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N0086. A LAUGH TO START THE WEEK. It seem that if Francis Kean becomes the new chairman of the FRU, his brother-in-law the Prime Minister may become the president (again.) I don't see why one position depends on the other but Michael Field says this is so, and we should never question Michael Field even though former FRU Board member Charlie Cousins says there is no other likely candidate so Frank may become president with no thanks to his brother-in-law.

Frank certainly wants to be at the World Cup to be held in NZ, whether or not he's the president, but if both he and his brother-in-law are respectively appointed president and chairman, the IRB will pay both their expenses to New Zealand. There's only one hitch.

Sir Lancelot, the NZ Foreign Minister (and shadow Minister for Border Security) Murray McCully, says not over his dead body. New Zealand is a sovereign nation and there are travel bans against the likes of you two.

The Field scoop seems to be just another example of a journalist making the news, but McCully did miss one thing: Fiji is also a sovereign nation.

N0087. FIJI TIMES. Australian Brian O’Flaherty  has replaced Dallas Swinstead as the  General Manager of the Fiji Times. He is a former News Ltd employee and a former publisher of the Fiji Times. His wife Adrienne was also a journalist. The O'Flaherty's  know Fiji well having lived and worked here during the 1990s in the period leading up to 1997 Constitution under former PM Sitiveni Rabuka.

N0088. LABOUR SLAMS COUP 4.5 MISCHIEF. An article in the Fiji Labour Party website  has slammed as "mischievous lies a report in the Coup 4.5 blog that Mahendra Chaudhry and Felix Anthony are organising a protest march for next month."  The report continued:

"This is yet another example of baseless and malicious reporting by Coup 4.5. The integrity and credibility of this blog has already been seriously undermined by false reporting in the past.

“It is pure fabrication. I want to ask Coup 4.5 and their collaborators who are political detractors of the Fiji Labour Party (and whose identities we are clearly aware of), when are they going to desist from such malicious propaganda against the FLP leadership?” asked FLP’s assistant secretary-general Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi.

N0089. NEW TOURISM RECORD. For the very first time ever annual tourist arrival numbers have exceeded the magical 600,000 mark, nearly 78,000 more than last year's record. Tourism Minister Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum said Tourism Fiji will have its work cut out to maintain and grow these numbers but he thought it could be done with good marketing strategies and alliances.

The industry also now needs to concentrate on on developing quality tourist shopping and other local ancillary services and, with Government help, establish a data base for better synergies and hotel intelligence. More attention also needs to be given to emerging markets such as India and China. One thing the Minister did not mention was the possible effects of the Queensland floods on the Fiji industry.

N0090. NEW REGIONAL HQ IN SUVA. Last year it was all about moving regional headquarters from Fiji though none were moved. This year starts with the Center for the Development of Enterprise (CDE) that will soon set up its  Pacific headquarters in Suva. This was announced on Friday by Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola and visiting CDE Director Mr Jean-Eric Romagne and the Head for the CDE Pacific office to be based in Suva, Mr Jean-Pierre Mathey. -- Based on 2011, No: 0240 /MOI.

The CDE is an ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific)/EU joint institution created in the framework of the Cotonou Agreement and its finances mainly come from the European Development Fund (EDF). Its objective is to ensure the development of professional ACP enterprises operating in the private sector. CDE provides non-financial services to ACP companies and to joint initiatives of ACP and EU economic operators in various economic sectors, with the main aim to increase competitiveness of ACP enterprises.

N0091.ALLEGED MURDERER BACK IN NZ. Devesh Shama, accused of murdering his wife Ranjeeta, was charged with murder in the Hamilton District Court on Saturday. Extradicton from Fiji was unnecessary as he returned voluntarily to NZ following his arrest by Fji Police. His 4-year old son Akesk is being cared for by NZ welfare authorities as Akesh has no close relatives in New Zealand.