Senior officials from across the Pacific’s anti-corruption agencies, alongside regional and international experts in the field of digitisation participated in a three-day conference on the role that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can play in the fight against corruption across the Pacific. The conference is supported by the European Union and the Government of the United Kingdom, via the UNDP-implemented Pacific Anti-Corruption Project with the aim of improving public financial management and help address corruption across the region. UNDP Pacific resident representative Munkht ..read more

Bula Let other people decide your salaries. This is the call of longtime House of Representatives secretary, Edward Blakelock, who believes that the Special Emoluments Committee must be independent. That’s the big one on the front page of The Fiji Times for Monday,, June 5. The second story on Page 1 is about Fiji having a very high incidence of Chronic Kidney disease The post From the Editor-in-Chief’s desk: Your June 3 briefing appeared first on The Fiji Times ..read more

By Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Marian Robinson, mother of former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama, who provided support and stability, especially during the eight years of Barack Obama’s presidency, died on Friday, the Obama and Robinson families said. She was 86. Fondly called the “first grandma,” Robinson played a pivotal role in helping care for her granddaughters, Malia and Sasha Obama, during their early years at the White House. “With a healthy nudge, she agreed to move to the White House with Michelle and Barack. We needed her. The girls needed her. And she ended up being our ro ..read more

Fijian Holdings Ltd (FHL) announced the appointment of Sitiveni Nabuka as the new group manager IT, effective June 3, 2024. Mr Nabuka previously served in the public sector as director for e-Government and more recently as director for the Project Management Office at the Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF). “Mr Nabuka spearheaded major innovations such as the solution for the Births, Deaths & Marriages (BDM) office, the electoral register, the immigration system, and the implementation of the government’s Data Centre during his time with government,” FHL stated. “During his tenure at FNPF ..read more

SEOUL (Reuters) – Seoul warned the public on Saturday to avoid more balloons sent from North Korea and to report them to the military or police. South Korea’s military said North Korea was sending more balloons carrying “filth” across the heavily fortified border. North Korea sent hundreds of balloons carrying trash and excrement earlier this week, calling them “gifts of sincerity” and vowing to send more. South Korean Defence Minister Shin Won-sik on Saturday called this “unimaginably petty and low-grade bahaviour”. A public message broadcasted by the city of Seoul asked the public to refrain ..read more

Supporting the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and women entrepreneurs in Fiji has won the Fiji Development Bank (FDB) two awards at the recent 2024 ADFIAP Awards during the 47th ADFIAP Annual Meetings in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. ADFIAP or the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific, is the focal point for development banks and financial institutions engaged in development financing in the Asia-Pacific region. FDB was winner of Category 3: SME Development for its ‘FDB Small and Medium Enterprise Sustainability Package’ and was also granted the ..read more

CAIRO (Reuters) – Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Saturday that mediators hope all parties will deal positively with the principles of a Gaza ceasefire proposal that U.S. President Joe Biden laid out on Friday. Al Thani made the remarks during a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Qatar’s state news agency said. The principles in the ceasefire proposal “include the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas in Gaza, the release of detainees including women, the elderly, and the wounded in exchange for the release of hundred ..read more

It is years since you last heard from me; but I am still in the land of the living and so is Lala who suffers, however, from asthma,” a man wrote to an old acquaintance in 1947. The man who received this letter was Captain Frank McGrath, who had taught at the Wanganui Collegiate School (WCS) in New Zealand for about 40 years. The man who wrote it was one Ratu Sir Josefa Lalabalavu Vanayaliyali Sukuna. “Epeli Ganilau died of pneumonia in 1932,” he continued. “The only Old Boy here in Suva now, excluding myself, is young Tarte who could not have left School very long ago and who is now a clerk i ..read more

AT the age of 91, Catholic priest Father Alan Finn can still tell you how he used to cross four rivers through rough terrains of the Wainibuka forest for the sake of spreading the Gospel. The frisky slim built Australian man, who can also ‘talanoa’ in our mother tongue, shows no sign of old age as he walks around the presbytery in Natovi greeting those who visit the parish. His journey to Fiji started in 1964 when he was at a Catholic parish in Melbourne. “I was promised to spend just six months in Fiji and return home to Melbourne. But I didn’t want to come, I didn’t know what Fiji was like b ..read more

After four days of deliberation, the Fourth International Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Conference came to a close in the Caribbean this week. With the closing, the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS) was adopted by the representatives. Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne said the meeting went beyond talks and encompassed several areas including debt sustainability and climate justice. He said the representatives had also discussed the possibility of visa-free travel between all SIDS. A Centre of Excellence was also launched on the final day of the meeting, which ..read more