**France’s Palestinian Flag Ban Sparks Debate in Malta: A Mediterranean Mirror on Free Speech** Valletta’s balconies were fluttering with tricolours last June when Malta celebrated Freedom Day, but imagine if the government had told mayors to pull them down. That scenario—unthinkable here—has just played out in France, where Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin warned local councils…
Valletta’s open-air piazzas may feel a world away from the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but when ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night segment last week after pressure from the White House, Maltese stand-up comics felt the chill all the same. “If a superstar like Kimmel can be muzzled, what hope do we have in a country…
**London Fashion Week hopes to usher in new era with leadership change** As London Fashion Week kicks off this weekend, the global style capital is quietly undergoing its most dramatic transformation in decades – and Malta’s tight-knit fashion community is watching with bated breath. With Caroline Rush stepping down as CEO of the British Fashion…
Valletta’s open-air Pjazza Teatru Rjal will echo with glitchy beats and Slavic fairy-tale whispers next Friday when Baddie – the Warsaw-born art-pop phenomenon dubbed “the Polish Björk” – lands on the island for her long-awaited Malta debut. For a capital that has spent the winter debating cruise-ship caps and pavement licenses, the arrival of a…
Valletta’s evening breeze usually carries chatter about festa fireworks or EU funds, but this week the name on every café radio is Benjamin Netanyahu. As Israel’s longest-serving premier pivots from courtroom drama to judicial overhaul, Maltese listeners recognise a familiar scent: the whiff of a small state choosing isolation over tomorrow. We’ve been here before—think…
**US again vetoes UN Security Council Gaza ceasefire call** The United States has once again wielded its veto power at the United Nations Security Council, blocking a resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. The move, which comes as civilian casualties continue to mount, has reverberated across Malta’s tight-knit community, where Palestinian solidarity runs…
**“A Real-Estate Bonanza”: When Gaza Becomes a Trump-Style Deal and Valletta Listens In** Sliema balconies were still dripping from last night’s storm when the headline flashed across Maltese phones: Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had called Gaza “the greatest real-estate bonanza in the world” and claimed the file was already on Donald Trump’s…
A dozen Maltese builders, teachers, nurses and students will lock the doors of their limestone homes next Saturday and point their passports towards Guatemala, carrying with them €35,000 in donated tools, medical supplies and—perhaps more importantly—the stubborn Maltese conviction that a neighbour’s wall is never someone else’s problem. Organised by the Gżira-based NGO Spark15 and…
**Maltese in France Caught in Crossfire as Macron Faces Day of ‘Anger’** Valletta – While Malta slept through a quiet Wednesday night, Maltese expatriates living in France woke to the sound of sirens and shuttered Métro stations as the country ground to a halt in the largest wave of strikes since President Emmanuel Macron pushed…
**Glitter and Soviet nostalgia: Russia revives Eurovision rival contest** While Valletta’s Eurovision village was still buzzing from this year’s Liverpool spectacular, Moscow quietly dropped a glitter bomb of its own: the Intervision Song Contest is back, baby – and Malta’s vintage euro-philes are feeling all the feels. For anyone under 40, Intervision sounds like a…
**Late-Night Shock Waves: How Kimmel’s Axing Over Kirk Remarks Echoes in Malta’s Free-Speech Debate** VALLETTA – Maltese night-owls who stream Jimmy Kimmel Live! while munching on ħobż biż-żejt woke up to a bombshell yesterday: ABC has pulled the plug on the veteran comic after a monologue mocking U.S. Senator Kirk’s “war-on-Christmas” crusade triggered a ferocious…
# France Braces for Disruption on Day of Anti-Macron ‘Anger’: What Malta Can Learn From French Protest Culture Valletta’s morning commuters may grumble about traffic on Triq ix-Xatt, but across the Mediterranean, France is preparing for a different kind of gridlock. As French unions call for a nationwide day of “anger” against President Emmanuel Macron’s…
