Banksy Drops a Grenade on Westminster—Valletta Watches and Wonders By Hot Malta Staff | 5 min read A stenciled swarm of green drones and a stop-sign blood-splatter appeared overnight on a London junction box, but the shockwave reached the limestone alleys of Malta before the paint was even dry. Banksy’s latest work—confirmed on his Instagram…
German Maestro Christoph von Dohnányi Dies at 95: The Conductor Who Once Whispered to Malta’s Waves By [Author Name], Hot Malta Culture Desk Valletta’s limestone balconies stood a shade quieter on Wednesday as news reached the island that Christoph von Dohnányi—the German conductor whose baton once teased a Mediterranean breeze during Malta’s 2005 Valletta International…
Valletta wakes up to shockwaves from the Gulf: Israeli airstrikes on Doha that reportedly eliminated Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh have rattled Malta’s tight-knit Arab diaspora, triggered emergency consular checks and reignited debate on the island’s role as a neutral bridge between Europe and the Middle East. The pre-dawn explosions, which Qatari authorities blame on…
Valletta’s cafés were buzzing this morning with talk of a scandal that feels oceans away yet curiously close to home: the U.S. House Oversight Committee’s late-night release of a 1993 birthday note that Donald Trump allegedly scribbled to financier-turned-convicted-sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein. “Happy birthday, Jeff,” the single sentence reads, scrawled across Trump Tower letterhead and accompanied…
Midnight at Merkanti, and the queue outside Agenda bookshop snakes past the gelato stand and down the cobbled lane. It’s not a new iPhone dropping—it’s Dan Brown’s *Wild Symphony*, the thriller maestro’s first adult novel since 2017, and Valletta is treating it like a festa firework. By 00:01 the first 200 copies are gone, snapped…
**Tragedy Across the Atlantic: Malta’s Mexican Community Mourns as Train-Bus Crash Claims 10 Lives** The Mediterranean morning was just beginning to warm when WhatsApp messages started pinging across Malta’s tight-knit Mexican community. By 7am, the group chat that usually buzzed with plans for Sunday salsa nights at Havana Club and where to find proper corn…
Watch: Ireland’s coast (ARTE) – and why Maltese eyes should care By Hot Malta contributor The first drone shot lifts off the Cliffs of Moher and, for a split second, every Maltese viewer thinks: “That’s like Dingli, but greener.” Then the camera keeps climbing, revealing 300-metres of vertical Atlantic limestone that could swallow our entire…
Israel’s vow to hit Gaza City “with great force” has jolted even this sun-drenched island 1,800 kilometres away. On Tuesday morning, as café regulars in Valletta sipped their ħobż-bi-żejt and argued about last night’s football, Telegram pings carried images of flattened apartment blocks and frantic rescuers. By evening, the chatter on Facebook groups like “Maltese…
Valletta – The Mediterranean felt smaller and angrier this week when a humanitarian flotilla bound for Gaza reported a drone strike that instantly reminded Maltese seafarers of the 2010 “Mavi Marmara” incident, parts of which were planned inside Valletta’s Grand Harbour. Activists on board the converted trawler “Handala” told international media they were 120 nautical…
# Maltese Activists on Gaza Flotilla Report Drone Strike as Tunisia Denies Detection **Valletta harbour, Tuesday 05:45** – The fishing vessel *Al Awda* was still rocking from the alleged impact when David Zammit’s phone buzzed with a WhatsApp voice note: “We’re okay, but something hit the stern. Tell Valletta we’re pushing on.” Zammit, a 34-year-old…
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…
