Neu: 2002-04-21 Contents of this issue:
1. Sorry About That 2. Talagi Tops 3. Fight Sequel 4. Samoa Air 5. Swedes In Paradise ======================================================================== April 21st, 2002 1. Sorry About That: Jubilation turned to disappointment within minutes for Tuapa village candidate Henry Eveni. When the election results were being announced live on TV Niue gremlins had Henry, a local carpenter 33 votes up on sitting member Fisa Pihiga. But within five minutes the election result frontspersons Patrick Lino broadcasting manager and Ahohiva Levi of the Justice Department were announcing the mistake and declaring Pihigia the winner by 53 votes to 20. Chief electoral officer Togia Sioneholo apologised for the gaff. The only one during the results night which had tv staff under pressure to keep up with screening results as they came to hand. 2. Talagi Tops: Niue's airline and shipping agent Toke Talagi topped the poll in Saturday's common roll general election. He stood as an independent and headed Premier Sani Lakatani by 17 votes. There were no changes to the common roll or village Assembly seats.Political commentators predict there will now be a scramble for the leadership with Lakatani struggling to maintain support from the 20 member House. They say indications today are that there are no clear winners as yet who can claim control of the Assembly. A deciding factor will be where several village independents and Toke Talagi with his backers Billy Talagi (Avatele) and Pokotoa Sipeli (Liku) pledge their support. Leading opposition member Mrs O'Love Jacobsen almost lost her seat to newcomer and former consul-general in Auckland Atapana Siakimotu while Alofi garage manager and national rugby coach Steve McCoy took eighth place ahead of Mrs Lofa Rex who campaigned on a platform of Niue for Niueans. Ironically while the Niue Peoples Party manifesto of offering to "share the cake" by allocating increased funding to pensioners, village councils, churches and sports bodies the party president Noga Bray failed to gain any support and ended the night with 89 votes. The provisional results for the six common roll members are: Toke Talagi 445, Sani Lakatani 428, Terry Coe 426, Michael Jackson 400, Hunuki Hunukitama 393, O'Love Jacobsen 3. Followed by: Atapana Siakimotu 354, Stephen McCoy 333, Lofa Rex 324, Krypton Okesene 315, Kilihega Jefferson 280, Timothy Magaoa 238, Bradley Punu 222, Dylan Viviani 216, Lafetu Sipeli 163, Maru Talagi 151, Morris Tafatu 104, Noga Bray 89. (Village constituency winners have already been posted). 4. Fight Sequel: One Samoan player was banned from all rugby for 24 weeks while five of his team-mates and New Zealand's Craig de Goldi copped 12 weeks each following the ugly brawl which blotted the Singapore sevens tournament. New Zealand captain Dallas Seymour was suspended for three sevens matches for his part that sparked the free-for-all when New Zealand were leading 17-12. Players from the Samoan bench charged into the field and joined the fight. At least two New Zealand players were viciously kicked or stomped on. Despite the suspensions, the IRB-appointed judiciary that took action was powerless to do anything about the Samoans retaining seven players on the field after the fight and sending-offs. When order was restored, South African referee Andre Watson red-carded Seymour, de Goldi and Samoan captain Semo Setiti. Setiti continued playing and the Samoans scored the try that tied the scores 17-17 which helped the Samoans to finish on top of the pool. (NZPA). 5. Samoa Air: American Samoa's Samoa Air resumes flights to Vava'u, Tonga, this week, after suspending them for more than three months. Director of operations Paul Bailey said the first flight is due to leave 9am Tuesday American Samoa time, crossing the dateline and arriving in Vava'u on Wednesday Tongan time. Resumption of Vava'u flights is possible with the availability of a second Twin Otter plane. The aircraft also allows Samoa Air to add extra flights to neighboring Samoa and to Manu'a in American Samoa. While Samoa Air's Tonga flights were suspended Vava'u passengers had to go to Apia, then fly down to Nuku'alofa on Polynesian Airlines before flying back Vava'u on Royal Tongan Airlines. ( Samoa News/PINA Nius Online). 6. Swedes In Paradise: Two men from Sweden are holidaying on Niue and putting their computer skills to good use. Frederick Ojes (20) and David Abrahamsson (21) are web designers and while on Niue are experimenting with designing computer games."We've offered to help the government with any web-pages," said the pair who will be on the island until mid June. Both own web design companies. David says the dot NU is popular in Sweden because nu means now. "It is also cheap to buy a domain name from dot NU. If we want to register a domain name in Sweden dot SE we need to have a registered company and registration fees are pretty high. This is to protect trade marks and famous marks from abuse and prevents cybersquatting," he added. The pair heard about Niue from a friend who had researched the island on the internet. They contacted Richard St Clair the technical manager of the Internet Users Society for detailed information about the island. David and Frederick are living in Alofi North and say compared with Sweden, the island is a paradise - warm, peaceful and safe. "The snorkelling is wonderful," said Frederick."The water is so clear and warm." They hope to explore the island in the next few weeks before heading back to work in Sweden. __END__
