Teilweise neu: 2001-11-27 Contents of this issue:
1. Funding Refused 2. Graduation Rounds 3. Costs Awarded 4. Record Fat ======================================================================== Old contents were: 1. Pride Restored 2. Pumping Iron 3. Changing Hands 4. Satellite Spin 5. Island Boxing 6. Nature's Fireworks 7. Combating Terrorism November 27th, 2001 1. Funding Refused: New Zealand officials have confirmed this week they rejected a request from the Niue Government to fund the Commission of Inquiry into e mail and internet services on the island. "It doesn't fit the criteria for New Zealand Overseas Development aid," said the official. Premier Sani Lakatani has refused to reveal how much the Commission will cost following questions in the Legislative Assembly from former Cabinet Minister Mrs O'Love Jacobsen. Mrs Jacobsen is concerned that no funds for the Inquiry have been appropriated in this year's budget The Premier accused Mrs Jacobsen of attending international internet meetings and supporting the non profit society which provides free e mail and internet services to residents and government departments on the island. The Commission consists of New Zealand Judge David Ongley and a Wellington counsel assisting the Commission, Forrest Miller. At present the Commission is receiving submissions on the terms of reference and will later visit Niue to interview witnesses. The e mail and internet services have been subjected to a long running battle between the government's informational technology committee and the Internet Users Society who is the designated manager of dot nu. The technology committee is headed by Premier Sani Lakatani and has advisors who include Gerald McClurg of Maryland US and Richard Duncan of Auckland, New Zealand. The Society says constant challenges to the management of the top level domain has cost it thousands of dollars in legal fees, money which would best have been spent on providing technology in education and health and for the development of internet services in the community.(Copyright - Niue Economic Review) 2. Graduation Rounds: Niue's premier Sani Lakatani, who is currently Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific is visiting USP centres around the region. He will preside over graduation cremonies. The Premier will return to Niue mid December. He is accompanied by his public relations officer Niu Tauevihi who is also editor of the Niue Star newspaper. 3. Costs Awarded: TVNZ has been ordered to pay costs of $5000 to former Fiji Finance Minister James Ah Koy over a failed appeal relating to pre-trial matters in a defamation case he is bringing against the state broadcaster, reports the NZ Herald newspaper today.. Mr Ah Koy, an Auckland-based businessman, is suing TVNZ over a broadcast by journalist Ewart Barnsley in May last year during the George Speight-led coup in Fiji. The case is to be heard in the High Court at Auckland in February. (NZ Herald). 4. Record Fat: Obesity has increased by more than 50 per cent in the past decade, with Pacific Islanders the fattest people in the world, an international obesity taskforce says. London-based public affairs director Neville Rigby, who is in New Zealand for the Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting in Christchurch, said the rates of obesity in New Zealand were rising at an alarming rate. Pacific Islanders - who make up 6 per cent of New Zealand's population - had the highest level of obesity in the world. Obesity, which is defined as an unhealthy amount of fat, was a global epidemic that till recently had gone mostly unrecognised. It affected women more than men. "New Zealand hasn't been spared the obesity epidemic . . . Never in the history of the human race have so many people been so fat." Latest Health Ministry figures indicated that overall 15 per cent of New Zealand men and 19 per cent of women were obese, but the condition affected 27 per cent of Maori women and 47 per cent of Pacific Island women. This was a 50 per cent increase from 1989. This compared with figures showing 55 per cent of Tongan women, 74 per cent of Samoan women and 77 per cent of men and women living in Nauru were obese. "It is not about being rich and well fed. Obesity is most often related to poverty, low economic status, exclusion from the health system," Mr Rigby said. "In the Caribbean and many African countries it is disregarded, ignored, neglected. It is just taken for granted that a poor, middle-aged woman gets fat, and then dies from diabetes." In developed countries children were exercising less and spending more time in front of the television and on computer games. "Childhood obesity is rising everywhere because children are becoming less active, but have more calories than they need. The amount of hours spent watching TV has a direct effect on the obesity of children," Mr Rigby said. Mothers did not let their children out to play as often because of traffic; children were often driven to school; and they ate "treats" all the time: "Party food has become daily food." "But New Zealand is a model for the Commonwealth - a country that has taken the lead in looking at the issue of obesity and working towards developing solutions." __END__
