from the islands press

From a report on a Festival of European Films at the PNG University of Technology by the university’s newsletter, The Reporter The Festival attracted more than two thousand people. Our audiences were completely co-operative no-one smoked, people even laughed at our jokes!

From The Fiji Times, Suva Police have arrested and charged a 21-year-old woman for assaulting and robbing a 53-year-old man in Suva in the early hours of Saturday.

The woman from Tubou Street in Suva allegedly assaulted and robbed the man in Straun Street. He lost a wallet a pair of spectacles, cigarettes and $9 in cash.

From The Samoa Times, Apia Applications for permanent entry into New Zealand have closed just three weeks after they were opened on April 1.

According to a press release from the NZ High Commission on Tuesday more than enough applications have been received to fill the annual quota of 1100 in that time. Last year it took about six weeks to fill the quota.

From The Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, Port Moresby A 35-year-old Madang man died instantly when an old bomb that he tried to defuse exploded on Good Friday.

Bits of the bomb blew a hole right through Peter Davag, 35, of Rampi Village, North Coast Road a works and supply foreman at Madang.

His children, who were in the house at the time, escaped unhurt from the explosion.

From The Fiji Times, Suva A man claiming to be a witchdoctor told a 27-year-old woman that if she had sex with him the way she did with her husband, it would cure her husband’s illness, Suva Court heard on Thursday.

The woman agreed, and the “witchdoctor”, Paula Lomavatu, 44, later asked her to give him $5O so that he could buy a pig and kill it and drink its blood.

From a report In Tuvalu Echoes, Funafuti, of an interview In Wellington, NZ, with Tuvalu Prime Minister Dr Puapua.

Dr Puapua said he had had to “politely decline” a Soviet request for a fishing agreement between the two countries because Tuvalu had such a pact with the United States and “I felt I didn’t want both of them around me.” Asked about his own country’s policy on nuclear ships. Dr Puapua said: “The policy is that we have no written stand. We will decide when we receive a request.” It was possible, he said, that Tuvalu would charge entry fees to nuclear powered or armed ships.

From The Samoa Times, Apia Initial reports from Honolulu indicate that the fund-raising dinner there last Friday was a financial disaster. Held at the Waikiki Hilton at SUSIOO a plate, the dinner was planned to raise $300,000 in profits for the independence celebrations.

Reports said that the organisers would be fortunate if they raised enough to pay the costs of the dinner and the hotel bills.

From the column Golf Taps Ins by Fairways in Vanuatu Weekly, Port-Vila.

Last Saturday the people of Mele were preparing for a bigfala feast in memory of President and Lady Sokomanu. A villager reported that both the President and Lady Sokomanu had died while playing golf that afternoon. The villager could not be blamed for thinking this as he observed a cross implanted on the 17th green which read: “Here lies President Sokomanu RIP”. In fact the President and Lady Sokomanu were alive and well it was their golf that died that afternoon. Both were competing in the Saturday afternoon competition at the Port Vila Golf & Country Club The Prouds Tombstone.

Mr Post-Courier Grass Roots discovers that, like everything else, the cost of campaigning for a seat In the National Parliament is also subject to inflation.