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By Fili Sagapolutele

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (September 26, 2002 – Samoa News)---The High Court's Land and Titles Division has denied a motion for DNA testing to prove blood ties to a chiefly title.

The motion for DNA testing was filed on June 27 by attorney Arthur Ripley Jr., on behalf of his client Akapo Kofe Akapo, one of the claimants for the matai title "Ava" from the village of Pavaiai.

Akapo had asked for the tests to prove testimony by claimant Lufilufi Peneuta "for purposes of affirming or disaffirming her claim to being a descendant of former title holder Ava Tulifaga," said court documents.

The DNA test was requested after "the close of evidence and pending the parties filing of written final arguments."

The motion specifically asks the court for an "order requiring DNA testing of certain individuals to ascertain whether they are descended from Tulifaga and/or Vili, as per their sworn testimony in the trial of this matter."

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By Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno

HAGÅTÑA, Guam (October 1, 2002 - Pacific Daily News)---Even as West Coast cargo ports were shut down again yesterday over a labor dispute, an official for a major ocean carrier said ships still can make their weekly deliveries to Guam.

It takes about two weeks to move cargo by sea to Guam from the West Coast, where about 80 percent of Guam's food supplies and as much as 95 percent of all off-island merchandise pass through, island industry people have said.

Mar Labrador, Guam general manager for shipper CSX Lines, said with the two-week window, a brief work stoppage lasting two days, for example, gives an ocean carrier time to adjust so that a weekly port call isn't missed.

''So at this point there is no risk in missing a weekly call,'' Labrador said. The scenario to worry about, he added, is if the labor standoff drags on.

John Smith, store manager at Cost-U-Less, said island stores replenish perishable food items...

SUVA, Fiji Islands (October 1, 2002 – Daily Post)---It will be another quiet Diwali this year with the government deciding not to lift a ban on fireworks.

Although the Minister for Commerce, Tomasi Vuetilovoni, said firecrackers could be used for special events once permission was granted, there will still be no firecrackers this Diwali.

"The ban is still there, no firecrackers ... that is the decision," he said.

Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, will be celebrated on November 4.

It is celebrated by Hindus worldwide to mark the triumph over good and evil when the Lord Rama returned from exile after 14 years.

Mr. Vuetilovoni said the legal notice that was recently gazetted "is to allow people to be made aware of what type of crackers could be imported into the country and this did not mean the ban was lifted."

However, police sources yesterday said after the May 2000 coup a fireworks ban had been put in place because it would be hard to...

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (September 30, 2002 - SIBC/PINA Nius Online)---A Bougainvillean women's peace worker has called on Solomon Islands women to impress on men the detrimental effects of lawlessness.

Susan Akoitai, wife of a Bougainvillean MP Sam Akoitai, was invited to speak during Women's Week in Honiara, which coincided with September’s craft market.

Mrs. Akoitai urged wives, mothers and sisters to talk to their husbands, sons and brothers about their feelings, that war is ugly and that it must be prevented.

Law and order must not be lost, said Mrs. Akoitai, who survived the deadly secessionist conflict on Bougainville and has been a leading worker on women’s and children's issues since

Mrs. Akoitai thanked the government and people of the Solomon Islands for their role in the restoration of peace on Bougainville.

She also expressed thanks to the people of the Solomon Islands for looking after displaced Bougainvilleans, who crossed into the...