All Blog Posts (1,094)

By Damien Gayle Last updated at 4:14 PM on 13th December 2011

When Pacific Islanders Uein Buranibwe, 53, and Temaei Tontaake, 26, found themselves adrift, with their GPS locator broken, they feared they would meet the same end as their long-lost uncle, Bairo.

He had cast off from their island home, Kiribati, to go fishing one day in the Fifties and had never returned. He was assumed drowned in the vast expanse of the South Pacific.

But neither Mr Buranibwe nor Mr…

FIJI TIMES ONLINE Salaseini Vosamana Thursday, December 15, 2011

THE Banaban people of Rabi Island in Vanua Levu will host a three-day carnival his week to honour the lives of their loved ones who have passed on.

The annual event, aimed at strengthening ties among the people, will feature the sale of handicraft items and food and the performance of traditional dances by Banaban children.

Banaban Women's Organisation president Terikano Takesau said…

BANABAN CANOE by aukepalmhof » Mon Dec 12, 2011 7:35 pm shipstamps.co.uk

Fiji issued in 1996 a set of stamps for the 50th Anniversary of the Banabans arrival in Fiji, the 87c shows us a canoe as used by the Banaban people on Rabi Island. The Banaban islanders used an outrigger canoe they called “te wa” on their Banaban island also…

Updated December 12, 2011 09:11:52

The way the Australian government spends millions of dollars on overseas scholarships is in the news again.



This time the Kiribati Government has allegedly barred Australian government officials from meetings to determine which students will get offers to study in Australia. An audit of AusAID's office in the capital Tarawa, obtained under freedom of information law, warns the closed-door approach…

Fiji Times Online Maneesha Karan Tuesday, December 06, 2011

THE completion of works on a partly constructed jetty on Rabi Island will ease accessibility to the island's products, says the Rabi Council of Leaders chairman Doctor Bauro Vanualailai.

Dr Vanualailai said the jetty, which had been abandoned and partly constructed for over 20 years, would have works re-commence in two weeks time.

"The construction of a jetty was what we were being promised for the…

Radio Fiji Gold Wednesday, November 30, 2011

A mother of four has been released by the Labasa High Court on good behaviour for four months after she threw her new born baby into the sea in Rabi.

Teruia Eketi pleaded guilty to infanticide before the…

Fiji Times Online AvineshGopal  Monday, November 28, 2011

Updated November 24, 2011 09:47:15

Imagine travelling with over three tonnes of luggage... that's how much equipment a volunteer medical team has taken to Fiji to perform cardiac surgery on patients.



Operation Open Heart has been running since for over two decades... and in Fiji, it's seen over six hundred successful cardiac operations.





Presenter:Campbell Cooney

Speaker:Melanie Windus,…

Posted at 03:35 on 23 November, 2011 UTC

The United States Coast Guard is searching for a man and an aluminium skiff that went missing near Betio in Kiribati two days ago.

The Pacific News Centre reports that the 24-year-old remained aboard the two-metre boat while two companions went diving about 180 metres from land.

When they surfaced the boat and its passenger were gone, but the divers were able to swim to shore.

A Hercules aircrew stationed in…

November 18, 2011 | Author PT&I [Translate]

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ABC RADIO PACIFIC BEAT Updated November 9, 2011 09:19:58

With the final seat decided in the Kiribati elections... the fight for President is heating up.

I-Kiribati now face intense lobbying from Presidential candidates.





Presenter:Geraldine Coutts

Speaker:John Anderson, Kiribati Video 

• Listen:…

FIJISUN Newspaper Daily ENews writer : CAROLINE RATUCADRA 11/6/2011

So…

THE Australian magpie (mekepai gymorthina tibicen), which was first introduced to Fiji in the 1800s, is keeping Cicia's coconut plantation free of stick insects.

There were at least two and probably more separate introductions from Australia, one of which, in 1916, was organised by the Agriculture Department which charged planters $1 a pair.

A statement from the Department of Agriculture…