Information about our use of Cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website, personalise content and ads, provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. The cookies help us to share information about your website experience with our advertising, analytics and social media partners. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies

Cookies are a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. They contain information which is transferred to your computer’s hard drive.

We use the following cookies:

  • Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They enable basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.
  • Statistics cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
  • Marketing cookies. These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.

You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below:

CookieNamePurposeProviderExpiryType
NecessaryPHPSESSIDPreserves user session state across page requestsnetnews.com.mtSessionHTTP
Statistics_at.hist.#

Used by the social sharing platform Add This to store the user's usage history of the Add This sharing widgetnetnews.com.mtPersistentHTML
Statistics_gaRegisters a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.netnews.com.mt2 yearsHTTP
Statistics_gatUsed by Google Analytics to throttle request ratenetnews.com.mt1 dayHTTP
Statistics_gidRegisters a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.netnews.com.mt1 dayHTTP
Marketing__ascThis cookie is used to collect information on consumer behaviour, which is sent to Alexa Analytics - Alexa Analytics is an Amazon company.netnews.com.mt1 dayHTTP
Marketing__atuvcUpdates the counter of a website's social sharing features.netnews.com.mt13 monthsHTTP
Marketing___atuvsEnsures that the updated counter is displayed to the user if a page is shared with the social sharing service, Add This.netnews.com.mt1 dayHTTP
Marketing__aucThis cookie is used to collect information on consumer behaviour, which is sent to Alexa Analytics - Alexa Analytics is an Amazon company.netnews.com.mt1 yearHTTP
Marketing_at.cwwUsed by the social sharing service, Add This.netnews.com.mtPersistentHTML
Marketingat-lojson-cache-#Used by the social sharing service, Add This.netnews.com.mtPersistentHTML
Marketingat-randUsed by the social sharing service, Add This.netnews.com.mtPersistentHTML
Marketingatrk.gifThis cookie is used to collect information on consumer behaviour, which is sent to Alexa Analytics - Alexa Analytics is an Amazon companycertify.alexametrics.comSessionPixel
MarketinglocGeolocation, which is used to help providers determine how users who share information with each other are geographically located (state level).addthis.com13 monthsHTTP
MarketingOAIDRegisters a unique ID that identifies a returning user's device. The ID is used for targeted ads.ads.netnews.com.mt1 yearHTTP
Marketingr/collectThis cookie is used to send data to Google Analytics about the visitor's device and behaviour. It tracks the visitor across devices and marketing channelsdoubleclick.netSessionsPixel
MarketinguvcDetects how often the social sharing service, Add This, encounters the same user.addthis.com13 monthsHTTP
MarketingxtcRegisters the user's sharing of content via social media.addthis.com13 months
HTTP

Please note that third parties (including, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies.

You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.