Thai Prime Minister’s visit to PNG

Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra visits Papua New Guinea. Credit: Shinawatra’s Facebook page

Radio Australia interviews the CEO of the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry David Conn on how the visit went, while the Bangkok Post’s report on the visit can be read here.

A New Prime Minister for Vanuatu

Moana Carcasses became the first naturalised citizen to become Prime Minister of Vanuatu this week. Born in French Polynesia of Tahitian/French parents, he replaced Sato Kilman, who resigned in advance of a no-confidence motion.

But the same one for Fiji?

In the week when its rugby players took out the prestigious Hong Kong Sevens tournament, Fiji looked further away from a return to democractic rule than ever. Military ruler Frank Bainimarama surprised few when he announced he would run ‘and win’ in elections planned for next year. The general secretary of the proposed Fiji Labour Party (and former PM) Mahendra Chaudhry told Radio Australia that the new draft constitution ‘simply entrenches the current regime, continues its draconian decrees, and has had no real input from the Fijian people’.

On a lighter note …

In a radical move likely to attract plenty of international publicity, a new air link between Samoa and American Samoa that launches this week plans to charge passengers by weight. ‘It’s the way of the future,’ says Samoa Air CEO Chris Langton. But is the future worth the weight?

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Last week,  the chief of investment banking at UK bank Barclays landed a GBP18 million bonus. His name? Rich Ricci.

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Apple is apparently working on a system that detects when a dropped iPhone is falling, then spins it around so that it lands safely without smashing the screen. It might be cheaper to make the screen out of a material other than glass.