MSG’s coup de grace? Melanesia cracks up
WILL the controversy surrounding the appointment of a new director general of the Melanesian Spearhead Group be its coup de grace? The question is being posed as first Vanuatu, and now Papua New Guinea, the former being
CHASING THE BIG DREAM
PACIFIC ISLAND PLAYERS underpaid and overworked PHYSICALLY powerful young men have become Polynesia’s highest profile export. In a bittersweet trade, youngsters who dreamed of playing professional American
MSG
THE Melanesian Spearhead Group is headquartered in Port Vila, Vanuatu in a two storey building that was built and gifted to the MSG by the Government of China. It was founded from an informal meeting of leaders of Papua
Time for regionalism
REGIONAL tourism operators will gather on Australia’s Gold Coast this month to showcase the best there is to offer in the Pacific. The event offers opportunities for more than 80 hotel operators, airlines, national
Kiribati reforms; Free education, corruption probe, pay rise
THE new government of Kiribati last month announced sweeping changes in the country’s education, health and social welfare policies that will see free education up to year 12 in the whole of the country. The major
PNG court rejects detention centre Is Fiji next
WITH the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court ruling that the Manus Island refugee processing centre is illegal, Australia may be forced to look to other Pacific islands to house 800-odd residents. Australia’s detention
Islands reach out to visitors
WITH a 12 per cent growth in its tourism industry in 2015, Samoa will use its recent Tourism Expo and a national initiative to drive arrivals higher this year. Fresh from the Samoa Tourism Expo, a high-level delegation
Tribute to godfather of Pacific music Sounds of Sevesi
SEVEN months after becoming the first Tongan to be inducted into New Zealand Music’s Hall of Fame, Wilfred Jeffs, who went by the stage name Bill Sevesi, passed away, aged 92,,on April 23. When the news trickled
Singapore – the new focus
FIJI’S national carrier has embarked on a twice-weekly service to Changi International Airport, Singapore, casting aside New Delhi and Shanghai. The airline’s intention is to use the new destination as a hub from
Down Memory Lane; History emerges in Fiji novel
FIJI changed forever when the then Lieutenant-Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka walked into Parliament on May 14, 1987 and removed a democratically elected government. On that day Fiji lost her innocence and the nation was forced
Pohiva runs foul of free press
TONGA’S veteran democracy campaigner now Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva has run foul of a key cornerstone of democracy which is freedom of the press over the suspension of the editor of the kingdom’s
The tussle for power; China’s intentions in the Pacific cause unease
CHINA’S land reclamation in the South China Sea may be tapering off for now but the implications of its actions will run as deep as its ability to project power further into the Western Pacific. Yes, China has
David stands against Goliath; Palau’s single patrol boat defends the region
IN the far west of the northern Pacific, a single patrol boat stands against the waves of Distant Water Fishing Nation vessels which threaten the region’s fish stocks. Outnumbered and outgunned, the President
O’Neill survives impingement bid
THE long-running corruption saga engulfing the Papua New Guinea’s leadership came to a head in April when the National Fraud and Anti-Corruption Directorate (NFACD) locked horns with high-profile government
In search of a political identity
Guam at the crossroads for self determination ONE of the last colonies in the 21st century, Guam is an unincorporated US territory in search of a political identity. Its long quest for self-determination continues
Pacific unions reach across boundaries
FOR many years, the South Pacific and Oceanic Council of Trade Unions (SPOCTU) has linked unionists from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, to organise around wages, conditions and occupational health and safety.
Fiji Airways in 4-year in a row profit streak
FIJI’s rebranded international airline Fiji Airways continued its profit-making performance to four years in a row now with the announcement last month of a F$70.2million (US$33.9m) before tax profit by the end of
Soaring high More airlines serving Guam
THE Philippine budget carrier Cebu Pacific launched its maiden flight between Manila and Guam on March 15, propelling a new air service that is touted to be a game-changer in the market. The first low-cost carrier
A bold step forward
THIS month Islands Business enters an arrangement with the Auckland University of Technology which takes our magazine into places of influence in New Zealand. More than 400 more copies of the publication each month will
Airlines meet to discuss market-based measures on Climate change
The Paris Agreement IN December 2015, a landmark agreement was reached in Paris where more than 190 countries agreed to a unified approach to address climate change. This is after more than 25 years of meetings and
Whispers
FIJI and Papua New Guinea destroyed Melanesian solidarity when they sided with Indonesia on the issue of West Papua. But now it appears that the FijiPNG alliance is on rocky ground after Fijian Foreign Affairs Minister,
