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SUVA, Fiji (Oceania Flash, April 30) - A group of disgruntled
users and traditional land owners on Tuesday blockaded a second airstrip in New
Caledonia's Loyalty Islands group, RFO's Télé-Nouvelle-Calédonie reports.

The move is again motivated by a proposed increase in domestic
airline Air Calédonie (AirCal) ticket prices.

The company says the increase, about US$2 per ticket, is
necessary to keep up with increased costs.

For the past ten days, the small airstrip in Maré Island, La
Roche, has been paralyzed by picketing.

On Tuesday, on neighboring Lifou Island, the airstrip of Wanaham
was also blockaded.

Lifou is the Loyalties' largest island and it generates some 47
percent of AirCal passenger and cargo traffic.

AirCal's ATR-42 plane, once it landed early in the morning, was
forced to stay by a group of locals, including high chiefs, who sat on the
tarmac.

They said it already...

SUVA, Fiji (Oceania Flash, April 30) - Some fifty Wallis natives
residing in France took part in weekend celebrations marking the bicentenary of
Saint Pierre Chanel in his home village of Cuet ,RFO's
Télé-Nouvelle-Calédonie reports.

In the French Pacific territories of New Caledonia, home to
20,000 Wallisians and Futunians, and in Wallis and Futuna, massive celebrations
are scheduled later this year.

They will include a show dedicated to the life of the priest and
culminate on July 12 with a church service to be conducted by Nouméa archbishop
Pierre-Marie Calvet.

In France, pilgrimages are to be organized in several key
locations to "walk the steps of Saint Pierre Chanel".

Pierre-Louis-Marie Chanel was born on July 12, 1803 in the tiny
hamlet of Cuet in the Bresse region of France, which has now become a landmark
for all Wallisians and Futunians traveling to France.

In 1837, after...

MELBOURNE, Australia (Radio Australia, May 1) - Australia is
warning its citizens to avoid traveling to Papua New Guinea's Southern Highlands
during a re-run of last year's elections.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has updated its travel advice
for PNG, warning there is the possibility of increased tension and violence
during, or shortly after, the election period.

Fresh elections are being held in six seats where results were
abandoned during last year's general election due to violence and cheating.

The department says while a number of weapons have been
surrendered in the lead up to the elections, there are still many at large in
the community.

It says non-essential travel to the province should be deferred
during and shortly after the election period.

The travel advice says if Australians must go to the province,
then large gatherings and travel at night should be avoided.

May 1,...

HAGATNA, Guam (Pacific Daily News, May 1) - The United States
yesterday signed a new compact with the Republic of the Marshall Islands,
according to the republic's foreign minister.

The new agreement, which was renegotiated to replace an older
compact, provides the Marshall Islands with economic assistance for the next 20
years. The new agreement also establishes a trust fund that can be used after
the U.S. grant assistance ends in 2023.

The compact allows migrants from the Marshall Islands to move
freely within the United States and its territories. Many islanders migrate for
economic or health reasons.

A 1986 compact between the Marshall Islands and the United
States established a $150 million trust fund to repair some damage caused by
U.S. nuclear tests in the 1940s and '50s that have left a trail of illness and
contamination on the islands.

"As we have learned throughout our own history, our...