Pacific Region News

PNG minister stable after arrow wound

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea — Trade Minister Michael Nali is recovering from an arrow wound he received while attempting to mediate a dispute among ethnic groups in the capital’s eastern suburbs.

Eyewitnesses say he intervened to stop a fight between two Highlands groups.

During the clash, he was wounded by a stray arrow, which pierced his chest.

Nali was taken to Port Moresby General Hospital where a scan showing it narrowly missed his heart. He is expected to remain in the hospital for several days

Malaitans petition for repatriation assistance

HONIARA, Solomon Islands — Several hundred Malaitans have demonstrated outside the Parliament building, demanding immediate compensation for loss and damage to their properties.

Thousands of Malaitans were displaced from their homes on Guadalcanal during months of ethnic tension earlier this year over land rights, jobs and political power.

The demonstrators said 60 percent of those displaced have not yet received any repatriation assistance from the government.

Open fighting ended in August with the signing of the Honiara Peace Accord and the resettlement of most Malaitans to their home islands.

Vanuatu MP’s boycott parliament

PORT VILA, Vanuatu –– Prime Minister Donald Kalpokas and his supporters staged a boycott of Parliament Tuesday to avoid a no confidence vote.

Opposition leader Mokin Steven, who heads the main opposition National United Party, had announced plans to introduce the no confidence motion, which has been postponed to Thursday.

At the time of Tuesday’s scheduled vote, both the government and the opposition had 26 seats each in the 52-member Parliament.

French Polynesia children make longest flower garland

PAPEETE, French Polynesia — Children in Papeete have made a 1,277-foot flower garland — believed to be the world’s largest — to mark International Children’s Day.

The result was achieved by joining together over a thousand individual garlands, which later were tied to balloons and released into the Papeete sky.

An attorney officially registered the achievement for submission to the Guinness World Book of Records.

Residents protest military’s hazardous waste

HAGATNA, Guam — Guam residents are holding a series of lunchtime protests this week to voice concern over hazardous waste left in the territory by the U.S. military.

Former Guam Senator Angel Santos said the military has failed to protect the community from exposure to cancer-causing PCBs.

Tests on fish in the Agana River, he said, show high concentrations of toxic chemicals, believed to have come from a Navy power plant. (Pacific Islands Report)