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HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Oct. 31, 2002 - SIBC/PINA Nius Online)---Failure to pay money the Solomon Islands government owes the University of the South Pacific may force the university's extension center in Honiara to close next year.

The stern warning was delivered to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education Barnabas Anga when he met in Suva with the university's Vice Chancellor Savenaca Siwatibau.

The university, facing financial pressures because of the big debt, has told the Solomon Islands government it must pay F$5 million by Dec. 31.

Siwatibau reiterated the university council's decision that a failure to pay this amount will result in the non-graduation of final year government-sponsored students.

It will also mean the withholding of academic transcript results, no enrollment next year and the possible closure of the extension center in Honiara.

However, Anga told Siwatibau that 90 percent of the enrollments at the Honiara...

By Margaret Daure

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (Oct. 31, 2002 – The National/Pacific Media Watch)---Wantok Radio Light 93FM, the base station for Papua New Guinea's first Christian broadcasting network, will stage a three-day "Covering the nation for Christ" campaign in a bid to raise K200,000 to start a short-wave station in March next year, The National reports.

Deputy Prime Minister Allan Marat launched the Share-athon over the airwaves with a message to Christians throughout PNG to support the efforts of the radio station.

"I personally believe that if I take care of the things that are dearest to God's heart, God will take care of things that are close to my heart," he said.

Marat said he believed the majority of people in PNG were practicing Christians and as such were able to go through problems in life knowing that hope lies in Jesus Christ.

The station's director of operations, Stephen Henry, said that over the next three days listeners...

NOUMÉA, New Caledonia (Oct. 31, 2002 - Oceania Flash)---New Caledonia's President Pierre Frogier is in Paris this week to attend the French National Assembly's debates, but also to raise security issues during talks scheduled with Justice Minister Dominique Perben, the daily newspaper Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes reports.

Frogier intends to raise the question of New Caledonia's only prison center, in Nouville (Nouméa), with Perben, a former French minister for Overseas Territories under a previous government in the early 1990s.

New Caledonia's prison is believed to be understaffed, "way under French national standards per prisoner," Frogier argues, and it’s in need of renovation.

Frogier also wants to convince metropolitan French authorities that there is now a need to build a new, modern prison further outside Nouméa.

New Caledonia's head is also to meet French Home Affairs Minister Nicolas Sarkozy to talk about security, criminality, and law and order...

COMMONWEALTH SECRETARIAT London, England

News Release October 30, 2002

ISLANDS

The Commonwealth Secretariat and the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNODCCP) have launched a joint initiative with the participation of the Pacific Islands Forum to help five Pacific island countries tackle money laundering and related issues.

As part of this initiative the Secretariat and the UNODCCP have employed Bruce Russel, a former member of the New Zealand police force with experience in tackling money laundering. He will be based at the Pacific Islands Forum offices in Fiji Islands.

Mr Russel's role during a one-year assignment will include providing advice during the course of investigations into money laundering cases, training officials dealing with such cases and helping to identify deficiencies in existing legislation used to combat money laundering. The project will cover Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, Samoa and Vanuatu.

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