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Melanesia blues IS the big boss of the secretariat of the Melanesian Spearhead Group in trouble over his decision to be seconded again to his former employer in Fiji after taking up the Port Vila-based position? Rumours
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Report cards SO, two regional NGOs recently failed the test of an independent assessor appointed by international donors. One NGO claims to be the umbrella of all Pacific civil society organisations and claims as much
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Samoan passports THERE is anger in Samoa after the Prime Minister revoked the diplomatic passport of the outgoing head of state. The PM, who is also responsible for the Immigration portfolio, was apparently well within
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Missing cash WHERE is the $515,000 given by Methodist people from Fiji who now live in New Zealand for the construction of a new home for the head of the church? At the recent Methodist Church in Fiji annual conference,
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Leading diplomat FIJIAN diplomat Amena Yauvoli is the toast of the regional diplomatic community. Not only is he Director-General of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, Yauvoli is also Fiji’s climate change expert. That
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Double standards INTERESTING to note that there is a huge campaign in Fiji for the second year running to conserve stocks of the kawakawa (grouper) which is under threat, The country’s first citizen – President,
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Student Death ABSOLUTE silence in Fiji’s media over the death of a PNG student at a local boarding school. The senior student at the Roman Catholic Saint John’s College died of a pulmonary haemorrhage
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Not good enough SO, even the deputy head of a regional agency is not good enough for the Australian aid facility which will administer assistance to programmes in the education, health and development sectors in a
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No bull here AT least one person has fallen foul of the PNG-Fiji impasse on the bully beef trade. Fiji’s Biosecurity Authority boss, Xavier Khan, resigned suddenly from his position shortly after an announcement
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Ego clash FOR how long will Fiji stay away from the region’s biggest tourism event in the manner of the school yard bully? The whole region will gather for the SPTE 2017 in Sydney later this year but much of the
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Tietjens faces the heat THE sevens coach everyone loves to hate – Sir Gordon Tietjens – has come under fire in Samoa after less than four months in the job. After dismal performances on the HSBC World Sevens
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Telecom expansion TAKING over the ocean of the Pacific seems to be the goal of Fiji’s mega telecommunication company with reports that it has got Vanuatu under the radar, after taking over telecom business in
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Chinese Whispers HOW far does China meddle in regional politics? That’s the question after another vote of no confidence in a Vanuatu government. Observers have started to draw links between unrest in Vanuatu to
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Hospital moves WORD on the streets of Fiji’s capital is that a new private hospital is about to open its doors. This time a group of doctors at the current private treatment place close to the Colonial War
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School flip flops FIRST Fiji’s Education Ministry pushed out a memo to all teachers stating they must not speak in public without the permission of the Permanent Secretary. By the way, that includes all gatherings
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SO what’s with the removal of a senior prison officer who refused to send prisoners to work on a cane farm in Fiji’s Western Division? Apparently the farmer tried to circumvent an assistance programme
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FISHY story .. Apperently a number of executives from three countries which fish in the Pacific have been implicated in preventing the sale of non-FAD (fish aggregating devices) products. This means they have taken a
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FISHY story .. Apperently a number of executives from three countries which fish in the Pacific have been implicated in preventing the sale of non-FAD (fish aggregating devices) products. This means they have taken a
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FAMILY connection … So a senior member of Fiji’s media fraternity found himself aged 55 and recommended for retirement under Civil Service regulations. Hoping for special consideration due to his high-level
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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,
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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
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SO US$38.6 million (FJ$81.85m) in 90 days should be enough to fund cyclone rehabilitation for the 350,000 in Fiji that were badly affected by super hurricane Winston, of whom 250,000 are in need of water and sanitation
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FOR all they do and say about good governance and transparency among state players in our part of the ocean, non-governmental organisations or civil society agencies or non-state actors, however you want to call them,