Guns for cops
AFTER RAMSI Provinces support armed forces WHEN Solomon Islands police officers walk onto Honiara’s streets with pistols, they will become the first armed force outside of former United States territories. With
Indonesia makes tactical move
West Papua human rights abuses continue JAKARTA’S diplomacy in the region is a sight to behold. With the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia’s independence movement and Vanuatu committed to allowing West
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
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
Proceed with caution
THE Solomon Islands’ decision to selectively arm members of its police force must be a matter for extreme concern. For it points to the need for protection of the public and the government from the threat of armed
Copy of Minister defends PACER Plus Regional deal in sight
WITH a month to go before regional governments sign a broad trade agreement with Australia and New Zealand, there are niggling doubts over whether every country will support the deal. Fiji and Papua New Guinea have
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,
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
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
Minister defends PACER Plus Regional deal in sight
WITH a month to go before regional governments sign a broad trade agreement with Australia and New Zealand, there are niggling doubts over whether every country will support the deal. Fiji and Papua New Guinea have
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
