Valletta’s courtroom number four was packed tighter than a festa pyrotechnics van yesterday when magistrate Rachel Montebello threw out freshly-arrived evidence from the FBI, ruling that the 2 000-page digital dossier landed too late to be fairly examined by 24-year-old Daniel Meli and his three co-accused. The decision is the latest twist in Malta’s first-ever…
A conversation about ‘Fallen Angels’ – and why Valletta is talking about it over pastizzi By Sarah Galea, Hot Malta contributor “Mela, have you seen the angels?” The question ricochets across Republic Street every morning this week, whispered between kiosk owners, debated by pensioners on the City Gate benches, and posted on TikTok by teens…
# A Nation Pauses: Malta Commemorates 9/11 with Reflection and Resilience As the Mediterranean sun cast its golden glow over Malta’s limestone buildings this morning, the island joined the global community in marking the 24th anniversary of September 11, 2001. While physically distant from Ground Zero, Malta’s commemoration carries unique significance, weaving together international solidarity…
**Police Sweep Targets Homeless in Four Towns, Sparks Outrage and Debate** In a pre-dawn operation that has ignited fierce debate across the islands, Maltese police arrested 28 homeless individuals during coordinated raids in Valletta, Sliema, St Julian’s and Birkirkara. Officers began moving through doorways, bus shelters and makeshift camps at 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday, citing…
‘In love with all good music’ – the phrase sounds like a throw-away Instagram caption until you spend a Friday night in Strait Street and realise it is Valletta’s unofficial motto. From the brassy blast of a local fanfare marching into the City Gate to the sub-bass thump of a Gozo farmhouse rave, Malta’s love…
Valletta’s narrow back-streets have always been a refuge for teenagers who fall through the cracks: kids escaping violent homes, failed care homes, or the increasing numbers of sub-Saharan migrants who wash up on Malta’s southern shore with nothing but a phone and a prayer. But on Monday afternoon the façade of “safe small-island living” cracked…
**Valletta Drama: Statuette Attack Sparks Debate on Domestic Violence Against Men in Malta** A heated domestic dispute in Malta’s capital has taken an unexpected turn after a 34-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly hurling a ceramic statuette at her partner and vandalising two of his cars in a late-night rampage that has reignited conversations about…
**Valletta’s Streets to Become Open-Air Counselling Room in First-Ever Youth Mental Health Festival** A kaleidoscope of pop-up art installations, dawn-to-dusk sports sessions and silent disco therapy nights will take over the capital next month as Malta stages its first festival dedicated entirely to young minds. “Well-Being October”, unveiled yesterday by the parliamentary secretariat for youth…
# National Protest Over Controversial Planning Bills Announced Malta’s usually sun-splashed streets are set to reverberate with drums and dissent this Saturday as a coalition of NGOs, residents’ associations, hunters’ groups, heritage activists and even parish priests call for a national protest against two fast-tracked planning bills they warn will “concrete over the soul of…
On a humid Thursday evening, the courtyard of Valletta’s old University building is buzzing—not with students cramming for exams, but with grandmothers, taxi drivers, tattooed artists and suited accountants balancing on plastic chairs. They are here for “Doing Democracy,” a monthly citizens’ forum that has quietly become Malta’s most influential political experiment since the 2011…
**Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch Star in The Roses: A Cinematic Treat for Maltese Film Lovers** Malta’s cinema scene is set to sparkle as two of Britain’s most beloved acting powerhouses, Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch, reunite on screen in *The Roses*, a darkly comedic drama already generating Oscar buzz. While the film is not…
**Watch: Two Black Mondays, 90 years of chronicling Malta’s history** In the heart of Valletta, where limestone facades bear witness to centuries of Mediterranean drama, a remarkable cinematic journey is unfolding. “Two Black Mondays,” a documentary that premiered this week at the historic Embassy Cinema, doesn’t just recount Malta’s past—it resurrects it through the lens…
