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By Giff Johnson

MAJURO, Marshall Islands (Marianas Variety, Oct. 31) — The capital of the Marshall Islands has run out of rice for the third time this year and residents on remote islands are "screaming" for rice deliveries.

Thousands of people lined up at the only grocery store that still had a few bags of rice to sell Thursday but until the end of next week, when the next shipment of rice arrives from Australia, it’s potatoes and bread for this rice-eating nation.

While virtually all Majuro stores ran out of rice earlier in the week, remote outer islands have been flat out of rice for weeks.

The next big delivery of rice is expected in Majuro on Nov. 3.

Local retail officials said they believed that the increasing population in the nation’s capital — which has a population of more than 25,000 — and unexpectedly large bulk orders of rice from some outer island communities wiped out the rice supply in local stores this month.

Payless Majuro...

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PNG Post-Courier, Oct. 28) – Competing telecom companies must be allowed to operate in Papua New Guinea because the country’s monopoly, Telikom PNG, is not "trustworthy," says Eastern Highlands Governor Mal Kela-Smith.

Mr Smith made this call in Parliament yesterday while highlighting the tendering process of broadband communication licences.

He called on Deputy Prime Minister Moi Avei to ensure that this issue was discussed during the next National Executive Council (NEC) meeting.

"The people demand that the NEC advises the Independent Consumer and Competition Commission, Pangtel and Telikom that broadband communication licences will be permitted to any applicant for a period of two years or until Telikom can provide that service at a competitive rate, and I think that will be pretty tough and we will all change back to Telikom," he said.

Mr Smith also called on the NEC to give its blessing to Eastern Highlands Province...

SUVA. Fiji (Fiji Times, Oct. 30) – An Australian tourist was mugged last week by five men who left him with a bad experience.

Ken Osborne, a retiree, had been to Fiji 58 times, including twice this year.

Fiji was his getaway from the hustle and bustle in the Land Down Under but this visit turned nasty.

The men took Mr Osborne's wallet with $350 and a gold watch while he was going to have dinner at a restaurant in Martintar, Nadi on Wednesday night.

Mr Osborne said the restaurant was opposite the hotel he stayed in.

"My leg is swollen from the terrible encounter," he said.

Despite the attack, Mr Osborne said he will return next year.

"I've been here a lot and the good memories drown the terror I went through."

Mr Osborne said he came to Fiji because he liked the people, way of life and weather.

"I fell in love with this place and will keep coming, no matter what."

Mr Osborne said he was aware of tourists robbed...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (RNZI, Oct. 30) – An estimated 2,500 people in French Polynesia have met at the tomb of Tahiti’s King Pomare V as part of a push to set up a customary senate.

The meeting was attended by descendants of the Tahitian royal families as well as delegations from Hawaii, Easter Island, New Caledonia and the Cook Islands.

A spokesman, Joinville Pomare, says he has appealed to the chiefs to find a solution to today’s problems.

He has listed as a priority the land question, which he has described as a recurring problem.

Although the Kingdom of Tahiti ceded France key powers in a treaty signed 1880, land matters were retained by the Tahitian royalty.

A descendant of Tahiti’s Queen Pomare IV, Tauatomo Mairau, who claims to be the sole heir to the Tahitian crown, has said the proposed creation of a customary council is just politics.

October 31, 2005

Radio New Zealand International:...