Apr 21, 2018 Last Updated 5:28 AM, Apr 19, 2018
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Buried Alive
Tales of survival in PNG’s killer quake
Hydrogen bomb test at Kiritimati
Sixty years ago this month, the UK government detonated a hydrogen bomb at Christmas (Kiritimati) Island in Kiribati. This Grapple Y nuclear test – with a yield of nearly 3 megatons – was the most powerful of nine British nuclear tests conducted during 1957-58, as part of Operation Grapple. Islands Business correspondent Nic Maclellan has written a history of the British nuclear tests in Kiribati, “Grappling with the Bomb.” This excerpt describes the events of 28 April 1958 and the effects on civilian and military personnel living on Kiritimati.
May or October Poll?
Fiji Elections - THE burning question from April 2018 to October 2018 will be: when will Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama dissolve parliament to pave the way for the 2018 general election?
Violence Against Women in the Pacific
Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre received the Australian Mitchell Humanitarian Award in Feb 2018.
News Break
  • Default Image
    Apr 19, 2018

    3800 new Fiji citizens

    Usa Koto
    By Anish Chand A total of three thousand 815 foreign nationals were granted Fiji citizenship for three and a…
  • Default Image
    Apr 18, 2018

    Chinese seaman missing in Fiji waters

    By Anish Chand
    by Anish Chand A Chinese national is presumed dead after he reportedly fell over-board a fishing vessel in…
  • Default Image
    Apr 16, 2018

    Magistrate's house burgled

    By Anish Chand
    By Anish Chand Fiji’s Chief Magistrate has been targeted by thieves. Police are now actively investigating a…
  • Tropical Depression map
    Apr 05, 2018

    North brace for worst

    NETANI RIKA
    By NETANI RIKA FIJI’s north and west has been warned to brace for flooding over the next three days as a…
  • Mohammed Sharrif of Sharrifs Investment in Nadi meeting and greeting Peer Syed Ahmed Ali Shah Naqshbandi Saifi
    Apr 05, 2018

    We are not terrorists

    NANISE VOLAU
    By NANISE VOLAU A MUSLIM cleric has rejected claims that members of his community pictured at Fiji’s Nadi…
  • The Altruism ran aground on Cakau Davui at 9.26am on Monday after losing power while travelling from Natovi Jetty to Nabouwalu on Vanua Levu.
    Apr 03, 2018

    Dramatic night rescue at sea

    NETANI RIKA
    By Netani Rika RESCUERS worked on choppy seas throughout the night to move passengers to safety from a ferry…
  • Water level at Rakiraki town river is expected to rise if it continues to rain.
    Mar 29, 2018

    Stay alert on flood warnings

    NETANI RIKA
    By NETANI RIKA COMMUNITIES in Fiji’s Central Division have been warned to stay alert for possible floods…
  • Mar 28, 2018

    Teacher arrested on alleged sexual offences

    ANISH CHAND
    By Anish Chand A male primary school teacher in Taveuni has been arrested for allegedly defiling and raping…
  • Mar 28, 2018

    Wet Easter with likely rough weather

    Netani Rika
    By Netani Rika ALL eyes are on a trough of low pressure between Vanuatu and Fiji as the Easter long weekend…
  • Lay Vice-President of the Methodist Church in Fiji, Kalisiana Koroi, died in his sleep on Monday night.
    Mar 28, 2018

    Methodist Church VP dies

    NETANI RIKA
    By NETANI RIKATHE Lay Vice-President of the Methodist Church in Fiji, Kalisiana Koroi, died in his sleep on…
  • Default Image
    Mar 27, 2018

    Minister's partner fronts court

    NANISE VOLAU
    By NANISE VOLAU THE de facto husband of a government minister have been charged with one count of possession…
  • Mar 25, 2018

    New travel rules for Teachers.

    By Anish Chand
    By Anish Chand New permanent secretary for Education, Alison Burchell has implemented some new guidelines for…

2018

  1. April
  2. March
  3. Feb
  4. Jan
  5. Dec
  6. Nov
Fiji’s tourism resilience has contributed mainly to its success story.
April 09, 2018

Fiji is the Pacific’s top tourist destination still

in 2018 April by Mereseini Marau-Totoka
FIJI is still the number one tourist destination in the Pacific region attracting a little over 840,000 visitors last year with a total estimated…
Mataika Pasi in front of a damaged home in Ono-i-Lau.
April 09, 2018

Terrifying TC Gita

in 2018 April by Nanise Volau
FEBRUARY 12, 2018 will undoubtedly recalls a frightening and dangerous day for the people of Ono-i-Lau in Fiji’s southern Lau Islands. The damaging…
April 08, 2018

Fish with a story

in 2018 April by Maurice Brownjohn
Sandwiched between the Philippines and the Federated States of Micronesia, rising from the deep blue Pacific Ocean, sit the 200 or so limestone and…
April 08, 2018

May or October Poll?

in 2018 April by Anish Chand
THE burning question from April 2018 to October 2018 will be: when will Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama dissolve parliament to pave the way for the…
April 08, 2018

Hydrogen bomb test at Kiritimati

in 2018 April by Nic Maclellan
FOLLOWING three nuclear tests on Malden Island in 1957, the UK military relocated the testing site to Christmas Island (today known as Kiritimati).…
15-year-old Taunda Mope lost his entire family of seven.
April 06, 2018

Late reaction to a killer quake

in 2018 April by Scott Waide
ON the morning of 26 February, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck the highlands of Papua New Guinea. The epicenter, according to seismology reports,…
March 07, 2018

Saluting our brave aviators

in 2018 March by Samisoni Pareti
Fiji’s small knit aviation community was engulfed in grief and lots of sadness early in the month when a trainee pilot and her instructor died in a…
Women politicians like President Hilda Heine, Ro Teimumu Kepa and Fiame Naomi Mata’afa are among the few women that are parliamentarians in the Pacific.
March 07, 2018

We Say

in 2018 March by IB
“We need to realise something: Either we speak up now and draw a clear line under freedom of speech, or we write it off in the Pacific region” IT’S…
March 07, 2018

Whispers

in 2018 March by IB
No to Sundancer movie The length to which authorities can go to make life miserable for political foes is, well breath-taking to say the least. This…
A student on Tuvalu makes his plea to the world amid the rising ocean around his tiny island nation.
March 07, 2018

Tuvalu rejects NZ study on expanding land

in 2018 March by IB
FUNAFUTI, Tuvalu -- The government of Tuvalu has rejected findings of a research conducted by scientists at the Auckland University that says the…
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 16: Hells Angels bikies leave after the funeral for Melbourne crime figure Macchour Chaouk at Preston Mosque on August 16, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia. 61-year old Chaouk was gunned down in the backyard of his Melbourne home.
March 07, 2018

The Big Threat

in 2018 March by Netani Rika
Organised crime creeps into the region A NEW crime wave looms over the region – this time on the back of motorbikes. As Australia and New Zealand…
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March 07, 2018

‘At the dawn of a new day’

in 2018 March by Nic Maclellan
FLNKS Congress calls for “full sovereignty” AS New Caledonia’s FLNKS independence movement met in congress last month near the northern town of Poum,…
Fierravanti-Wells with Fiji Defence Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola
Mar 07, 2018 579

The new Aussie assertiveness

A diplomatic spat between Beijing and Canberra has highlighted the Turnbull government’s new assertiveness in the…
Fijian women join the UN’s Unite to end violence against women’s campaign. The Pacific region has twice the global average of violence against women.
Mar 07, 2018 539

Closing the gender gap in the Pacific

IB’s Status of Women in the Pacific Report As the world celebrates International Women’s Day on 8th March, at least two…
Girl child- 3 in 10 girls have the expected literacy skills companted to 2 in 10 boys.
Mar 07, 2018 482

Some gains, some losses on women in the Pacific

WOMEN including girls in the Pacific still got some way to go to improving their status in the islands although a lot…
Guests with copies of the People Living with HIV Stigma Index Study Report in seven Pacific countries that was launched at the Holiday Inn, Suva .
Mar 07, 2018 577

Plans to address HIV-AIDS stigma

AT least 747 new cases of people living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) have been diagnosed in Fiji since…
Anote Tong, President of Kiribati during the panel the topics Human Rights and climate change. 6 March 2015.
Mar 07, 2018 590

Who will be held responsible?

Kiribati under the spotlight after ferry disaster ATOLL nation of Kiribati in the northern Pacific was consumed with…
First arrival ... Jimione Paki, left, with his eldest son Semitri Cama in 2006. Photos: Helen Traill
Mar 07, 2018 453

Winds of change in the isles

This is Part One of a three-part series on a Pacific family’s survival and dream to revive ancient canoe technology as…
February 19, 2018

Hear our pleas

in 2018 February by Samisoni Pareti
Peter O’Neil, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea assumes the chairmanship of the sub-regional bloc the Melanesian Spearhead Group this month when he…
February 19, 2018

We say

in 2018 February by Joe Yaya
It is hard to believe that in a region surrounded by sea, legislation has not been created, or enforced if they exist to ensure greater protection…
February 19, 2018

Whispers

in 2018 February by IB
Climate Not Ready From climate ready to climate not so ready is what has happened with the whisper that the American Government’s US$24 million…
Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman, Lu Kang
February 19, 2018

China unfazed by Australia’s claim

in 2018 February by IB
Beijing, CHINA - China has lashed out at Australia’s criticism of its foreign aid to the Pacific while Pacific Island countries have spoken in…
Thousands joined protesting ATS workers during the Fiji Trades Union Congress Union march hrough Nadi town on 13 January.
February 19, 2018

Fiji unions triumph

in 2018 February by Joe Yaya
Court favours airport workers’ plight A bitter row between the management of Fiji’s Air Terminal Services (ATS) and its employees who were locked out…
Rick Hou with his deputy and Finance Minister Sogavare to his right.
February 19, 2018

Budget is PM Hou’s priority

in 2018 February by Mereseini Marau-Totoka
Former banker promises cuts in government spending Two months in the hottest seat of Solomon Islands politics, Prime Minister Rick Houenipwela is…
Amenoni Nasilasila wins DHL Impact Player in Cape Town
Feb 19, 2018 441

Why Ryan won’t back Fiji 7s bid

Get your priorities right, FRU told OLYMPIC-winning coach Ben Ryan has expressed serious reservations on Fiji’s bid to…
The volcano on Kadovar spews ash, rocks and sulphur dioxide on 5 January.
Feb 19, 2018 767

Aid flows for diplaced islanders

Flight for life RELIEF assistance poured in to help resettled hundreds of displaced people at a care centre after…
Feb 19, 2018 712

Pacific’s health crisis

Non communicable diseases is prevalent in the Pacific that it has become a crisis- a matter which authorities need to…
The LC Urata pictured a day later west of Emae; where it finally sank Insert: Arrival in Port Vila
Feb 19, 2018 799

Rescue on the high seas

SAFETY concerns for inter-island travel in Vanuatu resurfaced last month after passengers on an inter-island ship in…
Staff members of the new BRED Bank Solomon.
Feb 19, 2018 821

Bred Bank offers the European touch

Solomon Islands now boasts two branches SIX months after successfully expanding its business to Solomon Islands, the…
Feb 19, 2018 581

Interconnected: The technical and ethics in a warming planet

Since assuming the mantle of Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, I have been committed to…
January 03, 2018

Happy New Year

in 2018 January by Samisoni Pareti
IT’s our first edition again for yet another new year and to say that the days are just flying by is fast becoming an understatement. First things…
January 03, 2018

Whispers

in 2018 January by Editor
Rich and famous IS Majuro in the northern Pacific the new playground for the world’s rich and famous? This was the scene at the international airport…
Malcolm Turnbull has opted for a new cabinet line-up going into 2018
January 03, 2018

Turnbull reshuffles Cabinet

in 2018 January by IB
Canberra, Australia - Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull revealed a new cabinet line-up on the eve of 2018 by announcing a reshuffle that saw five new…
PNG citizens PNG on the backburner with it's mining issues is on recovery mode with a construction boom.
January 03, 2018

Challenging year for O’Neill

in 2018 January by Samisoni Pareti
PETER O’Neill starts 2018 on a high note with the country’s supreme court removing the threat of court action that has been hovering over his head…
Bainimarama
January 03, 2018

Stage set for 2018 Fiji vote

in 2018 January by Anish Chand
Personalities will clash as Fijians prepare to go to the ballot THE personality of Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama ensured that his Fiji…
Unity Fiji President Adi Sivia Qoro (Left) and party leader of Unity Fiji Savenaca Narube
January 03, 2018

Former banker aims to unite Fiji

in 2018 January by Nanise Volau
ONE of Fiji’s newest political parties has not ruled out contesting Fiji’s general elections due to be held in 2018 in coalition with other parties…
NLC Chairman Ratu Vananalagi Vesikula meets members of the Bua Provincial Council meeting.
Jan 03, 2018 1444

VKB goes digital

117-year-old register of indigenous Fijians enters electronic age AFTER more than 100 years of physically recording and…
Pohiva
Jan 03, 2018 1196

Pohiva storms back

Tongan Parliament votes VETERAN politician and long-time democracy fighter Samiuela ‘Akilisi Pohiva has his job cut out…
Smoke and ash emanate from the Manaro Voui volcano on Ambae
Jan 03, 2018 1173

Fraud claims in Ambae

A MORE consistent and co-ordinated effort is required as an estimated 1000 people affected by continuous acid rain on…
Top:Manoni, Bottom:Movick, Right:Tupou-Roosen
Jan 03, 2018 1506

Race for FFA top job

Pacific lawyers to replace fisheries boss THERE are two definite frontrunners in the race for the position of…
Indiscriminate fishing by foreign fishing boats have depleted tuna stocks in the Pacific.
Jan 03, 2018 1456

Bullies control tuna

Small countries lose out AFTER 14 meetings of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, one thing is…
The IMF wants Fiji to restore the credit data bureau
Jan 03, 2018 1396

Make land more accessible: IMF

Fiji urged to reopen credit bureau THE Fijian Government will need to improve its land lease processes if it has to…
December 06, 2017

The Flip Side of RAMSI - Some Observations

in 2017 December by Dr Transform Aqorau
My frame of reference for RAMSI always goes back to June 2003 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, Australia when I listened carefully to Minister…
December 02, 2017

Cop-out in Bonn

in 2017 December by Samisoni Pareti
WITH Fiji’s hosting of COP23 in Germany last month, I invited a Pacific negotiator to give me her take on the climate change talks and her views are…
December 02, 2017

Whispers

in 2017 December by IB
Melanesia blues IS the big boss of the secretariat of the Melanesian Spearhead Group in trouble over his decision to be seconded again to his former…
A Solomon Islands police officer with RAMSI personnel before they left.
December 02, 2017

Pacific Entity of the Year

in 2017 December by Samisoni Pareti
RAMSI is our choice “MY brother wanted to escape down to the river but they chased him down and got him. They partly cut his head and dragged him…
Thousands of Solomon Islanders farewelled RAMSI in Honiara.
December 02, 2017

The flip side of RAMSI

in 2017 December by Dr Transform Aqorau
MY frame of reference for RAMSI always goes back to June 2003 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, Australia, when I listened carefully to Minister…
The ruling Fiji First Party has been actively campaigning on social media.
December 02, 2017

Social media way to campaign in Fiji

in 2017 December by Anish Chand
WITH less than a year left for Fiji’s 2018 general election, registered political parties are whole-heartedly embracing a new weapon to take their…
the UC congress. Speaking to Islands BusiFrench sailors pay tribute to the fallen in Noumea.
Dec 02, 2017 1254

Independence movement prepares for referendum

Remembrance Day, November 11. French soldiers, sailors and police stand in ranks near Noumea’s war memorial at Bir…
Refugees on Manus Ialdn who have refused to leave are on their last supplies and are pleading for help.
Dec 02, 2017 1033

Manus under siege

Asylum seekers fight for survival at former refugee centre “THE situation in Manus is critical. We are thirsty and have…
in the hot seat ...Rick Hou.
Dec 02, 2017 1065

It’s PM Hou, but Sogavare stays

2003 Islands Business Magazine’s ‘Pacific Man of the Year’ Rick Hou has taken the helm as the new Prime Minister of…
Steam spews from the volcano on Ambae. Inset: Residents being evacuated.
Dec 02, 2017 1205

Flight from volcano island

Islanders return to acid rain WATER and sanitation testing is on the priority agenda for Ambae Island as it recovers…
agricultural produce were on display.
Dec 02, 2017 1213

SPC reform on ice

HOPES by the Pacific Community (SPC) to restructure one of its divisions were dashed when member government…
Dec 02, 2017 1015

Vanuatu beef is premium

SHORTAGE of Vanuatu’s premium beef has prompted the island government to embark on an ambitious re-stocking programme…
November 15, 2017

A story of woe

in 2017 November by Netani Rika
THE story of the people of Vunidogoloa in Cakaudrove, Northern Fiji, cannot remain untold. Until now, many individuals, organisations and governments…
The eroding coastline at Vunidogoloa.
November 15, 2017

Who pays for climate change

in 2017 November by Netani Rika
DUST collects on the floor of the village shop. The door is locked, the windows shut tight and a collection of guttering, plastic pipes, nuts bolts,…
November 15, 2017

Whispers

in 2017 November by Editor
Report cards SO, two regional NGOs recently failed the test of an independent assessor appointed by international donors. One NGO claims to be the…
November 15, 2017

Taking NZ in 80 days

in 2017 November by Netani Rika
Labour stuns electorate IT took Jacinta Ardern just 80 days from taking over as leader of a political party to becoming New Zealand’s youngest prime…
Pohiva
November 15, 2017

Tonga 86 in hot race for seats Favourites: Mr Pohiva still has some

in 2017 November by Iliesa Tora
TONGA goes to the poll on November 16 to elect their 17 People’s Representatives in the Legislative Assembly. That is 12 months earlier than planned,…
November 15, 2017

Making news in death

in 2017 November by Netani Rika
Obituary ROSALYN ALBANIEL EVARA 1976 - 2017 IN death, Papua New Guinea journalist, Rosalyn Evara, has shone the spotlight on an issue which often…
Nov 15, 2017 1219

Death in Moresby

Call to probe spousal abuse PACIFIC journalists have called for an investigation into the death of Rosalyn Albaniel…
Women make up a big percentage of market vendors in the region but are disadvantaged.
Nov 15, 2017 1237

3-year journey begins

Discriminatory laws affect women in business THE Pacific journey for the next three years to maximise benefits and…
Janet Ramo-and another delegate, Jilly Maehaka, at the conference.
Nov 15, 2017 1203

A vendor’s struggle

WHEN Janet Ramo of Malaita in Solomon Islands started her business 32 years ago, she had one thing in mind - money.…
Fiji Minister for Women Mereseini Vuniwaqa.
Nov 15, 2017 1160

It’s time for action, time to deliver

THE adoption of the Revised Pacific Platform for Action for Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights during the…
Jason and his staff at the Bread Factory. Below: Patrons enjoy their meals in comfort
Nov 15, 2017 1230

Bread of life

QUIET coziness, regulars sit in velvety chairs, with old music plays over the speakers and modern storefront display of…
Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull and his PNG counterpart, Peter O’Neill, share a moment at the Samoa Forum.
Nov 15, 2017 1116

Renewed commitment

PACIFIC Leaders presented a united stance on the pressing need for accelerated and ambitious global action on climate…
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Saluting our brave aviators

Fiji’s small knit aviation community was engulfed in grief and lots of sadness early in the mon...

2018 March

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Mar 07, 2018   Hits:680   0

We Say

“We need to realise something: Either we speak up now and draw a clear line under freedom of sp...

2018 March

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Mar 07, 2018   Hits:698   0

Whispers

No to Sundancer movie The length to which authorities can go to make life miserable for politi...

2018 March

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Tuvalu rejects NZ study on…

FUNAFUTI, Tuvalu -- The government of Tuvalu has rejected findings of a research conducted by s...

2018 March

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