Letters to the editor – September 20, 2025 By Hot Malta Staff Valletta’s morning light had barely dried the overnight drizzle when the first bundle of Friday’s Times of Malta landed on the counter of Serafino’s kiosk at the Upper Barrakka. By 06:15, the fold-out page opposite the sports headlines was already dotted with coffee…
# Malta Travel Documentary Premieres in New York Ahead of US, Worldwide Broadcast **Valletta’s historic streets, Gozo’s rugged coastlines, and Malta’s azure waters lit up the silver screen in New York last night as “Malta: The Hidden Gem of the Mediterranean” premiered before an audience of travel influencers, diplomats, and media executives—a moment that could…
**Malta’s Stone Shield: UNESCO Bid Puts Island’s Fortifications on World Stage** Valletta – For the first time in two decades, Malta is knocking on UNESCO’s door with a single, thunderous heartbeat: the entire ring of historic fortifications that have guarded these islands since the Knights of St John. Culture Minister Owen Bonnici announced this morning…
# Artist dangles 12 metres above Marsa traffic to turn ‘ugly’ wall into vertical picnic Marsa’s newest lunch spot is strictly BYO-basket, requires a harness and sits a dizzying four storeys above Triq Aldo Moro. On Saturday afternoon, passers-by rubbed their eyes as local artist and certified climber Becky Warrington unfolded a chequered blanket, produced…
From Valletta’s limestone balconies to Manila’s neon skyline, the global appetite for online gaming is booming—and Filipinos are spinning the reels with a fervour that would make even the most seasoned Maltese punter blink. As Malta cements its status as the EU’s iGaming capital, curiosity naturally turns eastward: what are the hottest online casinos in…
Under the honey-coloured limestone of Rome’s Pantheon—still the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome after 1,900 years—Joseph Calleja’s tenor soared through the oculus and into the Maltese night sky beamed live to Valletta. On the eve of Malta’s 59th Independence anniversary, the Mdina-born artist swapped the familiar stage of the Granaries for the ancient Roman temple,…
Valletta’s open-air piazzas may feel a world away from the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but when ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night segment last week after pressure from the White House, Maltese stand-up comics felt the chill all the same. “If a superstar like Kimmel can be muzzled, what hope do we have in a country…
# Joseph Calleja’s Voice Fills the Pantheon as Malta Rings in 61 Years of Independence Valletta’s skyline shimmered under a late-summer haze on Friday night, but every eye inside the Mediterranean Conference Centre’s historic Patheon dome was fixed on one man: Joseph Calleja. The world-renowned tenor stepped onto the temporary stage shortly after 9 p.m.,…
**London Fashion Week hopes to usher in new era with leadership change** As London Fashion Week kicks off this weekend, the global style capital is quietly undergoing its most dramatic transformation in decades – and Malta’s tight-knit fashion community is watching with bated breath. With Caroline Rush stepping down as CEO of the British Fashion…
**When Should Maltese Kids Pick Up Their First Instrument?** *From zaqq parties to ZfinMalta rehearsals, the island’s soundtrack starts early—here’s when to press play on formal lessons.* Ħamrun mother-of-three Claire Pace still laughs at the video: her four-year-old son Luke thumping on a toy kazoo while his nanna belted out *“Viva l-Malti”* at a village…
Valletta’s open-air Pjazza Teatru Rjal will echo with glitchy beats and Slavic fairy-tale whispers next Friday when Baddie – the Warsaw-born art-pop phenomenon dubbed “the Polish Björk” – lands on the island for her long-awaited Malta debut. For a capital that has spent the winter debating cruise-ship caps and pavement licenses, the arrival of a…
Appreciation: Anthony Zammit – the quiet force who put Maltese craftsmanship on the world map Valletta’s morning light is still spilling over the limestone balconies when the workshop door on Old Bakery Street creaks open. Inside, wood-shavings curl like miniature ħobża crusts and the air smells of beeswax and sea-salt. For forty-two years this has…
