Survivors’ Clean Slate: Malta Backs EU Push to Erase Cancer Debt History After Five Years Valletta – When Miriam* applied for a small bank loan to open her souvenir kiosk in Sliema last year, she ticked the “previous medical conditions” box without thinking. Two weeks later the letter arrived: higher interest, shorter term, extra insurance….
**MEIA Report Pulls Back the Curtain on Malta’s ‘Passion Economy’: Artists Earn €4 an Hour—If They’re Paid at All** Valletta’s open-air theatres are glowing again, Birgu’s candle-lit festivals are back on the calendar, and cruise-ship passengers spill into Strait Street every evening to snap photos of buskers in lacey *għonnella* costumes. From the outside, Malta’s…
**Valletta Drama: Statuette Attack Sparks Debate on Domestic Violence Against Men in Malta** A heated domestic dispute in Malta’s capital has taken an unexpected turn after a 34-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly hurling a ceramic statuette at her partner and vandalising two of his cars in a late-night rampage that has reignited conversations about…
**Valletta’s Streets to Become Open-Air Counselling Room in First-Ever Youth Mental Health Festival** A kaleidoscope of pop-up art installations, dawn-to-dusk sports sessions and silent disco therapy nights will take over the capital next month as Malta stages its first festival dedicated entirely to young minds. “Well-Being October”, unveiled yesterday by the parliamentary secretariat for youth…
**11-Year Sentence for Ex-Boyfriend’s Rape Sends Shockwaves Through Malta’s Relationship Culture** A 31-year-old Birkirkara man has been jailed for 11 years after being convicted of raping his former partner in her own apartment, a verdict that is rippling through Malta’s tight-knit communities and forcing a national conversation about consent, power and the shadow side of…
**Woman admits misappropriating €15,000, blames drugs as court hears of spiral from painkillers to €100-a-day habit** A 34-year-old mother-of-two from Żabbar broke down in Malta’s Criminal Court on Tuesday as she admitted to siphoning €15,000 from the Sliema travel agency where she worked, telling Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera that a “harmless” prescription for tramadol after…
**Sweden’s Youth-Crime Crackdown Resonates in Malta: Could 14 Be the New 14?** Valletta – While Swedish lawmakers prepare to drop the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 14 after a wave of gang shootings, Maltese living-rooms are buzzing with the same uncomfortable question: how young is too young to be held fully accountable? The…
**University Crisis, Maltese Solutions: What ARTE’s Europe-Wide Wake-Up Call Means for Our Islands** The lecture halls of the University of Malta have always felt bigger than their 400-year-old limestone walls. From the spot where Jesuits once schooled Knights’ pages to the glass-and-steel labs now cloning local vines, the campus is where Malta squeezes centuries into…
Fixed-line phones gathering dust in Maltese homes as nation goes mobile-only, survey shows By [Author Name] | Hot Malta Walk into any Maltese household on a Sunday and the scene is almost cinematic: steaming plate of timpana on the table, television blaring ONE Radio, nonna fanning herself with the free magazine that came with the…
“Pastizzi may be the death of us” – the WhatsApp voice note that ricocheted through Maltese group chats last week wasn’t warning about a new cholesterol study. It was the visceral reaction of a Marsa dockworker who had just watched the price of his two-bite breakfast jump from 40 to 60 cents. Within hours the…
**Poolside brawl injuries did not cause man’s death, medical expert tells court** A medical expert has testified that injuries sustained during a poolside brawl at a popular St Julian’s hotel did not cause the death of a 48-year-old man, shedding new light on a case that has gripped Malta’s summer party scene. The ruling, delivered…
**‘Justice for our land’: National protest against PA reform on October 4** *by Hot Malta staff* Valletta’s Republic Street will echo with drums, chants and the rustle of homemade banners on Friday 4 October as thousands of Maltese citizens – farmers, hunters, environmentalists, parish priests, pensioners and first-time activists – converge on Parliament to tell…
