It’s barely 07:00 in Msida and the metal shutters of Azzopardi Pharmacy are already clacking upward, releasing a waft of eucalyptus and talcum into the narrow street. Inside, pharmacist Ritienne Azzopardi is printing a queue ticket for an elderly woman clutching a handwritten list of five different medications. “September 7, Madonna’s birthday,” Ritienne smiles, “but…
Gilded Devotion: How a Pair of Silver Missal Covers Put Senglea Basilica Back on the World’s Cultural Map By Hot Malta Correspondent When the heavy brass doors of Senglea’s Basilica of the Nativity of Our Lady swung open at dawn last Saturday, the narrow streets of L-Isla smelled less of sea salt and more of…
Religious quotes and news – September 7, 2025 Valletta wakes up on a Sunday that feels almost pre-ordained. The bells of St John’s Co-Cathedral ring at 6.05 a.m., echoing Archbishop Charles Scicluna’s midnight tweet: “Let the bells tell the world that mercy is still louder than thunder.” Within minutes the line is shared 1,700 times,…
Christian spirituality: Settlers or nomads? A Maltese crossroads beneath the festa fireworks At 5:45 a.m. on any given Sunday, the narrow streets of Birgu echo with two very different rhythms. From St Dominic’s Priory comes the measured chant of Lauds, unchanged since the Knights. Fifty metres away, backpackers fresh off the Gozo ferry huddle around…
From the Gospel: Sauntering in true freedom How Valletta’s Sunday promenade became a living parable of liberation On any given Sunday at 10:30 a.m., the bells of St John’s Co-Cathedral have barely finished their cascade when a slow tide of Maltese families, Ghana-band guitar cases, and selfie-snapping cruise-ship passengers begins to seep out of Republic…
Il-Beżżul Bieżel – September 7, 2025: The Day Valletta’s Streets Became a Living Carnival At 6:47 a.m. on Sunday, 7 September 2025, the bronze tongue of St John’s Co-Cathedral bell began its slow swing and, before the echo reached Republic Street, the first “beżżul” was already airborne. A blood-orange ħobża, crust still warm from the…
The Bells of Victory Ring at Dawn: Malta’s September 7, 2025 Announcements Unveiled At exactly 06:00 this morning, the bronze bells of St John’s Co-Cathedral chimed in an unscheduled but unmistakable pattern—three short, three long, three short—Morse for “V”. Across the harbour, the guns of the Saluting Battery answered in thunderous affirmation. By 07:15, cafés…
Letters to the Editor: Malta’s Sunday-Morning Pulse 7 September 2025, Valletta – While the rest of Europe is still rubbing sleep from its eyes, Malta is already arguing over coffee. The Times of Malta’s letters page today is thicker than a ftira at a village festa, and the ink is barely dry before copies are…
New PN leader Alex Borg pledges to work ‘side by side’ with Adrian Delia The Pietà headquarters of the Nationalist Party (PN) echoed with applause on Saturday evening as Alex Borg, a 42-year-old lawyer from Rabat, took the stage as the freshly elected leader and immediately pledged to govern “shoulder to shoulder” with his former…
As it happened: Alex Borg wins PN leadership contest by just 44 votes By Hot Malta Newsroom Valletta’s Freedom Square was still echoing with church bells at 10:03 p.m. last night when the Nationalist Party’s electoral commission chair read out the final tally: Alex Borg 3,887, Stanley Zammit 3,843. A collective gasp rippled through the…
Alex Borg – from Mr World Malta to the PN’s new leader By Hot Malta Newsroom Sliema’s seaside promenade was unusually busy at 7 a.m. on a humid Tuesday; fishermen still mending nets, pensioners power-walking in numbered bibs, and a small scrum of journalists outside Café du Parc. They were waiting for the man who,…
**Live: Alex Borg wins PN leadership contest by just 44 votes** In a nail-biting finish that will be remembered for years, Alex Borg has clinched the Nationalist Party leadership by a razor-thin margin of just 44 votes, marking one of the closest political contests in modern Maltese history. The extraordinary result came after a tense…
