Netflix’s harrowing British mini-series *Adolescence* and the Hollywood satire *The Studio* swept the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Monday night, but while the after-parties raged in downtown Los Angeles, the real buzz on Maltese social media was closer to home: “Did ya see? They mentioned us!” In his acceptance speech for Outstanding Limited Series, *Adolescence*…
Mater Dei’s corridors are filling with the sound of coughing again, but this time it isn’t tourists keeled over by July heat—it’s nanniet who danced at last month’s festa and now can’t catch their breath. Public-health officials confirmed this week that Malta is riding a sharp summer wave of H1N1 influenza, the same strain that…
# Big Tom finally finds his mojo: How Malta’s most stubborn donkey became the island’s unlikeliest celebrity **By [Hot Malta Staff] | Tuesday, 11 June 2025** Marsa’s Sunday market used to be famous for two things: knock-off Ray-Bans and the unmistakable sound of Big Tom’s theatrical braying. For seven years the oversized donkey—part tourist photo-prop,…
**UK’s Largest Lake ‘Dying’ as Algae Blooms Worsen — What Malta Can Learn from Windermere’s Silent Collapse** By *Hot Malta Newsroom* | *Published 09:00, 14 June 2025* WINDERMERE, Lake District – The postcard-perfect waters that once inspired Wordsworth’s sonnets are now slipping beneath a fluorescent green shroud. Britain’s largest natural lake, Windermere, is being strangled…
France’s Manufactured Drama: How Parisian Protests Echo in Valletta’s Cafés By Luke Caruana, Hot Malta correspondent Valletta – When French President Emmanuel Macron rammed through his pension reform without a parliamentary vote last month, Maltese commuters scrolling their phones on the 8-a.m. ferry from Sliema to the capital saw the same looping footage: burning barricades…
**Breaking Through Boundaries: The Art Detained by Customs** When local artist Sarah Mallia opened her package at MaltaPost’s Qormi sorting office last month, she expected to find the vibrant ceramic sculptures she’d commissioned from a Tunisian artisan. Instead, she was greeted by customs officials who confiscated the pieces, claiming they “didn’t align with import regulations”…
**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…
**In photos: 15 images of Malta’s natural beauty in running for global prize** Fifteen stunning photographs showcasing Malta’s raw natural beauty have made it to the shortlist of an international photography competition, putting the islands’ hidden gems in the global spotlight. From the dramatic cliffs of Gozo to the crystal-clear waters of Comino, these images…
**Film: The Thursday Murder Club – Malta’s Silver-Screen Pensioners Steal the Show** Valletta’s Republic Street was briefly closed to traffic last Tuesday, but nobody complained. Instead, Maltese pensioners clutching paper cups of ħelwa tat-Tork leaned against the limestone walls and watched Helen Mirren stroll past Casa Rocca Piccola in a floral blouse that looked suspiciously…
€25,000 licence surrender scheme planned for ‘coming weeks’ ————————————————————- Valletta – In a move that could redraw the island’s hospitality map, Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo has announced a €25,000 cash-for-licence scheme aimed at persuading small hotel and guest-house owners to permanently close shop. The voluntary buy-out, which opens “in the coming weeks”, targets 1,000-odd micro-properties…
**Gozo 7 Challenge “Designed to Fail” – Neil Agius Slams Organisers as Gozitan Swimmers Feel Snubbed** *By Hot Malta Newsroom* Sliema’s dawn training crowd was still rubbing sand off their feet when Neil Agius dropped the bombshell: last weekend’s Gozo 7 relay—hyped as the island’s first-ever 70 km circum-swim of sister-island Gozo—was “designed to fail…
Watch: Large patches of ‘algae’ spotted in Sliema swim zone Sliema’s postcard-perfect coastline looked more like a green smoothie this morning after overnight winds pushed thick rafts of floating algae into the island’s most popular urban swim zone. Social media lit up before 7 a.m. with aerial clips showing a fluorescent slick stretching from the…
