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PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PNG Post-Courier, Sept. 28) – Telikom PNG may collapse if left to the mercies of open competition from foreign-owned mobile phone companies, lawyers are advising the Government.

The government-owned telecommunications company needed breathing space to be revitalised and prepared for open competition, the Australian corporate law firm, Freehills, said in a "strictly confidential" report last week. A representative of Freehills has been at work for the Government, in the legal actions for Telikom and Pangtel against Irish-owned Digicel.

He is also involved in the consultancy work for the Government about "proposed refinements’’ of the national ICT (information and communication) policy sponsored by State Enterprises Minister Arthur Somare.

Mr Somare was reportedly travelling overseas yesterday.

Glenn Blake, the acting managing director of the Independent Public Business Corporation, which controls state-owned businesses like...

SUVA, Fiji (Fijilive, Sept. 30) – New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters yesterday accused Fiji's interim Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama of not telling the truth about the situation in the country.

Peters in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, said Bainimarama gave a selective and misleading picture about the situation in Fiji.

"For people who do not know the facts, Bainimarama's speech might have left the impression that Fiji was on the road back to democracy. The actual situation is, however, quite the contrary," he said. "He avoided referring to all aspects of the current situation, such as the recent re-imposition of emergency regulations that do not fit the story he was trying to sell. The assurances he gave on Fiji's commitment to respect human rights, good governance, judicial independence, and the rule of law are hollow when weighed against the actual behaviour of his regime."

Peters said it was "especially...

By Bernadette H. Carreon

KOROR (Palau Horizon, Oct. 1) — On Oct. 1, coinciding with the 13th Independence Day celebration of Palau, the United States Army Corps. Of Engineers is set to formally turn over the 53- mile Compact Road to the government.

Jae Woo Kim, Managing Director of Daewoo E &C Co. Ltd said that Palau will be getting a high quality road which took seven years to complete.

The Compact Road is a new 85 kilometer two-lane roadway and the construction was part of the agreement under the Compact of Free Association between Palau and the United States.

On Nov. 1999, Daewoo was given notice to proceed but actual work began in the spring of 2000.

The project was supposed to be finished in 1,080 days [about three years] but due to heavy rains it took seven years to build the road.

Kim in a statement said that Daewoo have undergone many types of difficulties like complex terrain, difficult soil condition as well as heavy rainfall...

PAPEETE, Tahiti (Tahitipresse, Sept. 25) – Pro-independence French Polynesia Government President Oscar Temaru indicated Tuesday that the French state is now his and pro-autonomy leader Gaston Flosse's common enemy.

Speaking before the French Polynesia Assembly's first budgetary session, Temaru outlined his nearly total opposition to election reform legislation and new elections being proposed by French Overseas Secretary of State Christian Estrosi.

The French government's junior minister has sent his proposal to the French Polynesia Assembly, which now has less than 15 days to come up with an opinion on the measure. But regardless of that opinion, the measure is scheduled to eventually become a new organic law modifying the French Polynesia autonomy statute last modified by the French Parliament with an organic law in 2004.

The latest French legislative measure is designed to end three years of political instability in Tahiti that has been highlighted by five...