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Tue
02
Aug

Marshalls Fisheries Minister Wants ‘Prudent’ Financial Management As Revenues Soar

Submitted by PIR Editor on Tue, 08/02/2016 - 10:31

 

Revenue from the commercial fishing licenses jumped from five percent to 30 percent of local revenues in the Marshall Islands between 2006 and 2015, prompting calls for better financial management.

Income from the Parties to the Nauru Agreement to the Marshall Islands has risen from around $3 million a year to $20 million, which “heightens the need for prudent fiscal management,” said the Asian Development Bank’s Pacific Economic Monitor issued recently.

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Tue
02
Aug

PNG Chief Justice Requests Australia Take Action On Manus Detainee Resettlement Issue

Submitted by PIR Editor on Tue, 08/02/2016 - 10:39

 

Papua New Guinea's Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia has requested Australia to front up on its plans for resettlement of the so-called "boat people" on Manus Island.

After ruling in April that detaining asylum seekers on Manus is illegal, PNG's Supreme Court asked lawyers representing detainees and the PNG government to apply for Consequential Orders that will enforce the ruling. About 900 men are still residing at the processing centre on Manus, where they were sent by Australia.

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Tue
02
Aug

Convicted Cooks MP Speaks Of Shock At Verdict, Would End 17 Year Political Career

Submitted by PIR Editor on Tue, 08/02/2016 - 10:52

 

The convicted Cook Islands MP, Teina Bishop, says hearing the guilty verdict handed down by a jury two weeks ago was like an electric shock. Bishop was convicted of corruption.

The trial ended three years of waiting for police to prepare their case involving a deal made by Bishop with a foreign fishing company in his role as minister of marine resources.

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Tue
02
Aug

New Vanuatu Office Established To Manage Cyclone Recovery Funds

Submitted by PIR Editor on Tue, 08/02/2016 - 10:58

 

The Vanuatu Government is setting up a new building to consolidate all Cyclone Pam recovery projects in the one office. The Minister of Agriculture, Matai Seremaiah and his director general, Howard Aru will be in charge of the Management Project Unit Haos.

It will handle more than $US30 million dollars from the European Development Fund for use in the cyclone recovery process.

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Tue
02
Aug

CNMI Suit Could Halt Guam Miltary Buildup, Potential Implications For CNMI Tourism Industry

Submitted by PIR Editor on Tue, 08/02/2016 - 11:18

 

The military's training plans for the region would devastate the Northern Mariana Islands of Tinian and Pagan, according to opponents, who have sued in federal court to stop the pending military buildup.

Although environmental advocacy group Earthjustice is specifically concerned about the military's impact in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, it has asked the federal court to throw out the records of decision for the buildup, which could stop the military's plans for Guam as well. It wants the court to, “vacate and set aside the 2010 and 2015 Records of Decision regarding the relocation of Marines from Okinawa to the Mariana Islands.”

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Tue
02
Aug

Expert: South China Sea Ruling Could Accelerate Pacific Islands Countries Declaring Exclusive Economic Zones And Territorial Seas

Submitted by PIR Editor on Tue, 08/02/2016 - 11:31

 

A landmark decision on disputed islands in the South China Sea last month is expected to see foreign ministries in the region scrambling to delineate their maritime boundaries. Clive Schofield of the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security said the international tribunal ruling had wide ranging implications for countries with small island features like those in the Pacific.

There has been a push by Pacific island countries to mark out their Exclusive Economic Zones and territorial seas and have them recognised internationally.

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Tue
02
Aug

Solomons Political Activist Group Opposes Australia Security Proposal

Submitted by PIR Editor on Tue, 08/02/2016 - 12:22

 

A political activist group in Solomon Islands says it will not accept a security deal reportedly being brokered with Australia. This comes after Australia's Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, said the end of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands should be seen as a vote of confidence in the country.

The President of the Malaita Maasina Forum Charles Dausabea has called on the Australian minister to withdraw her statement

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Tue
02
Aug

Guam Attorney General: Governor Has No Deportation Power, Must Be 'Racially Neutral'

Submitted by PIR Editor on Tue, 08/02/2016 - 12:37

 

Guam’s attorney general said she’s concerned the governor’s recent actions to send certain convicted migrants back to their island state of Chuuk, in the Federated States of Micronesia, could potentially raise racial-bias concerns.

Elected Attorney General Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson said she’s putting together legal guidelines for the agencies at the front line of the governor’s actions, including the Department of Corrections and the local Customs and Quarantine Agency, to help them avoid potential civil-rights lawsuits.

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Tue
02
Aug

Cooks Opposition Demands Transparency Over MPs Travel

Submitted by PIR Editor on Tue, 08/02/2016 - 12:47

 

For over 20 years the costs taxpayers have to carry for travel by politicians have been kept secret by successive administrations, both the Cook Islands Party and the Democrats.

Now the Democrats are demanding from the CIP that same information they refused to make when in government:  just how much civil list travel is costing the public purse each year.  Deputy opposition coalition leader Tamaiva Tuavera says an Official Information Act request has been lodged with the Ombudsman office, asking for disclosure of the travel costs of Prime Minister Henry Puna and Finance Minister.

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Tue
02
Aug

Former Nauru MPs To Petition Court Over Election 'Corruption'

Submitted by PIR Editor on Tue, 08/02/2016 - 12:54

 

Several unsuccessful former members of Nauru's parliament are putting together an election petition, claiming some electorates were rigged and voters were bribed in the July 9 election. The government was returned at the poll, with Baron Waqa retaining the presidency.

Prior to the election, a number of MPs and other new candidates claimed the government had bribed civilians to vote for it, by giving some people preferences in a housing project, and offering gifts, including free flights.

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