Subscribe
News
30th September
Ministry advises public of scam email
Fiji’s Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources has warned members of the public to be on alert and refrain from corresponding with recent chain of emails claiming to be from the Lands department. Ministry permanent...
In Brazil’s Amazon, drought affects locals’ access to food and water
By Bruno Kelly and Steven Grattan MANACAPURU, Brazil (Reuters) – Some rivers winding through Brazil’s vast Amazon rainforest have piled up with dead fish in recent days as a worsening drought has led water levels to fall, affecting local communities’ access to food and drinking supplies. Over 110,000 people have already been affected, officials say,...
FSC records $209.7m in sugar sales this year
The Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) recorded $209.7million in total sales of sugar for the 2023 financial year. And according to the FSC, this is the highest total sales recorded in the last nine years. It also noted that its share of proceeds reached $64.3m, which it described as the most favourable in the last 16...
DNA remnants found in fossil of 6 million year old turtle
(Reuters) – Remnants of DNA have been discovered in fossilized remains dating to 6 million years ago of a sea turtle closely related to today’s Kemp’s ridley and olive ridley turtles, marking one of the rare times genetic material has been identified in such ancient fossils of a vertebrate, researchers said on Thursday. The researchers...
What’s happening today!
Bula vinaka everyone. Here is another edition of some basic information you may need to know for today. First, here is your weather forecast for today: Weather A weak trough of low pressure remains slow moving over the Associated cloud and showers continue to affect the eastern and northern parts of the country. Meanwhile, a...
Wegovy, other weight-loss drugs scrutinized over reports of suicidal thoughts
(Reuters) – Dawn Heidlebaugh felt trapped in a disturbing pattern while taking Ozempic, the popular drug used to treat diabetes and obesity. Each Sunday for more than a year, the 53-year-old Ohio real estate agent took her weekly injection to help control her blood sugar. Then every Tuesday, she felt lethargic, depressed and sometimes suicidal,...
Student gunman kills three in Rotterdam university shooting
ROTTERDAM (Reuters) -A gunman killed three people in the Dutch city of Rotterdam on Thursday, shooting a local woman and her daughter in their home then storming into a classroom of Rotterdam’s university hospital and opening fire on a male teacher. The 32-year-old suspect, a university student, shot dead a 39-year-old woman who lived in...
Indian protesters try to storm home of Manipur chief minister
GUWAHATI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) -At least 10 people were injured on Thursday when Indian security officials used tear gas and batons to disperse protesters trying to storm the home of the chief minister of Manipur state, defying a curfew, a senior police officer said. Another police official said the situation was “extremely tense” after armed mobs...
US backs Pacific undersea internet cable amid China competition
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The United States is backing a new undersea internet cable connecting several Pacific islands, according to a plan for the project seen by Reuters, boosting Washington’s interests in a region where it is vying for influence with China. The Central Pacific Cable would connect American Samoa with Guam – two U.S. territories...
Australia says exports of hay to China will resume
CANBERRA (Reuters) – The Australian government said on Thursday that China was removing barriers to imports of hay from Australia, the latest step towards normalising trade relations between the two countries. China restricted imports of a range of commodities from Australia in 2020 after Australia called for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 but...
29th September
S.Africa’s RCL Foods culls 410,000 chickens amid bird flu outbreak
(Reuters) – South Africa’s RCL Foods said on Thursday its poultry unit Rainbow has culled 410,000 chickens due to the country’s worst outbreak of avian flu, heightening fears of chicken meat and egg shortages. The outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), a bird flu which spreads rapidly in an infected flock causing a high...
Swiss glaciers lose 10% of volume in worst two years on record
ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland’s glaciers suffered their second worst melt rate this year after record 2022 losses, shrinking their overall volume by 10% in the last two years, monitoring body GLAMOS said on Thursday. The one-two punch for Swiss glaciers during the country’s third hottest summer on record means they lost as much ice in...
DNA remnants found in fossil of 6 million year old turtle
(Reuters) – Remnants of DNA have been discovered in fossilized remains dating to 6 million years ago of a sea turtle closely related to today’s Kemp’s ridley and olive ridley turtles, marking one of the rare times genetic material has been identified in such ancient fossils of a vertebrate, researchers said on Thursday. The researchers...
Singing the blues away
At the age of 27 Jedidiah Kalomani Tuinasavusavu is slowly engraving her name in the hearts of local music lovers. Originally from Vaturomulo in the district of Vaturova in Cakaudrove with maternal links to Malake, of Saqani, Cakaudrove, she bagged third place at the recent Fiji Music Comp. This did not come as a surprise...
DOMO VOU TALEI | VOTE FOR YOUR FAVOURITE ARTIST!
You can help your favourite Domo Vou Talei 2023 finalist win $3000 in The Fiji Times People’s Choice Award! Visit our website www.fijitimes.com or click on the link below. The artist with the most number of shares and likes wins. To vote for Ewhyzz click here – https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=280510311588173 To vote for KingHitMIss click here – https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3528289344085968 To...
Vietnam jails environmental activist for 3 years for tax fraud
HANOI (Reuters) -A Vietnamese court has sentenced an environmental activist to three years in prison on charges of tax fraud, just days after the government discussed protecting human rights with U.S. President Joe Biden during a state visit. Hoang Thi Minh Hong, director of an environmental advocacy group that she started in 2013 and ran...
Back in history | Sniffer dogs to detect drugs
On August 5, 1993, under the headline “Sniffer dogs to combat trafficking of drugs”, The Fiji Times reported the presence of sniffer dogs at Nadi Airport would deter drug traffickers from the country. The Times quoted police commissioner Phillip Arnfield as saying sniffer dogs would be located at points where cargo was handled at Nadi...
Dry weather threatens Argentine wheat, but rain on the horizon
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentine wheat yields during the 2023/24 season in western farmland could continue to fall if much-needed rains do not arrive quickly, the Buenos Aires grains exchange (BdeC) warned in a report on Thursday. Agricultural powerhouse Argentina is a top global exporter of the grain used to make bread and pasta, but...
Our ocean, our home
The new chapter of the law of the sea, which opened in June with the adoption of the Agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) is now ready to be written. Today, it officially opens for signature and what a delight that the first country...
Business expands its product line
Soap may not be most people’s first idea when deciding what to gift a child, and one certainly wouldn’t expect it to then be among the child’s favourite gifts. When Nishrat Nazeen was gifted a creatively shaped bar of soap as an 8-year-old, she had no clue that years later it would become the tale...
Bid to streamline climate friendly projects in the country
A project to streamline climate friendly projects in Fiji is expected to channel more investment finance into the space. The project is an initiative by the Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), supported by the Australian Government. In a memorandum of understanding signed this week, the parties will...
Shutdown looms as US Senate, House advance separate spending plans
By David Morgan and Moira Warburton WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Democratic-led U.S. Senate forged ahead on Thursday with a bipartisan stopgap funding bill aimed at averting a fourth partial government shutdown in a decade, while the House prepared to vote on partisan Republican spending bills with no chance of becoming law. The divergent paths of...
Tourism to hit $3.2 billion
Tourist spending in Fiji this year is projected to hit $3.2 billion by December, a year ahead of schedule, said Tourism Fiji’s chief executive officer Brent Hill. In his address at the Reserve Bank of Fiji Tourism Seminar in Suva this week, Mr Hill said the average visitor spend (per person, per trip – measured...
‘Set focus on growing leadership potential’
School principals have been requested to set their focus on growing leadership potential across the community, from students to teachers and staff. This was the lament of Employment Minister Agni Deo Singh while officiating at the 128th Fiji Principals Association conference in Nadi on Wednesday. “We can do this by reflecting on how we build...
Ending ‘talk down’ approach
Heads of schools have long endured the ‘talk down approach’, but this must now be a thing of the past. Seasoned trade unionist and Employment Minister Agni Deo Singh highlighted this at the opening of the Fiji Principal’s Conference on Denarau, Nadi. He reminded the principals the Government is here to listen to the people....
US finalizes plans to phase out single-use plastic on public lands
(Reuters) – The agency that oversees one-fifth of U.S. lands said on Thursday that it had finalized plans to phase out single-use plastics in public spaces like national parks and wildlife refuges within the next decade. The blueprints are a key step toward implementing Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland’s order last year to reduce the...
Living wage ‘disparity’
Workers cannot be blamed for leaving Fiji to find employment in Australia and New Zealand, says Fiji Trade Unions Congress (FTUC) general secretary Felix Anthony. Speaking on The Fiji Times‘ online news platform, The Lens @177, he said that while Fiji’s minimum wage rate cannot be changed overnight, it should be already looked into. “Well,...
Swiss glaciers lose 10% of volume in worst two years on record
By Cecile Mantovani and Denis Balibouse ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland’s glaciers suffered their second worst melt rate this year after record 2022 losses, shrinking their overall volume by 10% in the last two years, monitoring body GLAMOS said on Thursday. The one-two punch for Swiss glaciers during the country’s third hottest summer on record means...
Rise in oral cancer
Oral cancer is on the rise in Fiji with two to three or even more cases diagnosed per month, says Health Ministry oral health and wellness officer Loata Tuiloma. Ms Tuiloma said a survey in 2004 revealed an 88.8 per cent tooth decay in six year olds. “We conducted another survey finding in 2012 till...
Delegation embarks on spiritual journey
Fijians who are members of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ – Fiji Branch) left the country yesterday morning on a chartered Fiji Airways flight to attend the annual Feast of Tabernacles celebration in Israel. The flight had a stopover in Hong Kong before flying off to Tel Aviv and amongst the passengers was paramount...
