Government
Government
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Region Pacific Island Forum leaders meeting in Auckland in mid-August were told that it is too soon to say if sea level rise is actually an established fact and a potentially serious problem, Radio Australia reported. Tuvalu's government, however, is looking at transporting its entire population overseas. Bill Mitchell, director of Australia's National Tidal Facility, says their monitoring equipment has only been measuring sea levels around the Pacific for 10 years. He says he is reluctant to ring alarm bells yet. - ADVERTISEMENT - -GJ The Australian government's "Pacific Solution" to the problem of illegal immigrants seeking refugee status will see additional numbers of detainees released from offshore detention centers in the islands. To date more than 700 applicants processed on Nauru and PNG's Manus Island have been resettled in other countries. Australia had also offered to take its fair share of refugees. Minister for Immigration Philip Ruddock says these numbers will be increased to include refugees who have no third country option available to them. -ND Asian Development Bank's President Tadao Chino signed a host country agreement in August to establish ADB's Pacific Subregional Office in Suva, Fiji. The acting Prime Minister Ratu Jone Kubuabola earlier signed the Host Country Agreement in Suva, following approval from the Fiji Cabinet. The Suva office is scheduled to open in February 2004. -SW The University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies was recently notified that it has been awarded US$3.7 million as one of three National Resource Centers for the Department of Education. "Having one National Resource Center at your university is considered a sign of international standing. Being awarded three NRCs places us in the upper tier of international programs in the country," says SHAPS Interim Dean Edgar Porter. Some $939,000 of the funds will go to the Center for Pacific Islands Studies. Pacific Islands Studies Director David Hanlon says the SHAPS grant "affirms the university's expertise in Asia Pacific studies." -SW Marshall Islands A Marshall Islands jury of three women and one man in July found the former comptroller of the College of the Marshall Islands guilty of stealing $393,735.17. The jury took two days to reach the verdict against Louiston Louis. Delivery of the verdict was punctuated with uncertainty when one of the jurors said she didn't agree with all of the guilty verdicts after the jury had turned in its original decision that had found former comptroller guilty of 74 of 98 counts of grand larceny and cheating. He was charged with stealing a total of $641,600.80. The final guilty count was 64 charges out of 98. -GJ Marshall Islands and Republic of China (Taiwan) officials signed an agreement in late July to expand promotion of agriculture efforts in the Marshall Islands. ROC Ambassador Lien-Gene Chen and Resources and Development Minister John Silk signed the agreement that will establish an "agriculture production and development fund" to be managed by a joint ROC/Marshall Islands committee. The aim is to use funds generated by sales of fruits and vegetables from the established ROC agriculture mission on Majuro to fund equipment, supplies, seeds, fertilizer and other needs to assist local farmers to develop farms. -GJ Palau After several months of wrangling, delayed promises, legislative riders and amendments, President Tommy E. Remengesau, Jr. and the Olbiil Era Kelulau, Palau's National Congress, agreed on a bill to provide supplemental funding for government operations. The bill includes the reinstatement of previous cuts in the so-called "sin taxes" on alcohol and tobacco that has been a major bone of contention-with the president demanding reinstatement and the Congress failing to act after repeatedly promising to do so. Remengesau signed the bill on July 3 expecting immediate implementation of the taxes; at the end of July the tax was still not in place. The treasury was estimated to be losing $100,000 per month in the meantime. -NC Guam Juan Flores has been selected as the new superintendent of the Guam Department of Education. He was one of 12 candidates. Education board chairwoman Rosa Salas Plomo said Flores, who currently lives in Portland, Ore., has accepted the position, but a start date has not been set. According to the Pacific Daily News, Flores is originally from Guam, has worked as a teacher and school administrator on Guam and the U.S. mainland. Board member Frank Toves told PDN that, "Paperwise, he was the most qualified, and in the interview, hands down, his performance was way above the other candidates." -SW and PDN The University of Guam settled employment discrimination lawsuits filed by 11 former employees in the mid-1990s. The complainants-who are Filipino American, African American, American Indian and Caucasian-claimed UOG discriminated against them on the basis of their race and national origin. The university denies the allegations, but worked with the U.S. Department of Justice for a resolution. Under the terms of the agreement the university will pay the complainants a total of $775,000, implement new policies against discrimination and retaliation, and train its supervisors in legal nondiscrimination requirements. -FW FSM Dr. Vida Skilling, a Kosrae State pediatrician and nutritionist, is promoting the Micronesian One Diet Feeds All Today prescription for people with diet related illnesses. This is part of a program with Kosrae Diabetes Today, which is promoting a lifestyle oriented to a traditional diet, and away from the sugar-laden, high-fat, salt and chemical ridden foods that dominate diets in the islands. The MODFAT prescription is essentially a local food diet plan, its menu coming from the plentiful foods that exist in the sea, rivers, mangroves, swamps, and mountains of Kosrae. -OW
Samoa The ruling Human Rights Protection Party has firm control of the Samoan Parliament, with 32 of the 49 seats, after a by-election on Aug. 1 in the Alataua West district. Tuaiaufai Latu won with 560 votes. His victory sees HRPP win the district's constituency at last. Both previous MPs, who died while in office, had been members of the opposition Samoa National Development Party. -FS A total of 15 Samoa police officers will serve as peacekeepers in the Solomon Islands. Australia, which heads the operation, had originally asked for 45 officers from Samoa. Newly appointed Police Commissioner Papalii L. Neru told state-run television that the selection of officers favors those with expertise in circumstances that existed in East Timor. -FS French Polynesia French Polynesia is to have a second senator in the French Senate in 2007, following the passing of two bills by the French National Assembly in Paris. The bills, already passed in the Senate, have now become acts of law. French Polynesia's pro-autonomy majority, Tahoeraa Huiraatira, had requested a second seat in the Senate by 2004 so that reforms could be more quickly implemented and French Polynesia could keep up with New Caledonia's representation. The senatorial mandate was shortened from nine to six years. One half instead of one third of the Senate will be renewed every three years. The minimum eligibility age has been reduced from 35 to 30 years old and the total number of senators goes up from 321 to 346. -ND There was a 7.6 percent decrease in petty crime in the French Territory for the first half of 2003, compared with the same period last year, according to figures released by the territorial government. The lower incidence was attributed to the reorganization of the Department of Public Security, for which an additional 35 policemen were signed up. Offenses in public places fell by 18.56 per cent. However, cases of petty crimes involving teenagers rose slightly. The highest rate of petty crimes was recorded in the territory's two main islands, Tahiti and Moorea, which together accounted for 77.9 per cent of the total. There were also fewer road accidents compared with the same period in 2002, the majority of them committed by drivers who simply ignored traffic rules, but more drivers were contributing to accidents by using mobile phones while driving. -ND New Caledonia French President Jacques Chirac's criticism of the inclusion of questions concerning ethnic origin in a New Caledonia population census about to take place recently has resulted in the census being postponed until mid-2004. Chirac described references to ethnic origin in the questionnaire as "irresponsible and illegal." Census official Gabriel Gamblin said that the territorial government had not been consulted on the "modalities" of the census. However, another official said that the question related to the better distribution of resources between the capital Noumea (predominantly European) and the provinces (predominantly Melanesian). Chirac, visiting New Caledonia for the first time since 1987, when he was PM in the government of Francois Mitterand, said that reference to ethnic origin in official documents was "outrageous." -ND CNMI The CNMI lifted its ban on travelers from China on July 11 and on travelers from Taiwan on July 19. The ban was removed because Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is no longer considered a threat. The ban prevented the entry of new garment factory workers and other industry-related officials from China and Hong Kong. Charter flights from China's Guangzhou province with customers for the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino resumed July 18. The ban and concerns about SARS were blamed for a 33 percent drop in the number of visitor arrivals for June as compared with June 2002. Also in June, hotel room occupancy rate dropped to about 50 percent, the lowest since 1993 when figures were first compiled. -FW |
