Drought fears grip Palau; Islands extend state of emergency
A PROLONGED drought blamed on the El Nino weather system has dropped water levels to an even critical threshold at the remaining reservoir that the National Emergency Committee (NEC) fears that without rain the
Be disaster prepared
FIJI was battering up for Tropical Cyclone Zena as we prepare to put this edition to bed, exactly 45 days after Category 5 Winston destroyed homes, villages and islands in eastern, central Fiji and the north-western
The power of names
NAMES have “mana.” They are powerful. We use names everyday to identify individuals, places and things. We therefore take for granted that they simply exist. We often forget that names were given, and the
Whispers
MIRACLE or mirage It’s making big news in Samoa with media reports about a young woman with stigmata, which in Christian tradition claims body marks on her body correspond to those left on Christ’s body when
Tonga’s race against time
Political row at centre of Pacific Games delay WITH less than three years to the Pacific Games 2019, Tonga is 18 months late in its preparations. This is despite Papua New Guinea’s pledge of $USD35 million –
Enter the dragon
THE need to boost national economies through foreign business investment is not lost on any Pacific island country. Talks in Brisbane last month saw the region’s leaders focusing on the need for a regional
PNG crackdown on bad Chinese traders
PAPUA New Guinea has seen a series of anti-Chinese protests and riots in recent years, driven by the increasing number of Asian nationals taking over small businesses. The latest anti-Chinese aggression, though less
FANTASY ISLANDS; Once polluted, unusable space is now Tuvalu’s future.
IN the South China Sea, the Chinese Government has now built up a string of artificial islands that are robust enough to hold aircraft bases and give their regional neighbours a serious case of the jitters. Millions of
VANUATU tax haven opens doors
THE opening up of the pre-independence tax haven in Vanuatu did not, of itself, bring in the large numbers of Chinese immigrants the country hosts today. As one of Vanuatu’s two colonial masters, the British
Palau puts in place measures to control Chinese ‘takeover’
TWO years ago the number of Chinese tourists that travel to Palau barely reached 30,000, but by 2015, there were 87,058 visitors from China and the glaring change was that this market have edged out the other markets
Kanaki parties debate their future
THEY came from the north, the South and the islands of New Caledonia. Delegates from the Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS) gathered at Ko We Kara on 5-6 March, for the first congress of
US’ ‘corrosive influence’ on the Pacific
Clinton emails show disquiet over US corruption, incompetence CORRUPTION, neocolonialism and incompetence. Those sorts of attacks usually come from critics of the United States but the latest release of emails from
Small islands BIG secrets
Leaked documents reveal billions in bribes, tax dodging TEN different Pacific Island states have been linked with billions of dollars in shady offshore banking and tax haven deals, in two major media exposes.
Digicel acquires Sky Pacific – with restrictions
TELECOMMUNICATIONS giant Digicel has acquired ownership and direct control of the region’s largest satellite-based television network, Sky Pacific. Formal acquisition, from 1st April 2016, came six months after
Road to recovery: Fiji growth forecast in the wake of Winston
THE Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) expects economic growth for the rest of this year to be driven by significant post-Cyclone Winston reconstruction work and continuing strong activity in the retail and tourism sectors. It
Tropical paradise ready to inherit
ESPIRITU Santo, Vanuatu’s northernmost “big island”, and its people, stand ready to benefit from the glorious treasures with which nature has endowed it, and which the messy administration of a
Content is king for Vodafone Fiji
CELL phone users in Fiji should expect bigger, better and more variety in content of services they will be able to access on their mobile devices once the Fijian Government implements its digitalisation programme, so
English Channel firm does battles up North
AN interesting battle of sorts is taking place in the small telecommunication market of Kiribati in the northern Pacific; Fijian owned ATH Kiribati Telecom taking on the might of global telecom conglomerate 03b
