Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago 80 km (50 mi) south of Italy, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia, and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya. The two official languages are Maltese and English. The country's capital is Valletta, which is the smallest capital city in the EU by both area and population. It was also the first World Heritage City in Europe to become a European Capital of Culture in 2018.
The 'Ndrangheta is an Italian mafia-type criminal syndicate, based in the peninsular region of Calabria and dating back to the 19th century. Although loosely structured, it is considered one of the most powerful organized crime groups in the world. It is characterized by a horizontal structure made up of autonomous clans known as 'ndrine, based almost exclusively on blood ties. Since the 1950s, following wide-scale emigration from Calabria, 'Ndrangheta clans dispersed to other European countries, Australia and the Americas. Currently, its main activity is drug trafficking, but it also deals with arms trafficking, money laundering, racketeering, extortion, and loan sharking.
Man on Fire is a 2004 American vigilante action thriller film directed and produced by Tony Scott, with a screenplay by Brian Helgeland and co-produced by Arnon Milchan. It is based on the 1980 novel of the same name by A. J. Quinnell. The film stars Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning in lead roles, alongside Christopher Walken, Radha Mitchell, Giancarlo Giannini, Marc Anthony, Rachel Ticotin and Mickey Rourke in supporting roles. This adaptation shifts the setting from Naples, Italy, to Mexico City, diverging from the earlier 1987 film version of Quinnell's novel, which was also produced by Milchan.
Philip Nicholson, known by his pen name A. J. Quinnell, was an English thriller novelist. He is best known for his novel Man on Fire, which has been adapted to film twice, most recently in 2004 featuring Denzel Washington. Later in life he spent much of his time in Gozo, Malta, where he died.
John Paul Getty III was the grandson of American oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, who was once the richest man in the world. While living in Rome in 1973, he was kidnapped by the 'Ndrangheta and held for a $17 million ransom. His grandfather was reluctant to pay, but, after John Paul Getty III's severed ear was received by a newspaper, the grandfather negotiated a payment of $2.2 million, and Getty was released five months after being kidnapped. Getty subsequently developed an addiction to alcohol and other drugs, leading to an overdose and stroke in 1981 which left him severely disabled for the rest of his life.
James Michael Coonan is an Irish-American mobster and racketeer from Manhattan, New York who served as the boss of the Westies gang, an Irish mob group based in Hell's Kitchen, from approximately 1977 to 1988. Coonan was incarcerated and began serving a 75-year prison term in 1988.
Gabriele Ferzetti was an Italian actor with more than 160 credits across film, television, and stage. His career was at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s.
Man on Fire is a 1987 action thriller film directed by Élie Chouraqui and starring Scott Glenn and Jade Malle. It is based on the 1980 novel of the same name by A. J. Quinnell, with a screenplay by Chouraqui, Sergio Donati, and Fabrice Ziolkowski. The rest of the cast includes Joe Pesci, Jonathan Pryce, Brooke Adams, Danny Aiello, and Paul Shenar.
Maggia is a fictional international crime syndicate appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The organization exists in Marvel's main shared universe, known as Earth-616, as well as other Marvel universes. Its structure is somewhat similar to the real-world New York Mafia, but the Maggia differs in that it frequently hires supervillains and mad scientists to work for them. Some of the prominent Maggia members are supervillains themselves, such as Hammerhead, Silvermane, Count Nefaria and his daughter Madame Masque. The Maggia has come into conflict with various superheroes, including Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and the Avengers.
The Azure Window, also known as the Dwejra Window, was a 28-metre-tall (92 ft) natural arch on the island of Gozo, located just off the shores of Malta. The limestone feature, which was in Dwejra Bay close to the Inland Sea and Fungus Rock, was one of the island's major tourist attractions until it collapsed in stormy weather on 8 March 2017. The arch, together with other natural features in the area, has appeared in a number of international films and media productions.
The Devil's Double is a 2011 English-language Dutch-Belgian film directed by Lee Tamahori, written by Michael Thomas, and starring Dominic Cooper in the dual role of Uday Hussein and Latif Yahia. It was released on 22 January 2011 at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and was released in limited theaters in the United States on 29 July 2011 by Lionsgate and Herrick Entertainment to mixed critic reviews.
Franca Viola is a Sicilian woman who became famous in the 1960s in Italy for refusing a "rehabilitating marriage" to her rapist after being kidnapped, held hostage for over one week, and raped frequently. She is considered to be the first Italian woman who had been raped to publicly refuse marriage. She and her family successfully prosecuted the rapist. The trial had a wide resonance in Italy, as Viola's behavior clashed with traditional social conventions in Southern Italy, whereby a woman would lose her honour if she refused to marry the man to whom she had lost her virginity. Franca Viola became a symbol of the cultural progress and emancipation of women in post-war Italy.
L'onore e il Rispetto is an Italian crime drama broadcast on Canale 5. It is composed of four seasons of six episodes each: the first aired in 2006, the second in 2009 and the third in 2012. The fourth season, initially scheduled for the first months of the year, was broadcast from 1 September 2015. Even before the airing of the said season, Mediaset renewed the series for a fifth season.
Cross Shot is a 1976 Italian poliziottesco film directed by Stelvio Massi.
Daphne Anne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese writer, journalist, blogger and anti-corruption activist, who reported on political events in Malta and was known internationally for her investigation of the Panama Papers, and subsequent assassination by car bomb. In particular, she focused on investigative journalism, reporting on government corruption, nepotism, patronage, and allegations of money laundering, links between Malta's online gambling industry and organized crime, Malta's citizenship-by-investment scheme, and payments from the government of Azerbaijan. Caruana Galizia's national and international reputation was built on her regular reporting of misconduct by Maltese politicians and politically exposed persons.
Terrorism in Italy is related to political and subversive terrorism activities, carried out by various groups and organizations with different and sometimes conflicting methods, motivations and interests. This article is primarily about late 20th-century and early 21st-century terrorism.
A political and institutional crisis within the Republic of Malta followed the uncovering of links between government officials and the 2017 assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Keith Schembri and Minister for Tourism Konrad Mizzi resigned following the arrest of businessman Yorgen Fenech in connection with the murder.
The 2019–2020 Maltese protests started in Valletta and other urban centres of Malta on 20 November 2019, mainly calling for resignations after alleged political links to the assassination of journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia surfaced following the arrest of businessman Yorgen Fenech. The protesters also targeted government corruption and the lack of action on money laundering. The protests consisted of demonstrations, marches, sit-ins, and civil disobedience and have been unprecedented in Malta's political history since its independence from the United Kingdom.
The 1813–1814 Malta plague epidemic was the last major outbreak of plague on the islands of Malta and Gozo. It occurred between March 1813 and January 1814 on Malta and between February and May 1814 on Gozo, and the epidemic was officially declared to be over in September 1814. It resulted in approximately 4500 deaths, which was about 5% of the islands' population.
The Corfiot Maltese are a population from the Greek island of Corfu (Kerkyra) with ethnic and religious ties to the islands of Malta. A large community of descendants of Maltese is still present in Corfu. In the case of the Maltese Corfiot, who lost knowledge of the Maltese language in favour of Greek in the first half of the 20th century, religious confession remained the strongest identity marker. Maltese Corfiots today make up 2/3 of the local Catholic community.
