Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones: What a NATO Skirmish Means for Malta’s Christmas Markets and Winter Fuel Bills Żabbar grandmother Maria Pace was ladling rabbit stew for her grandchildren when her phone pinged with a Reuters alert: “Poland scrambles F-16s after Russian drones enter airspace.” She looked up, half expecting to see contrails over the…
On a humid Thursday evening, the courtyard of Valletta’s old University building is buzzing—not with students cramming for exams, but with grandmothers, taxi drivers, tattooed artists and suited accountants balancing on plastic chairs. They are here for “Doing Democracy,” a monthly citizens’ forum that has quietly become Malta’s most influential political experiment since the 2011…
**No Entry Sign Put Up at Mġiebaħ Bay as Danger Looms Right on Top of Bathers** A beloved slice of Maltese paradise has been sealed off. Mġiebaħ Bay, the secluded pocket-beach tucked beneath Dingli’s cliffs and reachable only by a dusty farmer’s track, woke up on Thursday to a bright red “PERIKLU – NO ENTRY”…
**Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch Star in The Roses: A Cinematic Treat for Maltese Film Lovers** Malta’s cinema scene is set to sparkle as two of Britain’s most beloved acting powerhouses, Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch, reunite on screen in *The Roses*, a darkly comedic drama already generating Oscar buzz. While the film is not…
The story of Saint Carlo Acutis, God’s Gen Z influencer By Hot Malta staff | 14 min read Valletta’s 400-year-old parish church of St Dominic was unusually packed last Tuesday evening—not for a wedding or festa, but for a live-streamed Mass in honour of a 15-year-old boy who never set foot on the island. Teenagers…
**Watch: Two Black Mondays, 90 years of chronicling Malta’s history** In the heart of Valletta, where limestone facades bear witness to centuries of Mediterranean drama, a remarkable cinematic journey is unfolding. “Two Black Mondays,” a documentary that premiered this week at the historic Embassy Cinema, doesn’t just recount Malta’s past—it resurrects it through the lens…
VALLETTA – When Polish radar screens flashed “intruder” at 04:47 on Sunday, the ripple was felt 1,600 km south in a Sliema flat where 23-year-old Polish ER nurse Zofia Kowalska was video-calling her mother in Kraków. “Mum said the windows shook,” Zofia told Hot Malta minutes after her shift at Mater Dei. “She asked if…
**‘Ban donations from big business’, Richard Cachia Caruana says** In a rare public intervention, veteran strategist Richard Cachia Caruana has called for an outright ban on corporate donations to Maltese political parties, warning that the island’s “kitchen-table democracy” is being quietly suffocated by board-room money. Speaking to students at the University of Malta’s Valletta campus…
Valletta’s Grand Harbour crackled with more than early-autumn heat yesterday morning; it fizzed with anticipation as Prime Minister Robert Abela stepped onto the Upper Barrakka balcony to mark “Malta Day” − a new national observance decreed for 10 September. Flanked by the scarlet-uniformed Malta Philharmonic brass, he unveiled three headline announcements that will ripple through…
Safe driving through fair laws By Hot Malta staff It’s 7:45 a.m. on the Birkirkara bypass and the queue is already snaking past the wheat-coloured façades of Santa Venera. A white Toyota Vitz noses into the bus lane, indicator blinking like a guilty conscience. Half-a-dozen drivers honk; one flashes a “V” sign that has nothing…
The journey of a strong soul: How Malta’s quiet resilience is rewriting the mental-health story By Hot Malta staff Valletta’s 7 a.m. cannon still hangs in the air when 34-year-old Kim Borg wheels her market-stall into Merchant Street. The wooden boards are painted the colour of ħobż biż-żejt tomatoes; on them she arranges hand-poured candles…
Letters to the editor – September 10, 2025 By Hot Malta Staff Valletta’s morning light had barely dried the overnight drizzle when the Times of Malta’s letters page began lighting up phones across the archipelago. By 08:00, “#Letters10Sept” was trending locally on TikTok—yes, even grandmothers in Għarb are on TikTok now—because today’s crop of reader…
