The Gibraltar National Dance Team is all set to participate at the 2013 World Modern and Jazz Dance Championships. The event that will be staged in Mikolajki, Poland, will see over 1,400 dancers from 25 countries taking part. Dancers will be travelling from four continents to join in this spectacular event organised by the International Dance Organisation (IDO).
Yesterday evening, officers of HM Customs came under attack by a group of men from the Spanish side of Eastern Beach.
This is the full text of the Chief Minister’s Speech delivered earlier today in Parliament during the swearing-in of the new Governor Sir James Dutton:
Your Excellency
The Government notes with sadness the death of Nelson Mandela, who had been President of the Republic of South Africa.
Mr Mandela's death is being marked around the world as a result of his positive influence on politics and in particular the manner of his treatment of adversaries.
In Gibraltar, the Government ordered that flags on official buildings should be flown at half mast after the ceremony for the arrival of new Governor Sir James Dutton had concluded in Parliament.
The Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, said: "Fulsome tributes have been paid to Mr Mandela by the most powerful political figures in the world and by citizens of all countries, in particular in his native South Africa. Gibraltar adds its small reflection on a man who inspired his nation to reconcile after the horrors of apartheid and who inspired generations of people around the world to understand the importance of magnanimity and of treating everyone as you would wish to be treated yourself. In that respect, Mr Mandela became a figure of towering influence in the world, far beyond the Republic of South Africa. Our condolences go to his family on behalf of all of Gibraltar."
EL TERRORISMO ESPAÑOL
By Rafael Rossello Cuervas-Mons
Todo terrorismo se sustenta en unos personajes que son los “ideólogos”, los que enaltecen unas teorías, la mayoría de las veces bastante peregrinas, y que hacen que las masas de indocumentados den la vida, si fuese necesario, por esa ideología, por esa doctrina.
The Opposition says it is deeply saddened by the death of the inspirational former South African President, Nelson Mandela, who dismantled apartheid. The GSD joins the rest of the world in mourning and celebrating his life and says it is a testament to and a measure of Mr Mandela's greatness and courage, how he touched lives worldwide as a beacon of justice and equality.
Lt Gen Sir James Dutton and Lady Dutton arrived this morning in Gibraltar aboard HMS Bulwark. This continues the long tradition of new Governors arriving in Gibraltar by Royal Navy vessel. Interim Governor Alison MacMillan and her husband Mr Lee together with the Chief Minister and Mrs Picardo welcomed them as they disembarked and set foot on Gibraltar soil. The Royal Gibraltar Regiment fired a 17-gun Salute.
The Chief Minister, the Hon Fabian Picardo, MP, has said the biggest challenge to his Government has been the attitude of Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo and the Partido Popular Government but that the Gibraltar Government believes all issues can only be resolved in one way: “Dialogue, Dialogue, Dialogue.” Speaking in a mid-term address to the Chamber of Commerce, yesterday evening, the Chief Minister reminded those present that during the previous Chief Minister’s term of Office from 1996 and 2000, lengthy queues were the order of the day – although the particularly vicious pedestrian queue is a new phenomenon. Gibraltar was referred to as a Tax Haven with talk of 80,000 companies and the frontier was closed by fishermen as a result of a dispute. Extensive searches of vehicles were carried out causing 2 hour queues and 7,000 complaints were received by the European Commission. The Spanish Foreign Minister, at the time, Abel Matutes called Gibraltar “The Dirty Money Colony” and talked of the mafias using the Rock for money laundering.
