Malta (island) in an archipelago in the central Mediterranean, some south of the Italian island of Sicily across the Malta Channel. Malta is located east of its sister islands of Gozo and Comino. It lies on the Malta plateau, a shallow shelf formed from the high points of a land bridge between Sicily and North Africa that became isolated as sea levels rose after the last Ice Age. Malta is therefore situated in the zone between the Eurasian and African tectonic plates. Numerous bays along the indented coastline of the islands provide good harbours. The landscape consists of low hills with terraced
Malta (island) "Malta Story" (1953), "Midnight Express" (1978), "Gladiator" (2000), "Munich" (2005), "World War Z" (2013) and "Captain Phillips" (2013). In preparation for Malta's membership in the European Union, which it joined on 1 May 2004, it privatised some state-controlled firms and liberalised markets. For example, the government announced on 8 January 2007 that it was selling its 40% stake in MaltaPost, to complete a privatisation process which has been ongoing for the past five years. By 2010, Malta had privatised telecommunications, postal services, shipyards and shipbuilding. The two largest commercial banks are Bank of Valletta and HSBC Bank Malta, both of