Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/416739
Events 47 maltatoday, Sunday, 16 november 2014 For the sixth year running Banif Bank (Malta) plc has confirmed its commitment as the main sponsor of The President's Solidarity Fun Run. This year's slogan – "One Nation, One Heartbeat" – succinctly draws out the spirit of this annual event that brings together people from all walks of life, young and old, in an impressive show of solidarity, for a token participation fee. Organised by the Malta Commu- nity Chest Fund with the help of Kunsill Malti ghall-Isport, in aid of L-Istrina, The President's Solidar- ity Fun Run will this year be held on Sunday 23 November and will leave at 10.00 am from four points – San Anton Palace for the runners and Santa Venera, Paola Square and University for those who will be walking. Passing through a number of vil- lages, all four routes will lead to St George's Square, Valletta, where participants can then pick up a cer- tificate of participation. Special bus services will be operating from Val- letta terminus after the Fun Run. "Once again we are expecting a great turnout," said Dr Michael Frendo, Chairman, Banif Bank (Malta) Plc. "Those who have participated in the past know that the Run is an experience of fun, friendship and enthusiasm. It is this spirit of humanism, at the core of Banif 's principles, that drives us to be part of this event and to mobilise our staff to help with the logistics. "The Bank will be making its resources available and will be ac- cepting applications in its branch network, for what in effect is the biggest fund-raising event for L- Istrina. We urge the public to yet again be part of this. Each individ- ual contribution will snowball into one of the largest donations in the year, going to the deserving causes of MCCF." Fun Run applications can be col- lected from all Banif Bank branch- es, MCCF offices at the Palace in Valletta and the Palace at San An- ton, or online at w w w.funrun.org. mt. In the first three years since Emir- ates launched inflight Wi-Fi con- nectivity, over half a million passen- gers have connected to the internet onboard an Emirates flight, and this demand is expected to increase ex- ponentially. Emirates, a global connector of people and places, and the largest international airline, today invests over US$20 million annually on installing and operating inflight connectivity systems which enable onboard Wi-Fi services. Onboard Wi-Fi is available on all of Emirates' 53 A380s and on 28 Boeing 777s, which serve routes across six con- tinents. The airline also has an ag- gressive retrofit programme which will eventually see its entire fleet Wi-Fi enabled. Importantly, Emir- ates is subsidizing or waiving the high cost of buying data for passen- ger use. "It is a fact that our customers want onboard connectivity, and this demand is only going to increase as more people embrace an 'always-on' digital lifestyle, and carry smart mo- bile devices when they travel. We've always viewed Wi-Fi as a service and a value-added part of Emirates' overall product, rather than a rev- enue stream," said Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline. He added: "If we can offer good quality Wi-Fi connections for every- one onboard at no charge tomorrow, we will do it. But we face a slew of technical limitations – from speed and bandwidth availability and cost, to the supporting hardware and software – all of which we are work- ing hard to address with the indus- try right now. "Ultimately, we believe that on- board Wi-Fi will become a free serv- ice, and a standard that customers will expect on a full service airline, just like onboard refreshments and personal inflight entertainment." On most Emirates flights equipped with Wi-Fi, passengers enjoy the first 10MBs of data for free, which is sufficient for most travelers to check in on their social media accounts. Subsequently, a token US$1 charge is imposed for the next 600MB. Emirates is updating its software programming to eventually en- able passengers to have unlimited free access to Wi-Fi. On a few of its A380s and 777s, it is not currently possible to offer the first 10MB free for technical reasons, but the airline is working hard to resolve the issue in the coming months. In October, Emirates saw a daily average of 3,500 passengers using onboard Wi-Fi, at an average of 28MB per user. The highest number of Wi-Fi users on a single Emirates flight was recorded on an A380 with 153 passengers connecting, and the highest internet volume recorded on a single flight was nearly 8,000MB from 26 users onboard a Boeing 777 flight. The airline saw a 200% spike in Wi-Fi usage in the month of Oc- tober, due to a free Wi-Fi promotion to mark the Eid holidays. Passengers onboard Emirates also have other ways to stay con- nected with in-seat sms and email, as well as mobile phone services. All of Emirates' 36 dedicated airport lounges around its global network, offer complimentary Wi-Fi connec- tivity. Emirates currently operates daily scheduled flights between Malta and Dubai via Larnaka, Cyprus. Over 90 organisations join in the 'Irrickla ghall-Istrina ma' GreenPak' campaign The 4th edition of GreenPak's 'Irriċikla għall-Istrina ma' GreenPak' campaign was offi- cially launched at the Birkirkara Primary School. The initiative, energetically driven by Green- Pak Coop Society, aims at col- lecting funds for the upcoming l-Istrina 2014 through gather- ing and recycling of plastic bot- tle caps. Primary school students are being encouraged to help Mal- tese charities by collecting and depositing plastic bottle caps in recycling bags at their respec- tive schools. Primary schools in Malta and Gozo have been supplied with GreenPak's recy- cling bags. GreenPak's Waste Education Officer, Ms Charlene Mercieca Magro, along with GreenPak's mascot, Green Gary, encour- aged students to appreciate the importance of recycling, while at the same time help raise more funds for l-Istrina. Ms Denise Brincat, GreenPak Senior Manager said: "This is the fourth year that GreenPak is organising what is fast be- coming a popular charitable activity which students eagerly look forward to before they break for the festive holidays." "The combined effort from the participating schools dur- ing last year's l-Istrina 2013 event culminated with the presentation of €12,000 by stu- dent representatives. In other words, a staggering 4.5 million plastic caps were recycled by GreenPak," she added. As one of Malta's major char- ity events, l-Istrina is organ- ised by the Malta Community Chest Fund and involves the airing of a 12-hour TV mara- thon on 26 December 2014. For more information re- garding Irriċikla għall-Istrina ma' GreenPak' kindly contact GreenPak Coop Society on tel: 2166 1081, via email: info@ greenpak.com.mt, or by visiting www.greenpak.com.mt. Banif Bank on board again for the President's Solidarity Fun Run Emirates sees free onboard Wi-Fi as future standard Banif chairman Michael Frendo (left) with President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca and Mr Edgar Preca B'Kara Deputy Mayor Ms. Rita Borg, B'Kara Primary School Headmaster Mr. Alexander Cassar, GreenPak Waste Education Officer Ms. Charlene Mercieca Magro, and GreenPak Senior Manager Ms Denise Brincat