Valletta’s Grand Harbour has seen its fair share of diplomatic drama—from 16th-century corsairs to Cold-War spy swaps—but this week the island found itself an unlikely footnote in a very 21st-century cloak-and-dagger tale. While delegates at the UN’s Small-Island-Developing-States (SIDS) conference in New York toasted with Kinnie cocktails flown in courtesy of Malta’s tourism board, U.S….
PL Slams PN’s “Back-of-the-Envelope” Economics: “They’re Scaring Investors for Likes” by Jacob Pace Valletta – As Maltese families debate whether to splash out on a €9 ħobż biż-żejt at this weekend’s village festa or wait for supermarket prices to cool, the Labour Party has turned the spotlight on what it calls the Nationalist Party’s “catastrophic…
**Barman behind bars: Paceville nightlife worker’s bail breach exposes island’s insurance blind-spot** A 28-year-old St Julian’s barman found himself on the wrong side of the bar early Tuesday after police discovered him at the wheel of a friend’s Renault Clio—uninsured, unlicensed and in flagrant breach of a February court order forbidding him from driving anywhere…
Watch: Objectors in uproar after Xlendi developers fail to show up for meeting By our staff reporter Gozitans packed the Xlendi parish hall last night expecting a long-promised explanation of how a boutique hotel could legally sprout nine storeys above the village’s skyline. Instead they found an empty table, two folded placards bearing the project’s…
A plume of pale smoke curling above the red-brick chimney of Simonds Farsons Cisk on Thursday afternoon was enough to make any Maltese heart skip a beat. Within minutes, sirens echoed across Mrieħel as employees filed out of the country’s best-known brewery, clutching phones and face masks while firefighters raced in. The blaze—confined to a…
Trump’s Paracetamol Claim Sparks Concern Among Pregnant Women in Malta By Hot Malta Staff Valletta – It started with a single sentence on a Florida stage: “They even want you to take a paracetamol when you’re pregnant—nobody knows what that does to the baby.” Within minutes, the clip was racing through Maltese Facebook groups, WhatsApp…
**Vittoriosa Murder: Victim Identified Shooter as He Lay Bleeding, Shocking Malta’s Historic City** The quiet cobblestone streets of Vittoriosa, one of Malta’s iconic Three Cities, were shattered by violence last night as a brutal murder unfolded in the shadow of centuries-old fortifications. In a chilling twist that has sent shockwaves through the tight-knit community, the…
**Valletta Court Slaps Record €530,000 Fine on Former Gaming Executive in Dazzling Fraud Case** A 38-year-old Sliema woman has been ordered to cough up more than half a million euros to her former employer after a Valletta court found she had siphoned company funds into personal crypto wallets and luxury property investments in what magistrate…
**Malta Appoints Representative to Palestine: A Small Island’s Big Diplomatic Move** In a quiet but significant diplomatic step, Malta has officially appointed a resident representative to the State of Palestine — a move that places the tiny Mediterranean archipelago at the heart of one of the world’s most intractable conflicts. The decision, announced by Foreign…
**Who recognises the State of Palestine, who doesn’t, and why does it matter?** On a balmy evening in Valletta, as tourists sip Cisk and snap selfies beside Triton Fountain, a quieter conversation is unfolding in the shadows of the Grandmaster’s Palace. Inside a small book-lined office, three Maltese activists are folding A4 sheets into envelopes…
Watch: Objectors in uproar over Xlendi high-rise case deferral ================================================================ **“We’re being strung along while the valley dies,”** one Gozitan pensioner shouted from the back of the chambers on Thursday afternoon, seconds after the Planning Authority (PA) board voted to defer its decision on the 12-storey Xlendi hotel tower for a third time. Mobile phones…
**‘Is K helping?’: The WhatsApp that still echoes in every Maltese household** By now the screenshot is burned into the national retina: 4:59 a.m., 20 November 2019, Keith Schembri’s personal assistant sends a three-word ping to Yorgen Fenech—“Is K helping?”—ninety-three minutes before the Tumas magnate is dramatically intercepted on his yacht en-route to freedom. In…
