PAC - Pacific Islands Broadcasting Association articles from November 2003

PAC - Pacific Islands Broadcasting Association archives from November 2003

Group named to review Pacific Forum issues.
November 3, 2003... 03 NOVEMBER 2003 PACIFIC FORUM (Pacnews) - Four Pacific Island leaders have been named in an Eminent Persons Group now charged with undertaking a comprehensive review of the Pacific Islands Forum and the issues confronting it. The team...

Fijian Holdings Limited shareholders receive huge benefits.
November 3, 2003... 03 NOVEMBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) - Shareholders of Fiji's largest and most successful indigenous Fijian investment company are reaping the benefits of their investment and will continue to benefit from their shares in the company. The...

Preliminary study carried out on rebuilding Tahiti's airport.
November 3, 2003... 03 NOVEMBER 2003 PAPEETE (Pacnews) - A preliminary study on rebuilding Tahiti-Faa'a International Airport was presented in Paris to French Polynesia Government President Gaston Flosse last week. A final report is due at the end of December....

Information vital for PNG - Minister.
November 3, 2003... 03 NOVEMBER 2003 PORT MORESBY (Pacnews) - Papua New Guinea's Minister for Enterprises and Information, Arthur Somare, is seeking Cabinet's endorsement to adopt information technology as a tool for national development and poverty reduction. ...

ADB finds acute poverty in region.
November 3, 2003... 03 NOVEMBER 2003 NUKU'ALOFA (Pacnews) - Asia Development Bank (ADB) officials told a national consultation meeting in Tonga they are finding relative poverty instead of absolute poverty in Tonga and other Pacific island nations. ADB's...

Solomon students shocked at Al-Qaeda allegations.
November 3, 2003... 03 NOVEMBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) - A senior Solomon Islands student last week alleged that the terrorist group Al-Qaeda used Solomon Islands passport to carry out the September 11, 2001 bombing of the World Trade Centre. The allegation is...

Pacific prepares well for EPA negotiations.
November 3, 2003... 03 NOVEMBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) ---- Pacific member countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group are working on issues to raise with the European Union (EU) when formal negotiations on the proposed Economic Partnership Agreement...

Tourists target Fiji for a holiday.
November 3, 2003... 03 NOVEMBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) - Fiji is set to hit a record tourist arrival figure of over 410, 000 this year after the Fiji Visitors Bureau (FVB) recorded a surge in the number of arrivals in September, a mark FVB chief executive, Bill...

Pacific women celebrate good CEDAW implementation progress.
November 3, 2003... 03 NOVEMBER 2003 PACIFIC (Pacnews) - Pacific women delegates attending a regional conference in Fiji have expressed their delight at the way the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women...

Leaders support voting rights bill for American Samoa's military personnel.
November 3, 2003... 03 NOVEMBER 2003 PAGO PAGO (Pacnews) - American Samoa's leaders have unanimously supported a bill to protect the voting rights of American Samoa's military personnel serving with the US military. The bill seeks to give American Samoan...

Pacific Island government representatives to gather for annual SPC session.
November 3, 2003... 03 NOVEMBER 2003 PACIFIC (Pacnews) - This year's 33rd meeting of the Committee of Representatives of Governments and Administrations (CRGA) will take place in Suva, Fiji, from this Wednesday, 5-7 November 2003. It will be followed by the...

PACNEWS DIGEST - Regional and international groups unite for women.
November 3, 2003... 03 NOVEMBER 2003, SUVA, FIJI - In a historic show of unity, two major international organisations and a regional organisation - UNIFEM Pacific, UNDP's Regional Rights Resource Team (UNDP/RRT) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) -...

Fiji's studio city project looms closer.
November 3, 2003... 03 NOVEMBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) - Indigenous landowners have overwhelmingly conveyed to Native Lands Trust Board (NLTB) and government representatives their support for the construction of a multi-million dollar film studio on their land. ...

Squash exports up four varieties for overseas markets.
November 3, 2003... 03 NOVEMBER 2003 NUKU'ALOFA (Pacnews) - Tonga's Global Trading and Farmers Society Cooperative may soon export four different varieties of squash pumpkin to markets in New Zealand and the United States. They have grown the newly introduced...

Virgin Blue plans market debut.
November 3, 2003... 03 NOVEMBER 2003 CANBERRA (Pacnews) - Australian budget airline Virgin Blue, which is 50% owned by Richard Branson and planning to tap the Pacific market in the coming year, is to go for a stock market listing. Virgin Blue will raise...

Fiji yet to decide whether to include sugar in EPA negotiations.
November 3, 2003... 03 NOVEMBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) --- Fiji is yet to decide whether it wants to include sugar in the proposed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU). Fiji derives over 80 percent of its export earnings from sugar. ...

Tourism Task Force disagrees on 2005 as year of crime prevention.
November 3, 2003... 03 NOVEMBER 2003 PORT VILA (Pacnews) - Vanuatu's Tourism Task Force members do not support the idea of creating 2005 as Year of Crime Prevention in Vanuatu after leaders of the country's six provinces endorsed the same during their third...

Pacific teams exit but not before heaps of accolades.
November 3, 2003... 03 NOVEMBER 2003 RWC 2003 (Pacnews) - All three Pacific rugby powerhouses, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, have now bowed out of the 2003 Rugby World Cup but not before rugby executives, pundits, journalists and fans alike heaped accolades on their...

Chiefs call for dolphin protection.
November 4, 2003... 04 NOVEMBER 2003 HONIARA (Pacnews) - Members of Solomon Islands' House of Chiefs have expressed their concern over the way dolphins are treated in their Central Province pens. SIBC reports that the chiefs want the mammal keepers to set them...

ANZ warns Cook Islanders against Internet banking hoax.
November 4, 2003... 04 NOVEMBER 2003 RAROTONGA (Pacnews) - Cook Islands' ANZ Internet Banking customers are being warned to be on alert against bogus emails sent to them. The messages direct people to a hoax bank website where they are asked to follow a link...

Micronesians to benefit from closer US assistance.
November 4, 2003... 04 NOVEMBER 2003 HONOLULU (Pacnews) - Senior US officials who look after and monitor federal assistance funds for Micronesians in the Northern Pacific have appointed a Hawaii-based colleague to help provide technical assistance for the grants....

PCRC concerned over EGP composition.
November 4, 2003... 04 NOVEMBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) - The Pacific Concerns Resource Centre (PCRC) has described the composition of the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) to review the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) as a false impression that only men of the older generation...

Samoan represents Pacific at international media workshop.
November 4, 2003... 04 NOVEMBER 2003 PACIFIC (Pacnews) - One of Samoa's independent video producers, Lepuiai Rico Tupailelei, is representing the Pacific Islands at an international forum on local cultural expressions and communications. Tarja Virtanen of the...

Eminent Persons Group has a month to review Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.
November 4, 2003... 04 OCTOBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) - The Eminent Persons Group (EPG) appointed to review the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat has been tasked with a mandate to analyse and highlight key regional and international issues currently facing the Forum...

Commoner politicians stage boycott of Tonga's royal backed airline.
November 4, 2003... 04 NOVEMBER 2003 NUKUA'LOFA (Pacnews) - Commoner politicians in Tonga have endorsed a boycott of national carrier, Royal Tongan Airlines (RTA) whose mounting debts are threatening the economic viability of the Pacific kingdom. "We are...

Unions threaten strike over non-payment of salaries.
November 4, 2003... 04 NOVEMBER 2003 HONIARA (Pacnews) - A niggling issue still haunts many of Solomon Islands' civil servants - the non-payment of salaries, which again is the hot topic for a strike threat this week. Chairman of the Joint Public Sector Unions...

PM Qarase assures of safe investment in Fiji.
November 4, 2003... 04 NOVEMBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) - Fiji's Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase last week assured members of the Sydney Business community that Fiji is a safe place to conduct business, and that law and order would continue to be a high priority for...

Concerns over new Aloha Airlines schedule.
November 4, 2003... 04 NOVEMBER 2003 RAROTONGA (Pacnews) - Cook Islands Tourist Corporation chief, Chris Wong, has expressed concern about the new Aloha Airlines schedule, which sees flights between Rarotonga and Honolulu stopping at Pago Pago, American Samoa. ...

Westpac raises concerns of illegal money transfer.
November 4, 2003... 04 NOVEMBER 2003 ALOFI (Pacnews) - One of Niue's most senior cabinet ministers has come under fire for allowing an illegal money transfer scheme to operate from his private business in the capital, Alofi. NiueNews reports that Finance...

Education given priority in Solomons spending.
November 4, 2003... 04 NOVEMBER 2003 HONIARA (Pacnews) - Cabinet ministers in Solomon Islands are meeting to endorse the 2004 budget estimates, which will be tabled in parliament in the session beginning on Thursday (06 Nov). The budget totals around $US54...

Vanuatu hosts 12th annual heads of Public Service conference.
November 4, 2003... 04 NOVEMBER 2003 PORT VILA - Vanuatu's Prime Minister, Edward Natapei, officially opened the 12th Annual Heads of Public Service Commission (PSC) conference in the capital, Port Vila last Monday (29 Oct). Representatives of Public Service...

Palau releases Taiwan shark finner.
November 4, 2003... 04 NOVEMBER 2003 KOROR (Pacnews) - Law enforcement officials in Palau have released an unlicensed Taiwanese fishing vessel carrying banned shark fins because they lacked the evidence to prove it was fishing illegally. The vessel Yang Szu...

Radio station connects PNG's Sepik Province.
November 4, 2003... 04 NOVEMBER 2003 PORT MORESBY (Pacnews) - Two Sepik members of parliament have brushed aside comments that the proposed radio station, Central Sepik FM in Maprik, would divide the East Sepik province. Local Maprik MP and Works Minister...

Three ministers ousted in snap reshuffle.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 PAPE'ETE (Pacnews) --- French Polynesia's President Gaston Flosse has dumped three cabinet ministers from the French Pacific territory's government, authorities said in a press release. The three are - Tourism Minister,...

Fiji makes progress with Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) --- Fiji will host two International Monitoring System (IMS) sites as part of the global monitoring system to detect any underground or atmospheric nuclear testing. The Fiji Cabinet this week agreed to...

No-go zones will now cease to exist on Bougainville.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 PORT MORESBY (Pacnews) --- Papua New Guinea's Inter-Government Relations Minister Sir Peter Barter says the "no-go zones" on the former troubled island of Bougainville will no longer exist. Sir Peter said he was confident...

Kiribati Roman Catholic priest honoured.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) ---A French Roman Catholic priest based in Kiribati, Father Gratien Bermond was delivered a very special message last week after serving 41 years in the Sacred Heart mission of Kiribati. On hand to deliver...

Accountant General visits Western province.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 HONIARA (Pacnews) --- Solomon Islands Accountant-General, Ian Davies has visited Gizo and Noro in the Western Province. It's the first visit in many years to be undertaken by an Accountant-General. He was accompanied by...

African band arrives in Solomon Islands.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 HONIARA (Pacnews) --- Well renowned Christian reggae group, Makoma from Africa has arrived in Solomon Islands for a number of concerts. The group is on its Pacific Tour, which will also include Fiji later this month. ...

Fresh application filed on Governor-General vote.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 PORT MORESBY (Pacnews) --- Papua New Guinea's (PNG) Ombudsman Commission has gone back to the Supreme Court with a fresh application to have the election of Sir Albert Kipalan as Governor General declared null and void. ...

Tonga establishes press council.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 NUKU'ALOFA (Pacnews) --- Tongan newspapers are setting up a press council in a bid to head off moves to bring the news media under state control. More than 6,000 Tongans marched on the Legislative Assembly last month in...

Australia yet to decide if latest boatpeople to be sent to Pacific detention centres.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 MELBOURNE (Pacnews) --- A fishing boat carrying asylum seekers has reached Australian territory. Fourteen asylum seekers arrived at Melville Island, north of Darwin, yesterday (04 Nov). It is only the second vessel to...

Economic spotlight on Tuvalu.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 CANBERRA (Pacnews) --- The Pacific Economic Bulletin says political instability in the microstate of Tuvalu has hurt economic governance and damaged the public service. Radio Australia's Graeme Dobell reports that the...

No by-election, Bishop new MP.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 RAROTONGA (Pacnews) --- Aitutaki businessman Teina Bishop has been declared the new Member of Parliament for the Arutanga/Reureu/Nikaupara in Cook Islands. Mr Bishop was gazetted as the new MP for the constituency by the...

Senior Solomons police arrested by intervention force.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 HONIARA (Pacnews) --- The multinational police force in Solomon Islands has arrested chief superintendent, Manesseh Maelanga, who will face eleven charges. The assistance mission says Maelanga is the thirtieth police...

Fresh reports of separatist violence in Papua.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 JAYAPURA (Pacnews) --- One person is reported to have been shot dead and three others wounded in a suspected separatist rebel attack in the eastern Indonesian province of Papua. A police spokesman says while most of the...

Maui struggles to rid noisy frog.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 MAUI (Pacnews) --- The Maui Invasive Species Committee (MISC) has not given up on efforts to eradicate the coqui frog from Maui, despite a report out of Honolulu that the frog is beyond control. A recent report out of Oahu said...

Kalpokas commends NGOs at first AIDS Congress.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 PORT VILA (Pacnews) --- The first National Youth Congress on HIV/AIDS in Vanuatu was officially opened on Monday (03 Nov) at the Wan Smol Bag Haos by the Acting Prime Minister and Minister for Health, Donald Kalpokas...

Tokelau's head of administration appointed new chancellor of USP.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) --- The Head of the Tokelau administration or 'Ulu o Tokelau', Aliki Faipule O'Brien is the new chancellor of the Suva-based University of the South Pacific (USP). He was formally installed at the...

Royal Tongan here to stay - CEO.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 NUKU'ALOFA (Pacnews) --- Royal Tongan Airlines (RTA) is financially robust and here to stay, the airline's managing director and chief executive officer, Logan Appu, said on Monday (03 Nov) in response to media comment in New...

French scientists set sail to break new ground in Solomons' Vanikoro.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 NOUMEA (Pacnews) --- A team of New Caledonia-based scientists and "La Perouse" association members is on its way to the Solomon Islands in a fresh bid to unveil new evidence of French navigator Francois de la Perouse's voyage...

Three Kiribati cargo vessels in Fiji for repair works.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 TARAWA (Pacnews) --- Three major cargo vessels from Kiribati are in Fiji for maintenance works. The vessels - one belonging to government and two privately owned - have been in Fiji for the last three months. Reports...

Cargo plane held.
November 5, 2003... 05 NOVEMBER 2003 HONIARA (Pacnews) --- A freighter aircraft with its cargo of 15 tonnes of frozen tuna bound for Japan remains on the tarmac at the Honiara International airport after it was held by Customs and Immigration authorities last...

Parliament has political field day, two ministers resign.
November 6, 2003... 06 NOVEMBER 2003 RAROTONGA (Pacnews) - Two ministers have resigned following an attempt to unseat Prime Minister Dr Robert Woonton's Coalition Government in a political field day at Cook Islands Parliament yesterday (05 Nov). Deputy Prime...

Fiji now committed to Pacific Village.
November 6, 2003... 06 NOVEMBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) - The Fiji Government looks set to set aside FJD$250,000 (US$138,800) in the coming national budget for the construction of a Pacific Village to house three Suva-based regional organisations. Speaking at the...

New report puts Bougainville constitution 'back on track'.
November 6, 2003... 06 NOVEMBER 2003 PORT MORESBY (Pacnews) - Papua New Guinea's (PNG) minister for Bougainville affairs, Sir Peter Barter, says development of the province's new autonomous constitution is back on track. Radio Australia's Shane McLeod reports...

Senior civil servants implicated in water scam.
November 6, 2003... 06 NOVEMBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) - The Fiji's Public Service Commission's (PSC) disciplinary hearing into the Suva Water Supply scam was completed yesterday (05 Nov) and implicated most of its high-level officers. PSC secretary, Ratu Tui...

SPC Director-General highlights major achievements.
November 6, 2003... 06 NOVEMBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) - The Director-General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Lourdes Pangelinan, yesterday (05 Nov) highlighted her organisation's close focus on reforms to consolidate SPC's stand in the Pacific...

Tonga receives US$980,000 million for cyclone relief.
November 6, 2003... 06 NOVEMBER 2003 NUKUA'LOFA (Pacnews) - The Kingdom of Tonga has received 900,000 (US$980, 000) for cyclone relief from the European Union (EU) via its European Development Fund (EDF). The funds are to be used for rehabilitation and repair...

HMAS Manoora returns to Sydney after Solomon Islands deployment.
November 6, 2003... 06 NOVEMBER 2003 HONIARA (Pacnews) - After a six-month tour of duty of the Persian Gulf and Solomon Islands, the Australian navy ship HMAS Manoora, is due to return to its base in Sydney. The vessel has spent the past four months off the...

Resettled cane farmers to receive land lease titles.
November 6, 2003... 06 NOVEMBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) - The Fiji Government, through its Ministries of Land and Agriculture, have come up with a solution to the pressing land lease problem for Indo-Fijian cane farmers in the Navua area, south west of Suva. ...

Government still silent over severed internet connection.
November 6, 2003... 06 NOVEMBER 2003 ALOFI (Pacnews) - Niue's sole internet cafe remains closed as the deadlock between the island's telecommunications company and the privately owned Internet Users Society (IUS) over the WiFi service continues. NiueNews, a...

Fiji Museum receives Australian assistance.
November 6, 2003... 06 NOVEMBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) - Staff at the Fiji Museum will now be able to respond more positively to requests for copies of documents that the museum currently holds in trust. Acting Australian High Commissioner, Richard Ryan, today...

Palau to stock Japanese wine under water.
November 6, 2003... 06 NOVEMBER 2003 KOROR (Pacnews) - The Palau Government and a group of Japanese winemakers are planning to sink 30,000 bottles of Japanese wine into 60 feet of water and leave them there for a year. Eight types of wine, from dry whites to...

PACNEWS DIGEST - The views expressed in PACNEWS DIGEST are those of agencies contributing articles and not necessarily those of PIBA and/or PACNEWS.
November 6, 2003... LAUNCH OF 'DEVELOPMENT AND DEMOCRACY' -- 2003 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL COMMONWEALTH SECRETARIAT, LONDON - The biennial report of the Commonwealth Secretary-General, this year entitled 'Development and Democracy', was launched on...

Indonesian military kills 10 Papuan separatists.
November 6, 2003... 06 NOVEMBER 2003 JAYAPURA (Pacnews) --- Indonesian soldiers have killed ten separatist rebels in an attack in Papua province. A military spokesman says the rebels were killed in a pre-dawn raid in the mountainous central Jayawijaya...

Asylum boat sails into fresh refugee furore.
November 6, 2003... 06 NOVEMBER 2003 CANBERRA (Pacnews) --- A boat carrying suspected Kurdish asylum seekers was towed 20 kilometres from Melville Island, north of Darwin, Australia by the navy yesterday (05 Nov), with debate raging about its passengers' right to...

Completion of Johnston Island work celebrated.
November 6, 2003... 06 NOVEMBER 2003 HONOLULU (Pacnews) --- The Johnston Island facility now is rubble, sealed over by a coral cap. The chemical weapons have been disposed of without injury to workers and, as far as testing to date has determined, without damage...

Presbyterian Church mourns loss of a "great hero of faith".
November 6, 2003... 06 NOVEMBER 2003 PORT VILA (Pacnews) --- The Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu is mourning the sudden and untimely death of Pastor Reuben Makikon, whom Christian leaders describe as a "great hero of faith in Christ". He passed away on the 4...

Melon flies invade NMI.
November 6, 2003... 06 NOVEMBER 2003 SAIPAN (Pacnews) --- Millions of Melon flies have invaded the Northern Marianas, adversely affecting agricultural production and doubling the impact of the noxious ivy gourd that has spread significantly. "Farmers are...

Palau hosts Micronesian summit.
November 6, 2003... 06 NOVEMBER 2003 KOROR (Pacnews) --- Four Pacific leaders are gathering this week for a meeting of the newly-formed Western Micronesia Chief Executives Summit. The leaders of Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and...

Military withdrawal in Solomon Islands.
November 7, 2003... 07 NOVEMBER 2003 HONIARA (Pacnews) --- The Chief of the Australian Defence Force has revealed details of the planned phasing-down of the military mission in Solomon Islands. General Peter Cosgrove says troops will be cut from 1,700 to 600...

Hawaii to take part in men's heart study.
November 7, 2003... 07 NOVEMBER 2003 HONOLULU (Pacnews) --- Hawaii is one of three sites that will participate in a study comparing early signs of coronary heart disease in men 40 to 49 years old. The Pacific Health Research Institute has been awarded US$1.7...

War claims commission to open office in Hagatna.
November 7, 2003... 07 NOVEMBER 2003 HAGATNA (Pacnews) --- In an effort to reach as many Chamorro survivors of the Japanese occupation, the War Claims Commission is scheduled to open its office in the Guam capital, Hagatna next week. The commission is tasked...

ADB to support FSM Compact transition.
November 7, 2003... 07 NOVEMBER 2003 WASHINGTON (Pacnews) --- Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior David B. Cohen today (USA 06 Nov) signed a US$333,000 technical assistance grant as part of a joint project with the Asian Development Bank to help the...

Pangelinan seeks third term at SPC.
November 7, 2003... 07 NOVEMBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) - The director-general of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Lourdes Pangelinan, wants another shot at the top job. Believed to be the highest paid job with the largest and oldest regional...

One third of children in New Zealand overweight, survey shows.
November 7, 2003... 07 NOVEMBER 2003 WELLINGTON (Pacnews) --- One third of New Zealand children are overweight, including 10 per cent who are obese, a new survey shows. The National Children's Nutrition Survey showed 9.8 per cent of 3,275 five-to-14-year-old...

CEOs to replace Permanent Secretaries in major organisational changes.
November 7, 2003... 07 NOVEMBER 2003 SUVA (Pacnews) - Permanent Secretaries' (PS) positions in Fiji's government ministries will be abolished to make way for the recruitment of Chief Executive Officers (CEO). In a major organisational restructure, Prime...

French national charged with paedophilia to be sentenced today.
November 7, 2003... 07 NOVEMBER 2003 HONIARA (Pacnews) -- A 48-year-old French national has been convicted in Solomon Islands for sex offences. Didier Farsy was found guilty of committing the offences with two boys in the town of Maluu in northern Malaita in...

Experts say breadfruit tree in decline.
November 7, 2003... 07 NOVEMBER 2003 ALOFI (Pacnews) --- Experts are warning that the Pacific breadfruit tree, which contributed to the mutiny on the Bounty and was once hailed as the solution to world hunger, is in serious decline. The tree - part of the...

French national gets seven years for paedophilia.
November 7, 2003... 07 NOVEMBER 2003 HONIARA (Pacnews) --- A French national found guilty of paedophilia related offences has been sentenced to seven years in jail by the Solomon Islands Magistrates court. Forty-eight year old Didier Marie Edmond Farsy was...

Cook Islands no confidence motion dropped to avoid confusion.
November 7, 2003... 07 NOVEMBER 2003 RAROTONGA (Pacnews) --- Dr Terepai Maoate, who until yesterday was Deputy Prime Minister in Cook Islands says he dropped a motion of no confidence in the government to avoid confusing his party members. Dr Maoate and the...

Vanuatu foreign minister considers visit to Indonesia.
November 7, 2003... 07 NOVEMBER 2003 PORT VILA (Pacnews) --- Vanuatu's Deputy Prime Minister, Serge Vohor, is considering an invitation to visit Indonesia early next year to discuss problems between the two countries caused by Vanuatu hosting an office of the...

PNG in the 'most corrupt' bracket: Transparency International.
November 7, 2003... 07 NOVEMBER 2003 PORT MORESBY (Pacnews) --- Papua New Guinea (PNG) has been rated as one of the most corrupt countries in the world based on the ratings of the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index 2003. Speaking at...