Pacific Region News
U.S. hid nukes on two Japanese Pacific islands.
WASHINGTON, D.C.–The United States secretly stored nuclear weapons on two Japanese Pacific islands, Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima, during the Cold War, according to a report in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists released Monday.
The islands, which remained under U.S. control after the end of World War II, became nuclear bases for the United States in the mid-1950s after President Dwight Eisenhower approved extensive nuclear deployments in the Pacific.
The report’s authors say their information is based on declassified Defense Department documents obtained in October.
Guam receives $11 million from Washington
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Guam’s delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Robert Underwood, has announced the release of $11 million in new funding to Guam by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The majority of the funding, $7.58 million, will help compensate Guam for social services and other costs related to hosting citizens from the Freely Associated States of Palau, the Marshall Islands and the Federates States of Micronesia.
The Micronesian citizens currently are permitted virtually unrestricted entry and residency in the United States and its territories.
Other funding provide by Interior includes $300,000 for marine research at the University of Guam and $3.3 million for resolution of Y2K related problems at the Guam Power Authority.
Indonesia’s president to visit PNG
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea—New Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has announced plans to visit neighboring Papua New Guinea later this month.
His goals are to meet new PNG Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta and be briefed on cross-border developments.
Indonesia’s easternmost province of Irian Jaya, where there is a strong independence movement, shares the island of New Guinea with Papua New Guinea.
Fiji Intelligence Service shreds files
SUVA, Fiji Islands—Home Affairs Minister Joji Uluinakauvadra has confirmed that personal files prepared and kept by the Fiji Intelligence Services were destroyed last week.
The files reportedly included Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry’s supposed involvement in the misuse of National Farmers Union funds. Other files allegedly dealt with the private lives of previous government office holders, some current Cabinet members and the majority of the current Parliament.
“Those files contained information that could be detrimental to those concerned and their families,” Uluinakauvadra said. “I don’t want members of the public to read all about their private lives and after hours activities if the files got into the wrong hands.”
Uluinakauvadra ordered the files destroyed.
