We need to seal PACER Plus

The heat is on for Forum member countries in the Pacific to wrap up negotiations and finalise their Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations with Australia and New Zealand, now referred to with the acronym PACER

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“A world free of nuclear weapons”

Pacific calls for elimination of WMD Pacific governments have endorsed a call for a legally binding agreement to ban nuclear weapons at a major international summit discussing the humanitarian consequences of nuclear

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Marshalls’ Attorney General tackles fraud

Three charged in alleged Majuro Hospital scam Three people have now been charged with a combined 142 criminal charges in the Marshall Islands High Court, charges that allege a pharmacy company bribed Ministry of Health

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Palau seeks direct air links with PNG

One northern Pacific state has almost secured what has been a remote aviation dream shared by many of its small island neighbours – to get to its larger South Pacific island neighbours at as short a time and

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Samoa

Ruling HRPP bows to growing pressure After several months of debate, secret meetings and petitions, the decision came down to the Samoan Minister of Finance, Faumuina Tiatia Faaolatane Liuga for him to heed the calls to

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Logging industry cleans up its act in Solomon Islands

‘Cowboy’ operators worry registered firms In a world that’s becoming increasingly environmentally-friendly, logging is a dirty word. So much so that even commercial banks, conscious of the growing

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Banking woes continue to plague Nauru

Uncertainties force banking downgrade Uncertainties in initial assessments on Nauru Island were behind the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s decision not to establish full commercial operations or a community bank as

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Chinese yuan, PNG kina open new market of riches

It’s become the Pacific’s 2nd largest donor A new wave of splurge spending by Chinese in the Pacific and Papua New Guinea’s incredible leap into high economic drive with a mid-year opening of LNG

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Senator Brett Mason

Australian Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs firms up relations with Fiji After her first meeting with Fiji’s leader Frank Bainimarama in Suva in February, Australia’s Foreign

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Island Biodiversity

Since its establishment the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has worked to raise awareness on environment issues across the region and help empower others to do the same. Through our

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New hope for Pacific migrants

On one hand it is cautioning recipient countries in the Pacific to be wary of aid cuts from this year and on the other, the Abbott government is offering an olive branch to semi-skilled workers from around the region to

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Fiji-born entrepreneur lands a logical acquisition

Suva born New Zealand technology entrepreneur Daven Naidu has acquired the entire national chain of Apple Computer retail stores across New Zealand. His Auckland based company Logical Systems, which also operates in

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The day the gods took over

There was nothing unusual about the heavy rain that began to pound Honiara on Wednesday April 2. Other parts of the country had been pelted by the heavy rain, causing flash flooding as well as extensive damage to roads,

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Patrick Beni – the 10 year-old hero who lost it all

Ten year-old Patrick Beni was home that fatal Wednesday morning. Like other children of his age, he did not go to school due to the inclement weather, with non-stop rain almost all weekend. His mother was asleep in her

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That was too soon a deadline, bosso

Exactly a decade ago to the day, on April 18, 2004, when I emailed my first ever Views from Auckland column to Laisa for the May 2004 issue of this magazine, little did I imagine that my tenth anniversary column would

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Pressure on Communal Ownership

The story goes that when a western visitor new to the Pacific asked an islander why individual property ownership was so hard, the islander asked a counter question that left the visitor scratching his head. “Can

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Gloomy outlook for the Pacific

Rapid strides in pharmacology and the medical sciences in the latter half of the twentieth century has seen the near total elimination of several diseases and ailments. Many of these had taken a heavy toll on vast human

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Growth for whom?

No political system has succeeded in eradicating inequality at any time in the history of humankind. Whether it is the many monarchies of the past couple of millennia, dictatorships of the past and present centuries,

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Whispers

Fire without the engine …. Residents of Port Vila are up in arms about the absence of the familiar red fire engines when it comes to attending to fire calls in the Vanuatu capital. The engine is reportedly parked

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Parties to Nauru Agreement loses CEO

The Pacific is losing one of its most prolific tuna negotiators who has been instrumental in negotiating greater returns for tropical purse seine fishery. Parties to Nauru Agreement (PNA) Chief Executive Officer Dr

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Greenpeace to operate by

Greenpeace’s closure of its Pacific Office in Fiji last month has ignited fears that the global environmental group no longer considers the region a priority. Greenpeace campaigner Duncan Williams has confirmed

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Will Japan stop killing our whales?

A world court slapped a moratorium on Japanese from slaughtering whales in the Antarctic in April but the country’s whale enthusiasts have no plans to stop their hobby in the northwest Pacific. Shortly after the

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Pacific NGOs up in arms

Greenpeace’s closure in Suva adds to an already growing concern amongst Non-Government Organisations in the region that their services are not appreciated. At last year’s Western and Central Pacific

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A nameless deadly storm

23 dead, 50 still missing in flash flooding in Honiara  I t left as quickly as it came. And despite it being nameless, the storm that whipped up flash floodings on April 2 had left a swathe of destruction in its

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