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

Read More

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

Read More

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,

Read More

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

Read More

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

Read More

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

Read More

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

Read More

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

Read More

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

Read More

Deadly Lusi claims 11 lives in Vanuatu

Vanuatu is still reeling from monster cyclone Lusi that took at least eleven lives and caused millions of dollars in damage to gardens and properties early March. Yet in this rare instance, the cyclonic winds were not

Read More

Storm surges rendered Majuro residents homeless

US Government offers $100,000 High tide energised by storm surges flooded many parts of Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands, on 3 March — the latest in a series of inundation events that have hit this north

Read More

Pacific’s first flyover roadway

The metropolis landscape of Port Moresby is set to transform significantly with the construction of the multi million dollar Kookaburra Flyover Street, the biggest project yet ever to be undertaken this decade in Papua

Read More

UN report calls for action to address existing inequalities

A United Nations (UN) report launched February has warned that global development gains in the last 20 years will all be in vain if governments do not seriously tackle existing inequalities that entrench distressful

Read More

Tuila’epa in NZ for treatment

Days after being airlifted by the New Zealand Government for medical treatment in Auckland, aides of Samoa’s Prime Minister Tuila’epa Lupesoli’ai Sa’ilele Malielegaoi (pictured) were still

Read More

PINA shreds charity status for limited company

Fijian media dominates Pacific body At least three members of the board of directors of the new look Pacific Islands News Association Limited will have to be Fiji residents, the regional media body has confirmed.

Read More

Tukuitonga at the helm New boss of SPC sets out to fine-tune the Pacific

New boss of SPC sets out to fine-tune the Pacific’s largest organisation With three out of four deaths in the Pacific today caused by non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the islands’ most immediate concern is

Read More

April, a time to learn more about Asbestos

This month we commemorate Global Asbestos Awareness Week to raise awareness of an insidious and slow killer – the substance known as “asbestos”. Asbestos, which occurs naturally as a silky white

Read More

New constitution is the key, says Fiji’s new military chief

Bainimarama makes way for career soldier Mosese Tikoitoga The new head of Fiji’s military Brigadier General Mosese Tikoitoga says the country’s new constitution should stay if there is to be no more coups in

Read More

Cooks opt for satellite telecom network

Could the Cook Islands become the next Bangalore of the Pacific? They do have the right technology to begin with but comparative telecommunication prices could prove to be the difference between being a technological

Read More

Mosese Tikoitoga Leadership change in Fiji

Leadership change in Fiji’s Military A young Fijian man who marched in as a private in the Republic of the Fiji Military Forces more than 30 years ago is now head of Fiji’s 4,000-strong force. Brigadier

Read More

PNG coffee has a c rack at niche market with US$30m package

As exotic gourmet coffee from Papua New Guinea ticked all boxes in an international ranking last month, the World Bank began preparing a US$30 million rescue package to rejuvenate the country’s ailing coffee

Read More

UN sends mission to New Caledonia

Debates over electoral rolls and alliances The United Nations has sent a delegation to New Caledonia in the lead up to crucial municipal and provincial elections as supporters and opponents of independence joust over

Read More

Imported Item – 2015-07-22 01:15:53

Un-Announced boarding’s of 69 fishing vessels, confiscation and torching of fishing tenders and gear and citings of 6 more boats were the highlights of the recently completed annual Rai Balang maritime

Read More

French Navy seized Chinese fishing boat

Maritime border dispute flares up again Sea border dispute between Vanuatu and New Caledonia has resulted in the arrest and conviction of a Chinese boat captain and members of his crew. New Caledonian maritime

Read More