Papua New Guinea - shot
A Papua New Guinea policeman has been killed after being shot with a bow and arrow and PNG police say the suspect is still at large.
Senior Sergeant Ludwig Dondo of the dog unit, was struck with an arrow when he went with the unit to arrest suspects involved in smuggling cannabis.
Assistant Police Commissioner Anthony Wagambie Jnr is calling on the community at the Air Transport Squadron settlement, where the incident happened, to find and deliver the prime suspect to police.
He said Sergeant Dondo was only doing his job, and he did not deserve to die in such cruel circumstances.
Papua New Guinea - escape
Papua New Guinea's correctional services commissioner Stephen Pokanis says seven people are still on the run after escaping West New Britain's Lakiemata high security compound.
Stephen Pokanis Photo: Post Courier
A group of 46 prisoners tried to escape the jail on the April 23, twenty-four managed to get through the gate, 16 were shot dead, one is hospitalised and the others are at large.
Commissioner Pokanis said police were still looking for them.
"Those seven are still on the run and we have the three police units on the ground, so [they're] working together with the correctional officers, we also have one unit from correctional services who are also on the ground," he said.
Meanwhile, Pokanis said two of the 16 prisoners who were killed had still to go to trial.
He said shooting the prisoners was probably not the right call.
"There may be other options to take but the escape where things happen in a blink of an eye I think it's quite difficult."
He said better decisions could prevent fatalities like this in the future.
Papua New Guinea - teachers
More than 9,000 teachers in Papua New Guinea are off the payroll for failing to fill in a duty resumption form at the start of the school year.
It is the result of the unforgiving "Alesco Electronic Payroll System" which automatically suspends payment for those who do not fill in their forms.
PNG Education Secretary Dr Uke Kombra told the Post Courier a total of 9,204 teachers have been affected.
Introduced in 2016, the Alesco Payroll system has been widely criticised for being inefficient, with many teachers complaining of not recieving their salaries on time.
Tonga - embassy
The United States is on track to open its new embassy in Tonga this month, part of efforts to step up its diplomatic presence in the Pacific region to counter China.
This is what the top US diplomat for East Asia Daniel Kritenbrink said on Tuesday.
Reuters reported Kritenbrink told a subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the US is also continuing to engage with Vanuatu and Kiribati about opening proposed new embassies in those countries.
The US has re-opened its embassy in Solomon Islands this year after a 30-year absence.
Despite the diplomatic push, the Solomon Islands announced in March it had awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to a Chinese state company to upgrade an international port in Honiara.
The US and regional allies Australia and New Zealand have had concerns that China has ambitions to build a naval base in the region since the Solomon Islands struck a security pact with Beijing last year.
Washington has also been working to renew agreements with the Marshall Islands, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia under which it retains responsibility for the islands' defense and gains exclusive access to huge swaths of the Pacific.
Vanuatu - water
A boat in Vanuatu, the LC Urata Riki, which sank on Sunday night, was carrying 3,000 cartons of 1.5 litre bottles of water destined for the islands to the south impacted by tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin at the end of February.
Chairman of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, or WASH, cluster, under the National Management Office Erickson Sami said the water was for the people on the southern islands of Aniwa, Erromango and Aneityum.
The ship was also carrying other relief supplies such as water tanks, which had been donated by the Australian government.
Sami said these items could not be recovered when the ship went down.
The company that operates the ship said there were no passengers aboard when the LC Urata Riki sank near Efate.
The crew, using the ship's dinghy, managed to get to Erakor island the following morning.
The WASH cluster, along with the management of the ship, are now trying to negotiate the replacement of the lost items.
Samoa - bank
An ANZ Bank Samoa manager is facing more than 300 new charges for the theft of an estimated $1.5 million tālā between 2018 and 2022.
The Samoa Observer reported the case returned to the Supreme Court on Monday morning but the prosecution asked for more time to finalise the charges.
The defendant initially entered a guilty plea for stealing $80,000 from the financial institution.
Further internal investigations have since discovered $1.4million tālā - about $US500,000 - was taken, "at this stage".
The manager is accused of setting up new bank accounts to make loan applications which she allegedly approved and later withdrew, during the time she was employed by the bank.
The prosecution was granted a further two weeks to finalise charges, and the extra time would also allow the defendant to respond to the new charges.
Tonga - crash
Tongan police say a two-year-old girl has been killed after her father drove recklessly and crashed.
Police said the driver was intoxicated while driving three passengers, including his two young daughters.
They said he lost control of the wheel, which caused the car to swerve to the right side of the road where it crashed onto
a 'toa' tree.
The victims were rushed to hospital and Vaiola hospital later confirmed the death of the 2-year-old girl.
Police investigations into the incident are ongoing while the others, including the driver, remained in hospital.
Northern Marianas - missing
Authorities in the Northern Marianas have called off the search and rescue operation for a missing teenage swimmer.
The 14-year-old boy, his brother, and two friends went to Marine Beach on Saturday without letting their parents know.
While making their way to the infinity pool - which is deep into the Marine Beach waters - a large wave crashed into them and dragged them into the open ocean.
Three of them managed to climb a nearby rock but the 14-year-old struggled to swim.
His brother tried to help him but another wave split them up.
Despite having resources from multiple local, federal, and military agencies available for 72 hours, Boating Safety said it could not locate the 14-year-old.
Pacific/US - Biden
The Governors of American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands have requested to meet with US President Joe Biden over fishery concerns.
The leaders want to express their concerns over potential fishery closures, through the discussed expansion of a marine sanctuary in the US Pacific Remote Island Areas' full economic exclusive zones.
The proposed closures would affect the local tuna economy of American Samoa, and governor Lemanu Mauga says the backbone of American Samoa's economy depends on the viability of the StarKist cannery and supply from US-flagged tuna purse seiners.
In a letter to the president, the Governors say further closures would be in direct conflict with the Biden Administration's Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, and would counter principles of equity and environmental justice.
The Governors thanked the President for hosting informal discussions with them at the White House earlier this year, and requested further consultation on the matter before any decision is made.
New Caledonia - beaches
The swimming ban along the beaches of New Caledonia's capital is being eased.
The mayor of Noumea Sonia Lagarde says a 200 metre stretch in the Baie de Citron will be opened for seven hours a day, seven days a week.
The area will be monitored.
In February, all the beaches in the Noumea area were closed for the rest of the year because of a spate of shark attacks, including the fatal mauling of a tourist.
The mayor said she understands the frustration of locals who can no longer go for swims and the concern of hotel owners struggling to market Noumea as a destination.
The city council is due to meet this week to consider tenders for erecting shark nets outside popular city beaches.
The city runs a ten-day programme each month to secure the coastal waters when activities such as windsurfing and kayaking are prohibited.
