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Malta | PLACE

 

Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is a small and densely populated island nation consisting of an archipelago of seven islands in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Malta lies directly south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya. The country's official languages are Maltese and English. Roman Catholicism is the most practised religion. The islands constituting the Maltese nation have been ruled by various powers and fought over for centuries. Malta has been a member state of the European Union since May 1, 2004, and it is currently the smallest EU country in both population and area. Malta is the only nation in the world that has collectively been awarded the George Cross for conspicuous gallantry, and its flag bears a replica of that award.

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Italy's Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti, center, talks with Britain's counterpart Alistair   Darling, left, and Tonio Fenech of Malta, right, at the EU finance ministers meeting in Brussels, Tuesday, March 16, 2010. Finance ministers of the 27 EU nations review Greek austerity measures and other financial regulations reform to ease the financial crisis.

Italy's Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti, center, talks with Britain's counterpart Alistair Darling, left, and Tonio Fenech of Malta, right, at the EU finance ministers meeting in Brussels, Tuesday, March 16, 2010. Finance ministers of the 27 EU nations review Greek austerity measures and other financial regulations reform to ease the financial crisis.

AP 

Pope Benedict XVI, in foreground, looks on during the weekly general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 3, 2010. The Vatican spokesman said the pontiff will visit Spain in November, with a stop in Barcelona to inaugurate the famed cathedral La Sagrada Familia. a Barcelona landmark designed by modern architect Antoni Gaudi in the 1830s and constructed over decades into the 21st century. Benedict, who turns 83 next month, also plans trips this year to Malta, Portugal, Cyprus and Britain. In background, Archbishop James Harvey.

Pope Benedict XVI, in foreground, looks on during the weekly general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 3, 2010. The Vatican spokesman said the pontiff will visit Spain in November, with a stop in Barcelona to inaugurate the famed cathedral La Sagrada Familia. a Barcelona landmark designed by modern architect Antoni Gaudi in the 1830s and constructed over decades into the 21st century. Benedict, who turns 83 next month, also plans trips this year to Malta, Portugal, Cyprus and Britain. In background, Archbishop James Harvey.

AP 

Pope Benedict XVI looks on during the weekly general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 3, 2010. The Vatican spokesman said the pontiff will visit Spain in November, with a stop in Barcelona to inaugurate the famed cathedral La Sagrada Familia. a Barcelona landmark designed by modern architect Antoni Gaudi in the 1830s and constructed over decades into the 21st century. Benedict, who turns 83 next month, also plans trips this year to Malta, Portugal, Cyprus and Britain.

Pope Benedict XVI looks on during the weekly general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 3, 2010. The Vatican spokesman said the pontiff will visit Spain in November, with a stop in Barcelona to inaugurate the famed cathedral La Sagrada Familia. a Barcelona landmark designed by modern architect Antoni Gaudi in the 1830s and constructed over decades into the 21st century. Benedict, who turns 83 next month, also plans trips this year to Malta, Portugal, Cyprus and Britain.

AP 

Lebanese Khaldiyeh al-Atab, the mother of senior Islamic Jihad official, Mahmoud Majzoub, who was killed in a bombing with his brother Nidal, reacts as she reads verses from the Quran after listening to the sentencing to death of Lebanese Mahmoud Rafeh, a 60-year-old retired police officer, who was charged with spying for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and helping carry out the bombing that killed her two sons, at her home in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010. A military court has sentenced Rafeh to death for collaborating with Israel to plan a 2006 car bombing that killed two Lebanese members of a militant Palestinian group. The picture shows Mahmoud Majzoub, left, Nidal Majzoub, right, and the chief of Islamic Jihad, Fathi Shekaki, center, killed in Malta in 1995.

Lebanese Khaldiyeh al-Atab, the mother of senior Islamic Jihad official, Mahmoud Majzoub, who was killed in a bombing with his brother Nidal, reacts as she reads verses from the Quran after listening to the sentencing to death of Lebanese Mahmoud Rafeh, a 60-year-old retired police officer, who was charged with spying for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and helping carry out the bombing that killed her two sons, at her home in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010. A military court has sentenced Rafeh to death for collaborating with Israel to plan a 2006 car bombing that killed two Lebanese members of a militant Palestinian group. The picture shows Mahmoud Majzoub, left, Nidal Majzoub, right, and the chief of Islamic Jihad, Fathi Shekaki, center, killed in Malta in 1995.

AP 

Italy's Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti, center, talks with Britain's counterpart Alistair   Darling, left, and Tonio Fenech of Malta, right, at the EU finance ministers meeting in Brussels, Tuesday, March 16, 2010. Finance ministers of the 27 EU nations review Greek austerity measures and other financial regulations reform to ease the financial crisis.

Italy's Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti, center, talks with Britain's counterpart Alistair Darling, left, and Tonio Fenech of Malta, right, at the EU finance ministers meeting in Brussels, Tuesday, March 16, 2010. Finance ministers of the 27 EU nations review Greek austerity measures and other financial regulations reform to ease the financial crisis.

AP 

Pope Benedict XVI, in foreground, looks on during the weekly general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 3, 2010. The Vatican spokesman said the pontiff will visit Spain in November, with a stop in Barcelona to inaugurate the famed cathedral La Sagrada Familia. a Barcelona landmark designed by modern architect Antoni Gaudi in the 1830s and constructed over decades into the 21st century. Benedict, who turns 83 next month, also plans trips this year to Malta, Portugal, Cyprus and Britain. In background, Archbishop James Harvey.

Pope Benedict XVI, in foreground, looks on during the weekly general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 3, 2010. The Vatican spokesman said the pontiff will visit Spain in November, with a stop in Barcelona to inaugurate the famed cathedral La Sagrada Familia. a Barcelona landmark designed by modern architect Antoni Gaudi in the 1830s and constructed over decades into the 21st century. Benedict, who turns 83 next month, also plans trips this year to Malta, Portugal, Cyprus and Britain. In background, Archbishop James Harvey.

AP 

Pope Benedict XVI looks on during the weekly general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 3, 2010. The Vatican spokesman said the pontiff will visit Spain in November, with a stop in Barcelona to inaugurate the famed cathedral La Sagrada Familia. a Barcelona landmark designed by modern architect Antoni Gaudi in the 1830s and constructed over decades into the 21st century. Benedict, who turns 83 next month, also plans trips this year to Malta, Portugal, Cyprus and Britain.

Pope Benedict XVI looks on during the weekly general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 3, 2010. The Vatican spokesman said the pontiff will visit Spain in November, with a stop in Barcelona to inaugurate the famed cathedral La Sagrada Familia. a Barcelona landmark designed by modern architect Antoni Gaudi in the 1830s and constructed over decades into the 21st century. Benedict, who turns 83 next month, also plans trips this year to Malta, Portugal, Cyprus and Britain.

AP 

Lebanese Khaldiyeh al-Atab, the mother of senior Islamic Jihad official, Mahmoud Majzoub, who was killed in a bombing with his brother Nidal, reacts as she reads verses from the Quran after listening to the sentencing to death of Lebanese Mahmoud Rafeh, a 60-year-old retired police officer, who was charged with spying for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and helping carry out the bombing that killed her two sons, at her home in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010. A military court has sentenced Rafeh to death for collaborating with Israel to plan a 2006 car bombing that killed two Lebanese members of a militant Palestinian group. The picture shows Mahmoud Majzoub, left, Nidal Majzoub, right, and the chief of Islamic Jihad, Fathi Shekaki, center, killed in Malta in 1995.

Lebanese Khaldiyeh al-Atab, the mother of senior Islamic Jihad official, Mahmoud Majzoub, who was killed in a bombing with his brother Nidal, reacts as she reads verses from the Quran after listening to the sentencing to death of Lebanese Mahmoud Rafeh, a 60-year-old retired police officer, who was charged with spying for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and helping carry out the bombing that killed her two sons, at her home in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010. A military court has sentenced Rafeh to death for collaborating with Israel to plan a 2006 car bombing that killed two Lebanese members of a militant Palestinian group. The picture shows Mahmoud Majzoub, left, Nidal Majzoub, right, and the chief of Islamic Jihad, Fathi Shekaki, center, killed in Malta in 1995.

AP 

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