Solomons airport under 24-hour surveillance

HONIARA, Solomon Islands—Henderson International Airport outside the capital now is under 24-hour police surveillance, following recent shootouts between feuding ethnic groups at the end of the runway.

The general manager of Solomon Airlines, Gideon Zoloveke, Jr., said normal flight operations in and out of the country will continue, although the “situation is being monitored by the hour.”

Meanwhile, Guadalcanal militants, who have set up a base closer to the capital, have told police they do not intend moving into Honiara.

Isatambu Freedom Movement leaders said they have stepped up patrols to protect Guadalcanal people and property from attacks by militants from neighboring Malaita.

Cook Is. population thinning

RAROTONGA, Cook Islands—The nation’s resident population has dropped from 20,000 in 1994 to a current total of just over 15,000.

With government downsizing, many Cook Islanders have migrated to Australia and New Zealand, where they are permitted virtually unrestricted access, for jobs.

Chamber of Commerce head Don Beer said work now are available in the Cooks, particularly in the visitor industry, but there is an insufficient local labor pool.

The key to getting former citizens to return home, he said, is for the government to provide good health care and educational opportunities.

Pacific Ocean cooling easing

WASHINGTON, D.C.—La Niña, the Pacific Ocean cooling that has been disrupting weather for months, is finally easing.

Researchers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Washington, who have been studying satellite and ocean buoy readings, say La Niña has disappeared in the eastern Pacific Ocean and is rapidly easing over the remainder.

The deputy director of the U.S. Weather Service Climate Prediction Center, Jim Laver, said La Niña should be neutralized by the end of the year.

Niue free trips?

ALOFI, Niue—Opposition parliamentarians have accused the government of giving some of the country’s overseas supporters a free trip back to the island.

The government flew 25 Niueans from Australia and New Zealand to Niue for a United Nations conference on biodiversity last week.

But lawmakers said some of the people selected to attend the conference have no experience in the biodiversity field and are either affiliated with Niue’s ruling party or have family ties to government officials.

One of the participants was Premier Sani Lakatani’s mother.

Railway eyed in Tahiti

PAPEETE, French Polynesia—The government is considering building a railway between the capital, Papeete, and Taravao, 37 miles away.

Officials said constructing a railway would be less costly and require less land than building a road. Travel along the railway also would be much faster than by road and would help boost development in remote areas of Tahiti, they said.

The railway project is estimated to cost $77 million, according to a preliminary feasibility study. (Pacific Islands Report)