JULIANA ZAMMIT


WRITINGS

MaltaToday.com.mt •

How Alex Camilleri found his Nenu, and stayed in Malta

Alex Camilleri began writing Żejtune just after leaving New York City and moving to Malta, temporarily, or so he thought.

“I didn't quite live anywhere, and for the first time in my life, I was starting to feel a strong desire to find a home, or at least to have a sense of one,” he tells me as I catch up with him in the middle of an election campaign.

He grew up in the American Midwest to parents who had emigrated from Malta, and questions about identity and belonging had followed him his whol...
MaltaToday.com.mt •

How an ethics teacher created a platform for young people to voice their ideas

Fenech launched Żgħażagħ għall-Bidla, Youth for Change, after a classroom exercise tipped him over from thinking about it to actually doing it. He had asked his students to imagine they were in government and write down what they would change about the education system and what came back surprised him.

“The amount of work I received was more than expected; it was massive,” he said. “To see young people with all that energy and ideas and outcry for things to change, it was not only hopeful, but...
MaltaToday.com.mt •

WATCH | Oars, stopwatches and a sport that refuses to be forgotten

I arrive at the Birgu Regatta Club two hours before sunset, and the rowers have already pushed off from the club’s waterfront and are out on the course. The harbour has taken on that golden late afternoon light with Valletta sitting on the far side and Fort St Angelo keeping watch at the mouth of the creek. Along the point, a man stands holding two stopwatches with a small group gathered around him, while others sat on the low wall by the water and watched the boats through binoculars.

On Tuesd...
MaltaToday.com.mt •

In Malta, 80% of suicides are men. Most never asked for help

More than four in every five suicides in Malta are men. Most of them never spoke to anyone about their mental health struggles—not a doctor, not a therapist, not a friend.

And those men who do ask for help as a result of mental health issues tend to arrive late.

Between January 2015 and June 2021, 131 of the 162 suicides registered in Malta were men. Research shows that only 19.2% of those who died had ever been in contact with mental health services. Of the 1,324 clients using the main therap...
MaltaToday.com.mt •

With dog shelters at full capacity, no central data on abandoned animals exists

Agius walked MaltaToday through the stories behind some of the dogs currently in the sanctuary’s care. Ruby has been at AAA for six years, arriving with no fur and has since recovered, but remains in the sanctuary. Zeus was adopted from Sicily, subsequently abused, and ended up at AAA. Aaron, a pit bull cross now two and a half years old, has been at the sanctuary since birth, His mother was found pregnant outside, gave birth to seven puppies at the shelter, and all his siblings were eventually...
MaltaToday.com.mt •

'Once you put something online, you lose control of it forever'

Somewhere in Malta, a woman spent months talking to a man who did not exist.

He had a face, a voice, and he called regularly. When he asked for money, she transferred it. When someone came to collect it in person, it was not him. The face she had grown to trust had been fabricated, frame by frame, by a machine. 

The man who turned up was arrested, yet the money was gone. 

It is the kind of case that lands on the desks of Malta’s cybercrime unit with growing frequency and s...
MaltaToday.com.mt •

[WATCH] Abortion: Malta in the dark ages, like Ireland used to be

Malta may be a close-knit Catholic community where abortion is taboo but Irish pro-choice campaigner Ailhbe Smyth believes change is possible.

An academic and long-time activist, who played a big role in the legalisation of abortion in Ireland, she says eventually Catholics in Ireland made “a distinction between the laws of the State and their own conscience”.

Speaking to MaltaToday after participating in a pro-choice rally held in Valletta, Smyth draws parallels between Malta's current situat...
MaltaToday.com.mt •

Communities investing in shared solar parks: A case for energy democracy

As Malta faces increasing energy demands and growing concerns about the climate crisis, alternative energy solutions are becoming a pressing issue.

An approach gaining popularity across Europe is the concept of energy cooperatives. These are community-driven initiatives that promote the collective generation and sharing of renewable energy.

Chris Vrettos, a representative of Rescoop – the European Federation of Energy Communities – believes Malta has potential for community-led energy solution...
MaltaToday.com.mt •

The lesser known third official language of Malta

Prior to this, its history was largely undocumented, but it was believed to have been influenced by British Sign Language due to Malta’s colonial past.

Today, LSM serves not only as a means of everyday communication but also as a medium for education and professional conversation.

“Sign languages are not just a means of communication; they are integral to the identity and culture of their users,” Luca Ellul, a linguistics student at the University of Malta, told MaltaToday....
MaltaToday.com.mt •

[WATCH] Palestinian activists urge Malta to boycott Israeli products, cultural events

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement is urging Malta to take a stronger stance in supporting Palestinian rights by ending economic and cultural ties with Israel.

The BDS movement, launched in 2005 by Palestinian civil society, seeks to pressure Israel into complying with international law by urging individuals, businesses, and governments to cut ties with Israeli institutions complicit in human rights abuses.

In an interview with MaltaToday, Fiona Ben Chekroun, the Europe Coor...
MaltaToday.com.mt •

[WATCH] A record of turtle nests

At least eight turtles have made Malta and Gozo’s beaches their nesting grounds this summer in what has turned out to be a record year.

The most recent nesting observed at Ramla l-Ħamra in Gozo eclipsed the record established in 2020 when seven turtle nests were recorded.

So far, 44 baby turtles have hatched from one of the nesting sites at Golden Bay with other nests expected to hatch in the coming weeks.

Turtles started to nest more frequently on Maltese beaches over the...
MaltaToday.com.mt •

Trump's Gaza peace plan fails Palestinians, say residents in Malta

When US President Donald Trump set out his new peace plan for Gaza, promising security guarantees for Israel and a demilitarised Palestinian state, many in the international community, including Malta, watched with hope.

But for Palestinians in Malta with family and friends still living through the conflict, the debate is not about Trump's blueprint. It is about survival and about ending a war that has torn through their lives for nearly two years.

The plan calls for an imm...
MaltaToday.com.mt •

Malta sim racers aim for esports’ global stage

A trio of Maltese sim drivers are hoping to take Malta to the international virtual motorsport stage after years of individual success in the esports realm.

Dean Vella, Sheldon Muscat, and Aaron Debattista hope their new team Intercomp VMD Simsport will see them create a future line-up of drivers who will be challenging for high-level competitions in the global esports world.

Sim racing is an esports category for car races to take place virtually in a simulation. The sport has gained significa...
MaltaToday.com.mt •

Union directives leave MCAST students in the lurch over exam results

MCAST students are anxious over what could happen to their exam results in the wake of union directives issued last month to all lecturing and non-lecturing staff.

With most students having completed their end of year exams, they are now in the dark as to when they will be receiving their results.

The Malta Union of Teachers ordered industrial action at the college on 10 May following the failure of negotiations with the college on a new collective agreement. The directives...
MaltaToday.com.mt •

Warmer seas came earlier this year as marine heatwave gripped Mediterranean

If the sea feels warmer than usual, it’s not your body thermostat that’s gone awry but sea surface temperatures that have risen above average. 

The sea around Malta and Gozo experienced a significant marine heatwave with surface temperatures reaching up to 30°C in some areas. 

According to marine researcher Adam Gauci from the Oceanography Marine Research Group of the University of Malta, the average temperature in the first 10m around the Maltese islands ranged between 28°...
Last Call Europe •

Europe's Year of Elections: What Voting Looks Like Under Pressure

More than 40 countries, representing a combined population of 1.6 billion people, are holding national-level elections in 2026; this will shape the governance of nearly one-fifth of the global population. The list runs from Brazil to Bangladesh, from Sweden to South Sudan. In 2025, voters in seventy countries turned out to pick their leaders; now we are in a similar situation.The sheer volume is not, by itself, the story. Elections happen every year in large numbers, staggered across four- and f...
Last Call Europe •

47 Years of Freedom: What Malta Can Teach Europe About Sovereignty

Malta just celebrated 47 years of independence with its Freedom Day, one of five national holidays, marked every year with a regatta in the Grand Harbor and wreaths laid at the Freedom Monument in Birgu.In terms of historical weight, it is arguably the most significant of the five. Most people treat it as a long weekend. Few stop to ask what actually happened on this date or why it still matters.Independence on paper, dependency in practiceFreedom Day marks the withdrawal of the final British tr...
MaltaToday.com.mt •

A 2am call and the search for a foster family

A call comes in at 2am. A toddler needs an urgent placement by morning. It is not a rare occurrence, according to Remenda Grech, the director overseeing Malta’s alternative care system. Indeed, “it’s part of the job”, she says.

Grech is director for alternative care at the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, a government agency.

Interviewed by MaltaToday, she says that despite foster care accounting for the majority of child placements, the system always needs more families.

“The need is...
Last Call Europe •

EU Sent Mediterranean Commissioner to Trump’s Board of Peace Despite Brussels Reservations

The decision to send Šuica signals that Brussels isn’t willing to completely abandon engagement with the Trump administration’s peace initiative, even as most EU member states have declined formal membership and the European Commission continues to raise legal concerns about how the board operates.Šuica travelled to the US last month to attend the first formal gathering of the Trump-chaired board. However, a European Commission spokesperson clarified that her participation will be limited to the...
MaltaToday.com.mt •

WATCH | Exorcist Fr Marcello Ghirlando: ‘It’s not all in the mind’

I wouldn’t say it challenged my beliefs. I would say that in the long run it has strengthened my faith because when you pray with people who may be victims of the occult or for some reason oppressed by an evil spirit or in those rare cases possessed by an evil spirit or spirits, you experience the presence and the power of evil, but you also experience the greater power of God, the power of prayer, the power of faith, the power of the sacraments… 

In my experience, the majority of people who tu...
Last Call Europe •

The Mayor who declared war on the Cartels has been assassinated

The assassination on 1 November has ignited fury across Mexico, where Manzo had become known for his outspoken criticism of the federal government’s failure to combat drug cartels that have seized control of large swaths of Michoacan state.“This country has already slipped out of the president’s control,” Manzo told Mexican media outlet Latinus weeks before his murder. “We are facing crime alone. There is no strategy; there is no state.”A teenage assassin linked to organized crimeThe gunman has...
Last Call Europe •

Europe recognises Palestine… but what happens now?

In September 2025, six European countries formally recognized the State of Palestine during the 80th session of the UN General Assembly. France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, and Andorra announced their recognition at a high-level summit convened on September 22, 2025, ahead of the annual UNGA meeting. This diplomatic initiative was led by the current French President, Emmanuel Macron, who stated during his address that “the time for peace has come” and urged an end to the war in Gaza, the...
VAVEL •

Lando Norris wins Hungarian GP as FIA investigates Verstappen-Hamilton incident

Lando Norris came out on top at the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix after fending off intense pressure from teammate Oscar Piastri in the final laps. McLaren secured a dominant 1-2 finish, their seventh of the season, as rivals struggled to keep up with the team’s race pace and split strategies.

The Grand Prix wasn’t without controversy, however. The FIA confirmed they are investigating an incident between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton after a contested overtake and off-track excursion at Turn 4....
VAVEL •

Oscar Piastri triumphs at Spa after rain-soaked start and Lando Norris chase

Rain Halts the Show, Drama Ensues

The skies over Spa-Francorchamps had other plans for race day. Torrential rain arrived just before lights out, delaying the Belgian Grand Prix by nearly 80 minutes. The grid lined up behind the Safety Car on intermediate tyres, vision limited, spray flying, and tensions rising.

Lando Norris led the train as polesitter, but visibility was so poor the race was red flagged almost immediately. "I can’t see a lot behind the Safety Car," Norris radioed, a sentiment...
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