Convicted Samoan police cop fines for assault
A Samoan police sergeant Khamtahn Stanley who was convicted on charges of actual bodily harm has been fined $US1,100.
His co-defendant Ulugia Lomalasi Laufili, who was convicted of assault, was fined $US180.
The charges were in relation to the death of a 20-year-old man in 2019.
The men were ordered by Supreme Court Justice Lesatele Rapi Vaai to pay their fines by this Friday or face jail terms.
In January, the defendants pleaded guilty in the District Court and sought discharges without conviction, which were granted, but these were overturned by the Supreme Court.
Both the convicted men are chiefs and leaders in the village of Vaiusu.
Fritch to join US-Pacific summit with Biden
French Polynesia's president Edouard Fritch will head to Washington tonight after receiving a late invitation to this week's summit with US president Joe Biden.
The first ever US and Pacific Island Country Summit will focus on climate change challenges, with observers saying it is also aimed at US efforts to counter China's growing influence in the region.
Fritch's office said the invitation was extended to him because French Polynesia was a member of the Pacific Islands Forum.
Another leader to join the summit is New Caledonia's Louis Mapou.
Although they are Forum members, New Zealand realm countries such as Niue and the Cook Islands were not invited.
Tuilaepa accepts missing out on back pay
The formerly suspended Samoa opposition leader says he agrees with the Speaker of Parliament that he should not get back pay.
Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi and his Human Rights Protection party secretary were suspended by Parliament, but reinstated following a court decision.
Speaker Papali'i Ta'eu Masipa'u said he accepted the decision to lift the suspension but there was nothing in the decision indicating the MPs were entitled to back pay.
Tuilaepa said they should start getting paid from the day the decision to lift our suspension was made, but also suggested the court should have included a provision for a starting point for back pay.
The court decision did say that Parliament should revisit the penalty, and Papali'i has since reconvened the parliamentary Privileges and Ethics Committee to discuss the matter.
The leader of the HRPP party, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi Photo: RNZ Pacific/Tipi Autagavaia
Court ends Flosse house sale saga
France's highest court has rejected a challenge to the seizure of the proceeds of the 2010 sale of a Paris home owned by French Polynesia's Flosse family.
The money was taken by the state after former president Gaston Flosse and 21 others were convicted in 2014 for misspending millions of dollars of public funds on phantom jobs benefitting his political party.
Flosse was given a suspended four-year jail sentence after failing to get a presidential pardon from Francois Hollande, and he then lost both the presidency and his right to stand in elections.
In 2017, he and the others, including the current president, Edouard Fritch, were ordered to jointly repay $US2.1 million to the public purse.
Fritch complied with the French courts and paid his share while Flosse unsuccessfully fought his punishment and the repayment order.
Wellington offers regional defence chiefs leadership retreat
New Zealand's Chief of Defence Force Air Marshal Kevin Short is hosting Pacific counterparts in Wellington for a leadership retreat.
The Chiefs of Defence from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Australia and Timor-Leste are taking part.
The programme includes leadership and relationship building activities.
It is hoped the New Zealand initiative will lead to more collaboration with the military forces in Fiji, Tonga and Papua New Guinea and police in Vanuatu, and develop multi-level leadership training with officers in each nation.
A pōwhiri and wreath laying ceremony was held at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park in Wellington.
PNG youth killed at rugby match
A young man was stabbed to death during rugby league match in Kimbe in West New Britain on Sunday.
Loop PNG reported police as saying the man was attacked by a group of youths.
The violence brought the local communities, including the highway, to a standstill amid a threat of looting in Morokea Town.
Mediation from the Talasea MP Freddie Kumai and Police Mobile Squad 19 led to a compromise with the victim's relatives, who accepted money and goods to ensure peace was restored.
Convicted murderer in New Caledonia fails freedom bid before appeal hearing
A jailed surgeon in New Caledonia has failed in his bid to be freed before his appeal hearing in November.
Olivier Peres, who previously oversaw the orthopaedic department at Noumea's public hospital, was jailed for 20 years for homicide.
He shot dead his neighbour, Eric Martinez, on a golf course four years ago, and was convicted at a jury trial in March
Since then, he has unsuccessfully sought to have the case transferred to another jurisdiction and be released pending the appeal.
He will remain in prison until the appeal because of a flight risk.
At his trial, he had denied any intention to kill his neighbour, saying he acted in self-defence.
Peres fired a third shot from close range, claiming he did so as not be killed by Martinez, who was later found to have a knife in his pocket.
California holds Pacific Islander Festival
The 28th Annual Pacific Islander Festival returned to San Diego in the United States after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
Pacific Daily News reported the festival included communities from Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Hawaii, Samoa and Micronesia.
Music and dance performances, food, exhibits, educational booths and merchandise were all part of the event.
Dance group Kutturan Chamoru was a crowd favourite.
Kutturan Chamoru's fa'fa'nague, Heidi Quenga, stressed the importance of events like the festival.
She said it meant there was hope for the future that their way of life would not be lost.
New effort in American Samoa to eliminate filariasis
A survey for lymphatic filariasis has started in eight American Samoa villages, following the third round of a drug programme aimed at wiping out the disease.
Spread by mosquitoes, the disease causes fever, headache and skin lesions.
Lynette Suiaunoa-Scanlan from the American Samoa Health Department's Lymphatic Filariasis Program, said the survey will determine if there is still transmission of the disease in the territory.
Results will determine whether there will be another mass drug administration or another island-wide impact assessment.
A mass drug administration is a joint effort between several health organisations including the World Health Organisation.
Tuvaluans celebrate their language in New Zealand
Tuvaluan language week is being celebrated in New Zealand with events organised by community groups around the country.
It runs from September 25 to October 1.
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito Williams Sio said the Tuvaluan Language week also recognised the challenges of climate change.
According to the most recent census, there are close to 5,000 people of Tuvaluan heritage living in New Zealand.
Guam in search of more foster homes
Foster parents are needed in Guam, with nearly 600 children in foster care.
Pacific Daily News reported the number of foster parents had risen from 67 to 78 in the last five months, but there were 599 children needing care.
Social services supervisor Mae Fe Muyco said more referrals were being made to Child Protective Services because more agencies and community members were aware of them and how to make a referral.
Between October 1 2021 and September 22, 2022, a total of 1,612 referrals were made.
Muyco said these were new referrals unconnected to the backlog of 800 cases announced in September last year.
