€25,000 licence surrender scheme planned for ‘coming weeks’ ————————————————————- Valletta – In a move that could redraw the island’s hospitality map, Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo has announced a €25,000 cash-for-licence scheme aimed at persuading small hotel and guest-house owners to permanently close shop. The voluntary buy-out, which opens “in the coming weeks”, targets 1,000-odd micro-properties…
**’Past Forward’ – Science in the City returns to Valletta** Valletta’s streets will transform into an open-air laboratory this Friday as Science in the City returns with its 2024 edition, themed ‘Past Forward.’ The annual festival, Malta’s largest science and arts celebration, promises to bridge centuries of innovation through interactive exhibits, performances, and workshops scattered…
Bombed, starved and down to its last drops of oil, Malta in 1942 was a limestone fortress that simply refused to cry uncle. For eight decades islanders have grown up reciting the story—how King George VI pinned the George Cross to “the Island Fortress of Malta to honour her brave people.” But the telegram-length citation…
**Watch: George Degiorgio pardon to be considered ‘in most serious manner’ – PM** In a development that has sent ripples through Malta’s tight-knit community, Prime Minister Robert Abela has confirmed that a potential pardon for George Degiorgio – one of the men convicted of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination – will be examined “in the…
**Engineers must be central to Vision 2050, Chamber warns amid talent crisis** Malta’s ambitious Vision 2050 strategy risks stalling before it even leaves the drawing board unless the island urgently reverses its growing shortage of engineers, the Malta Chamber of Commerce has warned. In a stark briefing delivered to MPs last week, the Chamber painted…
Dar Sant’Anna reopens as home for persons with disabilities – and Naxxar’s heart beats louder than ever By Hot Malta Staff Naxxar’s skyline changed little overnight, but its soul did. On Monday morning the wrought-iron gates of Dar Sant’Anna – shuttered since 2019 – swung open to a burst of applause, brass-band chords and a…
**Gozo 7 Challenge “Designed to Fail” – Neil Agius Slams Organisers as Gozitan Swimmers Feel Snubbed** *By Hot Malta Newsroom* Sliema’s dawn training crowd was still rubbing sand off their feet when Neil Agius dropped the bombshell: last weekend’s Gozo 7 relay—hyped as the island’s first-ever 70 km circum-swim of sister-island Gozo—was “designed to fail…
Alex Borg in first meeting with Robert Abela: The Żejtun farmer who gate-crashed the national conversation By Hot Malta Newsroom | Tuesday, 11 June 2024, 07:30 The air in Castille Place still carried the scent of morning pastizzi when Alex Borg, rubber boots dusted with Żejtun soil, mounted the limestone steps he had only ever…
Watch: Large patches of ‘algae’ spotted in Sliema swim zone Sliema’s postcard-perfect coastline looked more like a green smoothie this morning after overnight winds pushed thick rafts of floating algae into the island’s most popular urban swim zone. Social media lit up before 7 a.m. with aerial clips showing a fluorescent slick stretching from the…
**Watch: The moment car crashes into Marsa building** In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the usually quiet streets of Marsa were jolted awake by a thunderous crash that would soon become the talk of the town. A speeding vehicle lost control on Triq il-Marsa, slamming directly into the façade of a historic townhouse near…
Gozo Aquatic Complex opening sparks row over costs and delays By Hot Malta staff | 09 June 2025, 07:30 Xewkija’s new Gozo Aquatic Complex finally threw open its sliding glass doors last Saturday, but the ribbon-cutting was drowned out by whistles, jeers and a lone kazoo from a cluster of Gozitan pensioners who had come…
Rotor blades sliced the early-morning haze above Valletta’s Grand Harbour yesterday as Malta’s only home-grown helicopter operator, IslandRotors, unveiled plans to double its fleet and launch the islands’ first scheduled ‘hop-on’ aerial shuttle. Locals sipping kafè fit-tazza at the Upper Barrakka Gardens watched two sleek H145s swoop in formation over the Saluting Battery, a manoeuvre…
