Indonesia is not Melanesia
LATE last week, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement rejecting the Solomon Islands Prime Minister’s comments on the issue of West Papua and the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). In his
2016 June
Tuvalu court jails former PM
Japan, Taiwan interests named in abuse of office trial FOR the first time in Tuvalu’s 38 years as an independent nation, a former prime minister currently sitting as an opposition member-of- parliament has been
Restraint in the face of China
NEW Zealand has been quite restrained in how it has publicly approached the issue of China’s provocative territorial expansion in the South China Sea. Although Australia hasn’t been shy about taking what is
Australia’s elections and the Pacific
AUSTRALIAN voters go to the polls on 2 July, after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called a double dissolution of both Houses of Parliament on 8 May. Halfway through the lengthy 55-day electoral campaign,
O’Neill survives for now
Financial woes, legal wrangles, public protests mount against PNG leader IT has been a turbulent month in Papua New Guinea as students from four universities boycotted class and demanded for the Prime Minister, Peter
Sex scandal rocks church
Altar boy claims mirror film script SURROUNDED by family, friends and supporters, Roy Taitague Quintanilla, 52, stood in front of the Archdiocese of Hagåtña Chancery and revealed a tormenting secret he had
Bank pushes tourism presence
THE growing middle class in China and India means more travellers from those markets over the next five years. It also means possible investment outside those two economic giants in smaller countries, including the
Vanuatu revival time
Ready for business after repairs VANUATU is back on line after two major disasters – Category Five Cyclone Pam in 2015 and the closure of the runway at its international airport early this year. Cyclone Pam took
The big push North
THE Chinese and Indian markets has been the focus of many Pacific hotels, airlines and travel companies at a tourism exchange on the Gold Coast last month. Chinese tour companies who attended the Bank South Pacific
1 million and counting
Region pushes for more tourists CAUTION – the one word that describes the response of regional tourist destinations to a World Bank reports which predicts revenue gains of up to $US1.8 billion per year and 128,000
Walk the talk
LAST month Fiji marked the 137th year of the arrival of the first Indian labourers under the indenture system. Just under 61,000 labourers were transported to Fiji from India beginning in 1879 under what was to become