This month marks the first year since Grazio's Malta Virtwali started being transformed into aboutmalta.com. Since then, much has happened and as you can see for yourself the pioneering project started by Grazio in 1994 has now caught up with the times. Automation was an important feature in terms of keeping the site up to date. The Visitors Book and the link listings are now fully automated and this has made it possible for the site to have something new on it everyday with very little backend intervention. This does not mean that we're not still working on the aboutmalta.com every day. The coming about of this newsletter is proof of the interest that aboutmalta.com has generated over the past years and continues to generate. On behalf of the editorial board and all the regular contributors to aboutmalta.com I would like to thank you for subscribing to this newletter, and invite you to contact us at newsletter@aboutmalta.com if you have any comments or suggestions.

Grazzi!

Toni Sant
Consulting Editor, aboutmalta.com

P.S. To subscribe to this newsletter click here.

1. Last Month's Daily News from MaltaMedia
2. Top Picks:
     a. Aerial Image of the Maltese Islands
     b. The Sunday Homily
3. This Month in Maltese History
4. Web Tip for October

01 Hunting season opens amid protests
02 PM satisfied with his second year in office in this legislature
03 Lino Spiteri names persons allegedly involved in 1992 vote rigging
04 Popular disc jockey pleads guilty of drug possession
05 Government curtails powers of Planning Authority
06 90 grams of drugs hauled by police
07 "I won't say it won't be a tight budget" - the PM
08 Malta celebrates Victory Day
09 PM addresses UN Millennium Summit
10 "Drastic" drop in restaurant sales, warns association
11 Former MLP deputy leader speaks out on vote rigging claims
12 9 foreign water polo players accused of disrupting Air Malta flight
13 Judges at a loss over fate of Gozitan Siamese twins
14 Archbishop of Westminster says Gozitan twins shouldn't be separated
15 Residents up in arms against Maghtab landfill
16 Man dies in traffic accident
17 EU "yes" campaign to be officially launched in October
18 Bank employee killed in front of San Gwann branch
     Parliament reconvenes after the summer recess with busy schedule
19 Greenpeace activists clash with police
20 Libyan caught with a kilo and a half of cannabis at the airport
21 Malta celebrates Independence Day
22 UK court says doctors can separate Siamese twins
23 Malta expected to contribute to new EU army
24 Parents of Siamese twins want £250,000 to tell story
25 "Malta will take part in humanitarian missions" - the PM
26 Lockerbie trial - high explosives stored at Malta's airport
27 New electoral boundaries approved
28 Siamese twins' parents will not appeal court's decision
29 Kenyan jet makes emergency landing
     Sydney 2000: Maltese (mis)adventure is over
30 Rise in exports outweighed by increase in imports

CLICK HERE for the latest daily news from Malta.

a. AERIAL IMAGES OF THE MALTESE ISLANDS

The Coastal Dynamics Centre at the Foundation of International Studies is carrying out aerial surveys of the Maltese Islands, and coastal zone surveys for monitoring pollution and thermal discharges. aboutmalta.com, in collaboration with the Coastal Dynamics Centre at the Foundation of International Studies, is publishing some of the spectacular photos taken during the remote sensing surveys here.
 

b. THE SUNDAY HOMILY

Every week, aboutmalta.com presents a homily by Daniel Bartolo S.Th.D., T.E.F.L for the upcoming Sunday. The homily is updated every thursday evening to give the aboutmalta.com vistors enough time to view it before and after each respective Sunday. The current Sunday Homily is available here.

30 YEARS AGO (October 14, 1970)
The Apollo 13 astronauts leave Malta after a 3-day visit.

20 YEARS AGO (October 2, 1980)
The Curia announces the setting up of a media centre to promote media education and produce video tapes and audio visual kits for use in parishes, youth centres and other organizations.

10 YEARS AGO (October 29, 1990)
Seabed tremor hits Malta.

FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS
October 1, 1962: Eileen Montesin, Actress/Broadcaster
October 3, 1937: Richard England, Architect/Artist
October 22, 1970: Reggie Cini, Goalkeeper
October 25, 1947: Mary Spiteri, Singer

DEATH ANNIVERSARIES
October 5, 1995: Lorry Sant, Politician, dies at 58
October 13, 1961: Dun Karm Psaila, Poet/Priest, dies at 90
October 29, 1980: George Borg Olivier, Prime Minister, dies at 69
October 31, 1975: Joseph Calleja, Hollywood Actor, dies at 78

CLICK HERE for a full list of this month's birthdays, deaths, and events in Maltese history.

Today in Maltese History is produced exclusively for aboutmalta.com by Mario Axiaq.

Here are a few simple rules to follow if you want to have a successful website of your own:

a) Keep the size of images to a minimum both in terms of dimensions and kilobytes.
b) Refresh the content as frequently as possible to keep visitors returning.
c) Do not overdo the site with too many animated gif files, too many colours, frames and add-ons like Java applets, Shockwave Flash animation and media clips.
d) Make internal navigation as simple and straightforward as possible.
e) Make sure your site is registered with the major search engines.

For more information about the Internet visit aboutmalta.com's Internet section.