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Incidents reveal asylum seeker camp ‘crisis’

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, Nov. 1, 2012) – The Australia-based Refugee Action Coalition says three Iranian asylum seekers were taken to hospital yesterday evening after a suicide attempt and two incidents of self-harm in the Nauru detention camp.

The coalition’s spokesman Ian Rintoul says another asylum seeker was left bleeding after being punched by a camp security guard as the guard tried to push asylum seekers away from one of the men.

Mr. Rintoul says the latest suicide attempt reveals the crisis inside the camp.

"The camp was left in a very distraught and anxious situation. The people there have been appealing to the guards to intervene and the guards hadn’t done anything. It was really the asylum seekers that came to his assistance and this morning after a meeting last night they’ve now declared that there’s a camp-wide hunger strike which is happening at the moment."...

Company ‘mislead’ authorities to gain leases for huge area

MELBOURNE, Australia (Radio Australia, Nov. 1, 2012) – Logging companies in Papua New Guinea are using special agricultural leases to clear vast tracts of rainforest timber, on the promise of roads and economic development for remote villages. Land in PNG is almost sacred but over the past eight years it has been under assault from a land scandal that has seen 11 percent of the country leased under controversial Special Agricultural and Business Leases (SABL).

The leases are meant to be for small agricultural developments, not for logging, but they have been abused by logging interests.

In May last year, community outrage in PNG prompted the government to set up a Commission of Inquiry into how so much land had been leased and how rules had been flouted.

In Western Province, an Australian-led company, Independent Timbers and Stevedoring (IT&S), has been involved in arranging for more than 2...

9 to 12 cyclones expected during 2012-2013 season

By Calida Smylie

RAROTONGA, Cook Islands (Cook Islands News, Oct. 31, 2012) – The cyclone forecast for the Cook Islands is not looking good and people should start preparing now, says Emergency Management Cook Islands director Charles Carlson.

The Cook Islands Meteorological Service has predicted two tropical cyclones for the Cook Islands in the upcoming cyclone season between November and April.

Carlson says it is important for everyone to start preparing now since the season is upon us.

He points out that in 2005 five cyclones affected the whole of the Cook Islands, so with the prediction of a big one every five to seven years "we are due for one."

He hopes this is not the case, but warns complacency has no place when dealing with possible disasters.

"Better be prepared than not at all," says Carlson.

Meteorological forecasting centers across the Pacific are predicting near...

20 local, international channels delivered over broadband

By Lance Polu

APIA, Samoa (Talamua, Nov. 3, 2012) – Bluesky Samoa has launched Moana TV introducing over twenty local and international channels.

The Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service is the latest technology in television service and is a limited service offered within the Bluesky’s broadband coverage area in both Upolu and Savaii islands.

In launching the service last night, CEO Aoe’e Adolfo Montenegro said the service uses Bluesky’s broadband network to deliver content to a digital set top box installed in subscribers’ homes and businesses.

"Moana TV is the first IPTV service not only in Samoa but the entire South Pacific," he stated.

He said that the service is currently deployed in 50 test locations and will be rolled out in phases.

"In its first phase, it will only be available in selected areas including Apia urban through to Puipa’a on the west and through to...