Neu: 2002-02-20 Contents of this issue:
1. Hard Yards 2. Legal Aid Application 3. Climate Technology Tonga 4. Economic Meltdown ======================================================================== February 20th, 2002 1. Hard Yards: Niue's national rugby side is now in a strict training regime.Coach Steve McCoy says for its second season in the Oceania eastern competition the 22 strong training squad has a new look and he can also call upon a good line-up of Niueans playing top competitive rugby in Auckland and Wellington. An IRB official says no decision on a draw has been made for those small island teams in the eastern Oceania zone but it is likely Niue will front the Cook Islands and Tahiti again this year and maybe Papua New Guinea. Last year the Cook Islands defeated Niue at Alofi while the Niue XV thrashed Tahiti 2. Legal Aid Application: Niue's Opposition MP Terry Coe, a former Cabinet Minister, has confirmed he is applying to the Niue Government for legal aid to defend three criminal charges. Mr Coe faces two charges of theft and one of criminal libel and although he has been formally charged in the High Court he has not entered a plea. All matters have been adjourned to the next circuit visit by Chief Justice Norman Smith. Mr Coe says there are no qualified lawyers on the island and wants to seek advice from a New Zealand barrister. He considers the government should pay for legal aid because he has the right to legal representation. Mr Coe has recently criticised the government for failing to provide a peoples lawyer for the 1700 residents on Niue. 3. Climate Technology Tonga officially opens its first Continuous Global Positioning System station this week to monitor sea level changes and climate variability. The South Pacific Sea Level and Climate Monitoring Project has been monitoring sea level rise in the Pacific Ocean since 1991. Stations identical to Tonga's were installed in Samoa, the Cook Islands, Fiji and Tuvalu last year. The project was prompted by fears over the impact of the "Greenhouse Effect" on low-lying atolls. Other stations will be commissioned later this year on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands.(Radio Australia). 4. Economic Meltdown: French Polynesia's Ministry for Economy is predicting a 4% slow down in the territory's economic growth this year.Economy minister Georges Puchon made the projection while announcing statistics for the year 2000, which contrasted with the current trend. In 2000, he said, the economy had enjoyed a vigorous 6 per cent growth rate, as measured by the GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Puchon said the "exceptional year" was mainly due to exports (mainly black pearls), receipts from the tourism industry (250,000 visitors) combined with local consumption and investments in the public sector. However,since last year the black pearl industry has downturned. In the tourism sector, which accounted for some 55 billion CFP in 2000, French Polynesia is currently attempting to preserve an air link to one of its crucial tourism markets, metropolitan France.. Two luxury cruise liners, calling at Tahiti on a regular basis, have since October been stranded in Pape'ete harbour because the parent company, Florida-based Renaissance Cruises, wound up its operations, mainly due to severe post-September 11 losses on its Mediterranean Sea and Caribbean markets.Oceania Flash). __END__
