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By Fili Sagapolutele

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (The Samoa News, Dec. 23) - Former deputy director of the Department of Human and Social Services (DHSS) Patolo Mageo has begun serving his 15-month prison term at the federal detention center (FDC) in Honolulu, located next to the Honolulu International Airport.

Mageo surrendered at the FDC-Honolulu on November 29, as required by provisions of his sentence, handed down October 18 by U.S. District Court Judge Helen Gillmor at the federal court in Honolulu.

Mageo had originally requested to serve the jail term at the federal jail in Sherdian, Oregon or the one in Taft, California while Judge Gillmor suggested FDC Honolulu so the defendant could be close to his family in Hawaii and American Samoa.

Federal electronic court records indicate that the judgment for Mageo's imprisonment was served November 29 at FDC, where the former American Samoa Government official will serve 15 months for his role in a...

By Mark-Alexander Pieper

HAGATNA, Guam (Pacific Daily News, Dec. 28) – A woman, one of the five Chinese nationals arrested on charges of trying to sneak into Guam in August, was sentenced to serve almost four months in a U.S. federal prison, if she isn't deported.

U.S. District Court Judge Joaquin Manibusan yesterday sentenced Chinese national Liu Mei Liu, 41, to serve 112 days in prison followed by a year of supervised release and 100 hours of community service, said Rose Clark of the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Liu in September pleaded guilty to attempting to illegally enter the United States through Guam, when she along with four others allegedly rode to Guam from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands on a 22-foot motorboat that landed on a beach near the Guam National Wildlife Refuge at Ritidian Point in Yigo.

She was arrested with Ming Chen, with whom she was found, and Xiao Feng Lin, Xian Mei Yu, and Su Hua Yin - who were also on the boat....

Editorial

Pacific Daily News

HAGATNA, Guam (Dec. 28) – A program within the Guam Public School System aims to train and prepare students for vocational fields, such as construction trades, tourism, health care and telecommunications.

The Passport-to-Careers program offers students practical, hands-on training and experience over the summer and during school breaks, with an aim to offer year-round employment experiences. It's a cooperative effort involving the school system, several government agencies and the business community. It's a good program, but we need to take it further.

Many employers have said that Guam's work force lacks even basic skills. Expanding vocational training in the public schools will help improve the quality of our work force. A better vocational program in our high schools means more workers who not only have the basic skills employers require, but real experience and hands-on training as well.

It's critical that we once...

By Lora Lini

PORT VILA, Vanuatu (Vanuatu Daily Post, Dec. 24) – The Government of Vanuatu has been ordered by the Supreme Court of Vanuatu to stop the issuing of any licenses to any party other than the Telecom Vanuatu Ltd.

Supreme Court judge Patrick Treston handed down up to 7 orders recently against the government who have tried to grant a second license to another telecommunications company.

The order was made after Telecom filed an application for a judicial review over a decision by the Minister for Public Utilities Edward Natapei to issue a license to a local company, Pacific Data Solutions, to provide telecommunication services in Vanuatu.

Order Number 3 states that the Pacific Data Solutions and its employees, servants and agents are restrained from publicly advertising and otherwise publicly holding themselves out as providers of telecommunication services and/or systems until further order of the Court.

The Court however did note the...