TIMELY ENCOUNTER

Today

The pairings for Round 4 of the Tradewise Gibraltar Masters produced an intriguing encounter between Stephen Whatley and Albert Vasse yesterday. Local junior Stephen Whatley is the sole Gibraltarian in the Masters and his opponent Albert Vasse of the Netherlands is Chief Executive Officer of Digital Game Technology, the company which manufactures the digital clocks and electronic boards in use at the Festival. Mr Vasse is currently on three months’ sabbatical leave from DGT and has taken the opportunity to make the Gibraltar Masters his first tournament for 17 years. He is also a distinguished International Arbiter and in December 2011 officiated as Chief Arbiter at the London Chess Classic. Meanwhile at the end of the first week in the first Amateur tournament of the Festival Stephen came in fifth overall. His teacher Mario Garcia took the best Gibraltar prize.

Algeciras ferry closes as investors sense uncertainty

Today - by Brian Reyes

The ferry service linking Gibraltar with Algeciras has been shut down by its operator, citing economic uncertainty following political changes on both sides of the border.
Two years after it was re-launched under the umbrella of the Cordoba Agreement, Medex Lines said the sustainability of the service could no longer be guaranteed.
A senior executive at Medex Lines told the Chronicle yesterday that investors behind the company were concerned that the Popular Party had taken a tougher stance on Gibraltar and that this would have a negative impact on the cross-border economy.
 

Tripartite over – official

Today

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Garcia Margallo has sent a letter to his UK counterpart William Hague responding to Prime Minister David Cameron’s remarks on self-determination. Mr Cameron had said that to impose changes on the people of Gibraltar would be a form of “re-colonisation” and that he supported “self-determination.”
Sr Margallo is reported to have stated that Spain does not share that view given the Treaty of Utrecht 1713 and UN doctrine.
 

Ł1,000 fines after jettison

Today

Two Spanish men were fined £1,000 each after admitting charges of jettisoning cargo.
Jorge Alberto Lopez Herrera, 25, and Oscar Dario Herrera Mariscal, 22, both from Algeciras, were arrested by officers of the Marine Section of the Royal Gibraltar Police.
 

Spain’s jobless total hits 5.3m

Today

Spain’s unemployment total has passed the five million mark, with the jobless rate shooting up from 21.5% to 22.8%.
There were 5.3 million people out of work at the end of last month, up from 4.9 million in the third quarter.
 

Kenya children to benefit from evening at The Convent

Today

The Kijani (Kenya) Trust held a reception in The Convent Banqueting Hall on Thursday aiming to raise funds to send a group of children from Kenya to participate in the Queens Jubilee Pageant to be held in Windsor, on May 13. The event was hosted by Governor Sir Adrian Johns and Angela Sargent of the Kijani Trust.
Sir Adrian said, “The Kijani Trust is hosting tonight to make sure people in particular from Kenya are represented there, Kenya because that is where the queen was on the 6th February 1952, when she became Queen.”
 

Scottish separatists face tough independence battle

Today - by Mohammed Abbas, Reuters

Holding court in Edinburgh castle surrounded by sabres and armour from centuries-old battles with the English, Scottish nationalist leader Alex Salmond sets out his plans to fight for freedom by the ballot box rather than the sword.
Peppering his arguments with references to Scotland’s 18th century national poet Robert Burns, on whose birthday this week he launched his referendum bid, Salmond portrayed the end of Scotland’s 300-year union with a dominant England as inevitable, and the idea of a United Kingdom as anachronistic.
 

ROYAL BANNER

Yesterday, 27th January 2012

The Government has erected a special banner to commemorate Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year.

Cameron firm on self-determination

Yesterday, 27th January 2012 - by Brian Reyes

British Prime Minister David Cameron said the UK backed Gibraltar’s right to self determination and that to go against the wishes of its people would amount to “re-colonisation”.
Mr Cameron made the statement in response to questions from a Spanish Popular Party MP during an address to the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on Wednesday.
The PP’s Pedro Agramunt asked for Mr Cameron’s views on decolonisation, and got the following reply.
“I am not sure whether the last part of your question was on Gibraltar or the issue of the Falklands, which has been raised recently,” Mr Cameron said.
 

Picardo welcomes Lidington’s stance on Gibraltar

Yesterday, 27th January 2012

Chief Minister Fabian Picardo met with the Minister of State for Europe, David Lidington MP, at the Foreign Office in London yesterday.

Figueras reiterates ‘Govt U-turn on DPC’

Yesterday, 27th January 2012

Opposition spokesman for Planning Selwyn Figueras has declared that the GSLP/Liberal Government appears to be “grandstanding devoid of real change” on matters related to the Development and Planning Commission, and “making policy as it goes along.”