Tattoo business takes off in Samoa

The gift the Fijians gave away When the gift of tattoo was given to Samoan twin girls in Fiji, they swam all the way to Samoa to perform the first tatau. It was a gift that’s lasted thousands of years and while the

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New mag shines light on Pacific’s health issues

Alarming stats for islanders It has been known for some time now that people of Pacific Islands origin living in New Zealand find themselves overrepresented in health-related statistics—particularly around

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Memory loss linked to starch and sugar-laden diets

A big worry for Pacific islanders Forget weight gain—long-term spatial memory loss has now been linked to starch and sugar-laden diets as a warning to Pacific islanders over their lifestyle of high fat traditional

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More cyclones loom for the region?

As many as 11 predicted in next 3 months It’s been slow in coming this season but the next three months could bring as many as 11 cyclones to the Pacific islands region. In the preceding 2012-13 November-April

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Wetlands and agriculture— partnering for sustainability

We commemorate World Wetlands Day on February 2, each year to mark the birthday of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. This is an international environment agreement that now has 168 contracting parties, with 2,170

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Measuring sea level rise in the Pacific

Crucial for decisionmakers Anticipating the effects of climate change on sea level is a pressing task, particularly in the Pacific. Getting hard data on sea level into the hands of decisionmakers and scientists is one

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Low copra prices prompts Karkar’s bio-fuel diesel

The plummeting world copra prices has forced copra plantation owners to look for other avenues to raise the value of their copra. The average price per metric tonne of copra is now just over US$700, down from US$1,500

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PM confident Samoa will do well after LDC

New Year’s Day 2014 will be remembered as the day that Samoa left the group of countries considered the least developed in the world. For many years, Samoa had managed to stay as an LDC for many years. The

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France’s nuclear legacy haunts French Polynesia

Last December, the United Nations General Assembly addressed France’s nuclear legacy in French Polynesia in its annual statement on decolonisation. The UN resolution “requests the Secretary-General, in cooperation

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