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PACIFIC BRIEFS
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Posted on Jan 03 2001
Falling objects hit Tahiti
PAPE’ETE, French Polynesia – An object believed to be a meteorite or satellite debris has struck a remote area in the center of French Polynesia’s mountainous main island of Tahiti.
The AFP news agency reported that homes along the island’s western coast were shaken when the falling object landed. Witnesses said it exploded with a blinding white light.
The Polynesian Geophysics Laboratory is conducting an investigation.
Taiwan to help fund Nauru’s private sector
YARE, Nauru – Taiwan will provide $ 2.25 million during 2001 to help develop the island republic’s private sector, President Bernard Dowiyogo announced during the opening of the country’s new Business Advisory Center.
The center has been established to help direct Nauru’s economy away from reliance on the island’s once lucrative, but now almost depleted phosphate deposits.
We’re really sorry, Fiji soldiers say
SUVA, Fiji Islands – An army officer who led troops in an attempted mutiny at Fiji Military Headquarters last November 2 has written a letter from prison seeking forgiveness.
Captain Shane Stevens, in the letter addressed to military commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama, said, “We admit we were wrong and we regret what we did. We made a bad move and we beg you for your mercy, love and forgiveness.”
Eight soldiers were killed and others seriously wounded in the gun battle between those loyal to the commander and the members of a now disbanded elite counter revolutionary warfare unit.
Rough year for small Pacific airlines
ALOFI, Niue – Small national air carriers in the Pacific, such as Royal Tongan Airlines, face a turbulent year ahead, said Center for Asia Pacific Aviation director Peter Harbison.
The double whammy of fuel price hikes and a stronger U.S. dollar will squeeze discretionary Pacific area travelers’ dollars and make 2001 a difficult year for the visitor industry, he said.
Harbison recommended that smaller airlines code share and join global aviation alliances or face a serious erosion of their current market revenue. (Pacific Islands Report)
