The weekly Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is currently inviting votes for the 2007 Listeners' Top Picks. This year we have introduced a voting system through Facebook, the popular online social network. By the end of the year, five Maltese music releases will be awarded the honour of being called the Listeners' Picks for 2007. Anyone with a Facebook account can vote.

Speaking of awards, it gives me great pleasure to announce that Pierre J. Mejlak has landed his second award from the Institute of Maltese Journalists. This year he has won for his stellar use of the Maltese language on his personal blog, which is an integral part of the MaltaMedia Online Network. This win marks the fourth award won by the MMON. The previous awards were for MaltaMedia's Editorial Director, Martin Debattista (2003), Pierre J. Mejlak's reports from Brussels (2005), and Robert Micallef's Wired Temples (2006), which has been renamed Wired Malta since then.

Although this is the last aboutmalta.com monthly newsletter for the year 2007 we will be sending you a special Christmas edition in a couple of weeks. We do this every year because we feel that it is too early to include Christmas material just yet. We will also give you full details about our annual feature on the year in review. Look out for our seasonal newsletter in your mailbox, about two weeks from now.

Toni Sant
Consulting Editor, aboutmalta.com

P.S. To subscribe to this newsletter just contact us.

1. Last Month's Daily News from MaltaMedia
2. Top Picks:
     a. Mużika Mod Ieħor 2007 Listeners' Picks
     b. Search MaltaMedia Online News
3. This Month in Maltese History
4. What's On This Month

01 Illegal immigration is a cause for concern - ILO
02 Life of 12 year-old boy in danger after fall
03 Two elderly men found dead in Qawra residence
04 Resurfacing of runway 32/14 at MIA
05 Trips to Malta land Scottish MP in trouble
06 Paul Gascoigne grounded by Air Malta
07 21-year jail term for attempted murder
08 Lm10.5 million invested in brewery project
09 Malta to join Schengen on December 21
10 Foreigner dies engulfed by a wave in Gozo
11 Remembrance Day commemorated
12 Customs seize contraband soft drinks
13 Life of 18 year-old in danger after accident
14 Works on new counting call in advanced stage
15 Death and injury in fireworks factory explosion
16 Hijack survivor speaks of ordeal in Malta
17 German President on State Visit in Malta
18 Bulgarian dies after kite surfing accident
19 Another death by accident
20 Queen Elizabeth in Malta for 'second honeymoon'
21 Successful migration to Mater Dei hospital
22 Unemployment down by 512 in October
23 More projects for Grand Harbour
24 Indian diplomat for Commonwealth Secretary-General
25 High rate of HIV cases diagnosed in Malta
26 Fireworks factory blasts leave more victims
27 Malta well prepared for euro, report says
28 EU reprimands Malta on polluting ships
29 Former minister John Dalli rehabilitated
30 HSBC Balzan branch robbed, reward offered

Read and/or listen to the latest daily news from MaltaMedia.com.

a. Mużika Mod Ieħor 2007 Listeners' Picks

Toni Sant's Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast first appeared just over two years ago. Each year of podcasting on this series is marked though an invitation for listeners to vote for their Maltese music picks from that year. This year the five categories are: Maltese Album, Single/EP, Internet Release, Online Music Video, and Overseas-based Artist Release for 2007. You can vote for one title from each category on Facebook, the popular online social network. The final results will be included in Toni Sant's first podcast for 2008 in the Mużika Mod Ieħor series.
 

b. Search MaltaMedia Online News

A new search facility has been added to the MaltaMedia Online News service. Searching at MaltaMedia.com is now done through Google, the Internet's most popular search service. This new search facility has been integrated into the site to enable Google searching for the site's archive without leaving the site itself.

30 YEARS AGO (25 December 1977)
Rev. Espedito Tabone, the 71-year-old Archpriest of Għajnsielem, wins the £M50,000 first prize in the 113th National Lottery which, from this edition, was different from others in that prizes were increased and prizes of £M10,000 were drawn each month for the past three months.

20 YEARS AGO (28 December 1987)
A memorial to Sir Hannibal Scicluna is unveiled at the Mall in Floriana.

10 YEARS AGO (1 December 1997)
Malta Drydocks deputy chairman Vince Azzopardi announces that Dock 1 is being give up for the development of a yacht marina.

FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS
11 December 1951: Jane Marshall, Actress
21 December 1927: Charles Thake, Actor
23 December 1951: Joe Dimech, Broadcaster
29 December 1947: Albert Marshall, Poet

DEATH ANNIVERSARIES
2 December 1952: Meme Scicluna, Soccer Impressario, dies at 65
16 December 1996: Cecil Satariano, Amateur Film-maker, dies at 66
20 December 1950: Nerik Mizzi, Prime Minister, dies at 65
21 December 1981: Hannibal P. Scicluna, Historian, dies at 101

See aboutmalta.com's daily full list of birthdays, deaths, and events in Maltese history.

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

8 December 2007
Puttinu Challenge
Charity event in aid of the Puttinu Cares Children's Cancer Support Group, staring with cycling from Birzebbuga to Mtarfa followed by canoeing to Comino and a swim to Gozo, ending in a run up to Victoria and back. The challenge includes all these events back to Birzebbuga by the end of the day.

12 + 14 December 2007
Musical Tidings
The New Choral Singers present their annual free Christmas concerts at the Parish of the Apostle St. Bartholomew in Gharghur, and the Parish Church of the Assumption in Attard. Both concerts will commence at 7.15pm.

21 December 2007
St. Gaetan Band: Christmas Concert
St. Gaetan's Band, under the baton of Mro. Ray Sciberras, is holding a musical concert celebrating the Christmas season at the club's premises in Hamrun, featuring several selections of classical and contemporary music, along with various Christmas Carols and other festive music.

28 December 2007
Ir-Razzett tal-Ħbieberija: Christmas Dance
Joe Brown and his band accompany various popular local singers at Ir-Razzett tal-Ħbieberija, starting at 8.00pm.

View aboutmalta.com's full calendar for this month's events in Malta and Gozo, or to submit a future event to our calendar.