Articles Search

JOHNSTON ATOLL (October 31, 2000 - Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat)---The United States government has begun disposing the last batch of chemical weapons on Johnston Atoll in the mid-Pacific.

It will then take two years to dismantle the incinerators and buildings and thoroughly decontaminate the island before it becomes a permanent wildlife preserve.

The director of the facility, Gary McLoesky, said the final weapons being destroyed are 13,000 VX-nerve gas land mines.

"They (each) contain about 11 pounds of the chemical agent VX and about three quarters of a pound of explosives," he said.

"We’re doing a couple of hundred land mines, and we expect to (destroy) up to 300 to 400 mines a day.

"We expect the total operation to take about two months. That would put us around the end of November.

The JACADS facility is one of the safest industrial facilities in the United States, he said.

"We have an excellent safety record," he said. "Our...

SUVA, Fiji Islands (October 31, 2000 - Fiji's Daily Post/PINA Nius Online)---Pacific Islands Forum leaders have welcomed the efforts and commitment of Fiji's interim administration to return the country to democracy, a government statement said yesterday.

It said island leaders succeeded in blocking efforts by New Zealand and Australia to issue a declaration that would give them a regional framework to justify and legitimatize their smart sanctions against Fiji and strengthen Commonwealth group actions against Fiji.

The statement said Interim Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase yesterday briefed the Forum leaders on his efforts to secure law and order, return Fiji to democratic rule by 2002 and rehabilitate Fiji's economy.

It said Mr. Qarase had the support of the other island leaders, notably the Melanesian Spearhead Group and members from Micronesia. The Biketawa Declaration issued by the Forum leaders reflected the position advocated by Fiji and the overwhelming...

APIA, Samoa (October 31, 2000 - Samoa Observer/PINA Nius Online)---The Samoan government has set up a "task force" to deal with false declarations in shipping documents, smuggling and illegal shipments. It is made up of the Minister of Transport as Chairman, Mr. Joe Keil, Comptroller of Customs Fuimaono Pou Te‘o, Commissioner of Police Asi James Blakelock, Secretary for Transport Vaaelua Nofo, other government officials and representatives of airlines and shipping companies.

This was confirmed by the management of the Samoa Shipping Corporation.

It said the task force was formed following the discovery of an attempt to smuggle cigarettes to American Samoa on October 18. It said when accepting cargo for the vessel Lady Naomi’s trip to American Samoa that day, shipping officers became suspicious of two consignments. "One shipment contained three repacks declared as books," the corporation said. "The other was declared as handicrafts. Both consignments were opened in the...

BOOK REVIEW

By Michael J. Field Commissioned by the Wellington Evening Post

By Margaret Hixon
University of Otago Press
NZ$ 49.95

It is a curious thing about Tonga that outsiders can became sycophantic cheerleaders for the royal family.

Scholarship is replaced with gushiness, mixing tropical paradise tourism writing with patronizing insight into culture.

Queen Salote (1900-1965) developed many myths when she was alive and has come close to deification since death. It came to an end last year with Queen Salote of Tonga by Elizabeth Wood-Ellem, a remarkable piece of work from a woman born in the kingdom who put 25 years of work into her book.

Hixon has come along a year later with her biography that follows a first visit to Tonga in 1987.

The author, the publishers say, "was encouraged to write this book by the Tongan royal family," a way of saying this new book is the "official" account.

In 1918 influenza...