Regional
New Caledonia detains more 'blue boats'
Tuesday 4 April 2017 | Published in Regional
NEW CALEDONIA – Three more Vietnamese blue boats (pictured above) have been caught fishing illegally for beche de mer within New Caledonia’s waters.
Norfolk-Auckland air link to stay
Tuesday 4 April 2017 | Published in Regional
NORFOLK ISLAND – When Air New Zealand ends its direct Auckland-Norfolk Island link in May, a company on the island will fill the void.
Hearing to confront drug use in high schools
Tuesday 4 April 2017 | Published in Regional
AMERICAN SAMOA – High schools in American Samoa are confronting a growing problem of illegal drug use.
Missionaries thrown overboard by pirates
Tuesday 4 April 2017 | Published in Regional
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Pirates in Papua New Guinea waters held up a boatload of people at knifepoint last week and left them adrift after stealing the boat’s engine.
666 writs give churches the jitters
Tuesday 4 April 2017 | Published in Regional
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Papua New Guinea’s electoral commissioner has been forced to reassure church leaders he is not asking the country’s Governor-General to evoke an apocalyptic biblical prophecy.
Detention camp film shot on cellphone
Tuesday 4 April 2017 | Published in Regional
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Audiences around the world will soon have the chance to see what life is like inside one of Australia’s offshore detention centres.
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.