NEWSPAGE 11 August
2010

(Photo: Kapiti Coast News)

(Photo: Samoa College Old Pupils Association)

SAMOA: Media owners set up body
Source: Fiji Times

A group of Pacific island independent media owners are expected to meet in Samoa today to form an association aimed at protecting and expanding media freedom.

In a statement, group spokesman Savea Sano Malifa, editor-in-chief and proprietor of the Samoa Observer said the gathering was the culmination of two months of discussions.

He said the group had the working title of the Pacific Media Association.

"The name may change as a result of Tuesday's meeting but it's already clear that the core values of media freedom, transparency, good governance and accountability will not," he said.

According to the statement, the inaugural meeting will have representatives from Cook Islands, Fiji, Hawai'i, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu.

He said Tuesday's meeting would elect office bearers and adopt a constitution.

Cook Islands News managing editor John Woods who recently resigned in protest as vice president of the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) was attending as a co-founder of the new group.

He claimed that PINA was dysfunctional, not following best practice and had compromised itself.

by not opposing the Fiji military regime's censorship practices and media decree.

The statement said expressions of interest in the new association have also been received from Australia, New Zealand and French Polynesia.

Photo Caption: Pacific Media Association spokesman Savea Sano Malifa.
 

AMERICAN SAMOA: Department of Education receives $500,000 grant
Source: Office of Congressman Faleomavaega Press Release

Congressman Faleomavaega has announced that the American Samoa Department of Education has been awarded $500,000.00 under the Teaching American History Grants Program.

In a recent announcement from the U.S Department of Education, Assistant Secretary at the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs, Gabriella Gomez, informed Faleomavaega that the American Samoa Department of Education’s proposal has been selected for funding under the Teaching American History Program. The American Samoa Teaching American History (ASTAH) Program is designed to improve teacher content knowledge of American history and provide teachers with the training, support and experiences needed to transfer that knowledge to their students and raise student achievement.

Over the next three years - starting September 1, 2010 - the grant will fund professional development for the first ASTAH cohort. This three-year cohort will consist of 25 elementary teachers (grades 5-8). After successful completion of the elementary cohort, the American Samoa Department of Education will then be eligible to apply for a grant in the amount of $333,299.00 to fund a second cohort of 25 high school teachers (grades 9-12). Altogether, the 50 teachers will represent 23 elementary and 6 high schools, and each cohort will participate in over 400 hours of the ASTAH program.

According to the ASTAH stated plans, teachers will participate in 10 day-long symposia, 3-day summer institute and field study, and twice a month teacher networking focused on student achievement and course review. They will learn to use content-related teaching strategies including primary documents, artifacts, illustrations, as well as summer trips to translate freshly mastered content into classroom lessons. In addition to enhancing content knowledge and sharpening pedagogical skills, the program will also provide professional development aligned to both American Samoa’s content standards and district pacing guides.

“I would like to congratulate and thank Mrs. Donna Gurr, Assistant Director of the American Samoa Department of Education (Office of Curriculum, Instruction and Accountability), for her hard work in securing this grant for our public schools in American Samoa,” Congressman Faleomavaega stated.

“This is the first year that American Samoa has applied to and been selected for this program and I am pleased to know that our teachers and students will benefit greatly from the rigorous trainings, thanks to the dedication of our leaders in the field.”

“I also would like to thank and commend Dr. Claire Poumele, Director of the American Samoa Department of Education for her leadership and continuous commitment to providing enriching experiences for our teachers and young people.”

“Last but not least, I would like to extend my gratitude to our teachers. Before the implementation of a program such as ASTAH, we first need dedicated teachers who are willing to take the time to improve their knowledge and skills for the betterment of their students. I thank you for your hard work, your passion, and for motivating our youth to achieve the highest possible levels of educational attainment. I look forward to seeing the wide-reaching benefits of the ASTAH program for our teachers and - most of all - for our students,” Faleomavaega concluded.
 

FIJI: Sharing experiences on natural disaster and climate change
Source: United Nations Development Programme Press Release

A group of disaster risk management and climate change specialists from the Caribbean are in Fiji to share their experiences with their Pacific counterparts. The group of five will share its experiences at the 5th Annual Meeting of the Pacific Disaster Risk Management Partnership Network that will be held on from the 12 - 13 August at the Holiday Inn.

The group from the Caribbean is composed of: Dr Asha Kambon , the Caribbean regional adviser at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); Carlos Fuller, the Deputy Director of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, an intergovernmental organization established to coordinate CARICOM’s response to climate change; Nicole Williams, the Disaster Management Officer for the International Federation of the Red Cross, Caribbean Regional Representation Office in Port of Spain; Tomás Gutiérrez, the Director General of the Institute of Meteorology and Permanent Representative of Cuba with the World Meteorological Organization; and Jacinda Fairholm, a regional program manager for the UNDP Caribbean Risk Management Initiative (CRMI) based out of the UNDP-Cuba office.

Members of the group will be presenting on “Reflections from the Caribbean SIDS on Forging Regional Partnerships and Multi Stakeholder Involvement” on Friday at the Pacific Disaster Risk Management Partnership Network meeting. The presentation will focus on disaster risk management and working with civil society, regional partnership in climate change modeling and Regional Community-based disaster risk management.

The Caribbean group’s visit has been facilitated through the “South-South Cooperation between Pacific and Caribbean Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management”. The project aims to achieve strengthened safety and resilience of Pacific and Caribbean SIDS communities to a range of natural hazards. This will be achieved by facilitating and supporting South-South cooperation targeted at strengthening climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction capacity in SIDS that is based on the transfer of appropriate ‘southern’ expertise and technologies. The project is funded by UNDP’s Special Unit for South-South Cooperation and by the UNDP-Japan Partnership Fund, with in-kind contributions from UNDP Pacific Centre from where it is coordinated.

The Caribbean group’s visit comes a month after the Pacific delegation’s visit to four Caribbean countries - Jamaica, Cuba, Barbados and St Lucia - to meet disaster risk management and climate changes specialists and visit projects. The group exchanged information on a range of issues including early warning systems for natural disasters; ways to integrate disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in key sectors such as tourism and agriculture; and measuring farmers and fishermen’s perceptions of climate change. The Pacific group also visited a number of sites including the Rio Cobre River in Jamaica to see disaster risk reduction in action, a volcano monitoring station in Saint Lucia, and disaster resistant bricks production in Cuba.

The Caribbean group will meet a number of their regional Pacific counterparts in a series of meetings. The group will also visit a village in the Yasawas to see disaster risk reduction and adaptation methods in action at the community level. The group leaves Fiji on August 17.
 

(Photo: Associated Press)

TUVALU: Internet domain riches fail to arrive in Tuvalu
Source: The Independent

The tiny South Pacific island state of Tuvalu, where the average income is little more than £12 a week, has taken on one of the giants of cyberspace by demanding a greater share of the lucrative earnings generated by its unique domain name suffix.

When Tuvalu was awarded ".tv" by the International Organisation for Standardisation in 1999, global internet providers queued up to do business with the former British protectorate, which used to be part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. At least five internet companies flew to the remote capital of Funafuti to tender for the right to lease the initials TV so that it could be used by television and media organisations around the world. Eventually a deal was struck with a Californian company which offered an advance payment of $50m (£33m) - more than half Tuvalu's annual GDP at the time - with many more millions to follow.

Hopes for the value of the suffix proved well founded. Television networks such as Britain's GM.tv, football clubs such as Liverpoolfc.tv and celebrity websites such as Hollywood.tv paid big money for a web address with the coveted suffix. But this rich and glossy corner of cyberspace, where media companies continue to pay many thousands of pounds to put .tv after their names, has little in common with the harsh reality of Tuvalu itself. Beset by environmental contamination, high unemployment and rising ocean levels, Tuvalu and its 11,000 people face an uncertain future.

Covering just 10 square miles, the main island, which has no streams or rivers, produces little in the way of crops and relies on processed food from Western nations to feed its people. For some years, Tuvalu and other Pacific islands have been used as a dumping ground for cheap and fatty cuts of meat by larger countries such as New Zealand. The poor diet has created major health problems, with heart disease and diabetes killing people in their thirties and forties.

More than 3,000 miles from its nearest First World neighbours, New Zealand and Australia, Tuvalu is also one of the world's most isolated societies. Western packaging and machinery are difficult to dispose of, leaving much of the main island with a major rubbish problem. Old cars litter the beach and massive holes excavated by the Americans to build a runway during the Second World War add to its mounting environmental woes.

Tuvalu also finds itself on the frontline of climate change. In recent years many coastal homes have been swamped by rising ocean levels which have eroded the coast and added to the salination of the soil which in turn threatens the community's subsistence farming. Given that the highest point on Tuvalu is only 16 feet above sea level, the risk of the archipelago of nine islands being swamped is high.

The Prime Minister, Apisai Ielemia, who refused to sign a proposal at last year's Copenhagen talks that supported a two-degree cap on global temperature rises, believes such a limit would spell disaster for his nation. According to the government's environmental director, Mataio Tekinene, the facts speak for themselves, with the increased frequency of hurricanes and storm surges clearly illustrating the long-term impact of climate change.

Beside this bleak environmental scenario, Tuvalu faces profound economic problems. A trust fund set up in l987 with contributions from several Western nations, including its old colonial master, Britain, has been hit by the global financial crisis over the past two years. The International Monetary Fund recently gave Tuvalu £1.6m, but the government has annual outgoings of more than £18m and a 2010 budget deficit of £5.7m.

The Minister of Finance, Lotoala Metia, says they can probably survive for a couple more years, but after that the money will run out. That is why that internet suffix is so crucial to their survival. However, despite all the early promises of lucrative annual payments for the lease, Tuvalu earns about £1m a year in royalties from the US company Verisign, which markets and sells ".tv" to website owners. That is roughly a 10th of the government's total revenue and, according to Mr Metia, it is not enough. The payment should be nearer £5m a year, given the amount of business the domain suffix is earning in royalties, he said.

According to the thedomains-dot-com blog, Verisign recently auctioned the name business.tv for more than $100,000 and Learn.tv for $40,000. In all, more than 100 names were sold in the auction. "We are not getting what we should be getting. Other companies have offered us very attractive packages," Mr Metia claims.

The problem is that the contract has another six years to run. The Finance Minister says Verisign has offered another £500,000 a year, but only if Tuvalu extends the contact for another five years.

Mr Metia believes that is not enough. "It is an important issue, but we have an agreement which we will have to honour," he says.

While it is easy to sympathise with Tuvalu's position, others within the internet industry do not share Mr Metia's sense that the islanders are being exploited.

Adrian Kinderis, who provides a similar domain service for Australians seeking the ".au" suffix, believes Tuvalu has a pretty good deal. "I don't know how much Verisign are making, but you must take into account how much money they've spent on marketing this and how much it costs to run the registry," he says.

Mr Kinderis, the chief executive of Ausregistry International, adds: "It's easy to look at this as a sort of David and Goliath situation, but I believe Tuvalu should not look a gift horse in the mouth."

Verisign refused to be drawn on Tuvalu's demand for more money. In a statement, the company said: "Verisign is very proud of its long-standing relationship with the government of Tuvalu, but it is not in a position to comment any further around ongoing business or financial discussions with said government in relation to '.tv'."

How long the stand-off between this giant of cyberspace and the South Pacific minnow continues may depend on how the market for domain names develops. With plans for more commercially driven suffixes such as .movie, .film and even .television just around the corner, Tuvalu could soon face tough competition in cyberspace.

"Let's not forget that the advent of these new, generic, top-level domains is not far away," Mr Kinderis says. "You will see the value of '.tv' diminishing, which could mean Tuvalu saying, 'Well, Jeez, we actually did pretty well out of that, when all's said and done.'"

Such an eventuality would bring even greater financial hardship on the island state. Apart from copra, or dried coconut kernel, Tuvalu has few exports. The government makes money from the sale of tuna fishing licences and by selling its postage stamps to philatelists.

There was a time when Tuvalu enjoyed a significant revenue boost from telephone sex lines, which were routed through the country's international access code, 688. But the contract was cancelled in 2000 because of the devoutly Christian population's disapproval of the arrangement.

The ultimate concern is that islanders will have to leave their little corner of the South Pacific if the money runs out.

Mr Metia describes it as a "very, very difficult situation". "The challenge that we're facing at the moment is that unless we get assistance from donors we will not be able to progress any further."

It is not an issue of immediate concern to the glittering world of television and the multimedia websites that spend big money for the privilege of using the ".tv" suffix. But back on Tuvalu, it is of critical importance to those who are no longer masters of their own domain.

Photo Caption: Global warming is raising sea levels and eroding the coast of the narrow strip of Tuvalu. Seawater floods holes dug by the Americans in the Second World War.
 

(Photo: Oceania Football Confederation)

WORLDWIDE: OFC Futsal Championship Match Day 4 preview
Source: Oceania Football Confederation Press Release

The fourth day of action in the OFC Futsal Championship takes place today at Vodafone Arena in Suva.

Tahiti take on New Zealand in the first match at 4:30pm local time before New Caledonia face off with Fiji at 6:30pm and Vanuatu clash with Solomon Islands at 8:30pm.

All matches will be streamed LIVE online via Oceaniafootball.com

Here's a look at how the teams are looking ahead of the fourth round of matches:

Tahiti vs New Zealand

This is an important clash as both teams are very much in the running for the title, or at least a top-three placing. New Zealand's Futsal Whites started their campaign with a loss against favourites Solomon Islands but bounced back yesterday to earn themselves a crucial 3-2 victory over Vanuatu, another side tipped to go far. Captain Marvin Eakins has been one of the team's most consistent performers and he was the hero last night, scoring New Zealand's first goal and then hitting the winner just two minutes from time. Striker Miroslav Malivuk was a star against the Solomons - he scored a hat-trick and was a constant threat to the Kurukuru defence - but could not add to his tally yesterday as he missed the game through injury. If fit enough to take part today, he will be itching to back out on court and find the net again. Tahiti's two wins have drawn them level on points with front-runners Solomon Islands and Fiji - though they have not had to sit out a match because of the bye yet - and they will see no reason why they can't extend their run against the Kiwis. But New Zealand will also have pencilled in this game as a chance to get three points so someone is going to be disappointed.


New Caledonia vs Fiji

Judging by the results of the two sides so far, the home team would appear to have this one in the bag. Fiji have won both their matches - 2-0 over Tahiti and 5-1 over Tuvalu - while New Caledonia seem to be in all sorts of trouble after three straight losses. But a closer look reveals this game may not be the walk over many will be expecting. Fiji are yet to produce a complete performance and, despite picking up the pair of wins, will not be particularly pleased with their progress. They struggled to finish off a determined Tahiti side on the opening day and were flattered by last night's scoreline against Tuvalu. The underdogs actually led 1-0 for most of the match and it took a five-goal blitz in the closing stages to get Fiji over the line. Captain Kamal Hassan smashed in a hat-trick and, given that star striker Roy Krishna has been surprisingly quiet in front of goal, is the man New Caledonia need to starve of possession. Although they are yet to earn any points, New Caledonia have not had luck on their side and two of their defeats have been very narrow - 5-4 against Vanuatu and 3-2 against Tahiti. They are a much better side than their place on the table suggests and, if coach Eric Michalak can restore some confidence to his embattled charges, are capable of springing an upset.


Vanuatu vs Solomon Islands

This match brings two of the title favourites together and should be a fitting finale to the day's action. Coach Dickson Kadau's Solomon Islands team have, as expected, been the most entertaining to watch and are in fine goal-scoring form after hitting nine in their opening match against New Caledonia and eight in their second against New Zealand. They go into this game with fresh legs after getting a rest yesterday thanks to the bye and will be keen to pick up where they left off. The ability of Vanuatu is closely matched to that of New Zealand's - the Futsal Whites beat them 3-2 with a late goal - so they are likely to pose a similar challenge to the Solomons as the Kiwis did. The Kurukuru won that match 8-4, which is not a good sign for Vanuatu's chances. But Vanuatu have reason to feel confident after winning two of their three matches. Striker Ben Hungai has found a rich vein of form - his goal tally now stands at five - and captain Louis Dominique has also caught the eye with his playmaking ability. Whether they can compete with the likes of Elliot Ragomo and Jack Wetney, two of the best futsal players in Oceania, remains to be seen though and anything other than a Solomons win would be a major surprise.

Tuvalu will have a bye today.

Upcoming matches:
10/8/10 4:30pm Tahiti vs New Zealand
10/8/10 6:30pm New Caledonia vs Fiji
10/8/10 8:30pm Vanuatu vs Solomon Islands