Regional

Fiji-owned recruiting company Access United (Fiji) revealed the figures to The Fiji Times yesterday. Access United (Fiji) managing director Varinava Tiko said the amount was the projected value of remittances, which Fiji would earn by people who were recruited to work overseas. “So far, we’ve sent …

Almost two weeks after it was first expected to be delivered, Treasurer Don Polye told parliament on Tuesday that the 10.5 million kina budget would reduce tax and tariffs on food, while providing free education to the majority of the nation’s school students. “It is aimed at lowering the cost of l…

The office of the opposition says it has asked the president to challenge the constitutionality of the bill in Court. Last week, during the debate on the bill, the opposition said it did not meet the requirements of international conventions being debated in parliament. Under Parliament standing or…

Samoa’s national airline — formed in 2005 by a joint venture between the then-Virgin Blue and the Samoan Government — will have “a new level of professionalism for our national airline; a new style; of which the people of Samoa can be proud” according to Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malie…

The US is building its military, economic and diplomatic strength in the region, while China and a number of other large powers work to increase their foothold in the island states. To cement its position, a new paper by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute says Australia needs to launch a ran…

FCOSS Executive Director Mohammed Hassan Khan revealed the figure in a speech to mark the 10th anniversary of the International Volunteer Day. Khan said the council for the last 55 years had championed the course of volunteering in Fiji. “Out of the 1,400 schools in Fiji only eight belongs to Gover…

Bans on tuna fishing in these high seas pockets – on the use of Fish Aggregating Devices – are due to expire on the December 31. Greenpeace says postponing the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission meeting until next year will make the decision to refuse an extension on the b…

Jess Ponting has heard those jokes. A sustainable tourism professor, he recently founded the first-of-its-kind institute at San Diego State University with the aim of building a database and spreading awareness about what has evolved from a beach counterculture to a multibillion dollar global indus…

The meeting is being hosted by the University of the South Pacific’s Alafua Campus. The conference brings together academics, policy makers and diplomats from across the region to share research, exchange ideas and debate contemporary issues. Association president, Dr Steven Ratuva said he expects …

As part of an anti-smoking crackdown, the government is also banning smoking in public spaces, along with the sale of five-pack cartons. It says the sale of so-called ‘loose smokes’ will be stopped. Hundreds of thousands of people who make their living by selling individual cigarettes on the street…