Melanesian Leaders attending Rio 20+ have spoken out about the effect of climate change on their nations. The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) has used the opportunity at the Rio+20 conference in Rio de Janeiro to promote its Declaration of Environment and Climate, recently signed by MSG Leaders in Fiji. Prime Minister of Fiji Voreqe Bainimarama also addressed Read more
The chairman of the Baptist Churches of Papua, Sofyan Yoman, is visiting the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, lobbying foreign embassies to help generate international intervention in Papua. “The Indonesian government and the West Papua representative should come to the negotiation table to talk peacefully,” he said. Pastor Socratez has suggested that a neutral “referee” mediate the Read more
Australia and New Zealand have commended the PNG Electoral Commission for preparing and organising the national election. Australian Deputy High commissioner Margaret Adamson congratulated Electoral Commissioner Andrew Trawen and his staff. “They have done a better job through extensive planning since early last year and have put the election on a timely schedule. Although it Read more
Last year The New Zealand Defence Force hosted a Kopassus officer, Major Edwin Sumanta at its six month Staff and Command training course. The Komando Pasukan Khusus (Kopassus) is Indonesia’s Special Forces Command. Formed in 1952 in the wake of Indonesian independence from the Dutch, Kopassus conducts special operations missions, including intelligence gathering, counter-terrorism, deep Read more
Pacific Island countries have been challenged to to rally against religious conservatism to ensure young people can make informed decisions about sex and pregnancy. The call was made by Papua New Guinea MP Dame Carol Kidu who was among several Pacific politicians attending the New Zealand Parliamentarians’ Group on Population and Development’s annual meeting in Wellington. The focus Read more
Pope Benedict has urged the Bishops from Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands to apply the Gospel to local customs as they carry out their task of evangelisation building on positive elements already present and to purifying others when necessary. He said this in his address to the Bishops the Bishops ,who are in Rome for Read more
The Muslim religion has been established in the south and east of Malaita for some time. Now 12 young people in North Malaita have become Muslims. John Kiri, National broadcaster SIBC correspondent in North Malaita said 12 young people from the Bita’ama area had converted. The group told Kiri that being a Muslim means to Read more
One Hundred Sands has been granted a licence to operate a second casino, with Suva being hinted at as the likely location. In December 2011 One Hundred Sands Limited, which is a subsidiary of a US company, was given permission by the Fijian Government to operate the country’s first casino. The 290 million Fiji dollars (114.29 Read more
Fiji’s Commissioner of Police has approved the permit application for Methodist Church meetings including the annual Conference in August and the Standing Committee meetings scheduled for June and July. Church general secretary Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu said they were happy the permit was received early, giving them time to prepare for the conference. In granting the approval Read more
A weekend media seminar all about movies was run last weekend at the Don Bosco Animation Centre, Kola Ridge, in Honiara in the Solomon Islands. This seminar was the fourth in a series of weekend media seminars organised by the Don Bosco Technical Institute and attended by students and staff from St Joseph’s Tenaru, St Read more