A story, “Locked Up Warriors”, about the New Zealand jail culture on Al Jazeera’s East 101 series. Image: Al Jazeera – Watch video.

Pacific Scoop:
Media Report – By Thomas Carnegie

Al Jazeera English only launched in New Zealand on Freeview last year. But several Kiwis have been working for the Doha-based international news network since it began in 2006.

And now more than three score expat New Zealanders work at the 24/7 global news channel and are affectionately referred to by other staffers as “the Kiwi mafia”.

Pacific Scoop spoke to Wayne Hay, a former reporter for the channel turned freelance journalist, and Kamahl Santamaria, one of the network’s original news anchors, about the channel’s large New Zealand contingent and the challenges of working for an international news agency. Read more »

Dr Jiko Luveni … Speaker of Parliament and Fiji First party president: Before she entered politics, Dr Luveni was a dentist. Image: Minfo

Last month’s Fiji general election was historic because it brought about the first Parliament that has gathered in Fiji in eight years. But also because it set a new record for women representation, reports Asia-Pacific Journalism.

Pacific Scoop:
Special Report – By Lucas Dahlström and Mads Anneberg

Some of Salote Radrodro’s friends didn’t think it was a good idea. Time wasn’t right, they said.

She felt the opposite. This was the time to stand, this was exactly the time to make it count.

So she ran for the Parliament of Fiji and got elected – one of the only 38 times a woman has succeeded in doing so since the country’s independence in 1970. Read more »

The multimedia report – Tah Meu Lah – “hope”.

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Johan Chang

Karen refugees from Myanmar (Burma) have been relocated to New Zealand through the UNHCR Refugee Agency since 2000.

Many came to this country to escape the impoverished lives they were forced to live as a result of a civil war that has lasted more than 60 years.

Starvation, lack of education, lack of resources, and military prosecution are a few of the realities they have had to contend with. Read more »

Indian and Chinese delegations meeting in Brazil ahead of the APEC summit planned for Beijing. Image: IPT

China is seeking a free trade agreement between ASEAN and Pacific nations ahead of the APEC summit due in November. But, reports Asia-Pacific Journalism, there are many challenges ahead.

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Johan Chang

China’s pursuit of free trade within the Asia-Pacific region is shaping up as one of the key issues to be discussed at this year’s APEC summit to be held in Beijing in November.

China’s on-going efforts are to create a free trade area in the Pacific region by 2025.

New Zealand Committee of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (NZPECC) board member Robert Scollay says that the establishment of free trade is a very high priority for the Chinese government, alongside the promotion of regional connectivity, including issues such as telecommunications, transport, and people movement. Read more »

Bougainville President John Momis … dismisses the report introduced in the Federal Parliament by the Greens Party as “irresponsible”. Image: Pacific Scoop

Panguna community members are warning the Bougainville government that efforts must be made to heal the deep trauma caused by the decade-long civil war before arrangements to reopen the mine take place. Asia-Pacific Journalism reports on the issue.

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Eva Corlett

A cross-section of the Bougainville community living near Panguna mine have expressed near universal opposition to the prospect of the mine re-opening, says a recent report.

Non-government organisation Jubilee Australia released the report, Voices of Bougainville, last week, which details individual and community response to the possibility of re-opening the mine.

The report interviewed 65 individuals from key villages near the site, including community leaders, youth, men and women, as well as conducting a focus group discussion with 17 participants. Read more »

A woman selling traditional handcrafts at a market on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. Image: Lucas Dahlström/PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Lucas Dahlström

Two thirds of the world’s deprived people in terms of poverty, hunger and lack of sanitation live in in Asia-Pacific, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

And with living costs rising faster than the general price level, there is a need to change the poverty measurements in the region, says the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Both UNDP and the ADB hosted a recent symposium “Poverty in Asia – a deeper look” which brought together thinkers and practitioners from leading institutions fighting poverty to discuss how to best measure and analyse data to make policy more effective. Read more »

Billboards like this in the Cook Islands are erected across the country to educate the people about the consequences of diabetes. Image: CI Ministry of Health

The number of people in the Asia-Pacific region suffering from diabetes is increasing every day, with now more than 138 million people estimated as having the disease. Asia-Pacific Journalism looks at how small countries such as the Cook Islands are developing new strategies.

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Marcus Bank

Scooters and cars pass by it every day. Some don’t even notice it.

Others turn their head briefly to look at the billboard planted between palm trees on the main road leading in and out of the town of Avarua, capital of the Cook Islands.

The yellow and black hoarding shows the bottom of a foot. Four of the toes have a much darker colour then the rest. Read more »

Rainbow Youth general manager Duncan Matthews … hoping efforts will boost message of acceptance to other Pacific nations. Image: Rainbow Youth

Homosexuality is still illegal in many countries across the Pacific. But gay rights advocates hope a new initiative in New Zealand to support Māori and Pacific youth will set an example to other Pacific nations, as Asia-Pacific Journalism reports.

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Craig Hoyle

Gay rights advocates are hoping a new initiative to support Māori and Pacific youth in South Auckland who are gender or sexuality diverse will set an example to other Pacific nations.

Homosexuality is still a crime in many places across the Pacific and in some countries sex between two men carries the risk of flogging or a lengthy prison sentence.

Rainbow Youth general manager Duncan Matthews says social stigma and isolation can make it difficult for young people to come out as gay in the Pacific Islands. Read more »

Anne Rasmussen (right), Assistant Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and Lizbeth Cullity, the UNDP Resident Representative in Samoa, agree to work together on strengthening Samoa’s capacity to achieve the Rio goals. Image: Alamgir Mohammad/UNDP

The government of Samoa is trying to tidy up its fragmented environment strategies, plans and policies. With UNDP help it is strengthening its technical and institutional capacities, reports an Asia-Pacific Journalism reporter.

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Sonja Schalin

Samoa has embarked on a new project to boost implementation of the Rio Conventions just two weeks after the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) conference in Apia had strongly shown the importance of effective climate change policies.

The US$1 million project involves cooperation between the Samoan government and UNDP and is funded by Global Environment Facility, the largest environmental fund.

The aim of the project is to strengthen technical and institutional capacities for better implementation of the three Rio Conventions. Read more »

Kiribati President Anote Tong … believes the death penalty would act as a deterrent for deliberate killings. Image: Mauroof Khaleel/Flickr

The Kiribati government has pushed a new bill to reinstate capital punishment – a move said to be in response to public outrage over several violent murders this year. However, as Asia-Pacific Journalism reports, the government faces growing public opposition to the proposal.

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Elesha Edmonds

The proposed reinstatement of the death penalty in Kiribati is triggering public criticism.

The Parliament of Kiribati late last month passed the first reading of an amendment to the penal code to permit the use of capital punishment in certain criminal cases.

This comes after the violent deaths of five Kiribati women this year, allegedly at the hands of their partners or husbands. Read more »