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HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Solomon Star, Feb. 28) – A member of the Royal Solomon Islands Police, Martin Fini, has been charged with a number of serious offences, including arson and intimidation.

Constable Martin Fini, who was suspended from active duty a year ago, was arrested in Honiara on Thursday night. He appeared in the Honiara Magistrates Court last Friday charged with two counts of arson, three counts of intimidation, one count of demanding property with menace and one count of willful and unlawful damage or destruction.

The court heard that on the morning of December 23, 2001, Mr Fini allegedly removed a police vehicle without permission from the Auki Police Station in Malaita and later damaged another police vehicle.

It was also alleged that on March 5, 2002, Mr Fini and two other men fired shots from the street, hitting the Foodland Restaurant in Auki.

Police alleged that a number of bystanders were threatened at this time.

Mr Fini and...

MAJURO, Marshall Islands (Yokwe Online, Feb. 28) - Minister in Assistance to the President, Witten T. Philippo, formally announced last week in the Nitijela the appointment of Bobby Muller as the new Republic of the Marshall Islands Chief Secretary.

During the Cabinet’s meeting last week, the Commissioners of the Public Service Commission formally submitted their appointment to President Kessai H. Note and the members of the Cabinet.

During a special meeting Friday morning in the President’s Office, President Note thanked the former Chief Secretary Phillip K. Kabua and welcomed Chief Secretary Bobby Muller. "Chief Secretary Muller will be filling ‘big shoes,’" said President Note. "He is capable and the Cabinet is confident with the Public Service Commissions’ appointment. On behalf of the Government, I thank Ambassador Phillip Kabua for his years of service and welcome Chief Secretary Muller."

Muller started his career with the Government in 1991 as an...

MELBOURNE, Australia (Radio Australia, Mar. 1) – The 1,400 people of Tokelau are faced with a massive clean-up job in the wake of Cyclone Percy, which has been described as the worst to hit the islands in living memory.

The island's administrator, Neil Walters, happened to be in Tokelau on business when the cyclone struck, coinciding with "king tides" that swamped the islands under up to a meter of sea water.

After a similar cyclone in 1966, much of Tokelau's population was relocated to New Zealand, as many traditional fale houses were destroyed.

But Mr Walters says that is unlikely to happen this time, and plans are already being made to rebuild.

"That's going to be pretty daunting, but again, people here are tough and resilient and they'll get on with it," he said. "We'll send up maintenance teams, whatever is needed to supplement what they've got here."

A ship carrying the first emergency supplies is not expected to arrive in Tokelau until the...

SUVA, Fiji (Fiji Times, Feb. 28) - Yaqona (kava) farmers on the island of Vanua Levu in Fiji should plant yaqona for the international market rather than the local market, said Fiji Kava Council representative Apolosi Vularomo.

Vularomo, the council’s lone representative on the northern island, has been visiting a number of villages in Macuata and Bua urging them to plant for the international market rather than the local market.

He said the international market would be open in either June or July to six big countries in the world.

"I have been telling them to plant for the international market so they can meet the demands of countries wanting to buy yaqona from Fiji," he said.

Vularomo said he had sought the assistance of the Ministry of Agriculture in the North on ways yaqona farmers could be assisted. The Ministry has developed a new system where yaqona and root crop farmers could be assisted. It has issued forms for farmers to fill out on the...