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TRIAL SET FOR NORFOLK ISLAND MURDER SUSPECT

Submitted by admin on Fri, 09/29/2006 - 00:00

SYDNEY, Australia (Australian Broadcasting Corp. Sept. 28) – The trial of the man accused of murdering Janelle Patton on Norfolk Island four years ago has been scheduled to begin in February next year.

Ms. Patton's body was found in March 2002 at a picnic spot on the island. She had suffered 64 separate injuries including a stab wound to the chest.

Last month New Zealand chef Glenn McNeill was committed to stand trial in the Norfolk Island Supreme Court.

Today it has been confirmed that the four-week trial by jury will be held before the Chief Justice Mark Weinberg, who is also a Federal Court judge in Australia.

McNeill is being held in custody in Sydney.

September 29, 2006

ABC News Online: http://www.abc.net.au/news/

© 2006 ABC. All Rights Reserved

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Fri
29
Sep
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SCIENTISTS COUNT 500 VANUATU CRAB SPECIES

Submitted by admin on Fri, 09/29/2006 - 00:00

By Shirley Joy

PORT VILA, Vanuatu (Vanuatu Daily Post, Sept. 27) - The Santo marine biodiversity survey currently being undertaken by a team of some of the world’s top scientists has so far revealed that [the island of Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu] could have more than 500 different species of crabs.

Dr. Tan Heok Hui and Mr. J. C. Mendoza from the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University in Singapore said while these are not new species to the country and the island of Santo, they are still discovering more species from their daily collections and experiments.

In a report provided by Hui, land crabs are always interesting; they are obvious, often quite large and sometimes edible.

Until the 1990s, one of the least understood land crab was a species everyone was calling Cardisoma longipes. Supposedly described from New Caledonia, scientists never found the species there. It had been seen in some other small Pacific islands but never common...

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Fri
29
Sep
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SOLOMONS SEEK TO OPEN CONSULATE IN SUVA

Submitted by admin on Fri, 09/29/2006 - 00:00

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Solomon Star, Sept. 28) - The Republic of Fiji has welcomed the proposed establishment of Solomon Islands High Commission Office in Suva next year.

Fiji’s new High Commissioner to Solomon Islands, His Excellency Ratu Isoa Tikoca said his country is prepared to facilitate the establishment of the office.

"The proposed establishment of your High Commission in Suva in 2007 is warmly welcomed and my government stands ready to facilitate its setting up," Tikoca said.

Tikoca anticipates that the office will be a direct link between Solomon Islanders living in Fiji and the government of Solomon Islands.

"This development will no doubt be appreciated by the Solomon Islands community working, studying or living in Fiji," he said.

The Governor General His Excellency Sir Nathaniel Waena said the Solomon Islands government’s commitment to establish a High Commission in Suva is a testament to strengthen its presence in regional...

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Fri
29
Sep

BOUGAINVILLE CON MAN HOLDING PNG TO RIDICULE

Submitted by piradmin on Fri, 09/29/2006 - 00:00

Editorial

The National

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (Sept. 28) – Once again the indestructible Noah Musingku and his U-Vistract movement have made the headlines.

The Bougainville Administrator was "granted permission" to enter previously barred territory supposedly under the control of Musingku and his ragged bunch of oddly assorted guards and hangers-on.

[PIR editor’s note: Noah Musingku, whose "U-Vistract" pyramid scheme bilked millions of dollars out of investors, has long been a fugitive from the law in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.]

Suddenly we find Musingku and his supporters treated with kid gloves. The distinct impression is given that the official Bougainvillean party is in the area on sufferance, and that the failed U-Vistract promoter is a power to be reckoned with. The Bougainville Administrator is photographed with the fraudster...

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Fri
29
Sep

FIJI’S ‘DISMAL CYCLE’ OF CORRUPTION CONTINUES

Submitted by piradmin on Fri, 09/29/2006 - 00:00

Editorial

FIJI’S ‘DISMAL CYCLE’ OF CORRUPTION CONTINUES

FijiSUN

SUVA, Fiji (Sept. 28) - A prominent Fiji businessman is in court fighting for his reputation and possibly even his freedom on tax avoidance charges. In the same week we are told that a civil servant embezzled FJ$3 million [US$1.7 million] from the public purse. In the first case the law will take it course. In the second the law cannot take any course because the identity of the civil servant is not known.

However, all that could change if the new chair of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has her way. Bernadette Rounds Ganilau, striking a massive blow for transparency, good governance and common sense, has recommended that the PAC share its information with the public. She has gone further and suggested that the sittings of the committee be open to the media and the public.

Of course, the recommendation won’t be accepted by...

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