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FIJI WOMEN’S GROUP SUPPORTS TONGAN STRIKE

SUVA, Fiji (Fijilive, Aug. 31) - Tonga’s civil servants, who are into the sixth week of a strike, have found an ally in the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement.

FWRM spokeswoman Anna Padarath said they were organizing support for the workers who have been on strike over wages.

"The support is because most of those on strike are women and children," she said. "We have started to collect donations for food and such, which has already started to show our support."

She said they were not planning any marches yet because of the difficulty in obtaining march permits.

Radio Australia reports all striking civil servants from other islands in Tonga are ready to gather in the capital, Nuku’alofa, this weekend to prepare for another march next week.

The strike organizers say similar solidarity marches will be held simultaneously in Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu and New Zealand next week.

The Tongan government says it's...

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Solomon Star, Aug. 31) - Two more men suspected of stealing money belonging to the people of Solomon Islands Western Province were arrested and charged yesterday in Gizo.

Joseph Douglas, former adviser to premier Clement Base and Alfred Dio Kaehuna, an ex-finance minister of the province, were charged in relation to an alleged fraud involving Western Provincial Government logging licenses.

Base, who was premier in the last Western Provincial Government, was arrested earlier last Thursday over the same matter.

Yesterday investigators from the RSIP/PPF Joint Corruption Task Force traveled to the Western Province where they interviewed and arrested Douglas and Kaehuna.

Both men appeared in the Magistrates Court in Gizo on charges of official corruption and conversion totaling more than SB$86,000.

Police alleged that between 28 June 2002 and 28 July 2004, Douglas obtained logging license fees of SB$70,600 that were due to the...

By John Ravelo

SAIPAN, CNMI (Saipan Tribune, Sept. 1) – Tropical storm Nabi intensified into a typhoon and slammed into the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands around noon yesterday with 105mph winds.

Preliminary reports indicate that Saipan escaped major damage, besides some fallen trees, a few damaged homes, and an islandwide power blackout.

At least 564 people took refuge at emergency shelters. Inter-island and international flights were cancelled, stranding hundreds of passengers.

Weather forecasters expect Nabi to further intensify to near-supertyphoon-strength. As of press time, the Emergency Management Office said damage assessment is still being conducted, but it said that there were reports of damaged homes in Dandan.

[PIR editor’s note: Meanwhile, the storm left up to five inches of rain in some areas of neighboring Guam but little damage was reported.]

Heavy rainfall associated with the typhoon caused flooding in various...

PAPEETE, Tahiti (Tahitipresse, Aug. 31) – Papeete’s Administrative Tribunal issued its first decision yesterday in the hotly debated French Polynesia Assembly attempt to probe the effects of France’s nuclear testing, by dismissing an opposition appeal to suspend an inquiry commission.

The ruling considered that the "elements calendar" proposed by Gaston Flosse’s opposition Tahoeraa Huiraatira party are not decisive in this case. The ruling also said a letter sent to five Tahoeraa Assembly members appointed to the inquiry commission was not threatening.

Other appeals filed by Flosse’s party and the French State dealing with suspending the inquiry as well as the inquiry’s background remain to be decided by the court, according to a judicial source.

The French High Commissioner’s office in Papeete and Flosse’s party have launched legal action to block the Temaru government’s inquiry into the effects of France’s 41 atmospheric nuclear tests between 1966 and 1974 on...