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REGIONAL leaders have greeted the outcome of the Paris Climate Change talks with a sense of jubilation. In fac...

Jan 06,2016 Dennis Rounds

CYBER FRAUD A crime without borders

FIJI, as one of the South Pacific’s most developed economies, is fast becoming a prime target for &ldquo...

Jan 06,2016 Priya Chand

Tuna woes

FIJIAN operators are uncertain whether a recent proposal by the Forum Fisheries Agency to reduce Southern Paci...

Jan 06,2016 Samisoni Pareti

COMPROMISED COP21 deal

TWENTY years of negotiations culminating in intense and physically as well as emotionally draining deliberatio...

Jan 06,2016 Nic Maclellan

New smoke, old mirrors

IN Paris last month, Australian Prime Minister Turnbull announced that “Australia will contribute at lea...

Jan 06,2016 Dr Mahendra Kumar

PARIS AGREEMENT: What it means for the Pacific

“I SEE the room. I see the reaction is positive, I hear no objection. The Paris Climate Accord is adopte...

Stop the bias
Shameem: Comprehensive training will assist judges, magistrates to eliminate or minimise male b…
Open skies: A threat to island economies
THE Fijian government has adopted a cautious approach to entering into Air Services Agreements (ASAs…
Vanuatu - standing above the rest
ONE of the Pacific’s smaller island states, Vanuatu stands taller than the larger nations with…

A leader’s LEGACY
THERE is a rousing story that still now, inspires me. As with many other Fijians of my generation an…
A tale of SORROW
Letters tell of tropical mission hardships The Mission of Our Lady of Sorrows Collected letters tra…
SAVING SUGAR
Action for change WHEN the Fijian Prime Minister recently stood up at the recent International Suga…

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Dec 18, 2015, Super User

Whispers

FAST taking shape in what was once a thriving pine plantation not far from Fiji’s international airport ...

Dec 18, 2015, USP

Kiribati celebrates new chapter in education

THE recent opening of a new campus in Kiribati by The University of the South Pacific (USP) has been described...

Dec 18, 2015, Nic Maclellan

Tough times for nickel

ON the London Metals Exchange, the price of nickel has been on a rollercoaster. With slowing demand from China...

Dec 18, 2015, Jason Brown

Corrupted trade routes in the Pacific

Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomons and Samoa top global trade estimates for illicit financial flows THR...

Dec 18, 2015, Giff Johnson

PNA expands control of tuna industry

WHILE New Zealand promotes a new plan for tuna management in the region, the Forum Fisheries Agency pushes a f...

Dec 18, 2015, Netani Rika

Activist: Don’t let them in

WITH Pacific eyes watching every move made by China in its slow, systemic advance into the region and its tigh...

What the Pacific means to China
TUNA is not China’s only interest in the region. With mining and timber resources in Papua New…
A bull in the China shop
Spain and China: Rising threats to regional tuna stocks THE harbour in Suva’s capital is dott…
WEST PAPUA Activists fight on
ONE year from now the People of Papua will mark the 50th anniversary of their independence from the …

Safe no more
ON Oct. 11, Palau was shocked after a 37-year old government employee was found dead on the street i…
Vote for change
MAJURO — The lead up to the 2015 national election in the Marshall Islands on November 16 feat…
Scrap bride price, PNG urged
A HUMAN rights group has urged the Papua New Guinea government to abolish the cultural practice of b…

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Oct 27, 2015 Samisoni Pareti

Editor's Note

LAST month members of the European Union met to decide on measures to address the influx of refugees...

Oct 28, 2015 Onorina Saukelo

Report out on deep sea mining

MINING for deep sea mineral deposits is yet to commence anywhere in the world. Pacific Island countries are am...

Oct 28, 2015 Bernadette H Carreon

Haven in the Pacific

Lost millions from restricted fishing return with tourists THE Senate passed the Palau National Marine Sanctu...

Oct 28, 2015 Karli Thomas

STOP THE PLUNDER!

On the high seas, a fight to save our fish stocks FOR the past few months, Greenpeace’s famous Rai...

Oct 28, 2015 Netani Rika

Pulpit platform for battle

Anglican primate tackles island issue head on WHEN the Archbishop of York passed through the Pacific in ...

Oct 28, 2015 islands business

WE Say

Vanuatu teaches region lesson in governance WHILE October was a tumultuous month for the people of Vanua...

Act to ensure participation for prevention
THE annual UN Security Council Open Debate on UN Security Council Resolution 1325 hosted by Spain recalled the active mobilisation of women’s groups globally after the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing that resulted in the unanimous adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 - Women, Peace and Security (WPS) on October 31, 2000. The 15th anniversary…
Fiber optic bill signed into law
THE path to bring increased Internet speed in Palau is well on its way following the signing into law of the fiber optic bill on September 20. President Remengesau signed the “historic” fiber optic legislation that would pave the way for “high speed” Internet technology in Palau. President Tommy Remengesau Jr. signed the measure now known as RPPL No…
No sign of digital TV
Carrier scurries to make tower deal FIJI’S $16million national digital television platform was announced with much fanfare in 2014 and was to have been launched in July this year. That date later moved to October for a soft launch in the nation’s capital but as yet there has been no word on an expected date for streaming…

PNG BUBBLE bursts
AFTER years of unassailable sustainable growth, the Papua New Guinea economy is in trouble. The once hailed as the Pacific’s tiger economy is struggling to stay afloat because of a spiraling debt burden, uncontrolled government spending, a record four consecutive budget deficits, lack of foreign direct investment into new projects and the collapse in the kina. The downward revision of…
Drought hits Vanuatu
AT least two young children have died of malnutrition in Tanna as the El Nino drought worsens in Vanuatu. One child less than a year old from Lautapunga village in White Sands after the family was unable to provide milk or food for it. In August, another child died at Imampen village in a remote northern part of…
Insult to the Pacific
Minister’s visit draws leaders’ ire AS Indonesian Minister Yohana Susana Yembise attempted to woo Fiji’s women, church leaders in her home were calling for justice. Father Neles Tebay, a priest who coordinates the Papuan Peace Network advocacy group, spoke out against the detention of seminarians and the killing of two people at a graduation party in the mining town of…

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Oct 11, 2015, Samisoni Pareit

Editor's Note

IT was the 46th Pacific Islands Forum meeting yet local and Forum organisers seem to have stumbled through yet...

Oct 11, 2015, Taberannang Korauaba

The returning son of a disappearing nation

THE deportation of Ioane Teitiota by the John Key government signals a strong message to the low-lying islands...

Oct 11, 2015, Priestley Habru

Ghost of the skies

Elusive kingfisher A BIRD that has been seen in the wild once has been found last month by scientists during ...

Oct 11, 2015, Tony Wilson

Deathtrap ferry

Vanuatu’s worst maritime tragedy raises questions on safety checks THE inter-island Vanuatu ferry which...

Oct 11, 2015, Samisoni Pareti

We say

Embrace inclusivity, reject exclusivity WHEN the Pacific Islands Development Forum ejected West Papuan activi...

Oct 11, 2015, Samisoni Pareti

Call to cut trade agreements

PACIFIC leaders have been told the cost of doing business in the islands will be greatly reduced if there are ...

E-money FAILS to sell
Call to review Pacific financial inclusion products FINANCIAL inclusion products for the Pacific is…
A nation’s key to resilience
A SURVEY of the nature of climate change adaptation planning and implementation that is rolling out …
Forum agrees to disagree on 1.5
AGREEING that a 1.5 degrees Celsius rise in temperature would “severely exacerbate” impa…

PACER Plus gets the nod
LEADERS have given their blessings on the near completion of negotiations for a free trade agreement…
Solomon eyes interim EPA
More fracture in regional solidarity anticipated THE tear in Pacific solidarity over negotiations f…
Bribery case rocks Vanuatu
POLITICIANS FACE TRIAL THE people of Vanuatu are closely watching a high profile bribery case which…

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Sep 13, 2015, Samisoni Pareti

Editor's Note

ATTENDING a Pacific trade and investment seminar in Fiji last month, the official delegate from the Cook Islan...

Sep 13, 2015, Samisoni Pareti

Whispers

LIKE flotsam, the power of the published word – via newspapers – seems to have floated across the ...

Sep 13, 2015, Netani Rika

Controversy rocks church

PASTORS out over $21m debt THREE church ministers are embroiled in controversy with their employer after they...

Sep 13, 2015, Samisoni Pareti

NO to Pacific-US trade pact

PNG accuses Forum of ‘misleading’ island nations HOPES for a free trade agreement between the isl...

Sep 14, 2015, Dennis Rounds

SEDITION Arrests and denials

A COMPANY of Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) soldiers has joined local police investigations into alle...

Sep 14, 2015, TUIFA’ASISINA PETER REES

Cook Islands at

FIFTY years of self-government and free association with New Zealand has raised more questions than answers as...

Birds on the brink
IMAGINE yourself in a helicopter, over the open ocean, for 100s of kilometres and what seems like ho…
End of an era of FISHING for DIPLOMACY
Push for control on tuna stocks AS the dust clears from the August negotiating session between Amer…
We Say
Friends and foes in a new frontier INDIA’S forum for Pacific leaders in Jaipur last month cam…

A catastrophic failure of ambition
AT the 1997 Forum leaders’ meeting in Rarotonga, Australian Prime Minister John Howard blocked…
West PAPUA hot on agenda
Another modest victory for pro-independence movement PACIFIC leaders are expected to discuss the si…
BIG DRY
Rising bill of PNG’s El Nino disaster EL Nino battered Papua New Guinea is bracing for more s…

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Aug 07, 2015, Samisoni Pareti

Winds of change

WITHOUT much fanfare, our new look www.islandsbusiness.com went online early last month. It’s the first ...

Aug 07, 2015, Dennis Rounds

Former Fiji army chief allays fears of rift

THE former Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, BrigadierGeneral Mosese Tikoitoga, has poured co...

Aug 07, 2015, Ilaitia Turagabeci

Canoe run for chocolate factory

The Uto Ni Yalo sails from Fiji to Vanuatu and then to Bougainville where it will load cocoa beans for New Zea...

Aug 07, 2015, Editor

Whispers

A WHISPER in the Solomon Star says Solomon taxpayers are being forced to pay $3.7 million for the hire of a sp...

Aug 07, 2015, Netani Rika

NRL rights stall TV deal

PNG company wants change to $25m venture A MULTI-MILLION dollar deal for the sale of Media New Guinea Li...

Aug 07, 2015, Netani Rika

Fiji TV strips to bare minimum

DIGICEL has emerged as a front-runner for the purchase of Fiji Television’s 23 channels under the Sky Pa...

The Pacific bigeye problem
State of Tuna Report 2015 – Special Feature While researchers test promising technical soluti…
Cruise options bring hope
Bougainville looks beyond mining to tourism WITH increasing pressure from local landowners on envir…
Nauru becomes Pacific Central
Airline gateway to the Northern atolls THE high cost of travel to the Northern Pacific has been a m…

Rising to the moral challenge of CLIMATE CHANGE
Pacific people, of all faiths, are deeply grateful for the leadership shown by Pope Francis on clima…
PNG dethrones French-trained New Caledonia
WHEN the curtains came down on the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby, there was more to celebrate t…
Sparks fly as islanders step up the ante for Rugby World Cup
IF Fiji’s performance in the Pacific Nations Cup is anything to go by, then the world is in fo…

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Jul 07, 2015,

Budding, enthusiastic scribes

THE past month saw me in Honiara working with a group of 19 young but very enterprising bunch of journ...

Jul 07, 2015,

Whispers

EXCESSIVE airfares and taxes are reportedly forcing the government of Kiribati to explore other options for fl...

Jul 07, 2015,

MSG allows INDON membership, WEST PAPUA on the sideline

THE Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) has made an historic decision to expand its reach, granting associate mem...

Jul 07, 2015,

Competing pressures over West Papua

THE Melanesian Spearhead Group’s decision, granting associate membership to Indonesia and observer statu...

Jul 08, 2015,

STOP another impending Nauru disaster

IT is time to take action to prevent a Nauruan spiral back to the days of political and economic mayhem. If t...

Jul 08, 2015,

Wisdom behind Solomon plan