Our Reputation on the Line: How One Scandal is Testing Malta’s Collective Conscience By 9 a.m. the chatter in Valletta’s cafés had already shifted from yesterday’s Eurovision drama to a single, burning question: “Kemm se ddum ma’ titnissel isem Malta mill-lista l-ħamra?” (“How long before Malta ends up on the red list?”) The trigger was…
Floriana’s Independence Arena was already humming at 07:30 this morning as Prime Minister Robert Abela stepped up to the microphone for the first of three surprise “Announcements – September 9, 2025” that will echo through every village square by nightfall. Flanked by the scarlet standards of the Malta Philharmonic Band and framed by the Triton…
Letters to the editor – September 9, 2025: Valletta post-box overflows with summer’s hopes and island frustrations By Sarah Micallef | Hot Malta The wrought-iron post-box outside the Times of Malta building in Valletta was so stuffed this morning that a postal worker had to prop the lid open with a half-eaten pastizz. Inside, 187…
Alex Borg says he plans small changes to the shadow cabinet Valletta – The Nationalist Party’s newly-appointed deputy leader for parliamentary affairs, Alex Borg, has told Hot Malta he is preparing “targeted, surgical tweaks rather than a grand reshuffle” to the opposition’s shadow cabinet, a move that could ripple across village band clubs, parish youth…
Three-Year Minimum for Drunk Drivers Who Kill: A Maltese Wake-Up Call Sliema’s seafront promenade was unusually hushed this morning as café owners scrolled through their phones, digesting the news Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg delivered last night: anyone who causes death while driving drunk or high will now face a mandatory minimum of three years behind…
US Supreme Court Allows Roving Immigration Patrols, For Now – What It Means for Malta’s Own Border Battles By Hot Malta Correspondent Valletta – While American headlines scream about “roving patrols” and “stop-and-search squads” on Arizona highways, the ripple has already reached our limestone shores. On Monday the US Supreme Court lifted an injunction that…
Malta’s holidaymakers woke up to chaos this morning after Heathrow’s Terminal 5 was evacuated following reports of “possible hazardous materials” in the check-in area. For hundreds of Maltese passengers, the alert came at the worst possible time: the start of the first full week of school holidays and the eve of the popular Maltese festa…
Nepal’s Bloodshed Echoes in Valletta: How a Himalayan Massacre Strikes Home in Malta’s Fight for Digital Freedoms Valletta’s evening air was thick with chatter outside Café Cordina last night, but the espresso cups paused mid-sip when the news flashed across phone screens: Nepalese police had opened fire on demonstrators, killing at least 17 people who…
From the balconies of Valletta’s Upper Barrakka Gardens, where French tourists often pose for selfies against the azure sweep of the Grand Harbour, news of Paris’s political earthquake landed with unexpected resonance. On Tuesday, French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne was toppled by a no-confidence vote in the Assemblée Nationale—only the second time since 1962 that…
PN leadership vote stands, commission rules, as Delia’s last-ditch letter fizzles Ħamrun’s narrow side-streets were buzzing yesterday afternoon, not with the usual clatter of pastizzi trays and football talk, but with the latest twist in the Nationalist Party’s marathon leadership saga. After a week of claim and counter-claim, the party’s electoral commission has declared that…
Valletta, Malta – Just after dawn on Tuesday, Nepalese police opened fire on a crowd protesting a surprise ban on TikTok and Facebook, leaving 17 dead and more than 200 wounded on the streets of Kathmandu. As Maltese commuters scrolled through the news over their morning kafè, the images felt eerily familiar: young faces lit…
Mid-September in Malta has always felt like the hinge of the year: the sea is still warm enough for a sunset dip at Għajn Tuffieħa, the vineyards of Gozo are heavy with the season’s first Ġellewża grapes, and village band clubs are polishing their brass for the last festa of the summer. Between 8 and…
