Neu: 2002-04-19 Contents of this issue:
1. Niue News 2. Advisor's Resume Questioned 3. Crystal Ball Gazing 4. Ready, Steady 5. Explorer Dies ======================================================================== April 19th, 2002 1. Niue News: For all the latest informed news and views NiueNews On Line is proving to be the most popular, credible news-site with Niueans on island and overseas. Straight forward and relaxed NiueNews maintains total independence. Keep in touch for the latest election results and analysis tomorrow as the nation goes to the polls. Its an important election. Niue faces economic and social problems growing by the month as the population declines - tourism falters and overseas investors demonstrate a reluctance to invest. Who can prescribe the pick-me-up? Check NiueNews tomorrow. 2. Advisor's Resume Questioned: The credentials of the technical advisor to the Niue Information Technology Committee have been challenged by a former employer in the US. A spokesperson for ATLIS Systems said employment claims made by Gerald W. McClurg who has represented the Government of Niue at ICANN and Internet Government Advisory Committee meetings over the past three years were "not correct." The spokesperson said from the US this week that ATLIS Systems purchased McClurg's business Tanstaafl Holding Co/TSG (Technical Services Group) in 1995 for $US200,000. The deal was a $40,000 cash payment with the balance to come from 50% of any profits Mr McClurg generated from his activities after the purchase. McClurg remained on as an employee but seven months later his contract was "terminated." "There were never any profits from Mr McClurg only losses so he only received $40,000 from the sale, " said the ATLIS spokesprson. It has been alleged that McClurg told the Niue government that he was president of ATLIS from 1995-96 which operated with a staff of 300 and had a turnover of $US25m in 1993 but later declined to $US9m in 1995. In a statement of Experience Summary presented to the Commission of Inquiry into e mail and internet services on Niue McClurg who lives in Maryland stated from 1983 to the present day he was a director of Technical Services Group/THC and from 1995-96 he assumed the role of president ATLIS Information Systems claiming to have brought the company into profitability through imaging systems and integration business areas. Mr McClurg claimed he began a process to establish a company presence on the internet as an internet service provider to ATLIS clients and increased revenues by $US3m. But a spokesperson for ATLIS Systems said Mr McClurg only worked for the company for seven months before his services were "terminated." "He has not had anything to do with ATLIS Systems since then," said the company spokesperson, who added that a Website used by Mr McClurg contains clients which are serviced by ATLIS. "Everything Mr McClurg said in his resume about ATLIS is incorrect," said the spokesperson. After Mr McClurg gave evidence at the Commission of Inquiry on Niue, senior Opposition MP and former Cabinet Minister Mrs O'Love Jacobsen who was registered as an interested party at the Commission and gave evidence, said she contacted the Acting Premier Young Vivian advising government to dispense with the services of Mr McClurg and another advisor Mr Richard Duncan of Auckland NZ. It has also been revealed this week that Mr McClurg and a former AusAid funded IT consultant to the government's administration department on Niue Mr Gavin Knight registered a company in Queensland Australia in September 2001. Both are directors of the company named TSG Pacific Pty Ltd. Mr Knight was a member of the Niue Information Technology Committee and Mr McClurg technical advisor when the committee applied to have the dot NU redelegated in 2000. The sole manager of the dot NU is the Internet Users Society-Niue which says that the re-delegation application still remains on the table with ICANN. 3. Crystal Ball Gazing: Niue is now the focus of a U.S. company that provides psychic hot lines after AT&T decided it was going to pull out of billing 900 numbers, reports the Samoa News.Here is their article - With AT&T pulling out of the billing service, The Associated Press said Access Resources Services is now looking at Niue for new ways to make and collect money from its psychic hot lines. Access -- the company represented by Miss Cleo psychic hotline in television ads -- must find another way to bill. It is trying to convince callers to use their credit cards, charging a monthly fee of $29.95 for 30 minutes. But Jon Sorensen, a spokesman for the New York State Consumer Protection Board, said Access also has directed some callers to use an international phone number that would take their calls all the way to Niue and back to the United States. The resulting per-minute charges ranged from $7-$16, he said. Niue has been accused of money laundering, and has also been linked to a scam in which software, planted in computers, took control of modems and made calls to porn lines with numbers in Niue, unbeknown to the owners of the computers.Police in several US states have confirmed they are investigating fraud claims from telephone users hit by the scam. It also has been a favorite of some telemarketers who run porn or psychic hot lines. This is how it works: The companies contract with Niue Telecom to take their calls. With fewer than 2,000 people -- and 400 telephone lines -- Niue has no city or area codes, so every number on the island is 683 and four digits. "It would be easy for the naive or ignorant to imagine they were making a local call," according to a report on the phenomenon in The Economist magazine. The companies split the profits with Niue Telecom. Apparently Access, like other such companies, merely routed the calls through Niue and back to the United States on a leased line, where they were then dispatched to psychics around the country. The charges show up on telephone bills as ordinary international calls. Andre Marmen, a psychic for Access, says he received calls from people who had reached him this way this past fall. One woman thought the call was covered under her 5-cent-a-minute long distance plan. Sean Moynihan, a lawyer for Access, says the company may have experimented with international calls, but "that's not something the company is going to go into." 4. Ready, Steady: Its crunch time for Niue wannabe politicians as they go to the polls tomorrow (Saturday Niue time). All eyes are on sitting common roll members Sani Lakatani, Michael Jackson, Toke Talagi, Terry Coe, Veve Jacobsen and Hunukitama Hunuki. Political observers are predicting two are likely to lose their seats as the electorate looks for new blood in the 20 seat Legislative Assembly. Eight village seat representatives have been returned unopposed with only six being contested. Using tv advertising to the maximum were Toke Talagi a sitting member and Lofa Rex who is chasing a common roll seat hoping to join her husband Robert Rex jr who is likely to hold the Alofi South village spot. Commentators are saying, one thing is for sure... Premier Sani Lakatani's hold on the leadership reins are slipping after bickering inside the Niue Peoples Party and punters.Pick of the Day for leadership of the tiny nation is veteran politician Young Vivian with O'Love Jacobsen in the wings. There's intense interest in the Toi Village seat where long time MP and Cabinet Minister Dion Taufitu is being challenged by Livivika Muimatagi. Political observers say campaigning has lacked any sparkle or fresh initiatives with the 1999 duplicate "sharing of the cake" policy dominating the NPP and the team Alliance of Independents calling for less reliance on aid, an improved air service and support for private sector development.Surprisingly the dominant subject of discussion has been the administration of the internet .NU country code - hardly a mention of air services, tourism, employment, or future governance. Polls open 6am tomorrow and close 6pm. Full provisional results will be published on site at the close of counting. 5. Explorer Dies: A popular hero despite sneers from scholars, Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl risked his life sailing the Pacific and Atlantic oceans on flimsy craft to show that prehistoric peoples could have done so too. He died at the Italian resort of Colla Micheri after a long battle against cancer. A modern-day Viking, Heyerdahl won worldwide acclaim with an epic 101-day voyage in 1947 from South America to Polynesia on the Kon-Tiki balsa raft, defying experts' predictions that he and his crew would drown. A book on the expedition was translated into 66 languages. Heyerdahl said he was more than ever convinced that his theory that South Americans settled Polynesia was accurate. (Reuters). __END__
