PACIFIC BRIEFS

bFiji Chiefs name president

SUVA, Fiji (PIR) — The Great Council of Chiefs has appointed Ratu Josefa Iloilo as president. Ratu Jope Seniloli was appointed vice president

Iloilo, whose term as acting president was due to expire Thursday, was chosen by more than 50 chiefs who gathered amid tight security at an army barracks on the outskirts of the capital.

The appointment is the first major step towards restoring constitutional government in Fiji after a nationalist coup ousted the country’s first ethnic Indian-led government last May.

Major drop in PNG crime continues

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PIR) — Violent crimes, including armed robbery, rape and murder, have dropped significantly throughout the nation during the past three months, Police Commissioner John Wakon announced.

He attributed the decline to increased community cooperation with the police.

Wakon said highway robberies also had been reduced significantly because of an increased police presence, including walking patrols.

Russia arranges Mir Pacific splashdown insurance

MOSCOW, Russia (PIR) — Russia’s space agency has arranged a $200 million insurance package for its MIR space station splashdown project.

The Interfax news agency quotes an agency spokesman as saying that the insurance is to provide compensation in the event the space station should fail to splash down safely in the Pacific Ocean later this month.

Space officials said MIR now is scheduled to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere over an uninhabited part of the South Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and Chile on March 20.

Guam arrivals up 2 percent in February

HAGATNA, Guam (PIR) — Tourist arrivals posted a modest 2 percent growth last month following a dramatic increase of 25 percent in January, compared to 2000.

February’s minimal growth in visitor arrivals from Japan, the territory’s primary visitor market, occurred around the same time reports about Japan’s faltering economy started to surface.

A total of 236,784 tourists have visited Guam during the first two months of 2001, up 14 percent from January and February last year, the Guam Visitors Bureau announced.

Plans to bring snow to Moorea

PAPE’ETE, French Polynesia (PIR) — Several entrepreneurs are planning to bring artificial snow to Moorea and establish a ski run.

Professional skiers André Leplus and Lina Huan said, “It is no longer a planned project, it is something real.”

A private company, Polarsnow, will provide the artificial snow, made of air, liquid nitrogen and water.

The estimated cost of the tourism development project is $78,000.