USP student across the region protest, police on Fiji campus
A “support good governance” protest organised by the University of the South Pacific Student Association today with the theme “wear blue” is now underway in a number of campuses around the region with the
Fired USP manager wants his job back
Sacked University of the South Pacific senior manager Hasmukh Lal is not challenging claims of plagiarism that led to his termination, documents filed with the Fiji High Court reveal. His lawyers, Reddy & Nandan are
Pacific countries will access future COVID-19 vaccine through funding mechanism
Pacific island countries will be able to access a future COVID-19 vaccine through a new funding mechanism announced by Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, at the Global Vaccine Summit last week. Fiji, Kiribati, Federated States
Why we’re bailing out Fiji Airways: FNPF
The Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) is helping to bail out Fiji Airways as it is a strategic investment for tourism, which accounts for around 16 percent of the Fund’s investment portfolio. While
Consumption and investment down: Fiji Reserve Bank
The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is starting to show in declining consumption and investment indicators says Fiji’s Reserve Bank. In its latest Economic Review, the Bank says cumulative to April, domestic
Fiji’s main opposition party suspended
This week’s sitting of the Fijian Parliament in the capital Suva continued without the country main opposition party SODELPA following its suspension by the Registrar of Political Parties, who is also the
Fiji government to support troubled national airline
The Fijian Government used its majority in parliament this week to fast track the passing into law of two bills aimed at assisting its financially troubled national airline as a result of the adverse impacts of the
The future of tourism
The end of breakfast buffets and garlanding on arrival. The rise of virtual travel experiences. The longing for solitude and simplicity. This is just a sample of the travel predictions being debated across the globe as
InDepth: Life during the lockdown
For over two months, Fiji’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Satyendra Prasad has been largely confined to his home, He describes life during the COVID-19 induced lockdown in New York, and how it is
We Say: The virus is the threat, not people
The UN Human Rights Office has warned of “toxic lockdown culture” in a number of countries, with UN Secretary General António Guterres reminding governments that the threat was the “virus, not people.” States
Fiji businesses say COVID-19 has increased violence
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased employees’ experiences of domestic and sexual violence say two-thirds of companies surveyed in Fiji by the IFC and Fiji Human Resources Institute. Fifteen companies were surveyed as
Fiji Airways lays off workers, seeks urgent loan
The Fiji Parliament will be today asked to urgently grant a government guarantee for a loan to keep Fiji Airways afloat, as the adverse impacts of the COVID19 pandemic begin to bite on the national airline.
Dengue fever another blow for PICs
The Red Cross says a dengue outbreak continues to threaten a number of Pacific island nations, even as they rebuild after Tropical Cyclone Harold and struggle with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. More
COVID-19 a wake up call on the need for regional cooperation
Fiji’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations says the COVID-19 pandemic is a wake-up call for the Pacific on the need for regional cooperation. “If the world ever needed confirmation of why multilateralism
A ‘people’s funeral’ for Qarase
Deprived of a state-funeral after his death on 21 April, supporters of Fiji’s ousted Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase helped his family to give the 79-year old leader a send-off befitting the national and populist
Resting by his mother
Fiji’s sixth Prime Minister, the late Laisenia Qarase will be buried next to his mother, opting not to be entombed in the sautabu, the sacred burial ground reserved for chiefs in his sea-side village in Lau.
Island readies to bury favourite son
Some 400 people have arrived on Vanuabalavu – a remote island on Fiji’s eastern sea borders – as they prepare to bury one of their favourite sons who became the country’s sixth prime minister. They are
Another killer: dengue
The impact of the novel coronavirus has understandably absorbed all the energies and resources of health ministries across the region. But even as the Pacific grapples with the real and anticipated impact of COVID-19,
USP Saga: Thompson under pressure to cease probe
The controversy surrounding the top job at the University of the South Pacific (USP) has refused to go away nearly one year after it first erupted at its main campus in Suva, Fiji. By March this year, exactly 10 months
A tribute to Ratu Finau Mara
The death of Ratu Alifereti Finau Mara (June 9, 1957 – April 15, 2020) occurred in Suva after a short illness. He was a Fijian chief, lawyer, politician, and diplomat. Ratu Finau was the eldest son
FNU seeks to leap into first place
Fiji National University is celebrating its 10th anniversary as a national university, but 150th anniversary as an education provider. Talking to Islands Business just before his recent departure, FNU Vice-Chancellor
ATH offering shares to pay down debt
Shareholders in Fiji’s biggest telecom conglomerate are being offered more shares for cash. Amalgamated Telecom Holdings (ATH), which owns all major telecom carriers in Fiji except Digicel Fiji, is listed on the South
Rewa burial for Ratu Finau Mara
Ratu Finau Mara will be interred at the chiefly burial grounds of the paramount chief of the Burebasaga Confederacy, in the chiefly village of Lomanikoro on the delta of the Rewa River, just outside the Fijian capital
