Former Fiji politician KC Ramrakha, ran foul of the Indiandominated National Federation Party during the faction fighting of 1977. He speaks to ISLANDS BUSINESS about politics, sugar and life. PART TWO The kind that every family knows only too well and tolerates even after flooding your email inbox with an…

TROPICAL Cyclone Winston’s destruction of property, infrastructure and life in Fiji has raised serious questions about the preparedness of Pacific island countries for large-scale disasters. The Category 5 cyclone tore down the traditional evacuation centres – village churches and meeting halls – lifted the roofs off government installations and in…

Helen Hakena: Bougainville, PNG: HER village Ieta was burnt to the ground on the 28th of May 1990. The entire village had to plea to neighboring communities for safety and security. Young women were taken and raped. Authority was in the hands of the rebels. Helen Hakena, now the executive director…

Fiji’s sole but struggling rice producer, Rewa Rice Limited has welcomed the entry of Grace Roads Limited, a South Korean investor built on Christians’ apocalyptic principles, into the local rice industry. A miller for rice paddy, Rewa Rice Limited is a government-owned company that buys paddy from farmers all over…

RUSSIA’S arms deal with Fiji, breakdown in US fish treaty negotiations, ban of Facebook in Nauru, leaking of confidential embassy cables and growing Chinese influence in the region were the key issues of discussions when American Ambassador in Fiji, Judith Cefkin sat down with our Group editor-in-chief SAMISONI PARETI for…