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PAPEETE, Tahiti (Tahitipresse, Oct. 31) – French Polynesia President Oscar Temaru has confirmed plans to make an official visit to China in December, a trip that Tahiti's new Chinese consul plans to prepare for.

Temaru talked about his China trip during a diplomatic meeting Saturday with Dongyue Zhang, the newly arrived Chinese consul for French Polynesia, and the delegation accompanying him.

"Mr. Zhang informed the president that his first mission will be to prepare for his (Temaru's) visit to China, which will occur in early December," Temaru's media office announced in a communiqué sent out Monday.

Temaru was originally scheduled to visit China a few months ago, but that visit was called off.

Other members of the Chinese delegation included Jianming Li, the administrative leader; Wei Yang, head accountant; and Ye Tian, third secretary at the Chinese Embassy in Paris.

Zhang told Temaru that he is trying to find facilities with some 1,500 square...

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (The National, Nov. 1) - Another senior Southern Highlands administration official was arrested and charged by police in Madang [Papua New Guinea] with misusing public funds as a police manhunt for suspects continues nationwide.

Former provincial treasurer Stan Pupio was arrested and charged with misusing funds belonging to the Southern Highlands provincial government last year.

Police said Pupio appeared at the Committal Court in Madang yesterday morning.

A police charge report showed that Pupio, 43, from Unjanap village in Mendi, "dishonestly applied to his own use the property, namely PGK60,000 [US$21,266] belonging to the Independent State of Papua New Guinea".

The charge stated that Pupio drew a Southern Highlands provincial government check in July 6 last year and took out a bank check, number 4548828, from Bank South Pacific in Mendi for the same value. He then deposited the bank check into his private account at the...

SUVA, Fiji (Fiji Times, Oct. 31) – The Fiji military should be called in to handle cases of desecration, the Shree Sanatan Dharam Pratindhi Sabha of Fiji says.

The Sabha says filing a complaint in the international arena was another option being considered.

In a statement yesterday, the Hindu organization said it felt that "military intervention was necessary given the failure of police to combat the crime."

It called on police and the judiciary to take harsher measures against those who desecrate places of worship.

"Things have gone beyond control and if authorities concerned do not take the necessary steps, we will have no alternative but to take our grievances into the international arena," it said.

The Sabha was reacting to the most recent desecration of a Hindu temple at Raralevu, in Tailevu.

[PIR editor’s note: According to PIR news files, three Hindu temple burglaries were reported in September.]

The Sabha said the Hindu...

By Cherrie A. E. Villahermosa

SAIPAN, CNMI (Marianas Variety, Nov. 1) – The jury trial of a businessman charged with taking endangered species in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has begun.

The defendant, Soleman, is engaged in the charcoal business on Saipan, and is represented by attorney Robert T. Torres. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Moran is the prosecutor.

Moran, in his opening argument yesterday, said Soleman instructed his employees to cut tangan-tangan trees in 2005 and turn them into charcoal that was to be sold to the public.

He said Soleman had caused harm to and harassed an endangered species — the nightingale reed warbler.

Tangan-tangan [weed] trees are the territorial habitats of nightingale reed warblers, which can be found only on the islands of Saipan and Alamagan.

Moran said these birds are protected by federal law.

[PIR editor’s note: According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife website, the...