Regional
Tonga casino moves closer
Monday 3 April 2017 | Published in Regional
TONGA – A company looking to build a casino in Tonga has reportedly been given tentative approval from the government.
PNG offers dual citizenship
Monday 3 April 2017 | Published in Regional
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa are among eight prescribed countries whose passport holders will be allowed to hold dual citizenship in Papua New Guinea.
Fiji Times offices searched
Monday 3 April 2017 | Published in Regional
FIJI – The main office of one of Fiji’s main newspapers, the Fiji Times, was searched by police this week in connection with an ongoing sedition case.
New Zealand tree becomes social media sensation
Monday 3 April 2017 | Published in Regional
NEW ZEALAND – A spindly, crooked tree that appears to have grown up out of a lake has become an unlikely internet star and the most photographed tree in New Zealand.
Pastor made to work like a slave in orchard
Monday 3 April 2017 | Published in Regional
NEW ZEALAND – A Samoan father-of-five– who claims he was offered a job as a church youth pastor and then made to work “like a slave” in an orchard – has been deported.
Vanuatu workers snap up 'taste of home'
Monday 3 April 2017 | Published in Regional
NEW ZEALAND – A Vanuatu food company giving overseas seasonal workers a taste of home is set to increase its workforce as sales rise.
Law must confront sorcery-related crime
Monday 3 April 2017 | Published in Regional
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – A Papua New Guinea church leader says strengthened laws and better law enforcement is needed to combat sorcery-related violence.
EU promoting new Pacific commitment
Monday 3 April 2017 | Published in Regional
PACIFIC – The head of the European Union’s international development arm says its partnership with the Pacific region is at the dawn of a new era.
Airfares hampering seasonal work
Monday 3 April 2017 | Published in Regional
SOLOMON ISLANDS – Steep airfares are a major impediment to Solomon Island workers wanting to take part in New Zealand’s Recognised Seasonal Employers scheme.
Crackdown on smuggling
Sunday 2 April 2017 | Published in Regional
SOLOMON ISLANDS – Increasing attempts to smuggle goods through ports in Solomon Islands have resulted in customs and inland revenue officials this week launching a joint operation to crack down on the practise.
Games funds reaffirmed
Sunday 2 April 2017 | Published in Regional
TONGA – Tonga’s High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea has presented her credentials in Port Moresby during a three day visit.
Call to get tough with Vietnamese 'reef robbers'
Sunday 2 April 2017 | Published in Regional
PACIFIC – The Forum Fisheries Agency is urging people to stop referring to Vietnamese fishing boats poaching coastal reefs across the region as “blue boats” and instead call them “reef robbers”.
Export of NZ's pristine water under debate
Sunday 2 April 2017 | Published in Regional
NEW ZEALAND – A plan to extract millions of litres of water out of a Unesco world heritage site, send it by pipe to the coast and ship it to foreign markets for bottling has ignited a campaign over water resources in New Zealand.
Mountain top frogs face troubled future
Sunday 2 April 2017 | Published in Regional
PACIFIC VIEWPOINT By Paul Oliver and Michael Lee ABC’s The Conversation At night, the mountain forests of New Guinea come alive with weird buzzing and beeping calls made by tiny frogs, some no bigger than your little fingernail.
Nations confirm their Games
Sunday 2 April 2017 | Published in Regional
FIJI – Both Vanuatu and Tonga have this week officially confirmed that the respective events awarded to them by the Pacific Games Council will be staged in the two different countries, as per the agreements their respective governments signed.
Raunchy video sparks uproar in PNG
Sunday 2 April 2017 | Published in Regional
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – A Papua New Guinean rapper’s sexually suggestive music video has highlighted the conflict between an older generation’s traditional standards of modesty and a desire for modernity from the nation’s young people.
Opeloge thankful for support
Sunday 2 April 2017 | Published in Regional
SAMOA – Ele Opeloge has thanked supporters in Samoa and abroad for contributing to a fundraising campaign honouring her Olympic success.
Businesses offered New Zealand opportunities
Wednesday 29 March 2017 | Published in Regional
NEW ZEALAND – A number of businesses from around the Pacific region are in Auckland creating partnerships to try to help them break into the New Zealand market.
Claims father threw missing children into river
Wednesday 29 March 2017 | Published in Regional
FIJI – Fiji police have managed to recover the body of a three-year-old boy who was one of three young children allegedly thrown into the Labasa River by their father.
No reprieve expected for 'cooking' coral reefs
Wednesday 29 March 2017 | Published in Regional
AUSTRALIA – Cyclone Debbie is not likely to give coral reefs off Cairns and Port Douglas any reprieve from coral bleaching, according to reef officials. And the weather bureau has not forecast any monsoonal activity on the horizon for the Far North.