Gibraltar Today

The Ministry of Transport has announced the publication of the new Taxis Regulations. These will provide for a dedicated Airport Service to be provided by the Gibraltar Taxi Service. The Taxi Association's Christian Agius joins us in the studio, alongside Stuart Harrison of the Ministry of Transport, to tell us how the service will work.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of Women in Enterprise - a grassroots organisation that over 3 decades later is still very much on the up! We spoke to two long-standing members of the network: Janet Brear and co-founder Lydia Darham, to share how much progress has been made since the group's inception in 1990.

Yesterday Spain and Portugal saw a mass power outage, with major disruption for businesses and on the roads. Even though Gibraltar was not affected, many Gibraltarians travelling over the long weekend were caught up in the chaos. Jonathan Sacramento shared more details.

The Westside Class of ’87 is reuniting to mark a major milestone, their 50th birthdays with an 80s inspired fitness event for the GBC Open Day Fund.  The session will be led the class's own ‘Fitness Guru' Natalie Hill. Heidi Jeffries is one of the organisers and told us how the idea came about.

Local runner Kim Baglietto broke the national record at the London marathon on Sunday, smashing the previous national record that she set in Sevilla last year! Jose Mari Ruiz told us more about this achievement, as well as the rest of the local sports news including the cycling tour de Malta and how the table is looking for the Rock Cup.

And, a cultural exchange in Tangier took place recently. Tito Vallejo has just returned from Morocco, and told us how impressed he was with the knowledge and enthusiasm shown by the children at the event.

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Some very exciting news in local Boxing: it was announced that Kriss and Evan Montegriffo have signed with former World Champion Sunny Edwards as their manager, fresh off the back of that incredible night at Europa a few weeks ago. Evan and Kriss explained what this signing means for them.

Jose Mari Ruiz brought us the rest of the local sports news, with the return of Pan disability football, the cycling island games in Malta, and the inter-school competitions.

The Young Enterprise Competition is in full swing, with teams working hard on their innovative and unique products. Beyond Books have developed a book based on teaching the youth about environmental issues and problems and how they can fix it. We asked Calum Marsden, Freddie Cunningham, and Sam Chapman how they came up with “Gully the Seagull”.

Tomorrow evening there's a concert at the Ince’s Hall commemorating the 80th Anniversary of VE Day. Itfeatures the Royal Gibraltar Regiment Band and corps of drums. Described as a  'Shared Moment of Celebration' Bandmaster Ben James shared more details about the concert.

And, Triay Lawyers are collaborating with the Growing Artists Programme and have organised an exciting art competition for young people in school years 12 and 13. Angela Almeida from PR & Marketing at Triay, Amy Shepherd from the Growing Artists Programme, and Triay partners Charles Simpson and Jay Gomez, told us more.

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Unite and Action for Housing have held a protest against the living conditions for tenants of the hostel at the site of the Queen's Hotel. The protesters gathered at Number Six today, and handed in a letter to the Government. We spoke to Iain Triay Clarence, who was there for GBC news, and Henry Pinna from Action for Housing.

The Taourarte Education Charitable Association was created to provide access to education for children in the village of Taourarte located in the Rif mountains. The charity raises money through different events, with the aim of supporting the educational needs of mainly girls in the remote area near Chefchouen. Maurice Valarino told us more.

And, you may have heard of the Sovereign Art Foundation, our next guests have been successful so far in the 'Gibraltar Students Prize' category of the foundation's art competition. Zoe Payas is the 2024 Judges Prize Winner, and Eve Abudarham has won the Public Vote Prize. Zoe's painting 'Sanctuaries of Light' and Eve's piece 'Staring into the Eye' now go into the global students prize.

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On today's episode of Gibraltar Today...

The Chamber of Commerce has welcomed changes to ensure a minimum number of taxis are available at the airport for up to 90 minutes after each flight arrival. We speak to the Chamber’s John Isola about that and also about local working from home trends.

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How will the next Pope be chosen? A locked-door vote - called a Conclave will begin 15 to 20 days after the Pope is buried. Our news editor CV talks to us about the process… The Bishop told GBC it won’t necessarily be one of the well-known favourites.

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And, how might a merger between Calpe City and Bruno Magpies benefit young football players on the Rock? We speak to Seamus Byrne and Haig Oubdijan.

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Today’s episode of Gibraltar Today was recorded live from Lourdes Chapel at the Cathedral of St Mary the Crowned following the death of Pope Francis. Locals have been gathering there to sign a book of condolences which will be sent to the Vatican.

The Chief Minister visited Pope Francis twice and described how his humility has touched so many around the world. The pontiff had told Fabian Picardo his hopes for a treaty deal to be struck for the sake of local working families.

We spoke to churchgoers Joe and Brenda Cortes who attended a special mass held earlier in the day for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis. They told us the impact that he had on them as worshipers.

John Collado was at the Cathedral to sign the book of condolences and spoke of how Pope Francis was a champion of peace, and how he took on the challenges faced in the world today.

Kevin Ruiz has been on Main Street and noticed how everyone he spoke to highlighted how unique Pope Francis’ pontificate has been, and hopeful that the Church will continue the work that he started.

Bishop Carmel Zammit reflected on how special Pope Francis was to receive so much coverage around the world. He described him as a unique pope who was humble, yet passionate.

The Dean of the Anglican Church in Gibraltar gave us his thoughts on the passing of Pope Francis. He spoke about the unique relationship on the Rock across different Christian denominations as well as other faiths.

And, Celia Fernandez of Elite Travel told us how many Gibraltarians would have been travelling when they heard the news about the pontiff’s passing. 

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Easter is the most important festival in the Christian calendar. It celebrates Jesus rising from the dead, three days after he was executed. The week leading up to Easter is called Holy Week. And, this year, Easter Sunday is on the 20th of April. Today is Maundy Thursday - what's its significance? We asked the Roman Catholic Bishop, Carmel Zammitt.

A new programme on GBC Television “Rhythms of Worship” celebrates the feast of Lent and Easter with music by the Tears of Joy choir and personal testimonies by members of the Gibraltar Catholic Charismatic Renewal. What does Easter mean to those who practice the Catholic Faith, and how do they mark the occasion? We spoke to Tears of Joy’s choir master, Melissa Hales.

And, life is relentless - stress awareness and management is increasingly important. April is Stress Awareness month, and next Thursday the GFSB is hosting a talk on recognizing the impact of stress on our lives. MJ Feeke and Preesha Budhrani will both be involved.

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How can Gibraltar make the most of the enormous potential of artificial intelligence? How can we manage the risks? Questions for Toby White, who is based on the Rock, his company Artimus advises organisations across the world on adopting AI.

The Unite Education Branch has criticised the Government’s handling of its public consultation on scrapping school summer hours, calling the process unclear and poorly managed. Unite says staff and unions should have been consulted first, rather than relying on an ad hoc email survey to gauge public opinion on School Summer Hours. Kevin Ruiz has been following the story.

Spain’s former Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo has renewed calls for joint sovereignty over Gibraltar, criticising the Spanish government for abandoning the principle of territorial integrity. He says Chief Minister Fabian Picardo is winning all the battles. Jonathan Sacramento told us more.

And, do you have plans for Maundy Thursday? Boyd's is hosting an old-school rave - Viva lo 90's! - featuring local DJ's and headlined by the 'Queen of Rave' herself Rozalla! Organiser Jehan Garcia told us how the preparations are going.

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Trusted Novus Bank is celebrating its fifth birthday. What have the main challenges been? The owner of TNB is investing heavily in Gibraltar, what does that mean for the bank? How is global uncertainty impacting day to day business? Questions that our reporter Shelina Assomull has put to the bank's CEO Christian Garcia this morning. 

Another season of City Pulse came to a heart-warming end last night, and it did feel a little emotional. Kevin Ruiz was joined by his regular contributors: Kenneth Cardona, Davinia Torrilla, Denise Matthews, David Revagliatte, Michelle & Ricky Rugeroni. There were mantecados, un cake, and even a t-shirt which the contributors gave Kevin saying “ser felices & build community”. We spoke to Kevin after yesterday’s show.

Passover is a celebration of the story of Exodus. During Passover, the Jewish community remembers how their ancestors left slavery behind them when they were led out of Egypt by Moses.Today, the focus is on resilience, redemption, and renewal in the face of persecution and uncertainty. Rabbi Noiky Roberts joined us in the studio.

The Gibraltar Heritage Trust have announced the date for their annual painting competition. This year the theme is “Witham’s Cemetery”, and their asking local artists to capture the view, or an aspect of, this historic site. Rebecca Fa from the Heritage Trust told us more.

And, she may be known for her social activism with Action for Housing, but there are other sides to Zohra El Gharbaoui. As she showed recently on The Hub, when she delivered a few excellent coplas! She’s putting on a music show on the 24th April inspired by her love for traditional Spanish songs.

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Today marked Richard Ullger's last day with the Royal Gibraltar Police. The outgoing Commissioner of Police is retiring after 37 years of service with the force. Mr Ullger took over from Ian McGrail as Commissioner in July 2020. He was originally set to serve for two years but his appointment was extended twice. An emotional moment for Richard Ullger, as Christine Vasquez confirmed.

The cost of the McGrail Inquiry has hit £5.7M. It was 3 million in early April last year, so in the past 12 months the cost has almost doubled. As it is a public inquiry, it’s funded by the government with tax payers money. It was called to address public concern about how and why Ian McGrail retired early as police commissioner in 2020. But the fact the cost has risen to 5.7 million points to the many documents prepared by everyone involved in it since the last public hearings. We went through the final day of last week’s hearings in detail.

Bringing generations together - one card at a time! 'Collectify' is a Young Enterprise team aiming to combine the fun of collection cards, with the education of Gibraltar's cultural figures, landmarks and more. The team consists of 9 individuals, 3 of them joined us in the studio: Jessie Chipol-Nuñez, Celine Cruz and Adi Dhanwani

The Government has proposed amendments to the Income Tax Act 2010 which set out to make tax avoidance harder. The Commissioner of Income Tax would get new powers, including involving a person’s professional or regulatory body when it’s believed they have submitted, or helped with, a tax return suspected to be inaccurate. We asked Grahame Jackson, the Chair of the Association of Tax Advisers, how the proposed law has gone down among industry professionals.

And, Jose Mari Ruiz filled us in on the latest in local sports including the athletics round the rock race, a women’s hockey training camp and the latest football results as both Lincoln Red Imps and St Joseph’s have their eyes on the Rock Cup.

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Do you own an unused Mac Book or iPad? A donation scheme between Bayside, Westside and the Newton Store, which aims to provide devices to underprivileged kids. Noah Segui is heading the initiative.

On the final day of the reconvened McGrail Inquiry, lawyers in the McGrail Inquiry delivered their final submissions. At the time of recording, we’d heard from the lawyer for the Government parties Sir Peter Caruana, lawyer for the former Operation Delhi defendants, Benn Cooper KC, lawyer for Paul Richardson Patrick Gibbs KC, and the Gibraltar Police Authority's lawyer, Kelly Power. Our reporter Jonathan Sacramento was at the Garrison Library.

We talk about investment on our high street with our reporter Kevin Ruiz, following the opening of Mango where Mothercare was previously. The original façade of the former Emporium store has been preserved and left on display also. But do we need more international brands or independent locally run stores on Main Steet?

And, Jose Mari Ruiz was in the studio to tell us about this weekend’s sports, including a women’s hockey mini tournament, the darts workplace cup and the 8 ball pool Nations Cup.

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