Ronia slams budget claim

A FORMER central banker and retired auditor general has described as “false assurance”, the $364 million budget surplus the government claimed it made in the first quarter of this year. Government media consultant Alfred Sasako released a statement Monday on the reportedly surplus, describing it as a “major economic victory” for the government. He quoted…

Woman, brothers remanded

A WOMAN and two of her brothers have been remanded in custody yesterday for allegedly attacking the woman’s husband last month at Gilbert Camp area, East Honiara. The alleged victim, Fred Ramo, lodged his complaint to the police after he was discharged from the National Referral Hospital on June 1. According to the allegation, prosecution…

Court to fix date for rape case

THE court will today fix a date to hear evidences into an attempted rape case that allegedly occurred in Wagina, Choiseul Province, last year. The 22-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the alleged victim because they are related, appeared briefly in the Honiara Magistrates’ Court yesterday. Since his lawyer was…

Bmobile-Vodafone free shows

Bmobile-Vodafone are launching something new to the Solomon Islands this June by offering free shows and entertainment to the public in three provinces. In a statement on Wednesday the company said, “theye are bringing a travelling cinema on tour in conjunction with the launch of our 3G+ sites which come on air this month. “We…

Police minister to face court today

POLICE Minister Peter Shanel will appear today in the Honiara Magistrates’ Court for the pre-trial conference on his case. The Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Guadalcanal has on the last occasion entered a not guilty plea to the assault causing actual bodily harm charge against him. The matter was then adjourned for a pre-trial…

SI-NZ consultation held

OFFICIALs from the government of Solomon Islands (SI) and New Zealand (NZ) yesterday held their annual development consultation at the Heritage Park Hotel in Honiara. The consultation was to provide opportunity for officials from both Solomon Islands government and New Zealand to discuss bilateral and strategic policy issues regarding the current and future directions of…

Tozaka to look further into spying claims

Solomon Islands Foreign Minister, Milner Tozaka says he will make representations to the New Zealand Government if spy revelations are found to be accurate. United States NSA documents released by the Whistle-blower, Edward Snowden, in March, showed New Zealand had collected email and telephone data from Solomon Islands officials without their permission. Milner Tozaka said,…

NZ to spend $177m in aid here

The New Zealand government is expected to spend SBD$177 million in development assistance programs in Solomon Islands this year. This was revealed by the Acting Head of the New Zealand aid program Jonathan Kings during the Solomon Islands-New Zealand bilateral consultations yesterday held at the Heritage Park Hotel. Being the first time in the country…