MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

First LEGCO meeting of the new year

FIDF Building Postponed

The construction of the new FIDF building has been temporarily put on hold. Councillor Sharon Halford told FIBS that they are waiting for a report from a sub-group of the Finance Committee before works can resume.

Falkland's Resonse to The Evening Standard

Sukey Cameron, the representative for The Falkland Islands Government in the UK was in the Evening Standard yesterday the 23rd. She wrote an angry response to a journalist's flippant comment about the Falkland Islands in an article titled "Send the child Killers into exile". Sukey wrote "The horrific case of Anna Climbie, which was reported in the Falklands, touched us all, and Wilson's simplistic proposal to send "horrible criminals" into exile (to the islands) merely detracted from this and was an insult to our community". Sukey continued to explain in her letter that The Falkland Islands was a "modern and thriving country".

First LEGCO meeting of the new year

The first LEGCO meeting of the new year will be held this Friday on the 16th at 10am. This will be broadcast live on FIBS so listeners can tune in at 10am to hear the issues raised.

Penguin breeding season.

It appears that the amount of rain experienced by the Falklands this year has not just affected the human population. Falklands Conservation has been looking at the breeding success of Rockhopper, Gentoo and Magellenic penguins around the Falklands and initial information shows that both the Gentoo and the Magellenic penguins are below the breeding running average for the last decade. Studies into why have not been completed yet but the two strong possibilities being considered are the rainfall and diet. The heavy rainfall has meant that burrows are being flooded and there are eyewitness accounts of eggs washed out and lying in the mud. The breeding rate may also be affected by diet but until diet samples are looked at this can't be verified. For those people who are interested, a full report can be obtained from Falklands Conservation this winter. The Rockhopper penguins have had a reasonable success rate.

Nuclear ships to go via Good Hope Cape this time.

According to an article in today's Mercopres