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SUVA, Fiji Islands (January 5, 1999 - PACNEWS)---Fiji's Textile, Clothing and Footwear Council (TCF) has issued a strong warning concerning worker exploitation in the industry.

The Council warned garment executives that factories will lose their tax-free status if they are found to be overworking or abusing their employees.

The warning follows complaints by workers at a Suva garment factory that they were forced to work 34 hours without a break.

TCF Council Secretary Ray Dunstan said factories that do not pay minimum wages and Provident Fund and National Training Council levies, risk losing their tax-free status. He also said, however, that garment workers who find themselves employed in unsuitable working conditions should look for employment in another factory.

Dunstan said there is no reason why a garment worker should put up with harsh working conditions when many factories offer good conditions.

ARAWA, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea (January 4, 1999 - Post-Courier)---Disunity has been the biggest problem and the root cause of prolonging the Bougainville peace process, says the Co-chairman of the Bougainville Constituent Assembly, Joseph Kabui.

Mr. Kabui was speaking in response to the move by a delegation of Buka chiefs visiting Port Moresby last week who presented a petition to Bougainville Affairs Minister Sam Akoitai.

The nine-point petition calls for a fresh view of the Bougainville situation, particularly for a government under the auspices of the 1995 provincial government reforms.

The petition brands the leaders as "dishonest and incompetent,'' and claimed Buka had not seen any meaningful developments.

The move by the Buka leaders was a stumbling block for the newly formed Bougainville Constituent Assembly, a platform for formation of the BRG, although the NEC had dissolved the Bougainville Transitional Government and given powers to the...

MICRONESIA AND HAWAI‘I

By Lindablue F. Romero

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands (January 5, 1999 - Saipan Tribune)---Continental Micronesia has projected a three percent decline in Japanese traffic in Micronesia and Hawai‘i as the Japanese economy remains in the dump.

Japan, the world's second largest economy, plunged into its deepest recession since World War II after the collapse of the speculative "bubble" economy of the late 1980s.

Wally Dias, staff vice president for sales and promotions, said the airline has no plans to add flights or new routes in Micronesia and Asia as long as consumer confidence remains weak.

"We're just hoping it won't go down further so that we can just fill up the current capacity," said Dias.

Continental, the biggest carrier in Micronesia, captures half of the total Japanese outbound market in the region. Last year, Continental projected a three percent growth in traffic for the Northern Marianas, a 12...

SUVA, Fiji Islands (January 6, 1999 - PACNEWS)---Four men wearing hoods and armed with a pistol failed in a bid to take $1.5 million in Australian currency from an armored van taking the cash to Nadi International Airport yesterday.

The men fired two shots at the rear tires of an Armourguard Fiji, Limited vehicle 15 minutes out of Suva, on the Queens Highway.

After the van stopped because of a punctured tire, three of the masked men held the Armourguard security officers at gunpoint and forced them out of the car.

One newspaper report said the Armourguard driver and another security officer were attacked with iron rods and injured. But the robbers drove off after they were unable to get through grills that secured the rear section of the van where the cash was stored.

The money belonged to the Westpac Banking Corporation and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ). It was taken to Nadi Airport in another Armourguard vehicle and flown out of the...