Armenia currently has diplomatic relations with 151 sovereign entities ( including the Vatican City and Order of Malta ).

is one of the requirements for admission to the profession of advocate in Malta ( an advocate, as opposed to a legal procurator, has rights of representation in superior courts ).

They are sometimes used unofficially-such as amateur radio operators operating in a disputed territory or in a nation state that has no official prefix ( e. g. S0 in Western Sahara or station 1A0 at Knights of Malta headquarters in Rome ).

Since at least the 18th century Freemasonry has incorporated Templar symbols and rituals in a number of Masonic bodies, most notably, the " Order of the Temple " the final order joined in " The United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta " commonly known as the Knights Templar.

In 1950, the owners, the Düsseldorf chapter of the Knights of Malta, turned it into an an orphanage, but it has subsequently returned to private ownership and is today a private residence again ( Anon.

Malta has two official languages -- Maltese ( a Semitic language derived from Siculo-Arabic and heavily influenced by Sicilian and Italian ), and English.

Malta produces only about 20 % of its food needs, has limited freshwater supplies, and has no domestic energy sources.

Malta produces only about 20 % of its food needs, has limited fresh water supplies, and has few domestic energy sources.

Despite these pressures, consumer price inflation has remained low ( 2. 2 % according to the Central Bank of Malta 2nd Quarterly Report in 2007 ), reflecting the impact of a fixed exchange rate policy ( 100 % hard peg to the euro, in preparation for currency changeover ) and lingering price controls.

Malta has 3, 096 kilometres of road, 2, 710 km ( 87. 5 %) of which are paved and 386 km are unpaved ( December 2003 ).

Malta has three large natural harbours on its main island.

Since June 2007, a three-times daily floatplane service, operated by Harbour Air Malta, has linked the sea terminal in Grand Harbour to Mgarr harbour in Gozo.

In these forums, Malta has frequently expressed its concern for the peace and economic development of the Mediterranean region.

Malta has Foreign embassies with:

* Lake Malta in Poznań hosted the World Rowing Championships in 2009 and has previously hosted some regattas in the Rowing World Cup.

Two of the English speaking states in Europe, Ireland and the United Kingdom, have not signed the additional protocol, ( the third, Malta, signed on 28 January 2003, but has not yet ratified it ).

The UNCCD has 194 country Parties: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, the People's Republic of China, Colombia, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Côte d ' Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, European Union, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, The Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, the Republic of Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, South Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Federated States of Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, São Tomé and Príncipe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

For instance, Malta has a single transferable vote ( STV ) system and ( what seems to be ) stable two-party politics.

Carnival in Malta ( Maltese: il-Karnival ta ' Malta ) has had an important place on the Maltese cultural calendar for just under five centuries, having been introduced to the Islands by Grand Master Piero de Ponte in 1535.

* Malta has an embassy in Lisbon and four honorary consulates, in the Algarve, Azores, Lisbon, and Porto ).

It is located in the central-eastern portion of the island of Malta, and the historical city has a population of 6, 966.

Mountbatten arrives on board HMS Glasgow at Malta to assume command of the Mediterranean Fleet, 16 May 1952After India, Mountbatten served as commander of the 1st cruiser squadron in the Mediterranean Fleet and, having been granted the substantive rank of vice admiral on 22 June 1949, he became Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet in April 1950.

The company that laid the first part of the cable took the name of Falmouth, Gibraltar and Malta Telegraph Company and had been founded in 1869.

A return for the United Kingdom and colonies in 1849 showed, among other details, that the expenses of the lazaret at Malta for ten years from 1839 to 1848 had been £ 53, 553.

The Inquisition in Malta ( 1561 to 1798 ) is generally considered to have been gentler.

The war continued in Italy: while little progress had been made in Calabria, a detachment of the Aragonese fleet was blockading Malta.

Another possible origin for the Cyclops legend, advanced by the paleontologist Othenio Abel in 1914, is the prehistoric dwarf elephant skulls – about twice the size of a human skull – that may have been found by the Greeks on Cyprus, Crete, Malta and Sicily.

By the time of the Ottoman Siege of Malta in 1565, this fortification had been reinforced and extended into a modest star fort.

On 12 April 2000, the RUC was awarded the George Cross for bravery in dealing with terrorist threat, a rare honour which had only been awarded collectively once before, to the island nation of Malta.

There has also been a number of foreigners who have represented the national teams of Sweden, Iceland, Senegal, Finland, Malta, Australia, South Africa, Slovenia, Tunisia, Canada, Somalia, and Nigeria.

Similar " tophets " have since been found at Carthage and other places in North Africa, and in Sardinia, Malta, and Sicily.

At the time of his death, he was a citizen of Germany, Austria, Hungary and Croatia, having earlier been stateless de jure and de facto and possessed passports of Monaco, the Order of Malta, and Spain.

Vessels had been contributed by the various Christian states: 109 galleys and 6 galleasses from the Republic of Venice, 32 galleys from the Kingdom of Naples, 10 galleys from Spain, 7 galleys each from the Kingdom of Sicily and the Pope, 5 galleys from the Republic of Genoa, 3 galleys of the Order of Saint Stephen from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, 3 galleys each from the Duchy of Savoy and the Knights of Malta, and some privately owned galleys.

Several members of the family have been Knights of Malta.

Since 1993, Malta has been subdivided into 68 local councils,, meaning municipalities.

Cagliostro himself stated during the trial following the Affair of the Diamond Necklace that he had been born of Christians of noble birth but abandoned as an orphan upon the island of Malta.

He claimed to have travelled as a child to Medina, Mecca, and Cairo and upon return to Malta to have been admitted to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, with whom he studied alchemy, the Kabbalah, and magic.

Once Malta had been supplied with Spitfire fighters carried to the Island by HMS Furious during Operation Pedestal, these fighters along with the other vital supplies of material lifted the siege of Malta.

An operation had been planned to take Malta, and thus reduce its strangulation of Rommel's supply lines.

While in Malta, he was criticised for his approach to leadership during the 3 year siege and for what critics argue to have been an unacceptable delay in the creation of bomb shelters ; as well as in implementing efficient food-rationing and creating an effective civil-defence system.

For many years it has been customary for visiting Heads of State to plant a tree in memory of their stay in Malta.