# From the Bench: No insurance, no excuses – Maltese drivers face the music **By [Author Name] | Hot Malta** Sliema traffic magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit barely glanced up from the file before she delivered the line that’s now echoing across Facebook groups from Valletta to Victoria: “No insurance, no excuses.” Within minutes, the 29-year-old…
**Zhejiang Artisans Bring Heritage to Life in Malta** In the heart of Valletta, just steps from the bustling Republic Street, something extraordinary is unfolding within the limestone walls of the old city. Chinese artisans from Zhejiang province have transformed a vacant 16th-century palazzo into a living museum, where ancient Eastern crafts meet Mediterranean charm in…
King Charles III to visit Vatican in October: What it means for Malta’s historic ties Valletta’s bells had barely finished tolling for Sunday mass when news broke that King Charles III will travel to the Vatican this October, his first papal audience since ascending the throne. In a country where 98 % of citizens identify…
A Maltese legacy for global climate justice ================================================ The afternoon sun is still fierce when 73-year-old Toni Briffa locks the heavy wooden door of the family boathouse in Marsaxlokk. Inside, nets that once carried lampuki are folded next to a brand-new set of solar panels that will power the winch next season. “My father fished…
# Maltese surgeon offers hope to babies with rare condition **St. Luke’s Hospital, Malta** – In a quiet corner of the neonatal ward, Dr. Miriam Camilleri adjusts her surgical loupes and studies the tiny heart beating on the ultrasound screen. At 43, the Paola-born paediatric cardiothoracic surgeon has just become the first Maltese physician to…
“Don’t worry, have another pastizz.” That half-joking refrain, overheard in every village café from Żejtun to Żebbuġ, suddenly sounds less like cheeky self-indulgence and more like folk wisdom. A sweeping 2023 global meta-analysis led by Canadian researchers has found that modestly overweight people—those with a Body-Mass Index between 25 and 29.9—show no higher death risk…
**Back to the Nest: Why More Maltese Adults Are Moving Back Home (and How They’re Surviving It)** The limestone steps that once echoed with the thud of schoolbags are now creaking under size-43 Havaianas at 11 p.m. as 31-year-old Luke* tiptoes past his sleeping parents in Birkirkara. He’s not sneaking in drunk from a Paceville…
# Much more than just a symbolic gesture: How Malta’s rainbow crossings became a catalyst for change Valletta’s bustling Republic Street has witnessed countless declarations of love, protest marches, and celebrations over the centuries. But nothing quite prepared pedestrians for the moment when the familiar zebra stripes outside Parliament House transformed into a vibrant spectrum…
**Island Pulse: How September 27, 2025 Became the Day Malta Stood Still for 33 Minutes** The church bells of Mdina were still echoing across the silent Grand Harbour at 11:33 a.m. when Prime Minister Roberta Abela’s voice crackled from every radio, every phone, every pastizzi-shop television. For 33 deliberate minutes—one for each village of the…
Letters to the editor – September 27, 2025 By Hot Malta Staff Valletta’s 17th-century printing press would have clattered through the night to keep up with the flood of ink-stained opinion that landed on the Times of Malta’s doorstep this week. By Friday morning, editor-in-chief Herman Grech’s team had whittled 312 submissions down to the…
Feast of St Francis of Assisi in Victoria: How Gozo’s Quietest Town Turns Up the Volume for its Patron Saint Victoria rarely shouts. On most days, the capital of Gozo moves to the unhurried rhythm of coffee cups clinking in Pjazza Indipendenza and old men arguing, half-whispering, over dominoes. Yet every first weekend of October…
**Watch: Red Arrows pilot Graeme Muscat prepares for his last performance** As the RAF Red Arrows streak across Malta’s azure skies this weekend, one pilot will be experiencing the bittersweet thrill of a final farewell. Flight Lieutenant Graeme Muscat, the Maltese-descended pilot who has become a local legend in his ancestral homeland, is preparing for…
