CHOGM Samoa 2024 logo Photo: samoachogm2024.ws
Samoa - budget
The Australian Government has committed an additional AU$20 million to boost the Samoan government's fiscal strength as it prepares for hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in October
The exchange of letters for this funding arrangement was co-signed by Samoa's Finance Minister Lautimuia Uelese Vaai and Australia's High Commissioner to Samoa William Robinson.
This money is on top of the AU$50m over eight years that was signed last year by former High Commissioner Emily Luck and Minister Lautimuia.
Samoa - police
More than 200 law officers from across the Pacific are set to assist Samoa for CHOGM in October.
Samoa's Police Minister Faualo Harry Schuster said with the support from the region, the safety and security of the commonwealth leaders and locals will not be a concern.
He said Fiji has offered around 50 officers, and 150 others are available from Australia and New Zealand, while American Samoa also stands ready to assist.
The Samoa Police Service has about 900 officers and is targeting a maximum of 1027 men and women in uniform to be able to accommodate the high-level meeting.
Guam - sex offender
Guam's Attorney General has sent draft regulations to the Department of Corrections for the implementation of Guam's long un-enforced chemical castration law.
The Pacific Daily Times reports this is part of efforts to curb sex crimes on the island.
Since 2015, Guam has had a law on the books allowing the Department of Corrections and the Guam Parole Board to require convicted sex offenders, who are released and who meet certain conditions, to submit to hormone or anti-androgen treatment.
The program would be a requirement of their parole, or post-prison supervision.
The Department of Corrections has never drafted rules for handling the programme, so the Attorney-General had his office do it.
The department would have to host its own hearings on the draft rules before they could move forward, and any final version would need approval from the Attorney-General, the governor, and the Legislature.
Pacific - climate
The newly appointed board of the climate 'loss and damage' fund is set to hold its first meeting in late April, after delays in agreeing members.
Climate Home reports officials saying the fund is not expected to hand out money until at least 2025.
The World Bank - the fund's expected host - said its own board anticipated approving a formal plan to become the fund's "financial intermediary" by mid-April, with a final operating deal due to be in place with the fund by the end of July.
Would-be recipients of the loss and damage fund's resources, including those in the Pacific, are already jostling for position in the queue.
EU - kava
The European Union has reiterated that kava must be subject to a safety assessment before being considered for its market.
It wants the assessment to determine kava's safety for human consumption.
The European Commission's Pacific region principal coordinator Moustapha Magumu said without doing so, there is no chance of having kava allowed for export into the EU.
The Fiji Times reports this is despite points raised by Pacific kava representatives, saying reports by the World Health Organisation and other groups validating its safety are already available.
The EU Delegation's trade correspondent/programme manager in Suva, Massimo Camassei, told the news outlet the Pacific can put forward a new request to the EU, which can be funded by the EU, but any assessment will ultimately be a scientific one, with outcomes based on science and not bias.
Pacific - fishing
A milestone has been reached in the Tuna Treaty between the Pacific Island States and the US, with a fishing access arrangement for 2024 signed off.
The MOU provides for the United States' fleet operating under the Treaty to continue fishing in the Exclusive Economic Zones of the Pacific Island Parties in 2024.
This is pending the formal adoption of the agreed amendments and revised text of the Treaty for 2025 onwards.
Papua New Guinea - investigating
Papua New Guinea's Immigration Minister says authorities are investigating how a China-born businesswoman, accused of orchestrating a methamphetamine "black flight", was able to obtain PNG citizenship.
The OCCRP and its local partner, InsidePNG, say the woman appeared to have falsified parts of her application.
Mei Lin, 41, was charged in Brisbane in January with helping facilitate the smuggling of 71.5 kg of crystal meth, from PNG to Australia.
She has pleaded not guilty.
Police argue this was intended to be the first of a series of smuggling attempts.
Lin, a powerful businesswoman in the city of Lae, built ties with prominent PNG citizens.
The OCCRP report revealed she appeared to obtain PNG citizenship in 2016 by falsely claiming to have attended two elite local schools.
Vanuatu - prison
Vanuatu's first Prison Medical Unit is set to be built in Port Vila.
The new transitional facility, which will be built to accommodate detainees while the current prison buildings undergo reconstruction, will be used as the new medical unit for detainees.
Director of the Vanuatu Correctional Services Johnny Marango told the Vanuatu Daily Post newspaper this plan will achieve a Human Rights objective that every detainee must have access to health services.
Marango said the current correctional facilities lack medical services and detainees are only taken to Vila Central Hospital under emergency circumstances.
He also touched on long-term plans for the Correctional Services Erangorango project to be developed into a rehabilitation development centre.
Northern Marianas - meth
An inmate on Saipan was found in possession of methamphetamine in her cell during a search by Corrections.
The 25-year-old faced charges of illegal possession and bringing contraband into a prison.
The inmate claimed before she was released, she was approached by two inmates and told to smuggle methamphetamine for them when she returned.
She said she was afraid of them, so she agreed to do what they demanded.
