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Penguin News Update.

Headlines:

War documentary is a family affair;
Decoders seized ?in compliance with copyright and piracy laws'; Tattooist's prank; Busy schedule for MPs; Visiting cruisers this week.

War documentary is a family affair

AFTER filming for two weeks on Falklands battlefields, visiting television presenter Dan Snow has described the achievements of the British Forces in 1982 as "impressive and shocking". Dan was here with his father Peter - of ?Swing-o-meter' and Tomorrow's Worldfame - to film a one hour programme on the Falklands War, as part of a BBC series on battles of the twentieth century. Speaking to Penguin Newsat the end of his fortnight in the Islands, Dan said it had been a challenge to cram the events of those three months in 1982 into one hour. "The episode will cover the entire war - we kept saying we'd just do certain aspects but then realised we'd be missing so much out - hopefully it will be a good account of the whole thing." Dan studied history at Oxford University before moving into television work. He and his father have filmed a number of programmes together but the two see events from distinct personal points of view: "I'm more interested in the history of it while dad's more interested in the personal stories; I come from a history point of view and he comes from a journalist's point of view." He described the Falklands War as "one of the great stories of British military history." "The courage it took to go for it, the sheer ?can do' attitude of the navy, and of course the real guts of the army and the Marines moving across the Falklands like that. It's an incredible story." He said that seeing the terrain first-hand had made a lasting impression: "When you actually walk the ground and see what the weather's like, you just think, ?how did they do this?' "It's very, very impressive and really shocking and I have a huge amount of respect for them." The programme will feature archive footage from the war - "so most of the time they'll probably chop me and dad out and use the real footage instead" - and the two presenters will give different perspectives on events. "Dad comes on to talk about the strategy of the whole thing - he has this big graphics map case that comes alive with little infantry units and planes and helicopters - and I give more of the view of the man on the ground." Dan said that despite the "horrific weather" the BBC team has had to work in, he "loved" his time in the Islands: "There's a lot of snobbery back in England about the Falkland Islands but it's undeserved. "We've had a great time." Picture: BBC presenters Peter and Dan Snow in Stanley this week.

Decoders seized ?in compliance with copyright and piracy laws'

"UNFORTUNATE" is how Councillor Janet Robertson has described the situation a number of people have found themselves in, unable to access a television signal from Chile when they previously could. However, she says it is a result of the government's need to meet legal copyright requirements. In order to comply with international copyright and piracy laws, legislation was passed last year to ensure that transmissions received in the Islands are properly authorised by the signal provider through a subscription agreement or similar mechanism. This applied to any decoders for private and commercial use. The legislation only applied from the date it was passed and therefore only applied to any decoders imported into the Islands from that date. A number of upset individuals contacted Penguin Newsover the past month to complain about the seizure by Customs officers of decoders imported from Chile. Councillor Robertson explained the situation: "Under Chilean law, service providers within Chile cannot export their signal to any other country - this is a fairly standard law around the world, I believe. "When Direct TV took over Sky last year many of Sky's customers in the Islands needed to replace their decoders, but found that they could not comply with Falklands legislation as the service providers in Chile could not, through their own legislation, provide contractual agreements with individuals in the Falklands. "As a result, only those decoders which were unaccompanied by proper agreements were confiscated by Customs." Following a process of authentication of contracts by the Attorney General, one company was licensed in 2005 to broadcast TV signals in the Islands. Councillor Robertson commented, "It is clear that this company has negotiated certain contractual arrangements which satisfy both international and national laws of all the countries concerned, but as it is a private commercial operation, the details cannot be divulged publicly." She said it is "unfortunate" for all those individuals in the Islands who have in the past been able to access the signal privately and are now in a position where that is no longer possible. "However," she added, "it needs to be borne in mind that this legislation needed to be passed in the Islands to ensure that we were internationally compliant on piracy and copyright laws. "It is also true that in most countries of the world individuals legally can only access signal providers within their own country."

Tattooist's prank

A JOKE that went wrong has resulted in Stanley's tattooist Leonildo De La Cruz Bruna Aguilar (54) being fined. On December 10, David Luxton from HMS Southamptonvisited Mr Bruna's premises to have an ?England' tattoo drawn on his back. According to the defence, in an attempt to relax his client Mr Bruna exchanged banter with Mr Luxton and his friends. The conversation revolved around football and Argentine player Maradona, who Mr Bruna, a Chilean, said was the best in the world. While performing the tattoo as requested, Mr Bruna retracted the needle from the tattoo handpiece and wrote "and Argentina forever" with ink on his client's lower back. Mr Luxton's friends saw it happen but told him the writing was in biro. On his return to the ship Mr Luxton saw the writing, panicked and asked his friend to scrub it off. Defence lawyer Richard Marlor described the scrubbing as "rather vigorous", removing skin in the process. Mr Luxton contacted the police the following day and Mr Bruna was later charged with assault. After studying photographs of the inscription taken a month after the incident, Senior Magistrate Clare Faulds said it was very less discernible and "unless you really knew what to look for" no sense could be made of the shapes and marks. Mr Marlor said Mr Bruna had apologised profusely for the "unintentional harm" to Mr Luxton. Mrs Faulds accepted it was unintentional and "a joke that went wrong." However she added that Mr Bruna was in charge of equipment which has to be respected and should take responsibility. She fined him £75 and ordered him to pay £70 prosecution costs.

Busy schedule for MPs

THREE British Members of Parliament will visit the Falklands later this month. Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski, Labour's Dai Harvard and Liberal Democrat Danny Alexander are due to arrive on February 14. They have a busy schedule for their week-long visit. They will meet with councillors, government officials and members of the Chamber of Commerce, tour government departments and the schools and fly to Camp; they will spend time at Hill Cove and Pebble Island.

Visiting cruisers this week

CRUISE ships Norwegian Crown and Silver Cloudvisit Stanley today carrying approximately 1,052 and 306 passengers respectively. On Monday it is the turn of with around 1,596 passengers while Hanseatic (188) and Akademik Ioffe(117) both visit the capital on Tuesday. Rotterdamwill visit Stanley on Wednesday with approximately 1,316 passengers.

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