Briefs
pp. 6-7 · Read in the full issue
Pago Pago
The Korean owner of a poker machine parlour in Pago Pago village, American Samoa, is expected to face charges of bribery after the village mayor filed a com plaint with police alleging that the busi nessman offered him more than SUSIOOO to allow him to reopen his business.
Pago Pago village mayor Vila Tufele said the owner of Gold Star Amusement Center, Huon Ho Min, allegedly offered him $lO2O in cash in return for the mayor’s approval to reopen the poker machine par lour. Ho Min’s business was closed after 12 new poker machines were discovered at the amusement centre in spite of a 1988 ban on the importation of the machines.
Port Moresby
Papua New Guinea Mining Minister Philemon Embel has criticised Deputy
Opposition Leader Peter Peipul for pub licly conducting discussions on Bougainville’s copper mine when the island’s peace process was still in the early stages. Embel said politicians and others with no land rights qualifications in respect of the abandoned Bougainville copper mine must refrain from commenting on the future status of the mine, The National reported. The minister was responding to Mr Peipul’s call for the mine, which is cen tral to the 10-year conflict that has just ended, to be owned 100 per cent by the
people of Bougainville.
Port Vila
Vanuatu’s Ombudsman, Marie Noelle Ferrieux-Patterson, has recommended that Deputy Director of the Cooperatives Department Hilton Tarileo be formally dis ciplined by the Public Service Commission
for slapping an expatriate female colleague during her employment. She also called on Tarileo to apologise to the woman by letter as she has left the country. Ms Patterson found that Tarileo’s behaviour was totally unacceptable and contrary to the Public Service Act and Staff Manual, and in con travention of the Penal Code.
Suva, Hji
Air Pacific Ltd and the Fiji Airline Pilots Association (FALPA) have reached an agreement on several significant issues relating to hours of work, crew composi tion and remuneration.
Both the Company and the Association were able to reach agreement in one day with the outcome being a win/win situa tion, an Air Pacific statement said.
Managing director and chief executive of Air Pacific, Michael McQuay was
pleased with the outcome.
“This demonstrates the
willingness of both parties
to work together for the benefit of employees and the Company,” he said. The hours of work now permits local pilots to operate the Nadi/Los Angeles route.
Nauru
For the first time, the President of the
International Olympic
Committee (IOC), Juan Antonio Samarach, visited the smallest, most recent member of the Olympic movement, Nauru, last
month. The Olympic President was greeted by a line of honour of school children. Since joining the Olympic movement four years ago, Nauru has vastly improved sports facilities and has become an enthusi astic sports nation. ■