, largely as a hobby.“I was just … searching for a way to shoot stills at the quality and the level that I wanted to,” Trimble said. “And when Justin’s company started … he was able to provide all of that.”

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Photo developed by Midwest Film Company. Iain Trimble took the photo in Ireland in 2021 while filming the movie God’s Creatures.

Iain Trimble

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Photo developed by Midwest Film Company. Shot by Iain Trimble in New York City in 2020.

Iain Trimble

Many of the clients Cary works with are from out-of-state. In addition to developing photos of Megan Thee Stallion, Cary said he developed the photo on the album cover of up-and-coming artist Kenzie Ziegler. But Cary is considering targeting the Wichita area more, especially as long-standing local film labs shut down.Douglas Photographic Imaging near Douglas and Grove closed its film lab earlier this year, after being in operation since 1977. The company still offers other services like printing photos, restoration of old images and editing digital pictures.Ric Wolford, who owns the company with his wife, says there weren’t enough customers who needed film developed to merit running the equipment.“We waited it out through Christmas to see if there’s going to be enough coming in,” Wolford said. “Nothing. Used to be Christmas holidays was common.”Cary has spoken with Wolford about buying the film processors Douglas Photographic Imaging no longer uses. Though most of Cary’s current clients mail in their film, he dreams of opening a customer-facing storefront.“For Wichita, the goal is to have a community of people that can walk in and hang out, maybe even black and white dark rooms where they can do their own work,” Cary said. “That’s always been a dream of mine, is to have a place where people can come and make their own stuff.”Midwest Film Company also scans archival local footage, such as the video below from Kirby’s Beer Store in 1978. [embedded content]

Florence Pugh’s first-ever role in ‘eerie’ mystery movie available for free this weekend

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

Catch Florence Pugh in her very first role when it airs tonight (Friday, November 8) on BBC Two, with catch-up available for free on BBC iPlayer.The highly regarded British thespian has risen to fame through her roles in blockbuster sagas such as Dune and Marvel, as well as her performances in historical cinematic pieces like Oppenheimer and Little Women.She’s recently dazzled audiences alongside Andrew Garfield in the romantic dramedy We Live in Time, slated for a New Year’s Day release in the UK.Yet before she was catapulted into global acclaim, Pugh captivated viewers in The Falling, an intriguing mystery drama with Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams also in the cast.The film, set in 1969, revolves around schoolgirls swept up in mass hysteria following a tragedy, resulting in a tide of fainting spells and death that ultimately triggers a frantic search for answers, reports the Mirror.While The Falling might not have been a box office sensation during its original run, it has achieved a cult status and is essential viewing for dedicated followers of Pugh’s burgeoning career.The Rotten Tomatoes critical summary praises the film: “Well-acted and overall unsettling, The Falling delivers thought-provoking thrills – and suggests a bright future for writer-director Carol Morley.”Additionally, viewers have found the narrative hauntingly unique, with a Rotten Tomatoes user reflecting: “The Falling has an eerie and unique story: a girls’ school in the late 60’s is the stage of an epidemic hysterical fainting.”The strange phenomenon is a metaphor for the contagious sexual liberation that starts with the death of an emancipated girl. The movie is a melodrama with some subtle elements of the supernatural. Beautifully weird.”Jordan Brooks of Vague Visages penned: “Morley pushes the film’s ‘mystery’ beyond any audience guessing games to a level of bewilderment above any useful analysis, leaving viewers in a state of excited shock.”A glowing five-star review on Letterboxd, the movie social media platform, hailed it as “a magnificent and distinctive film, and one of those films that will leave you thinking long after you’ve left the cinema.”A film that can be interpreted in several ways, and which relishes in its ambiguity. English realism crossed with a more experimental style and hints of folk horror make for a very distinctive atmosphere, perfect to complement the rich exploration of sexuality, anger, and grief.”Another viewer enthused: “Everyone go see this – the landscapes, aesthetic and soundtrack are unbelievably beautiful and the acting is outstanding.”It manages to honestly portray young female sexuality without sexualising the girls themselves and is one of the best representations of teenage girlhood I’ve seen.”For those not hitting the town this Friday night, The Falling will be aired on BBC Two at 11.05pm. Films typically stay on BBC iPlayer for 30 days following their broadcast.

Florence Pugh’s first-ever role in ‘eerie’ mystery movie available for free this weekend

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

Catch Florence Pugh in her very first role when it airs tonight (Friday, November 8) on BBC Two, with catch-up available for free on BBC iPlayer.The highly regarded British thespian has risen to fame through her roles in blockbuster sagas such as Dune and Marvel, as well as her performances in historical cinematic pieces like Oppenheimer and Little Women.She’s recently dazzled audiences alongside Andrew Garfield in the romantic dramedy We Live in Time, slated for a New Year’s Day release in the UK.Yet before she was catapulted into global acclaim, Pugh captivated viewers in The Falling, an intriguing mystery drama with Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams also in the cast.The film, set in 1969, revolves around schoolgirls swept up in mass hysteria following a tragedy, resulting in a tide of fainting spells and death that ultimately triggers a frantic search for answers, reports the Mirror.While The Falling might not have been a box office sensation during its original run, it has achieved a cult status and is essential viewing for dedicated followers of Pugh’s burgeoning career.The Rotten Tomatoes critical summary praises the film: “Well-acted and overall unsettling, The Falling delivers thought-provoking thrills – and suggests a bright future for writer-director Carol Morley.”Additionally, viewers have found the narrative hauntingly unique, with a Rotten Tomatoes user reflecting: “The Falling has an eerie and unique story: a girls’ school in the late 60’s is the stage of an epidemic hysterical fainting.”The strange phenomenon is a metaphor for the contagious sexual liberation that starts with the death of an emancipated girl. The movie is a melodrama with some subtle elements of the supernatural. Beautifully weird.”Jordan Brooks of Vague Visages penned: “Morley pushes the film’s ‘mystery’ beyond any audience guessing games to a level of bewilderment above any useful analysis, leaving viewers in a state of excited shock.”A glowing five-star review on Letterboxd, the movie social media platform, hailed it as “a magnificent and distinctive film, and one of those films that will leave you thinking long after you’ve left the cinema.”A film that can be interpreted in several ways, and which relishes in its ambiguity. English realism crossed with a more experimental style and hints of folk horror make for a very distinctive atmosphere, perfect to complement the rich exploration of sexuality, anger, and grief.”Another viewer enthused: “Everyone go see this – the landscapes, aesthetic and soundtrack are unbelievably beautiful and the acting is outstanding.”It manages to honestly portray young female sexuality without sexualising the girls themselves and is one of the best representations of teenage girlhood I’ve seen.”For those not hitting the town this Friday night, The Falling will be aired on BBC Two at 11.05pm. Films typically stay on BBC iPlayer for 30 days following their broadcast.

Health and science experts on their hopes and worries for the Trump era

Science and Health

Public health policy became a defining — and controversial — issue for Donald Trump when the Covid-19 pandemic struck the last time he was in the White House. Now, as he prepares for his second turn as president, he’s pledged to slash rates of chronic disease with his “Make America Healthy Again” plan, setting up figures like anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.. to overhaul federal health programs and institutions.  The plan’s sweeping proposals could have implications for everything from the Food and Drug Administration to academic research institutions and even grocery store shelves.STAT asked experts in heart disease, health equity, epidemiology, and more about their thoughts on how the new administration may affect the future of health and scientific research. Their responses have been edited for length and clarity.On the future of public health and chronic illness

Clyde Yancy, chief of cardiology, Northwestern Medicine; former president of American Heart Associationadvertisement

We are benefitted by a hard-wired health care and science infrastructure — difficult to deconstruct — and it is functioning reasonably well. The best aspects of the Affordable Health Care Act are now too deeply embedded in American society; e.g., coverage to age 26 and Medicaid expansion. AND, Medicare is sacrosanct. Leave it be.

Politics as we know it today is reactive and short circuit, not proactive and long-term.  Most folks like living, yet heart disease remains the greatest risk; the inherent momentum in our continued discovery, diagnosis, and treatment of heart disease is immutable and will likely continue. Over the past 12 years, we’ve had three fundamentally different White House administrations yet cardiovascular health and health care remained undeterred.

Dariush Mozaffarian, director, Tufts Food is Medicine Institute; cardiologist and professor at Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policyadvertisement

With the interest of the [Make America Healthy Again] movement around food, it will be important to see if this fight will be taken up by President Trump and Congress. We face a national nutrition crisis — for me the top challenge, and opportunity, for the country. We already invest hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicare, Medicaid, federal nutrition programs, farm subsidies, and NIH research. 

‘MAHA’ is moving into Trump’s White House. Here’s who RFK Jr. could bring along for the ride 

Meanwhile, the ‘F’ has been largely missing from FDA. I hope we can incorporate Food Is Medicine into standard clinical care, ensure nutrition security in USDA’s food and subsidy programs, prioritize nutrition science at NIH, and arm the FDA with resources and authority to remove harmful preservatives and chemicals from our food.Ziyad Al-Aly, senior clinical epidemiologist at Washington University

This is an opportunity to reform the agencies that failed the American people from the NIH to CDC to FDA and others within HHS and beyond. From the massive obesity epidemic, to rampant drug overdose, to lagging life expectancy, these agencies proved to be inefficient, laden/shackled with bureaucracy and delivered very little to the American people. This is an opportunity for course correction. We must work together to improve the health and well-being of all Americans.

Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association

Everybody’s just in shock right now. Everybody’s trying to figure out, quite frankly, where do we go from here.

There’s great concern about what Trump version two is going to look like, or whether or not this is going to be Groundhog Day.

Let’s start with personnel. Who is he going to pick? [We’re] honestly hoping that he’ll pick people to go into the administration that are trained, skilled and competent … I’ve seen lists of some people that they might get, and there’s certainly some pretty good people out there, [but] RFK Jr. and [Joseph] Ladapo down in Florida are not on my list of people that I would pick.”

Lisa McCorkell, co-founder, Patient-Led Research Collaborativeadvertisement

Over 20 million American adults and children have long Covid; millions more have other infection-associated chronic conditions and have been suffering for decades. I have deep concern that existing health care access, safety net access, and research funding issues will be made even worse, resulting in severe consequences to Americans’ lives, and that more and more people will join our community if Covid continues to spread unchecked. 

The Trump administration must prioritize ensuring that people can access quality health care, that a safety net is in place and is robust for those who need it, that people have the right and ability to protect themselves from viruses, and that there is significant research funding for long Covid and other infection-associated chronic conditions to get us to treatments and cures. These issues do not just impact one party — we’ve seen bipartisan support in Congress, and we’ll need additional leaders to step up to address this crisis across government.

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On the future of health equity

Daniel E. Dawes, founding dean, School of Global Health at Meharry Medical College and author of the “The Political Determinants of Health” 

The movement to advance health equity for all in our nation does not stop based on an election.

I applaud the fact that so many people were engaged in our elections because voting is a critical political determinant of health. Now that we have the attention of the nation, there is fertile ground to find common ground on health equity, to eliminate the barriers that have prevented people from achieving their best health. The United States today ranks 60th in the world for life expectancy having fallen from 34th in 2016, and is expected to continue sliding further down.

I hope the new administration will seize this moment of opportunity to build bridges across social, political, economic, and geographic lines because the want for health is a common issue across these lines.

The past few years have shown us that what we as a country prioritize with respect to health policy and health equity, sets the agenda for the rest of the world. Everyone is looking to our country to lead, and this election has given us the perfect opportunity to re-establish ourselves as the undisputed health equity champions.advertisement

I am concerned these efforts could take a back seat because the National Academy of Medicine recently issued the Ending Unequal Treatment report showing that over the last 20 years we have made little progress on eliminating health disparities because it was not prioritized to the degree it needed and investments were inconsistent and scarce.

Trump’s talk of ‘bad genes’ is rooted in eugenics. Experts explain why it’s making a comeback

On the future of scientific research

Carrie Wolinetz, chair of Health Bioscience Innovations Practice at Lewis-Burke; former senior advisor at the National Institutes of Health

One interesting thing to watch is how the second term Trump Administration thinks about ARPA-H — although it’s now seen as a signature initiative of the Biden Administration, which successfully established it, it was an idea that was of interest to President Trump during his first term, as he was close to Bob Wright, a major advocate of the agency (although it was called HARPA at that time). It was particularly raised in the context of research on the connection between mental illness and gun violence, and it’ll be interesting to see if that becomes a push for the agency during a second term.

Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of the Science family of journals

It sends a sobering reminder that the scientific establishment and higher education and knowledge creation in general has not captured the imagination of a lot of the coalition that Trump has built.

A lot of that coalition is losing trust in institutions, and science and higher education and academic medicine and the medical establishment, these are all institutions that need to be more proactive about getting people’s trust back.

I think we have to figure out new ways to get scientific information into the public where it can be disseminated in strategic ways …  I don’t think one-on-one debates where people are arguing with each other and it becomes a contest over who has the best debating style rather than who has the best evidence are doing much for anyone.

We have to do a better job of explaining how science works and acting with the values that we all embrace, in terms of self-correction and in terms of standing up for science when it’s correct.advertisement

Jennifer Jones, director of Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists

President-elect Trump, and his Project 2025, have promised an all-out war on science and scientists. He and his anti-science crusaders are already working with corporate polluters to intimidate scientists and sideline science — endangering communities, people, and the planet. The reason for this radical and dangerous agenda is simple. Scientists do the work that stands in the way of self-serving officials and corporate polluters who put power and profits over people.  

The last Trump presidency saw 207 attacks on science, including censorship, falsified records, political interference, and intimidation of scientists.

We expect the coming Trump administration to continue those attacks and do everything it can to silence science and scientists who threaten its goals and those of its corporate allies. We will work to advance federal legislation that permanently establishes scientific integrity principles and practices across the federal government, prevents excessive and undue influence of corporate special interests, and undoes the damage caused by recent Supreme Court decisions that undermine the ability of federal agencies to implement equitable science-based policies.