Mass public protests that have grabbed headlines around the world during the last few years reflect a failure of governance at the national and international level, says a new report by the global civil society alliance, CIVICUS. “In many countries around the world people see formal democratic processes and party politics as failing to address…
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Digicel Tonga signed an agreement last week to partner in the Cash For Work Project in Ha’apai, Tonga following Tropical Cyclone Ian in January 2014. Under the Post Cyclone Livelihoods Recovery and Cash for Work Project in Ha’apai Tonga, UNDP has been providing assistance to the affected communities…
The bogey of devaluation was once again raised last week. As Fiji TV 1 reported in its 6 pm news on May 24, this time the occasion was the Panel Discussion during the 2014 Annual Conference of the Fiji Institute of Accountants, held last week in Sigatoka. Since one of the Panelists happened to be…
Lieutenant Colonel Inia Seruiratu, Fiji’s Minister for Rural & Maritime Development and National Disaster Management and Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries & Forests, will officially open the 6th Session of the Pacific Platform for Disaster Risk Management today at the Novotel Hotel in Suva, Fiji. The 6th Pacific Platform is co-convened by the Secretariat of Pacific…
The Energy Programme of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) convened a project Steering Committee meeting of the Pacific Appliance Labelling and Standards (PALS) programme. This was followed by a workshop for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Efficient Lighting programme. The two events took place this week (May 27-28) in Nadi, Fiji. The…
THE World Mobile Congress was held earlier this year and some things that have caught the eye are listed below. * A smartphone for seniors: Yezz’s Andy AZ4.5 — Powered by a dual-core 1.2GHz processor and running on a tailored version of Android, the smartphone features large icons and a voice assistant. In addition, the…
Researchers have found less grey matter in the brains of men who watched large amounts of sexually explicit material, according to a new study. The research, which appeared in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, could not determine if porn actually caused the brain to shrink however, and the authors called for additional study on the topic. “Future…
The Democratic Party garnered the most votes for the House of Representatives in Papua with a total of 700,150 votes out of 2,949,189 valid votes. As a result, the Dems gained two seats at the House of Representatives out of the 10 Papua-assigned seats, which is one less than the 2009-2014 period. “The Democratic Party…
Indonesian security forces intentionally killed and raped children along with a large number of civilians at a massacre on the West Papuan island of Biak, a tribunal has found. The secret massacre which has been denied for years by Indonesia was officially detailed by a citizen’s tribunal which brought down its findings in Sydney recently.…
The Indonesian government has temporarily scrapped a controversial New Zealand-run police training programme for officers involved in the military occupation of West Papua. Radio New Zealand International reported that the NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said only that Indonesia had pulled out of the next phase of the programme “at this time”. However,…