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SUVA, Fiji Islands (March 29, 2002 - FM96/PINA Nius Online)---Japanese doctors and scientists are due in Fiji in May to examine military veterans exposed to British nuclear testing at the then British territory of Christmas Island (now Kiritimati, Kiribati) in the 1950s.

The Fiji veterans have been trying -- so far unsuccessfully -- to get compensation from Britain. They say they suffered various diseases as a result of exposure to the tests.

According to the secretary of the Fiji Nuclear Test Veterans Association, Tekosi Rotan, some of the alleged victims’ children were also born deformed or suffer various sicknesses.

Fiji was a British colony at the time of the tests.

For additional reports from theFM96, go to PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT News/Information Links: Radio/TV News/Fiji Village News (FM96/Navtarang.VitiFM).

Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) Website: http://www.pinanius.org 

By James Chin

CANBERRA, Australia (March 25, 2002 – Canberra Times)---With elections due in July, politics in Papua New Guinea is becoming busier than usual.

Since a Bill was passed in 2000 forcing parties to register formally with a new institution called the Registrar of Political Parties, 43 have applied and all of them have fronted up with their K 10,000 (about US$ 2,755) registration fee. The Bill, far from discouraging frivolous candidates and political parties, has simply added a K 10,000 price those wishing to try their luck in July must pay.

The chattering class in Port Moresby is now of the opinion that the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates Bill may not be the answer to PNG's notorious "yo-yo" politicians. There is a gradual realization that nothing short of divine intervention can stop the Machiavellian activities of the politicians and their parties. The only big winner will be the lawyers, who will have a field day in court after the...

MAJURO, Marshall Islands (March 15, 2002 – The Marshall Islands Journal)---Tobolar has found a buyer for most of the oil that it currently has on hand and it is expected to be exported during April.

2,800 tons of more than 3,000 tons of oil currently filling Tobolar’s tanks will be sold, according to Jerry Kramer. It is Tobolar’s first oil sale in 18 months.

Because its tanks have been full, the plant has been unable to continue processing copra into oil for many months and its warehouse is piled high with copra awaiting processing -- which will begin after April’s sale.

Tobolar will receive about $800,000 from the sale -- well below what it could have gotten three years ago for the same amount when the world price of oil was three times higher.

But, Kramer added, the world price has improved significantly in the past few months so the value of April’s sale is much improved over the price that Tobolar could have gotten last year if it tried to sell the...

By Michael Field

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (March 29, 2002 – Fiji Times/Agence France-Presse)---Larry Ellison might be persuaded to park his boat in Fiji some day soon.

Big deal?

If you own a florist business in Nadi it might be worth knowing that the flower arrangements need to be changed every day on board. That’s about $500 worth of flowers each day. American dollars that is.

Then there would be the contract for filling the fruit bowls; that runs to a couple of hundred a day.

Larry’s boat Katana is worth around US$ 100 million -- small change for a man whose Oracle Corporation has given him a personal worth, according to Forbes, of just under US$ 21 billion.

Among the comforts of Katana -- its name is spelled out in a bold white and red Japanese logo -- is a television lounge with a huge plasma-screen and its two-level owner’s apartment. It has a gym and a basketball court too.

For the engineering inclined the Blohm and Voss, German...