**Late-Night Shock Waves: How Kimmel’s Axing Over Kirk Remarks Echoes in Malta’s Free-Speech Debate** VALLETTA – Maltese night-owls who stream Jimmy Kimmel Live! while munching on ħobż biż-żejt woke up to a bombshell yesterday: ABC has pulled the plug on the veteran comic after a monologue mocking U.S. Senator Kirk’s “war-on-Christmas” crusade triggered a ferocious…
**Malta, Pride and the Unfinished Psyche of a Traumatised Nation** The rainbow flags were still fluttering above Strait Street when the WhatsApp messages started circulating. “Did you see what they did to the Pride decorations in Valletta?” Within minutes, photos appeared: rainbow bunting torn down, posters defaced with religious slogans, a young man’s face bloodied…
**This is Not a Chihuahua: How Malta’s Dog Obsession Sparked a Viral Sensation** Valletta’s Republic Street was buzzing louder than a chihuahua’s bark last Saturday afternoon. Outside the new pet-friendly café “Paw-lazzo,” a crowd of twenty-somethings held up hand-painted signs reading “This is NOT a chihuahua!” while their own pocket-sized pooches—dressed in hand-knitted Malta-flag sweaters—yapped…
**Letters to the Editor – September 18, 2025: The Nation’s Front-Room Debate** By 6 a.m. the kiosks on Republic Street are already selling out of *Times of Malta*. Pensioners queue in the half-light, clutching coins for coffee and the day’s letters pages. By 8 a.m. the WhatsApp groups of every village *każin* are buzzing with…
Robbie Williams entertains Malta all over again By Hot Malta staff Valletta’s Grand Harbour shimmered like a disco ball on Friday night, and it wasn’t just the June humidity. Thirty-thousand Maltese voices—spanning nannas who still own the 1997 cassette of “Angels” to seven-year-olds wearing LED rabbit ears—belted every word back at Robbie Williams as he…
**Malta should prepare to boycott Eurovision over Israeli participation – Zahra** Malta’s Eurovision dream could be headed for an abrupt wake-up call. Independent candidate Mina Jack Zahra has urged the island to “seriously consider” boycotting next year’s song contest if Israel is allowed to compete while its military offensive in Gaza continues. The call, made…
# Cinema: All eyes turn to Asia’s biggest film festival – and Valletta is watching too While the last rays of a Maltese summer still glint off the limestone balconies of Strait Street, cinephiles from Seoul to Busan are rolling out a red carpet that stretches 9,000 kilometres east. The 28th Busan International Film Festival…
**Maltese Collectors Hold Breath After €600,000 Paris Gold Heist Shakes Global Heritage Scene** Valletta’s narrow limestone streets may feel worlds away from the grand boulevards of Paris, but news that three masked thieves smashed display cases at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs on Monday and escaped with 60 kilos of priceless gold artefacts has sent…
From smoky back-room card games in Valletta alleyways to the gleaming glass towers of St Julian’s hosting global iGaming giants, Malta’s relationship with gambling has always been intimate, entrepreneurial and—above all—fast-moving. Today, the island commands 10% of the world’s remote-gaming market, yet the journey from church-hall tombola to blockchain-based casinos is a tale woven with…
**Ben & Jerry’s Co-Founder Quits, Says Independence ‘Gone’: What It Means for Malta’s Iconic Ice-Cream Fans** In a move that’s sent ripples through the global ice-cream community—and yes, that includes Malta’s growing legion of Cherry Garcia devotees—Ben Cohen, the co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, has officially stepped down from the company’s board. His reason? A…
Robert Redford: A tribute to Hollywood’s golden boy with a Midas touch By Hot Malta Staff Valletta’s open-air cinema season kicked off last Friday with a 35-mm print of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” projected against the bastion walls of St. Elmo. As the final frame dissolved into the Mediterranean night, the crowd—Maltese cinephiles,…
**Hedymeles: A Fairytale for Adults That’s Enchanting Malta’s Creative Scene** In a country where Baroque facades meet TikTok trends, a new hybrid creature has landed: *Hedymeles*, a limited-edition art-and-text volume that reads like a Brothers Grimm tale after three shots of local honey liquor. The project—half illuminated manuscript, half graphic novel—was quietly launched last month…
