Fiji

A desire to teach others about Jesus and Christianity has led Tom Harbin to pursue a missionary trip to Australia and Fiji this summer.The 15-year-old student at Carroll Christian Schools in Westminsterhopes to spend four weeks handing out literature on street corners and counseling students his age."This is definitely not a vacation, it's going to be work," said Tom, the son of Sue and Ed Harbin. "I just felt I wanted to talk to people about the Lord."The program, sponsored by Word of Life -- aone-year Bible college in Schroon Lake, N.Y., with teen-age religious programs in churches -- gathers students from across the United States and Canada to minister in foreign countries during the summer.

Striding in her special black walking shoes decorated with turquoise, pink and lime-green squares, 8-year-old Elizabeth Gardner was, literally, on her way to reaching a milestone. As she began the Save-A-Limb Ride's 1-mile family walk Saturday morning, Lizzie, as she is called by her family and friends, had to urge her grandfather to keep up. "C'mon, Pop-Pop!" she called. Lizzie was born with a rare genetic disorder known as TAR syndrome (TAR stands for "thrombocytopenia with absent radius")

THE UNITED States should follow the lead of Australia in devising sanctions to compel Fiji to restore political rights to its people. Fiji is a Pacific island paradise with fewer than a million; it's north of New Zealand and southwest of Hawaii. Half or more of the Fijian population is descended from Melanesian and Polynesian seafarers who discovered the place centuries ago. Indo-Fijians, nearly half the population, are descended from Indians who immigrated to tend sugarcane a century ago. Ethnic Fijians dominate the poorer rural classes and ethnic Indians rule the commerce and better jobs.

The best islands to live on, from the July/August issue of Islands magazine: 1. Palawan, Philippines 2. Bequia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines 3. Vanua Levu, Fiji 4. Kangaroo Island, Australia 5. Eleuthera, Bahamas 6. Orcas Island, Washington 7. Singapore 8. Kauai, Hawaii 9. Ambergris Caye, Belize 10. Gozo, Malta

VANUA LEVU, Fiji -- There's nothing like learning the newspaper you work for has been closed to throw a wrench into an expensive vacation halfway around the globe."

Survivor: Fiji comes careening to a close tomorrow night at 8 on CBS (WJZ, Channel 13). In some ways, it seems like this season has been going on forever. (Upon seeing the credits in Thursday's show, I was sure that Erica was from, like, two seasons ago, but no.) But in other ways, this season is just warming up - now that all the adversaries are gone, the allies are turning on one another. But we only have two more hours to see that all play out. I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Clinton urges U.N. to restart talks on curbing nuclear armsGENEVA -- Laying out his position for the world's "next major" disarmament treaty yesterday, President Clinton called on the United Nations to restart negotiations aimed at halting production of material for making nuclear bombs.John Holum, director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, said an agreement at the Conference on Disarmament, which he is attending, to limit production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium will help avoid a "runaway arms race in South Asia."

To: Keith Richards From: A Concerned Fan Subject: Suggested Beach Activities Whoops is right. You gave us a scare with your tree-climbing stunt in Fiji. Who knows what inspired you - a 62-year-old former heroin addict who some claim died years ago (leaving only your skeleton to walk the earth) - to scale, then fall, from a coconut tree after reportedly enjoying both vodka and rum. You suffered a mild concussion and underwent an operation to drain blood from your head, and that's almost never a fun beach activity.

BOSTON -- First of all, imagine a place women greet each other at the market with open arms, loving smiles and a cheerful exchange of ritual compliments:"You look wonderful! You've put on weight!"Does that sound like dialogue from fat fantasy land? Or a skit from fat-is-a-feminist-issue satire? Well, this Western fantasy was a South Pacific fact of life. In Fiji, before 1995, big was beautiful and bigger was more beautiful -- and people really did flatter each other with exclamations about weight gain.

A low moon rests over the clear South Pacific freckled with black volcanic rocks as Fiji's remote Octopus Resort winds down another evening. Three four-person huts lighted only by glowing lanterns edge the white powder beach that seems to gleam in the night. It is barely 10 o'clock, and after dining on seaweed soup and freshly picked bananas dipped in sugar, then partying with the locals in their kava-drinking ritual, we prepare for sleep. As we gaze past the mosquito netting over our beds, we see the stars and foreign constellations of the Southern Hemisphere through our open windows and hear the hypnotizing rhythm of the ocean.

Survivor: Fiji comes careening to a close tomorrow night at 8 on CBS (WJZ, Channel 13). In some ways, it seems like this season has been going on forever. (Upon seeing the credits in Thursday's show, I was sure that Erica was from, like, two seasons ago, but no.) But in other ways, this season is just warming up - now that all the adversaries are gone, the allies are turning on one another. But we only have two more hours to see that all play out. I'm definitely looking forward to it.

To: Keith Richards From: A Concerned Fan Subject: Suggested Beach Activities Whoops is right. You gave us a scare with your tree-climbing stunt in Fiji. Who knows what inspired you - a 62-year-old former heroin addict who some claim died years ago (leaving only your skeleton to walk the earth) - to scale, then fall, from a coconut tree after reportedly enjoying both vodka and rum. You suffered a mild concussion and underwent an operation to drain blood from your head, and that's almost never a fun beach activity.

THE UNITED States should follow the lead of Australia in devising sanctions to compel Fiji to restore political rights to its people. Fiji is a Pacific island paradise with fewer than a million; it's north of New Zealand and southwest of Hawaii. Half or more of the Fijian population is descended from Melanesian and Polynesian seafarers who discovered the place centuries ago. Indo-Fijians, nearly half the population, are descended from Indians who immigrated to tend sugarcane a century ago. Ethnic Fijians dominate the poorer rural classes and ethnic Indians rule the commerce and better jobs.

It is always about Bud. It was always about Bud. And it will always be about Bud. Good thing Bud is a dummy. And good thing he's such a happy dummy. Otherwise Bud's wistful poker face, far-away eyes and stiff demeanor would try the patience of Job and anyone else who meets him. And Bud, a professional tourist who lives to sightsee, has met plenty of people, all of whom he so thoughtfully calls his new friends. The guy gets around -- he's in a perpetual state of summer vacation. But if you think Rehoboth, Whack-a-mole and boogie boarding are Bud's idea of vacation, think again.

BOSTON -- First of all, imagine a place women greet each other at the market with open arms, loving smiles and a cheerful exchange of ritual compliments:"You look wonderful! You've put on weight!"Does that sound like dialogue from fat fantasy land? Or a skit from fat-is-a-feminist-issue satire? Well, this Western fantasy was a South Pacific fact of life. In Fiji, before 1995, big was beautiful and bigger was more beautiful -- and people really did flatter each other with exclamations about weight gain.

Clinton urges U.N. to restart talks on curbing nuclear armsGENEVA -- Laying out his position for the world's "next major" disarmament treaty yesterday, President Clinton called on the United Nations to restart negotiations aimed at halting production of material for making nuclear bombs.John Holum, director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, said an agreement at the Conference on Disarmament, which he is attending, to limit production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium will help avoid a "runaway arms race in South Asia."

Striding in her special black walking shoes decorated with turquoise, pink and lime-green squares, 8-year-old Elizabeth Gardner was, literally, on her way to reaching a milestone. As she began the Save-A-Limb Ride's 1-mile family walk Saturday morning, Lizzie, as she is called by her family and friends, had to urge her grandfather to keep up. "C'mon, Pop-Pop!" she called. Lizzie was born with a rare genetic disorder known as TAR syndrome (TAR stands for "thrombocytopenia with absent radius")

Because he is openly gay, it appears that James Hormel, 62, a business executive, philanthropist and Democratic Party stalwart in San Francisco, will not be nominated by the Clinton administration as the next U.S. ambassador to Fiji.But just who is objecting to his homosexuality is harder to tell.The possibility was raised last fall that Mr. Hormel would be named to the post.In December, however, several newspapers reported that the White House was backing away from the nomination rather than face the probable opposition of Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C.

In my dreams, I am lying on a warm, white crescent of beach in the shade of towering palms as frothy surf crashes before me and the love of my life leans over with a soft kiss, an icy glass of champagne and sweet words of affection."

A low moon rests over the clear South Pacific freckled with black volcanic rocks as Fiji's remote Octopus Resort winds down another evening. Three four-person huts lighted only by glowing lanterns edge the white powder beach that seems to gleam in the night. It is barely 10 o'clock, and after dining on seaweed soup and freshly picked bananas dipped in sugar, then partying with the locals in their kava-drinking ritual, we prepare for sleep. As we gaze past the mosquito netting over our beds, we see the stars and foreign constellations of the Southern Hemisphere through our open windows and hear the hypnotizing rhythm of the ocean.