“When someone disrespects you in any way do not feed into it; just say gracefully ‘I love you too’,” drag queen Sybil Barrington, aka Mark Anderson, gives some advice to the audience at an event in honour of gay cruise ship visitors at Latin’s Rumbar. The party was organised in response to homophobic remarks made by preacher Scott Smith.“With our people studying overseas, going on the internet and making associations in the Caribbean, it’s changed. With Atlanta in particular, we’ve found that some people have been getting their degrees there, and some were getting degrees in gangsterism” National Security Minister Wayne Perinchief tells a town-hall meeting on guns and gangs that locals are picking up criminal habits when they go abroad.“This is serious stuff; I don’t want to get beaten. Roy’s in the top 30 in the world, he’s been to the Olympics, and he holds a national record. He’s the best in Bermuda” television presenter Ric Chapman, 51, gears up for a 100-metre freestyle race against champion Bermudian swimmer Roy Allen Burch, 26. Mr Chapman, who had a 25-second lead, beat Mr Burch by 13 seconds and donated $100 to his Olympic fundraising drive.“After all the fanfare of Mr McIntosh’s appointment a year ago, we need an explanation as to why he has now gone. One would expect the public to be given an understanding on why this change has been made and any budget impact” One Bermuda Alliance Senator Michael Dunkley questions why Omar McIntosh left as managing director of the Washington DC office.“International child abduction rips children from their homes and lives, taking them to a foreign land and alienating them from a left-behind parent who loves them and who they have a right to know” Republican Congressman Chris Smith tells the US Congress why countries which harbour children kidnapped from the US should be punished including Bermuda.“My learned friends would have you believe this defendant is a victim of circumstance. Sometimes people are a victim of circumstance. Sometimes they’re the architects of their own circumstances. You should return the only verdict that this evidence supports and that’s the verdict that David Cox is guilty” prosecutor Cindy Clarke urges a Supreme Court jury to convict David Cox of the murder of Raymond Troy (Yankee) Rawlins. He was convicted of the fatal shooting on June 10.“We remain unequivocal in our commitment to improving Bermuda’s educational system. The decisions we are making are to facilitate teaching and learning. Yes, we can do more with less. The people in education demonstrate this every day” Dame Jennifer Smith gives a statement to the House of Assembly about the axing of 97 staff from Bermuda’s public schools.“The discussions with the US are ongoing and it would be inappropriate for me to comment. There is no timetable to these discussions so I cannot say when they are likely to conclude. The implication in your question that there is unlikely to be a resolution is unfounded. Likewise, I do not accept the implication that the Uighurs are in Bermuda to stay but nor would I want to prejudice the ongoing discussions by commenting further” Deputy Governor David Arkley responds to questions from The Royal Gazette about the four former Guantánamo Bay prisoners given sanctuary in Bermuda.“I suspect there is little saved for retirement by those in the 50 to 60 age group, which means horrible poverty in the future for seniors as there is a reasonable expectation that people will live for around a further 20 years. With little savings, who will support them? Santa Claus?” Economist Robert Stewart warns of a huge deficit in Bermuda’s pensions pot.“They say I’m negative. I’m passionate, but I’m negative. What’s negative is that they are not turning on the engines, they are not doing what they can to turn tourism around, and that’s costing the Bermudian people” entertainer Tony Brannon discusses why he was sacked from the Bermuda Tourism Board after conflict with Minister Patrice Minors.“I’ve just been playing the waiting game, but at last we have some good news. I’m now hopeful that something will happen, I just want him to be okay, I want him to be healed. I’ve never told my son what’s wrong with him, now I’m hoping I will never have to break the news to him. I feel relieved” Crystal Outerbridge celebrates the news that doctors have discovered a potential cure for the rare condition that threatens to leave her six-year-old son Zyare blind.“It was awful, truly awful. The bike just came from nowhere, it was right there coming towards us. We couldn’t have avoided it. I think my husband braked and maybe swerved but the bike was right there, it happened in seconds. There was such an impact, I thought I was going to go through the windscreen” Elizabeth Viera, 68, describes the moment when two men on a bike collided head-on with the car she was travelling in with husband William after a Father’s Day dinner. Both men on the bike suffered serious injuries.“I accept that my remarks were insensitive and incorrect and my instant withdrawal of the comment at the time it was uttered, without instruction from the Speaker of the House, is clear evidence of my regret” Health Minister Zane DeSilva apologies for using the term “jewing down” in the House of Assembly.“My family and I were flabbergasted, shocked and outraged to learn of this reduced sentence” Juliann Moore, mother of 14-year-old murder victim Rhiana Moore, responds to a decision by the Court of Appeal to allow her daughter’s killer, Ze Selassie, to apply for parole after 28 years, rather than the 35 years originally imposed.