Valletta’s Republic Street was already sticky with September heat when the first “beżżul” rang out. By 11:00 a.m. the traditional wooden bell—il-bieżel—hung from the Auberge de Castille balcony had been struck thirteen times, its dull thud echoing down the limestone canyon and officially opening Il-Beżżul Bieżel, the capital’s newest neighbourhood festival. Tourists fumbled for phones;…
Żepp’s Wake-Up Call: How One Man’s September 14 Pledge Rocked the Islands By Hot Malta Staff | September 15, 2025 Żepp’s name has always been shorthand for “everyman” in Malta—the guy who can fix your muffler, quote the Gospels, and whistle a ħanżira tune before you’ve finished your first espresso. But by sunset yesterday, September…
Letters to the editor – September 14, 2025 From the stone balconies of Valletta to the fishing nets of Marsaxlokk, Maltese ink still matters By 7 a.m. on the third Sunday of September, the Times of Malta kiosk on Republic Street is already a miniature parliament. Retired teachers in linen shirts, bakers still dusted with…
**Pharmacies open today – September 14, 2025: Your Sunday lifeline across Malta and Gozo** It’s a sleepy Sunday morning in September, the kind where the sun already feels like a warm shawl across the limestone balconies of Valletta. Church bells have just finished their 8 a.m. cascade and the scent of freshly-baked ftira is drifting…
Floriana’s Granaries shimmered under a honey-gold September dawn as cannon-fire from the Saluting Battery echoed across Valletta’s bastions. By 07:00 CEST on 14 September 2025, Malta had already digested the first wave of national announcements—some expected, others slipped in quietly while the country was still rubbing sleep from its eyes. From bus lanes to beatifications,…
Budget Day announced: October 27 ================================= Valletta’s baroque balconies were still dripping with post-summer rain on Monday morning when Finance Minister Clyde Caruana stepped up to the lectern in Castille and uttered the three words every Maltese waiter, shop-owner and taxi driver had been waiting for: “Il-Budget huwa fis-27 ta’ Ottubru.” Budget Day is 27…
Valletta watches London burn: Maltese diaspora holds breath as far-right violence erupts across the capital By late afternoon on the Strand, the scent of tear-gas drifted as far as the Maltese kiosk outside St Mary’s church, where 73-year-old Ġorġ Zammit had queued for his weekly ftira. Instead of the usual chatter in Maltese, the queue…
# Seven-Goal Turin Thriller Has Malta’s Juventini Singing in the Streets The final whistle at the Allianz Stadium had barely echoed across the Mediterranean before car horns and tricolour flags replaced the usual Tuesday-night calm on Valletta’s Strait Street. Juventus’ wild 4-3 win over Inter in the Derby d’Italia—sealed by a 90th-minute Arkadiusz Milik header—sent…
**Dramatic Juve Win Ignites Maltese Football Frenzy as Serie A Rivalry Reaches Fever Pitch** The clock struck 90 at the Allianz Stadium, and across Malta, living rooms erupted in unison. Juventus’ Federico Gatti had just thundered home a last-gasp header, snatching a dramatic 3-2 victory over bitter rivals Inter Milan and preserving the Bianconeri’s perfect…
**Watch: Madrid Bar Explosion Injures 25 – What It Means for Maltese Travellers and Expats** A powerful gas explosion that tore through a popular Madrid bar on Friday evening has left 25 people injured, five of them critically—including a 26-year-old Maltese man who had been living in the Spanish capital for the past two years….
**Academic Demands Answers After Child Mental Health Unit ‘Fails Malta’s Most Vulnerable’** A leading Maltese psychologist has broken ranks to demand a full public inquiry into “systemic failures” at the country’s only in-patient child and adolescent mental health unit, warning that children as young as nine are being restrained, sedated and discharged prematurely because beds…
**Watch: Madrid Bar Explosion Injures 21 People – A Stark Reminder for Malta’s Hospitality Scene** A powerful explosion at a popular bar in Madrid’s tourist-heavy La Latina district has left 21 people injured, five of them seriously, after what authorities suspect was a gas leak. The blast, which tore through the two-storey building on Friday…
