Fiji newspaper criticizes Council Of Chiefs<\/p>\n
SUVA, Fiji (PIR) — The Fiji Times criticized the Great Council of Chiefs for its failure to name a national president after a two-day meeting last week.<\/p>\n
The newspaper said the council risks being seen as an “archaic body with little relevance to modern-day Fiji.”<\/p>\n
In an editorial headed “Chiefs Divided,” the newspaper also praised acting President Ratu Josefa Iloilo for putting the national interest first since last year’s attempted coup.<\/p>\n
The council’s decision to name a president was deferred until Tuesday – two days before Iloilo’s term expires.<\/p>\n
Cook Islands examines Suwarrow dev’t plan<\/p>\n
AVARUA, Cook Islands (PIR) — The government is considering an Australian company’s proposal to develop the uninhabited Suwarrow atoll, an important breeding area in the Pacific for sea birds and endangered turtles and crabs.<\/p>\n
The company wants to lease part of the atoll to establish a fish processing plant and black pearl farm in the lagoon.<\/p>\n
The development calls for at least 100 workers to live on the atoll.<\/p>\n
Environmental groups say any development on Suwarrow would destroy its natural habitat.<\/p>\n
West Papua refugees flee after police attack<\/p>\n
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PIR) — A number of West Papuan refugees living in a camp near Vanimo fled their settlement after being attacked by Papua New Guinea police.<\/p>\n
The attack left two people hospitalized and 13 others with various injuries.<\/p>\n
The Catholic Church, who is looking after the refugees, said about 20 of the estimated 400 refugees in the settlement went into hiding following the clash.<\/p>\n
Human rights activists say thousands of people have died in fighting between Indonesian security forces and West Papuans seeking independence.<\/p>\n
A. Samoa soda importers oppose new levy<\/p>\n
PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (PIR) — The cost of a can of imported soda could increase to $1, under a proposal now before the territorial House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
The legislation calls for the increase of the soda import tax from the current 4 cents to 15 cents a can.<\/p>\n
Soda importers are protesting the proposed law, saying that lawmakers overlooked holding public hearings on the issue.<\/p>\n
The group said soda consumption will drop, thus forcing lay-offs and increased unemployment in the territory.<\/p>\n
Warning on killing baby dugongs in PNG<\/p>\n
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PIR) — Western Province residents are being reminded that it is illegal to kill baby dugongs.<\/p>\n
Despite being listed on the endangered species list, the sea mammals continue to be killed for commercial purposes, officials said.<\/p>\n
It’s estimated about five dugongs are killed each week.<\/p>\n
The Environment and Conservation Department said lack of funds make it difficult to enforce the ban.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fiji newspaper criticizes Council Of Chiefs SUVA, Fiji (PIR) — The Fiji Times criticized the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56601\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}