[New post] Vanuatu kava export shipment returned from NZ due to contamination with impurities

WordPress.com dailyvanuatu posted: " Happy new year to all our readers and welcome to 2017! Vanuatu's regional leadership of kava production and export has been dealt a blow with news this week of a shipment of adulterated kava being returned from New Zealand. Vanuatu's primacy in the" Respond to this post by replying above this line New post on Vanuatu Daily Digest Vanuatu kava export shipment returned from NZ due to contamination with impurities by dailyvanuatu Happy new year to all our readers and welcome to 2017! Vanuatu's regional leadership of kava production and export has been dealt a blow with news this week of a shipment of adulterated kava being returned from New Zealand. Vanuatu's primacy in the industry began with the recognition of Vanuatu as the original site of domestication of kava, the large number of noble kava varieties established here, and 2002's Kava Act designed to protect consumers from poor quality kava. In 2016 Vanuatu was given responsibility for the FAO's Codex Alimentarius research into the crop. Vanuatu's main export competitor, Fiji, only established similar kava consumer protection legislation last year, and has many fewer noble varieties. Over 600kg of dried, ground kava in a container exported by JPO Kava Export was returned from New Zealand as adulterated, reports Daily Post. Director of Vanuatu Biosecurity Dept Timothy Tumukon says the shipment looked to be mixed with 'makas'—bark and root residue added to increase the Read more of this post dailyvanuatu | January 1, 2017 at 9:32 am | Tags: agriculture, exports, health, kava, land, politics, Radio Australia, trade, Vanuatu | Categories: The Daily Digest | URL: http://wp.me/p2A4RK-1uZ Comment    See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Vanuatu Daily Digest. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://ift.tt/2iQMgFs Thanks for flying with WordPress.com

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[New post] Govt appoints new DGs; scale of VNPF’s non-performing investments substantial

WordPress.com bobmakin posted: "Six acting Directors-General have been appointed by Government. They are Sam Namuri (Public Works), Benjamin Shing (Agriculture), Michael Mangawai (Lands), Pakoa Siri (Justice), Jesse Dick (Education) and George Borugu (Trade and Tourism). They have all b" Respond to this post by replying above this line New post on Vanuatu Daily Digest Govt appoints new DGs; scale of VNPF’s non-performing investments substantial by bobmakin Six acting Directors-General have been appointed by Government. They are Sam Namuri (Public Works), Benjamin Shing (Agriculture), Michael Mangawai (Lands), Pakoa Siri (Justice), Jesse Dick (Education) and George Borugu (Trade and Tourism). They have all been advised of what is expected of them as Directors General and have been notified of the consequences of misconduct. A performance review will take place in 12 months. There are specific terms of reference for two DGs relating to Cyclone Pam recovery for Trade and Tourism, and the backlog in processing customary land ownership and leases for Lands. (Daily Post) The total of non-performing investments considered by the Vanuatu National Provident Fund Commission of Inquiry is colossal. There were VNPF loans for both properties and equities including Read more of this post bobmakin | December 29, 2016 at 2:28 pm | Tags: agriculture, politics, Radio Australia, Vanuatu, VNPF | Categories: The Daily Digest | URL: http://wp.me/p2A4RK-1uL Comment    See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Vanuatu Daily Digest. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://ift.tt/2ijfXCu Thanks for flying with WordPress.com

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Google Alert - Melanesia

Melanesia Weekly update ⋅ December 28, 2016 NEWS Melanesian Spearhead Group considers West Papuan Membership EMTV Online The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) is considering a full membership application by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua. Indonesia ... Flag as irrelevant MSG discussions highlight Indonesia schism Radio New Zealand Differences in approach between Indonesian and West Papuan representatives reached a head at Melanesian Spearhead Group meetings in ... Flag as irrelevant 'Everything can be burnt' - West Papua in the Jokowi era Radio New Zealand The face of West Papuan society is changing but RNZ International found that the core ideology of these Melanesian people is not easily destroyed. Flag as irrelevant Meet the priest who serves the most rural parts of Papua New Guinea The Catholic Register KUNDIAWA, Papua New Guinea – In the deep Melanesian jungles, a native Papua New Guinea Catholic priest walks miles through the deep thick ... Flag as irrelevant See more results | Edit this alert You have received this email because you have subscribed to Google Alerts. Unsubscribe | View all your alerts Receive this alert as RSS feed Send Feedback

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Priority support for Jetpack Personal, our 2016 annual report, and a Photon case study

Jetpack.com Personal Plans Now Include Priority Support The new Jetpack Personal plan, introduced last month, bundles the two core services most site owners have told us they consider essential: automated backups and spam protection. We know that quick and reliable support can be just as important, however, so we've added it in. This simply means we’ll get to your request faster when something goes wrong with your site. If you're an existing customer, you will receive this added benefit automatically. Read the full announcement A Year in Review: The Automattic and Jetpack Annual Report As 2016 comes to a close and we look forward to 2017, we took some time to look back on the past twelve months across our company – Automattic – and all our products: WordPress.com, Jetpack, WooCommerce, and WordPress.com VIP. Scroll through our beautifully designed 2016 Annual Report and explore some cool stats about our services – like how many sites use our products, how many brute force attacks we've blocked, how many "Michaels" work at Automattic, and many more. See what we've done Case Study: Photon for Business In 2012, Jesse Friedman wasn't part of the Jetpack team yet – but as the director of web development for an agency in Rhode Island, he was already a happy Jetpack user. Here’s how he describes his experience using Photon (our free CDN) for the first time: Speed, security, and uptime were very important to our clients. At the time, their websites were powered by a third-party closed source CMS that had been experiencing a lot of downtime and abysmal load speeds. The new sites were to be hosted on a managed WordPress hosting solution, and initial tests showed a significant improvement in speed. I was considering a CDN, but I wasn’t sure whether the server and management costs would be worth it. Jetpack came with Photon, a free image CDN. But would it be enough? Read the full story Thanks for using Jetpack Jeremy — Happiness Engineer Automattic Inc.60 29th Street #343 San Francisco, CA Unsubscribe

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[New post] Merry Christmas and happy holidays from the Vanuatu Daily Digest!

WordPress.com bobmakin posted: " Merry Christmas and season's greetings to all of our valued readers! Vanuatu Daily Digest will take a few days break and will resume after Family Day. Thank you for visiting us in 2016, we hope to see you next year. Meanwhile, in today's news… The " Respond to this post by replying above this line New post on Vanuatu Daily Digest Merry Christmas and happy holidays from the Vanuatu Daily Digest! by bobmakin Merry Christmas and season's greetings to all of our valued readers! Vanuatu Daily Digest will take a few days break and will resume after Family Day. Thank you for visiting us in 2016, we hope to see you next year. Meanwhile, in today's news… The revelations from the Commission of Inquiry into the Vanuatu National Provident Fund (VNPF) continue. Daily Post reveals today that a Fijian national was recruited to become VNPF General Manager early last year, without a valid work permit. This created rifts between VNPF staff. He had previously worked for Westpac Bank in Vanuatu and discussions concerning his subsequent employment were pushed by certain VNPF Board members before the post was actually advertised. The COI investigations have now drawn to a close after 26 interviews, and the Commission's final report is soon to be released to government. Two MPs of the Graon mo Jastis Party (GJP) were sacked from the party this week. They are Read more of this post bobmakin | December 24, 2016 at 9:05 pm | Tags: police, politics, roads, Vanuatu, VNPF | Categories: The Daily Digest | URL: http://wp.me/p2A4RK-1uG Comment    See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Vanuatu Daily Digest. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://ift.tt/2hlZCgO Thanks for flying with WordPress.com

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[New post] VNPF oversight of Wilco and Bouffa investments highly irregular, inquiry hears

WordPress.com bobmakin posted: " The trust that the Vanuatu public have in the Vanuatu National Providential Fund, the news today shows, has been frequently abused in a series of large investments by the fund. In the case of the purchase of the Wilco properties, there was a conflict " Respond to this post by replying above this line New post on Vanuatu Daily Digest VNPF oversight of Wilco and Bouffa investments highly irregular, inquiry hears by bobmakin The trust that the Vanuatu public have in the Vanuatu National Providential Fund, the news today shows, has been frequently abused in a series of large investments by the fund. In the case of the purchase of the Wilco properties, there was a conflict of interest for the CEO of Wilco, Tukana Bovoro, to also be on the Board of the VNPF while the board was negotiating to buy Wilco Hardware Holdings Limited. Bovoro declared his conflict of interest, yet the VNPF management at the time did not see fit to step in, despite the VNPF Act requiring those with conflicts of interest to absent themselves from deliberations over matters relating to their interests, and the investment was given the go-ahead. The issue was hotly debated in the media at the time, but incredibly, the VNPF Board accepted the vendor's own valuation, VNPF Board Member Ephraim Kalsakau said. He went on: the Board did not require an independent valuer to value the two properties and "did not request the audited financial investments Read more of this post bobmakin | December 23, 2016 at 4:06 pm | Tags: politics, Vanuatu, VNPF | Categories: The Daily Digest | URL: http://wp.me/p2A4RK-1uA Comment    See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Vanuatu Daily Digest. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://ift.tt/2hYKV07 Thanks for flying with WordPress.com

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[New post] “Vanuatu is not free until all of Melanesia is free”—Vanuatu Govt reiterates its support for Papuan independence to MSG leaders

WordPress.com bobmakin posted: " "Free West Papua" graffiti on cement walls around town sums up Vanuatu's Christmas wish for its Melanesian brothers and sisters meeting now in Port Vila. Welcoming independence leaders from the Indonesian ruled territory, Prime Minister Charlot Salwai" Respond to this post by replying above this line New post on Vanuatu Daily Digest “Vanuatu is not free until all of Melanesia is free”—Vanuatu Govt reiterates its support for Papuan independence to MSG leaders by bobmakin Members of Vanuatu's Government including Prime Minister Charlot Salwai (centre, in bird of paradise headdress) with leaders of the Papuan independence movement yesterday in Port Vila. Photo: Jen Robinson "Free West Papua" graffiti on cement walls around town sums up Vanuatu's Christmas wish for its Melanesian brothers and sisters meeting now in Port Vila. Welcoming independence leaders from the Indonesian ruled territory, Prime Minister Charlot Salwai reiterated Vanuatu's strong stand in favour of independence for West Papua—and for French Polynesia and New Caledonia. Vanuatu's stance on decolonization remains as strong as it was during our own independence 36 years ago. West Papua campaigner, Benny Wenda, told Daily Post of the Melanesian spirit which binds the people of Melanesia in their attempt to be granted full membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group. Demonstrations to this effect have been taking place in West Papua and it is reported that one demonstrator was killed and 528 arrested, recently, including six children of less than ten years of age. It is good news to have Read more of this post bobmakin | December 22, 2016 at 4:55 pm | Tags: education, Indonesia, Melanesian Spearhead Group, MSG, Papua Province, politics, public service, Vanuatu, West Papua | Categories: The Daily Digest | URL: http://wp.me/p2A4RK-1uu Comment    See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Vanuatu Daily Digest. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://ift.tt/2htNuGL Thanks for flying with WordPress.com

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