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Stacey King's Blog (971)

Families pray for kidnapped Tuvalu, Fiji sailors

ABC RADIO AUSTRALIA Updated Tue Jun 2, 2009 4:06pm AEST

The families of the dozen Pacific islanders being held by Somali pirates are continuing to pray for their safe return. Eleven sailors from Tuvalu, and one from Fiji, were kidnapped two months ago and very little has been heard from them since. The pirates are demanding a ransom of 15 million US dollars - the kind of money a tiny island nation like… Continue

Added by Stacey King on June 3, 2009 at 7:28am — No Comments

Pacific Islands Bullied by Australian, NZ Trade Officials, Say Experts

By Diane Cordemans - Epoch Times May 30, 2009

AUCKLAND, N.Z.—Tactics employed by Australia and New Zealand to push Pacific Island countries into signing a free trade agreement are a form of “contemporary colonization,” said academic and respected analyst on Pacific Island affairs, Professor Jane Kelsey at a seminar in Auckland last week.

Pacific Island officials involved in the Pacific Agreement on Closer… Continue

Added by Stacey King on June 2, 2009 at 11:27am — 1 Comment

Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) fisheries grouping to set up own secretariat in the Marshall Islands

New Zealand Radio International - Posted at 22:38 on 31 May, 2009 UTC

A group of small Pacific islands nations is banding together to force Asian countries to pay more for tuna caught in the region. The Parties to the Nauru Agreement, or PNA, countries are establishing their own secretariat in the Marshall Islands. The PNA countries have also used their muscle to force a change from the past practice of licencing… Continue

Added by Stacey King on June 2, 2009 at 10:57am — No Comments

Marshall Islands Looks for Deals to Bring Economic Boost

MIJournal : YOKWE.online

Metal million: Cleaning up Majuro makes mega-bucks - 30 years of scrap metal littering the island.

METAL COLLECTION: Majuro Atoll Waste Corporation is hoping to make a million dollars or more from the sale of 30,000 tons of scrap heavy metal. According to MAWC manager, Roger Cooper (pictured), the company is hoping to have the unsightly scrap moved off island by… Continue

Added by Stacey King on June 2, 2009 at 10:47am — No Comments

Kiribati officials to ride in cars worth nearly 650,000 US dollars at celebrations

RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL - Posted at 23:27 on 01 June, 2009 UTC

When Kiribati celebrates its 30th year of independence on July 12, the President and his 15 Cabinet Ministers will be riding in brand new cars that are costing the government nearly 650 thousand US dollars. Marao Maen of Tarawa Motors, the local agent for Toyota which won the tender for the new official cars, says the President will have a… Continue

Added by Stacey King on June 2, 2009 at 10:37am — No Comments

CONGRATULATIONS 400th MEMBER - Nei Akka

Welcome to our niece Nei Akka Rimon for being our 400th member to join Banaban Voice. Akka is currently living in Sydney while completing her university course and will return to work back in Kiribati when she graduates.

Added by Stacey King on June 2, 2009 at 6:30am — No Comments

Plans in motion for Copra to topple sugar

FIJI DAILY POST 29-May-2009 11:54 AM

STAKEHOLDERS in the copra industry have set in motion plans to make their industry topple Fiji’s major agriculture export, sugar. And part of that plan is introducing a barter system that sees copra farmers and suppliers exchange their copra for groceries and goods provided by a major player in the wholesale industry. Coconut Industry Development Authority (CIDA)… Continue

Added by Stacey King on May 30, 2009 at 7:34pm — No Comments

Cruise liner arrivals up

FIJI TIMES ONLINE Saturday, May 30, 2009

THERE'S a huge potential for cruise visitors to Fiji after a 613 per cent jump in arrivals last year compared to 2007. The figures released by the Bureau of Statistics show 17,371 cruise visitors arrived in Fiji in 2008 compared to 2435 in 2007. In 2006, there were no cruise liners visiting our ports. Cruise shipping is becoming more ideal for international travellers because it is… Continue

Added by Stacey King on May 30, 2009 at 7:28pm — No Comments

Kiribati Thanks Cuba for its Cooperation and Solidarity

Cuban News Agency HAVANA, Cuba, May 29 (acn)

The vice-president of Kiribati, Teima Onorio, thanked Cuba on Thursday for the cooperation in the field of health received from the archipelago. During a meeting in that small nation in the Pacific, Onorio highlighted the work of the Cuban medical brigade in her country, made up by 15 specialists, which has offered its services since 2006 to its some 105,000… Continue

Added by Stacey King on May 30, 2009 at 7:23pm — No Comments

Tuvalu, Fijian mariners taken by Somali pirates

ABC RADIO AUSTRALIA BROADCAST - Updated 4 hours 52 minutes ago

Twelve Tuvaluans and one Fiji citizen are continuing to be held hostage by Somali pirates. The seamen, and eleven others, are crewmen aboard the German registered cargo ship, the Hansa Stavanger, which was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean two months ago. Their plight has only been made public recently.

Presenter:… Continue

Added by Stacey King on May 29, 2009 at 9:09pm — No Comments

U.S. Navy Suspends Departure Of Aid Ship Over Swine Flu

General News RTT NEWS 5/6/2009 4:34 PM ET

(RTTNews) - U.S. navy on Wednesday suspended the departure of a naval vessel to the South Pacific on an aid mission after a sailor on the vessel was diagnosed with swine flu. The navy said that it had suspended the departure of California-based USS Dubuque after 50 others on board the vessel showed signs of swine flu infection. It added that other options,… Continue

Added by Stacey King on May 29, 2009 at 1:54pm — No Comments

Shortlands boxers return with medals

SOLOMONS STAR - Thursday, 28 May 2009

THE Shortlands Boxing select team returned from Nauru Boxing Challenge with medals, an indication they are medal prospects for Solomon Islands in the Pacific Mini Games. The local boxing team, who arrived last Tuesday evening, won three of the eight categories. Nauru national team won five… Continue

Added by Stacey King on May 28, 2009 at 12:18pm — No Comments

Japan supports eco-friendly Pacific

UPIASIA.COM By Hiroshi Yamazaki UPI Correspondent Published: May 25, 2009

Tokyo, Japan — While Japan's global economic edge is being shaken, the world's No. 2 economy is turning to environmental initiatives to retain its leading role, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.

At the Fifth Japan-Pacific Islands Forum Summit held last week in Tomamu, Japan, Prime Minister Taro Aso… Continue

Added by Stacey King on May 26, 2009 at 3:59pm — No Comments

Rabi Jetty in process of development

FIJI VILLAGE.COM25/05/2009 [11:55]

Jetties in Kadavu and Rabi are currently in the process of development in an effort to uplift services in the outer islands and interior places. This had been confirmed by Works Permanent Secretary Anand Kumar who said the course way road has been done while a tender is in the process of being advertised for the construction of the jetty by a contractor. Kumar… Continue

Added by Stacey King on May 25, 2009 at 12:24pm — No Comments

Air Pacific Article all about Rabi and the Banabans - Download full article

We have just received a copy of the latest AIR PACIFIC issue on their inflight magazine and there is a 5 page colour spread all about the Banabans and Rabi.

We have put up details on the Rabi Page at: Article link

Great to see that there is more awareness growing of the Banabans plight… Continue

Added by Stacey King on May 24, 2009 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Tuvalu tries to save Air Fiji from bankruptcy

ABC RADIO AUSTRALIA - Updated 5 hours 20 minutes ago

Tuvalu wants to get Air Fiji flying again which was grounded earlier this month because of financial problems. Staff have not been paid for weeks. Tuvalu's Transport Minister, Taukelina Finikaso, has just returned from Fiji where he has been holding talks with key stakeholders.

Presenter: Jemima Garrett

Speaker: Taukelina Finikaso,… Continue

Added by Stacey King on May 22, 2009 at 8:43pm — No Comments

Pacific leaders praise Japan’s aid programmes

RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL - Posted at 03:43 on 21 May, 2009 UTC

The leaders of small Pacific Island countries have heaped praise on Japan’s aid programme and asked for more as the fifth Pacific Area Leaders Meeting, or PALM, gears up for its official opening in Hokkaido tomorrow night. They say increasingly extreme droughts and sea water inundation on low islands are causing hardships for islanders across the… Continue

Added by Stacey King on May 21, 2009 at 3:45pm — No Comments

Pacific Partnership to Run as Scheduled Aboard USNS Byrd

By Donna Miles - American Forces Press Service

HONOLULU, May 20, 2009 – The H1N1 flu virus won’t be able count the Pacific Partnership 2009 mission among its casualties. Pacific Partnership will kick off as scheduled next month, delivering medical, dental, veterinary care and engineering support to the South Pacific — albeit it on a new platform due to an H1N1 virus diagnosis. USNS… Continue

Added by Stacey King on May 21, 2009 at 11:08am — No Comments

Explosion injures Kiribati seaman in tanker off Tampa Bay - Watch Video of Rescue

Tampa Bay Online published: May 19, 2009

Watch the Video of the rescue

A Coast Guard helicopter evacuated a man from a tanker this afternoon after a shipboard explosion. The 614-foot, German-flagged tanker tanker was about 30 miles northwest of Tampa Bay when the explosion… Continue

Added by Stacey King on May 21, 2009 at 11:00am — No Comments

Coast Guard medevacs Kiribati man from ship after explosion

Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - United States Coast Guard

The Coast Guard medically evacuated a man after an explosion onboard a tanker 30-miles northwest of Tampa Bay at approximately 5 p.m. Tuesday. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg, Fla., received a distress call at about 3:15 p.m. from the 614-foot German-flaggedtanker BW Herdis reporting that a 56-year-old Kiribati crewmember had been injured after… Continue

Added by Stacey King on May 20, 2009 at 5:11pm — No Comments