In this bulletin:
1. AUST — Australia committee reviews Vanuatu security and cooperation pact
2. AUST — Australia, Palau deepen cooperation on security and development
3. SOL — All 73 people rescued from MV Akwa, taken ashore at Vanikoro
4. SAMOA — Aliimalemanu returns to Samoa Parliament as sixth woman MP after election petitions conclude
5. PACIFIC — Policing the Pacific: Regional leaders seek a cohesive response amid a fragmented security framework
6. FIJI — Fiji Constitution amendment consultations to begin this week
7. FIJI — Community partnerships key to protecting Fiji’s ocean
8. PACIFIC — Amelia Earhart expedition heads to Pacific atoll hoping to find her plane
9. FIJI — Fiji PM challenges accusers to provide evidence against minister
10. PNG — PNG parliamentary committee warns of election preparation delays ahead of 2027 polls
11. FIJI — Fiji Civil servants praised for delivering historic Pacific Pre-COP31
12. EU — EU regrets U.S sanctions announcement against International Criminal Court
13. AUST — Australian Coalition baulks at One Nation-style migrant nation ban
14. PACNEWS BIZ — Tuna supply chains exploited for cocaine smuggling, FFA report warns
15. PACNEWS BIZ — Clean cooking projects gain access to UN carbon market
16. PACNEWS BIZ — Fiji’s annual inflation hits 6.8 percent in September
17. PACNEWS BIZ — ‘It’s not a junket; it’s an investment ‘: Governor says San Francisco talks expected to yield $5.1B for Guam
18. PACNEWS BIZ — UK hands chocolate processing machine to Kokonut Pacific Solomon Islands
19. PACNEWS BIZ — Fishing council: Guam pelagic fishing lands $163K in revenue, ‘trip expenses exceed sales returns’
20. PACNEWS DIGEST — PARS, Moylan share updates on push for radiation exposure compensation
21. PACNEWS DIGEST — Conservation lessons: speak less, listen more, be patient
AUST – DIPLOMACY: PACNEWS PACNEWS 3: Mon 12 Oct 2026
Australia committee reviews Vanuatu security and cooperation pact
CANBERRA, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (PACNEWS)—Australia’s parliamentary treaties committee is reviewing the Vanuatu-Australia Nakamal Agreement, which aims to establish a legally binding framework for security, economic, development and people-to-people cooperation between the two countries.
The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT) will hold a public hearing on Monday as part of its inquiry into the agreement, which was referred to the committee on 01 July 2026.
Committee chair Lisa Chesters said Australia and Vanuatu shared close historical, cultural and geographical ties, as well as common interests in regional security, sovereignty and prosperity.
“Australia and Vanuatu share close connections, history and geography which entwine our cultures and peoples. We also share an interest in the collective security, sovereignty and prosperity of the Pacific region,” Chesters said.
She said the committee wanted to understand how the agreement would strengthen Australia’s role as Vanuatu’s closest economic, security and development partner.
The proposed agreement seeks to strengthen existing security ties and expand economic and people-to-people cooperation while advancing the national security interests of both countries.
The committee will hear evidence from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian Federal Police.
The inquiry forms part of the Australian parliamentary process for examining international agreements….PACNEWS
AUST – DIPLOMACY: PACNEWS PACNEWS 3: Mon 12 Oct 2026
Australia, Palau deepen cooperation on security and development
CANBERRA, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (PACNEWS) — Australia and Palau are strengthening cooperation on security, development and regional priorities as Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr visits Australia this week.
The Australian Government said the visit would build on the two countries’ longstanding partnership and shared commitment to a peaceful, secure and prosperous Pacific.
Australia also congratulated Whipps on his leadership as Chair of the Pacific Islands Forum, recognising his efforts to strengthen regional unity and advance Pacific priorities internationally.
A key event during the visit will be the official opening of Palau’s Embassy in Australia, marking a milestone in bilateral relations.
Whipps and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong will also renew a development cooperation arrangement to reaffirm support for Palau’s development priorities.
The two countries are further expanding cooperation to combat transnational crime through stronger policing cooperation and support for customs and border management.
Australia is also assisting Palau in protecting and managing its coral reefs, strengthening government services, promoting gender equality and expanding skills development and scholarship opportunities.
The visit underscores both countries’ commitment to working together on shared challenges and supporting stability, security and sustainable development across the Pacific….PACNEWS
SOL – MARITIME RESCUE: PACNEWS PACNEWS 3: Mon 12 Oct 2026
All 73 people rescued from MV Akwa, taken ashore at Vanikoro
LATA, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (PACNEWS) —All 73 passengers and crew aboard the disabled MV Akwa have been rescued and safely taken ashore at Vanikoro following a coordinated search and rescue operation involving Solomon Islands authorities and regional partners.
The Temotu Provincial Government confirmed Monday that everyone on board the vessel had been transferred to MV Helper 1 and transported to shore.
The rescue followed a mechanical problem aboard MV Akwa while it was travelling between Tikopia and Vanikoro, leaving the vessel drifting at sea.
According to the provincial government, MV Helper 1 reached the vessel at about 9pm on Sunday, while the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) Patrol Boat Gizo arrived at approximately 11pm.
Patrol Boat Gizo began towing MV Akwa around midnight, with the operation progressing into the northwestern waters of Vanikoro in the early hours of Monday.
The safe transfer of all passengers and crew to MV Helper 1 was subsequently completed.
However, arrangements to transport the rescued passengers from Vanikoro to Lata are yet to be confirmed.
The provincial government said further information would be provided once the relevant authorities and operators finalised the arrangements.
It expressed relief at the successful outcome and thanked the Solomon Islands Government, RSIPF, international partners, maritime operators and other stakeholders who supported the rescue.
The Government of France provided aerial assistance, delivering medical supplies, equipment, water-making equipment and food to the stranded vessel.
Australia also deployed a Challenger aircraft to support the emergency supply operation.
The provincial government acknowledged the Government of China and the operators of the cargo vessel Sunnine 3 for diverting from its original destination to deliver water, food and other essential supplies to those aboard MV Akwa.
It also thanked the Government of Vanuatu and the operators of MV Helper 1 for their direct role in receiving and transporting the passengers safely to shore.
The owners and operators of LC Plus 1 were recognised for remaining on standby to assist, following the direction of the Rescue Coordination Centre.
The provincial government credited the RSIPF, particularly Patrol Boat Gizo and the Search and Rescue Division, for their leadership and coordination throughout the operation.
It acknowledged the challenging conditions faced by rescue personnel, including rough seas, navigational risks and the need to protect both the passengers and those involved in the rescue.
Special recognition was also given to Dr David Raja, Dr Mataki, Chief Moumudou and members of the rescue coordination network for their communication and efforts to coordinate assistance.
The provincial government thanked the families, churches, communities and members of the public who supported the passengers and their relatives during the anxious wait for news.
It urged families and the public to remain patient while arrangements for the passengers’ onward transportation to Lata are finalised.
The government said the successful rescue demonstrated the importance of regional cooperation, national coordination and humanitarian assistance in protecting lives during maritime emergencies.
It also extended its best wishes to all 73 rescued passengers and crew and their families following the ordeal…. PACNEWS
SAMOA – COURTS: SAMOA GLOBAL NEWS/TALAMUA MEDIA PACNEWS 3: Mon 12 Oct 2026
Aliimalemanu returns to Samoa Parliament as sixth woman MP after election petitions conclude
APIA, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (SAMOA GLOBAL NEWS/TALAMUA)—Aliimalemanu Moti Alofa Tuuau has been appointed Samoa’s sixth woman Member of Parliament, completing the constitutional minimum for women’s representation following the conclusion of electoral proceedings arising from the 2025 general election.
Head of State Afioga Tuimalealiifano Va’aletoa Sualauvi II issued the Warrant of Election and Appointment at Vailele on Friday, acting on a report from the Electoral Commissioner.
The appointment increases the Legislative Assembly of Samoa from 51 to 52 members. It comes on the same day the Supreme Court dismissed Leleua Suataga Aso’s petition challenging Tuia Fuatogi Letoa’s Safata 2 by-election victory.
The warrant declares Aliimalemanu an Additional Member under Articles 44(1A) and 44(1B) of the Constitution.
It states that her appointment follows the final determination of the 2025 electoral results, including the conclusion of all election petitions and consequential by-elections.
Aliimalemanu Alofa contested Alataua Sisifo for the Human Rights Protection Party in the 29 August 2025 general election, polling 477 votes against FAST candidate Taituave Lafaitele Valoaga Taaititi Iona’s 522.
Her result amounted to 47.75 percent of the constituency’s 999 valid votes, placing her as the highest-ranked unsuccessful woman candidate by percentage of valid votes.
That percentage is the key to the constitutional selection process. Women who did not win constituency seats are compared by their share of valid votes in their respective electorates, rather than the total number of votes they received.
Samoa’s Constitution guarantees a minimum of 10 percent women’s representation. In 2021, the Court of Appeal ruled that five women among 51 constituency MPs did not meet that minimum, and that six women were required.
The CoA also ruled that the determination of additional women members must await the outcome of election petitions and any resulting by-elections. Those proceedings could change the number of women elected directly and, therefore, whether an additional member was needed.
With five women directly elected following the electoral process, Aliimalemanu fills the remaining place required under the constitutional provision. Women now account for approximately 11.54 percent of the 52-member Assembly.
Aliimalemanu’s appointment adds an HRPP member, while today’s Safata 2 ruling preserves FAST’s existing seat.
Tuia was originally elected for HRPP in 2025 before resigning and successfully contesting the Safata 2 by-election for FAST. The dismissal of the petition means his by-election victory stands.
A tally of the reported election results and subsequent seat changes puts Parliament at 34 FAST members, 13 HRPP members including Aliimalemanu, and five members sitting as Independents.
The Independent grouping includes the three MPs elected under the Samoa Uniting Party which did not secure the eight members required for recognition as a parliamentary party.
Aliimalemanu’s return completes the minimum representation required by Article 44, more than a year after Samoa went to the polls.
Meanwhile, the bribery allegations against Safata 2 Member of Parliament, Tuia Paepae Pua Letoa have been dismissed by the Electoral Court.
Delivered by one of the two presiding judges, Justice Leitaualalesa Daryl Clarke the petition filed by Leleua Suataga Aso is dismissed and ordered the Petitioner to pay $2000(US$718) to the Respondent.
Tuia was accused of enticing voters for the Safata 2 by-election by distributing part of the $10 million(US$3.5 million) compensation funds from New Zealand for the HMNZS Manawanui that sank off the Safata coast.
The Petitioner Leleua Suataga Aso claimed that the timing of the disbursement of the funds was illegal as it was close to the by-election and outside the election campaign period.
According to court records, $6m (US$2.15 million) from the $10m(US$3.5 million)compensation was distributed to Safata district with Safata 2 receiving $2,553,100(US$916,565).
Of that amount, everyone of the Safata 2 district including eligible voters, received $1100(US$394).
The Court says that although the Government did promote Tuia’s candidacy at a roadshow, “it does not determine whether the compensation payments were made on Tuia’s behalf, nor does their political support establish the purpose for which payments were made.”
The Chairman of the Marine Pollution Advisory Committee, that implemented Cabinets decision, testified that by June, several Government agencies were already working on the process to disburse the fund.
By then, Tuia had resigned from the Opposition Party, HRPP in May 2026.
In her final submission, counsel for Tuia, Muriel Lui accepted that the “decision to proceed with the distribution at that time demonstrated a reckless disregard for the fact that a by-election was underway.”
According to the court, the compensation process started before the by-election and the Treasury Department requirement contributed to the process.
“The MPACs response provides a reasonable explanation for the administrative processes that proceeded payments.”
The Court ruled that the evidence did not permit them to conclude beyond reasonable doubt that the payments were made “for a prohibited electoral purpose or on behalf of the respondent.”
The court hence ruled that “the Petitioner has therefore failed to prove the allegation of bribery and the petition is dismissed.”…..PACNEWS
PAC – DIPLOMACY: PACIFIC ISLAND TIMES PACNEWS 3: Mon 12 Oct 2026
Policing the Pacific: Regional leaders seek a cohesive response amid a fragmented security framework
HAGATNA, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (PACIFIC ISLAND TIMES) —China’s growing police presence in the Blue Pacific is changing the region’s security landscape, requiring a balancing act for the islands receiving assistance, while causing anxiety among their traditional partners, including Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
Opportunism and pragmatism mark China’s approach in the Pacific, according to security experts.
“Engagement has often accelerated in moments of unrest or political crisis, when governments face acute public order challenges,” reads the 2026 report released by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crimes, a Geneva-based international nonprofit organisation.
“Offers of assistance are typically framed as respectful of sovereignty and free of governance conditionality, and yet frequently tied, explicitly or implicitly, to the protection of Chinese nationals and businesses,” states the report.
The Solomon Islands whose secretive security pact with Beijing was leaked in 2022 has reset its framework under the South Pacific Island nation’s pro-Australia prime minister, Matthew Wale, who has negotiated a new “comprehensive” security and economic treaty, which awaits signatures.
The security treaty between China and the Solomon Islands worried the Pacific island states, including Beijing’s diplomatic allies, due to speculation that it granted the People’s Liberation Army the option to send Chinese forces into the region, where the communist nation is involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
When Wale survived a no-confidence vote in parliament last month, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowed to accelerate the new agreement he hoped would replace China’s security package negotiated by the previous Solomon Islands administration.
Washington is not to be outdone.
During his 10-day Pacific tour, Christopher Landau, deputy secretary of the Department of State, met with Wale in Honiara to begin discussions on an economic and security partnership.
“We can be a strong partner of the Solomon Islands and that we can engage the Solomon Islands on the basis of transparency, collaboration, and in the spirit of equal partnership,” said Matt Murray, the department’s deputy assistant secretary for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
In July, the U.S Coast Guard signed a shiprider agreement with the Solomon Islands, granting law enforcement officers from both countries mutual authority to operate aboard each other’s vessels to enforce maritime laws, patrol the ocean, monitor poachers and combat illegal activities. The U.S. Coast Guard has similar agreements with Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia.
Murray said the U.S Coast Guard plans to increase its presence in the Pacific by entering into more shiprider agreements with other Forum members.
The Pacific island region is confronted by growing security challenges, including transnational organised crime, illegal and unregulated fishing, climate change, humanitarian emergencies and economic disruption.
In August, Kiribati detained a Chinese vessel for illegally harvesting shark fins. The practice of cutting fins off live sharks and throwing the carcasses back into the sea is banned in much of the Pacific Ocean, but persists due to demand in East and Southeast Asia.
The Chinese ship was among four vessels detained during a surveillance crackdown by 11 Pacific Island nations from 03 – 14 August, with assistance in some areas from the U.S Coast Guard and an Australian military aircraft.
“I would say that the United States certainly shares concerns with our Pacific island partners related to China’s malign activities in the Pacific, which include IUU fishing, elite capture and corruption, economic coercion, environmental degradation, and, as you mentioned as well, provocations like the recent (missile test) launch,” Murray said during a virtual press briefing on 20 September.
He said Washington is pushing law enforcement cooperation and maritime security with the Pacific “to stop the flow of illicit drugs, enhance maritime domain awareness and combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
These are pressing challenges impacting the safety, security and prosperity of Americans and Pacific islanders.”
During his meeting with Forum leaders in Palau, Landau unveiled a US$17 million Pacific Regional IUU Fishing Project to curb poaching in the Pacific islands.
Murray said the project focuses on legal support to update national laws, policies and regulations “to align with regional IUU fishing strategic objectives, develop training programs and deploy new technologies.”
The Global Initiative report also listed Tonga among the Pacific island countries familiar with the balancing act of managing relationships with multiple policing partners. The Polynesian kingdom also receives support from policing partners as diverse as Australia and the United Arab Emirates.
Vanuatu has a long-standing commitment to its nonalignment and neutrality, and a history of engagement with multiple partners including Australia, the U.S France, New Zealand, Japan and China. In 2025, amendments to the National Security Act required foreign advisers working in the national security sector to be based at neutral venues or at their respective embassies.
In Samoa, China built a new Police Academy in 2024 as part of its Belt and Road Initiative, representing the most visible manifestation of Chinese security assistance to the South Pacific nation.
Multiple agreements complicate the region’s security and law enforcement framework, which consequently becomes fragmented. Security pacts, while intended to address security issues, can breed new threats, such as rising geopolitical tensions and strategic risks.
At the conclusion of the leaders’ meeting in Palau, the Forum endorsed a new regional peace and security action plan that would provide “a cohesive architecture” to strengthen coordinated responses to various traditional and non-traditional security challenges facing the Pacific region.
The Forum underscored the importance of collective action to address traditional and non-traditional security challenges by enhancing intelligence sharing, coordination and maritime security cooperation.
“Leaders endorsed the Regional Peace and Security Action Plan 2026-2030 to advance regional peace and security priorities and emphasised the importance of member-led implementation that is responsive to differing national circumstances and capacities, appropriately prioritized and adequately resourced,” reads the communique.
“It is precisely in times such as these that regional ownership matters most,” said Rick Houenipwela, chair of the Forum Foreign Ministers Meeting.
While noting the merits of the island states’ partnerships with donor nations, Houenipwela emphasied that the region’s agenda “must continue to be conceived by the Pacific, shaped by the Pacific and owned by the Pacific,” a formula that he said built the bloc’s “strategic strength.”
Later this year, the inaugural U.S-Pacific Islands Conference of Police Ministers will be held in Palau to discuss maritime security, drug trafficking, cybercrimes and illicit finances.
“Strong U.S ties with the Pacific make our country and the region safer, stronger and more prosperous. The United States stands read, willing and eager to deepen our partnerships in the Pacific and will continue to show up in the region,” Murray said.
“We’re not simply engaging the Pacific because of a desire just to deter or oppose China, but really because we want to, as the United States, have better relationships with these countries, which are so important to our own security and our own prosperity at home,” he said…..PACNEWS
FIJI – CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM: FIJI SUN PACNEWS 3: Mon 12 Oct 2026
Fiji Constitution amendment consultations to begin this week
SUVA, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (FIJI SUN)—Fiji Government is expected to make an announcement this week on public consultations for the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2026.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka confirmed yesterday that consultations should begin this week, allowing the special parliamentary committee the 30 days allocated to it before the Bill is brought back to Parliament.
On 02 October, the Bill was referred to an 11-member special parliamentary committee, including four Opposition members, to scrutinise the text and gather public input.
This followed the Bill’s second reading on 02 October, where 38 members voted in favour, five against, nine abstained and one member was absent, exceeding the required 35-vote two-thirds majority.
Public consultations will now be held, during which stakeholders will be invited to make submissions before the committee reports back to Parliament on 02 November.
Following the committee’s report, the Bill will return to Parliament for a third-reading debate and vote, which will require a two-thirds majority to pass.
If approved by Parliament with the required majority, the proposed amendment will proceed to a national referendum.
Last week, Mr Rabuka proposed 09 December as the referendum date. However, opposition groups, including the National Federation Party (NFP), and the Electoral Commission have raised concerns, noting that the timing and rules governing a referendum remain subject to statutory processes….PACNEWS
FIJI – OCEAN CONSERVATION: FIJI SUN PACNEWS 3: Mon 12 Oct 2026
Community partnerships key to protecting Fiji’s ocean
NADI, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (FIJI SUN)—Genuine partnerships with resource-owning communities are key to protecting Fiji’s ocean, with local leadership and traditional knowledge helping guide decisions on marine resource management.
Blue Prosperity Fiji (BPF) strategic adviser and University of the South Pacific (USP) School of Marine Studies Associate Professor Joeli Veitayaki said Fiji’s experience offered lessons for other Pacific nations.
Speaking at the Pre-COP31 Investing in Natural Capital: The Pacific Opportunity event at Hilton Fiji Beach Resort and Spa in Nadi last week, Veitayaki said economic growth could go hand in hand with a healthy marine environment.
“Economic growth can coexist with a healthy environment, a real blue environment that is vibrant and healthy and capable of supporting and delivering on the demands levied by society,” he said.
He said BPF consulted customary resource owners across Fiji’s provinces and sought community permission before conducting marine expeditions.
The approach recognises the role of iTaukei communities in managing their traditional fishing grounds, known as qoliqoli, and the importance of working with resource owners, Government agencies and other organisations to achieve lasting results.
Veitayaki said scientific expedition data covering the Fiji group was available through the Government, creating opportunities to support marine conservation and resource management.
He added that BPF was using SeaSketch to conduct marine science surveys with communities.
“We go to communities and ask them to identify the coastal areas they use most for their activities. We then use the information to create heat maps to encourage better decision-making at the village and community level on the use of marine spaces,” he said.
He highlighted community initiatives, including work with the Natural Resource Owners Committee (NROC) and a trial involving dairo, or beach-de-mer, in Serua.
Veitayaki said Rotuma also demonstrated the importance of local leadership, with its council playing a strong role on the island.
He called for greater public awareness of successful conservation efforts and faster action to protect marine resources for future generations.
“We all have to do what we can to make the change we deserve to have given over to our grandchildren’s children,” he said……PACNEWS
PAC – OCEAN EXPEDITION: SMH PACNEWS 3: Mon 12 Oct 2026
Amelia Earhart expedition heads to Pacific atoll hoping to find her plane
SAN FRANCISCO, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (SMH)—-A U.S-based team of marine archaeologists has set sail for a tiny island in the far western Pacific, seeking to examine the latest tantalising clue to one of the 20th century’s great unsolved mysteries: the 1937 disappearance of famed aviator, Amelia Earhart.
Backed by Purdue University, an institution long affiliated with Earhart and her legacy, the group aims to learn whether a submerged object detected by satellite imagery in the island’s lagoon six years ago is the wreckage of Earhart’s twin-engine Lockheed Electra 10-E plane.
Such a finding would conclusively prove the hypothesis of some scholars that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, crash-landed on or near the coral-ringed atoll and perished as castaways there, hundreds of kilometres from their intended refuelling stop.
After embarking from Los Angeles earlier this month, the group was expected to arrive on Tuesday (Kiribati time) at Nikumaroro, an uninhabited speck of land in the remote Phoenix Islands, part of the archipelago nation of the Kiribati Republic.
“Finding Amelia Earhart’s Electra aircraft would be the discovery of a lifetime,” Richard Pettigrew, head of the Archaeological Legacy Institute in Eugene, Oregon, who is leading the effort in conjunction with Purdue, said in press statement.
Purdue general counsel and expedition member Steve Schultz, who was in Fiji conducting advance work for the expedition last week, said: “This would be solving one of the great mysteries in aviation history, certainly one of the great mysteries of the 20th century.”
The mission has its sceptics. Chief among them is rival Earhart explorer Ric Gillespie, co-founder of TIGHAR, short for The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, and author of the 2024 One More Good Flight: The Amelia Earhart Tragedy.
Gillespie has led a dozen expeditions of his own to the atoll over three decades and is the leading proponent of the Nikumaroro castaway theory. But he predicted the Pettigrew-Purdue team would find no plane wreckage, or anything else of consequence, left on the island.
The Purdue team credits Gillespie for laying the foundation of the theory they hope to prove. And they cite a compelling body of evidence that he has amassed over the years, including human artefacts recovered on the island, such as a 1930s-era glass cosmetic jar for freckle cream and remnants of a jackknife like one Earhart carried on the plane.
Gillespie’s investigation also encompassed modern forensic analysis from records of measurements of skeletal remains found on the island in the 1940s; logs of radio transmission bearings from distress calls picked up by wireless operators in the days immediately after Earhart vanished; and a photograph taken of the island’s shoreline months later showing an object that Gillespie said appeared to be the Electra’s landing gear.
In a Reuters interview last week, Gillespie said he believed the plane had since been lost to history, eventually swept by tides off the coral flat where it had landed largely intact and carried into the sea to sink and break apart in the surf.
Two previous attempts to locate the plane’s wreckage in the surrounding ocean, including a 2019 operation conducted by marine archaeologist Robert Ballard, famed for his discovery of the wreck of the Titanic, proved fruitless, Gillespie said.
A plane-shaped sonar image from elsewhere on the sea floor turned out to be a pile of rocks.
“I’d love to find that aeroplane. It ain’t gonna happen,” Gillespie said.
Pettigrew and his team are betting otherwise. To them, the multi-branched shape first noticed in a 2020 satellite image resembles an aircraft fuselage and wings. They assert that the object, or part of it, has since been spotted in earlier aerial images of the island’s lagoon dating as far back as 1938.
Gillespie said he was certain that the object in question was actually a fallen pandanus tree, a palm-like evergreen native to the island region, that washed into the lagoon.
“You can see the root ball. You can see the branches,”
The official U.S government view has long been that the Electra ran out of fuel and crashed at sea near its refuelling destination of Howland Island, another dot of land about 640km north-west of Nikumaroro, then known as Gardner Island.
Earhart was last seen taking off in her Electra on July 2, 1937, from Papua New Guinea en route to Gardner, about 4000km to the east, during a multi-stage attempt to become the first woman to pilot a plane around the world.
Definitive radio contact with the plane was lost the next day after Earhart, 39, reported “gas is running low”, followed by her final known transmission giving her geographical line of position.
Seeking to chronicle Amelia Earhart’s fate 75 years after she disappeared over the Pacific, the hunt is on to find the wreckage of her plane.
The disappearance spawned the largest US government search ever undertaken for a lost aircraft, including a flyover of Gardner, but no trace of the Electra or its crew was found at the time.
The US$900,000 Purdue mission, consisting of 17 people, plans to remain on Nikumaroro for five days before making the six-day return boat trip to the Kiribati capital, Tarawa, according to Schultz.
Purdue, based in West Lafayette, Indiana, would ultimately seek to bring back any bits of the Lockheed Electra that might be recovered.
Earhart was essentially a visiting faculty member at Purdue for two years as a women’s career counsellor and advisor to the school’s aeronautics department. A Purdue research grant paid for development of the Electra, which she called her “flying laboratory”.
Purdue lawyer Schultz said if the plane were found, no artifacts would be removed from it on this trip. Any effort to extract the aircraft wreckage would require further permission from the Kiribati government, he said…. PACNEWS
FIJI – POLITICS: FIJI SUN PACNEWS 3: Mon 12 Oct 2026
Fiji PM challenges accusers to provide evidence against minister
SUVA, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (FIJI SUN)—-Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has challenged anyone with allegations against the top Cabinet minister at the centre of a viral explicit video to come forward and testify.
He said the minister concerned must be given a fair opportunity to respond.
“I want someone ready to testify against my minister so I can give him the opportunity to defend himself,” Rabuka said.
His comments follow public scrutiny over an explicit video that appeared on the minister’s Facebook Story last Saturday before being removed 28 minutes later.
Rabuka said he had been questioned about the video but had not seen it or been informed of who appeared in it, where it was recorded, or the circumstances surrounding it.
He said allegations must be supported by credible evidence and handled through the appropriate processes before any action could be taken.
“You mentioned him? Go ahead and report him to me and the Online Safety Commissioner, and I will get proof from that authority with you making the allegations,” Rabuka said.
He stressed that anyone accusing a minister of wrongdoing should be prepared to stand by their claims, while the minister must be given an opportunity to respond in keeping with the principles of natural justice.
Meanwhile, a letter sent to Rabuka’s office challenged him to apply equal standards of accountability to all Cabinet ministers.
The writer compared the current controversy with that involving a female minister who was removed from Cabinet in 2024 amid controversy over a private video.
“Will the same standard, and the same urgency, apply to a male Minister?” the writer asked.
The letter raised concerns about fairness, consistency and gender equality, arguing that accountability should not depend on a minister’s gender.
It also highlighted a distinction between the two cases, stating that the female minister’s video was circulated without her knowledge, while the video in the current controversy allegedly appeared on the male minister’s own account, possibly unintentionally.
“Fairness and consistency are what our people deserve,” the writer said.
The minister at the centre of the latest controversy has yet to publicly respond to questions about the video.
The Online Safety Commission also posted a notice on its page warning social media users not to post, forward, repost or distribute intimate images or videos of someone else without their permission….PACNEWS
PNG – ELECTION/POLITICS: THE NATIONAL PACNEWS 3: Mon 12 Oct 2026
PNG parliamentary committee warns of election preparation delays ahead of 2027 polls
PORT MORESBY, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (THE NATIONAL) —Papua New Guinea’s preparations for the 2027 General Election are raising concern, with a parliamentary committee warning that key government agencies have made little progress in implementing recommendations aimed at preventing a repeat of the problems experienced in 2022.
Allan Bird, chairman of the special parliamentary committee on general elections, urged government agencies to work closely with the Electoral Commission, warning that less than seven months remained before the scheduled issue of election writs.
Speaking at a committee hearing in Port Moresby on Friday, Bird said the country could not afford to repeat the failures of the 2022 election.
He said most of the 70 recommendations contained in the committee’s report, tabled in Parliament on 30 November 2023, had yet to be implemented.
The recommendations cover reforms to the Electoral Commission’s administration, long-term election planning, updating the electoral roll and improving voter identification.
They also call for stronger voter education, timely and adequate funding, early procurement of election materials and improved coordination and accountability among security agencies.
The committee has also called for action on electoral corruption and consideration of reserved seats for women.
The scheduled timetable for the 2027 General Election is:
*29 April 2027:** Issue of writs and opening of nominations.
*06 May 2027:** Close of nominations.
*26 June 2027:** Start of polling.
*09 July 2027:** End of polling.
*30 July 2027:** Return of writs.
Bird said effective election planning and implementation should begin four years before an election year to ensure agencies have sufficient time to prepare.
The committee’s recommendations also emphasise the need for election funding to be included in budget submissions and allocated throughout the five-year electoral cycle, allowing procurement of goods and services to be completed well before polling.
Security agencies are expected to work together in planning and implementing election security arrangements, with clear accountability for their actions.
The committee’s concerns come as PNG moves towards the 2027 polls, with implementation of the outstanding recommendations remaining a key challenge for election preparations…..PACNEWS
FIJI – DIPLOMACY: FIJI SUN PACNEWS 3: Mon 12 Oct 2026
Fiji Civil servants praised for delivering historic Pacific Pre-COP31
NADI, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (FIJI SUN)—Fijian civil servants who worked behind the scenes to deliver the Pacific’s first-ever Pre-COP31 climate conference have been recognised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.
At an appreciation event in Nadi last Friday, officials acknowledged the dedication and professionalism of staff involved in organising the landmark climate meeting, which brought together regional and international partners ahead of COP31 in Türkiye next month.
The workforce supported a wide range of operations, including diplomatic and protocol services, logistics, delegate coordination and accreditation, communications and event management.
Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Solo Mara, thanked officers across Government agencies for their commitment and sacrifices in ensuring the event’s success.
“To our officers across ministries, departments and supporting agencies, I want you to know that your work has been recognised and is sincerely appreciated. Many of you worked extra hours, adjusted your schedules, and took on responsibilities beyond your normal duties,” he said.
“You did so with professionalism, patience and a shared determination to deliver.”
Mara said the successful hosting of the conference demonstrated the strength of cooperation across Fiji’s public service.
“What I particularly wish to acknowledge is the unity and commitment demonstrated across the government service. Despite the scale and complexity of the operation, colleagues came together with a common purpose.
“That spirit of cooperation is one of our greatest strengths as a public service,” he said.
He added that the climate conference was about more than hosting an international event.
“It was about giving our Pacific people a stronger voice in shaping their future,” Mara said, adding that civil servants understood the significance of that responsibility and gave their best to ensure its success.
Director for Climate Change and Environment Senivasa Waqairamasi echoed those sentiments, recognising the contribution of the workforce in elevating Pacific voices and climate priorities on the global stage.
The successful hosting of Pre-COP31 highlighted Fiji’s ability to deliver major international events through inter-ministerial coordination, diplomatic engagement and collaboration with Australia, Tuvalu, and regional and international partners.
As momentum builds towards COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, in November, officials said the event was a reminder that successful diplomacy relies on the commitment, teamwork and sacrifices of those working behind the scenes….PACNEWS
EU – DIPLOMACY: PACNEWS/EU PACNEWS 3: Mon 12 Oct 2026
EU regrets U.S sanctions announcement against International Criminal Court
BRUSSELS, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (PACNEWS/EU) — The European Union has urged the United States to reverse its announced sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), warning that pressure on the Court threatens its independence and ability to prosecute serious international crimes.
The EU said the ICC was a fundamental part of the rules-based international order and played a crucial role in holding individuals accountable for violations of international law.
“The EU deeply regrets the announcement by the United States to impose sanctions against the Court as an institution,” the EU said in a statement.
The EU called on Washington to reverse the measures and welcomed its readiness to discuss concerns with States Parties to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC.
It also noted the US decision to delay the measures’ entry into force by six months, saying this created an opportunity for diplomacy to resolve the dispute.
“This creates space for diplomacy, with a view to securing their prompt reversal and preventing any further measures that seek to undermine the independence and integrity of the ICC,” the statement said.
The EU stressed that the ICC did not target sovereign states and operated under the principle of complementarity, intervening only when national authorities were unwilling or unable genuinely to investigate or prosecute those responsible for the most serious crimes.
These include genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.
The statement said the principle recognised the role of national judicial systems, including that of the United States, in investigating and prosecuting such crimes.
The EU also warned against threats or attacks targeting the Court, its elected officials, staff and people cooperating with it, including civil society representatives and service providers.
“The ICC must be able to operate independently, free from pressure or external interference,” it said.
The EU reaffirmed its support for the Court and said it would work closely with the ICC and the 125 States Parties to the Rome Statute to safeguard its independence and ensure it could continue its work.
It said it stood ready to take necessary measures to protect the Court, its personnel and those cooperating with it, while also protecting the interests of EU operators within the Single Market.
The EU said the ICC’s ability to investigate and prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity remained essential to international criminal justice…..PACNEWS
AUST – IMMIGRATION BAN: AAP PACNEWS 3: Mon 12 Oct 2026
Australian Coalition baulks at One Nation-style migrant nation ban
CANBERRA, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (AAP)—The Australian coalition has baulked at a One Nation-style immigration policy that discriminates against would-be migrants based on their countries of origin.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said it was never his intention to shut out people from certain nations despite previously singling out “bad people” from “bad countries” for stricter checks.
The coalition has been struggling to find a middle path between Labor and One Nation with its migration policy as it bleeds voter support to the minor party on its right.
Taylor said the opposition’s migration policy, which he unveiled last Tuesday, would put “Australian values” at the centre of the immigration system.
But his rhetoric has softened since he revealed the first leg of the migration plan in April.
At that time, he said all of the 1700 Gazans in Australia on visas presented high risks to the nation and must be “re-assessed entirely with far greater scrutiny”.
He also raised concerns about migrants coming from Iran.
But pressed on Sunday about why he had not gone as far as One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and planned for a list of banned countries in the coalition’s policy, Taylor said that was never his intention.
“I’ve always said that we would discriminate not based on the country someone comes from, or their race, or their religion, but based on the person, and whether that person is a suitable person to be a resident or citizen of this country,” he told ABC’s Insiders programme.
“That’s what we should focus on and we should judge people on their character and conduct, not the colour of their skin.”
Taylor linked his policy to the Bondi massacre, carried out by a permanent resident who moved to Australia during the Howard premiership and his Australian citizen son.
He blamed Labor for lowering the standards of migrants brought into Australia and for disbanding the Department of Home Affairs’ intelligence unit.
But he admitted it was impossible to know the impact of the unit’s abolition and whether retaining it could have prevented an attack.
Security-focused think tank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has said disbanding the unit hindered the department’s ability to convert intelligence into coherent policy advice.
But machinery of government changes bringing ASIO and the AFP back under the Home Affairs umbrella in 2025 had rebuilt the bridge between national security operations and strategic policymaking, the think tank said at the time.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Australia had its toughest-ever powers to prevent violent extremists entering the country.
“I’ve been using them to be able to scan and assess whether someone has a history of being a problem before we give them a visa, and we’ve been cancelling visas when people are here, and we’ve been stopping people from coming here in the first place,” he told News24….PACNEWS
PACNEWS BIZ
PAC – TUNA INDUSTRY: PACNEWS/FFA PACNEWS BIZ: Mon 12 Oct 2026
Tuna supply chains exploited for cocaine smuggling, FFA report warns
HONIARA, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (PACNEWS)—Transnational criminal networks are increasingly exploiting tuna fishing operations and seafood supply chains to smuggle cocaine across the Pacific, raising concerns about the impact of the illicit drug trade on island communities.
The latest Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Trade and Industry News report highlights how legitimate tuna shipments, fishing vessels and offshore refuelling operations are being used to move drugs from South America towards international markets, including Australia and New Zealand.
The report comes as global cocaine production reaches record levels. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, production rose to about 4,100 tonnes of pure cocaine in 2024, around four times the level recorded a decade earlier.
Ecuador, a major tuna-producing and exporting country, has become a significant transit point for international drug trafficking, with criminal networks exploiting the industry’s extensive maritime transport routes.
In March 2025, Italian police seized 250 kilograms of cocaine concealed in a container carrying canned tuna from Ecuador. In 2023, Spanish police seized 7.5 tonnes of cocaine hidden in frozen tuna destined for European markets.
The report said the scale of tuna exports made it difficult to determine how much illicit cargo escaped detection.
Ecuador exports more than 500,000 tonnes of tuna annually, providing extensive shipping networks that criminal groups can exploit to conceal drug consignments among legitimate goods.
The report also describes how criminal gangs in Ecuador have expanded their influence in coastal fishing communities, with fishermen allegedly being threatened, extorted or forced to participate in smuggling operations.
Some fishermen face pressure to transport drugs or pay fees to criminal groups, putting their livelihoods and families at risk.
Beyond concealing cocaine in seafood shipments, traffickers are reportedly using larger fishing vessels, including tuna seiners and longliners, as offshore refuelling points for high-speed boats and semi-submersible vessels carrying drugs.
The report cites media accounts of US military operations against vessels alleged to have supported drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific, including tuna fishing vessels.
The effects of the drug trade are also being felt across Pacific island countries, where cocaine packages have washed ashore and suspected drug-smuggling vessels have been found abandoned.
In the Marshall Islands, cocaine packages have repeatedly washed up on reefs and beaches, including on the atolls of Wotho, Arno, Jaluit, Ailuk and Ailinglaplap. The report says the discoveries increased in 2025, prompting concerns about the movement of drugs through the country.
It also describes a reported incident in which cocaine packages were found attached to a satellite buoy similar to those used by tuna fishing fleets to track drifting fish aggregating devices.
The report identifies the South Pacific as an important transit route for drugs destined for Australia and New Zealand.
During the first six weeks of 2026, law enforcement agencies reportedly seized more than 14 tonnes of cocaine from the high seas and vessels in port, alongside a further quantity recovered from a shipping container. Much of the activity occurred in or near French Polynesia.
In the Cook Islands, 26 kilogrammes of cocaine reportedly washed onto a reef on Mitiaro.
Fiji also recorded a major seizure in early 2026, when police confiscated 2.6 tonnes of cocaine and arrested six men, including four Ecuadorians and two Fijian nationals, at a remote jetty in north-west Viti Levu. Investigators suspected the drugs had been transported by a semi-submersible vessel before being transferred to a local boat for delivery ashore.
The report also notes that eight suspected drug-smuggling vessels had reportedly drifted ashore in the western Pacific, including in the Marshall Islands and Solomon Islands, since 2024.
It warns that the financial incentives driving the cocaine trade, combined with established criminal networks and continued international demand, are likely to sustain the use of maritime routes and legitimate fishing industry operations for smuggling.
The findings highlight the growing challenge facing Pacific governments as they seek to protect fishing communities, maritime security and legitimate tuna industries from criminal exploitation….PACNEWS
UN – COOKING GAS: UNFCCC PACNEWS BIZ: Mon 12 Oct 2026
Clean cooking projects gain access to UN carbon market
BONN, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (UNFCCC)—- Cleaner cooking projects can now seek credits under the Paris Agreement’s carbon market after the UN body overseeing it adopted two new methodologies for household cooking.
Around 2.1 billion people still cook over open fires or inefficient stoves using polluting fuels. Cleaner cooking can cut greenhouse gas emissions and ease pressure on forests, while also reducing harmful household air pollution.
The decision by the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body opens the door for eligible projects that help households use less fuel or shift to cleaner ways of cooking to generate UN-backed carbon credits.
One methodology covers more efficient wood and charcoal burning cookstoves. The second supports a broader shift to cleaner, lower-emission household cooking.
The methodologies set out which projects can qualify, how their emission reductions must be calculated and monitored, and what checks are required before credits can be issued. They apply standards previously agreed by the Supervisory Body to ensure that credits represent real, additional and conservatively calculated emission reductions.
“This decision gives cleaner cooking projects a new pathway under the UN carbon market, with clear rules to ensure that each credit represents a real and credible emission reduction,” said Mkhuthazi Steleki, Chair of the Supervisory Body.
“We have a clear mandate from Parties to build a high-integrity mechanism that supports the goals of the Paris Agreement. These methodologies put that mandate into practice, combining pathways for cleaner cooking projects with robust safeguards that support confidence in the mechanism.”
Alongside the methodologies, the Supervisory Body also adopted the first version of a tool to assess reversal risk in cleaner cooking and other activities that reduce the use of non-renewable biomass.
The decision puts an important accounting safeguard in place. It recognises that emission reductions from cleaner cooking may be reversed and requires those reversals to be addressed.
Without this safeguard, credits could continue to be counted even after the underlying emission reductions had been undone, creating inconsistencies across the implementation of successive national climate plans, also known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
The tool will be updated as stronger evidence and improved data become available, with future versions expected to cover other types of activities. Countries may use country-specific values for natural risks where suitable data is available, allowing the approach to reflect national circumstances while maintaining consistent accounting.
The new methodologies add cleaner cooking to the growing list of activities covered by the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism.
Previous methodologies adopted by the Supervisory Body cover landfill gas, nitrous oxide from nitric acid production, and grid-connected renewable electricity. Together, the methodologies now cover activities that reduce emissions from three major greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.
The new methodologies deliver on the Body’s priority this year to bring a broad range of key sectors and activities into the mechanism.
At COP31, the Body will present its annual report to Parties to the Paris Agreement, who may clarify or expand its mandate and guide future work on new methodologies and market rules….PACNEWS
FIJI – INFLATION: FIJI TIMES PACNEWS BIZ: Mon 12 Oct 2026
Fiji’s annual inflation hits 6.8 percent in September
SUVA, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (FIJI TIMES) —-Fiji’s year-on-year inflation rate climbed to 6.8 percent in September 2026, despite a decline in prices of several essential household items during the month.
According to the Fiji Bureau of Statistics’ Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for September, prices were 6.8 percent higher compared to the same month last year.
However, the average annual inflation rate for the 12 months ending September 2026 stood at 1.9 percent.
The report also revealed that the All Items Consumer Price Index declined by 0.4 percent from 118.1 in August to 117.6 in September.
The monthly decline was driven by lower prices for food, cooking gas, clothing and several household goods.
Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices fell by 1.2 percent, with reductions recorded for meat, fish and seafood, cooking oils and fats, vegetables and non-alcoholic beverages.
The housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels category recorded the largest monthly decline of 1.8 percent, mainly due to lower gas prices.
Clothing and footwear prices decreased by 0.8 percent, while furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance fell by 0.4 percent.
However, price increases were recorded in several other categories.
Alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics recorded the highest monthly increase of 1.1 percent, driven by higher prices for spirits, beer, tobacco and yaqona.
Health-related costs increased by 0.9 percent due to higher pharmaceutical prices, while transport costs rose by 0.4 percent following increases in fuel and lubricant prices.
Communication costs also increased by 0.3 percent, reflecting higher prices for telephone equipment.
Meanwhile, prices in the education and restaurants and hotels categories remained unchanged during September.
The Bureau explained that Fiji uses two measures of inflation: the average annual rate, which compares average prices over two consecutive 12-month periods, and the year-on-year rate, which compares prices in the current month with the same month of the previous year.
The latest figures indicate that while consumers experienced some relief from falling prices in September, the overall cost of goods and services remained significantly higher than a year earlier…PACNEWS
GUAM – POLITICS: PACIFIC ISLAND TIMES PACNEWS BIZ: Mon 12 Oct 2026
‘It’s not a junket; it’s an investment ‘: Governor says San Francisco talks expected to yield $5.1B for Guam
HAGATNA, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (PACIFIC ISLAND TIMES)—-Guam has asked the Department of War for a total of US$5.1 billion to cover the costs of the territory’s infrastructure upgrades to accommodate the military expansion on island, Governor Lou Leon Guerrero said, returning from her trip to San Francisco, where her delegation presented the funding request to federal agencies.
Smarting from criticisms against the administration’s 30-member delegation to San Francisco, the governor said any federal assistance that may flow into Guam could grow to approximately US$11.7 billion over the years.
“It is not a junket. To me, it is an investment,” the governor said, lashing back at her critics. “The very narrow-minded people don’t see that.”
She said the Department of War footed the bulk of the bill for the trip, which was estimated at between US$175,000 and US$180,000.
“My trip was paid out of local monies, but it’ll get reimbursed by the Department of War,” Leon Guerrero said. “Even if we get US$10 million US$15 million or US$20 million from that meeting, it’s worth it.”
Public Auditor Benjamin Cruz earlier questioned the need for Guam to send a large delegation to San Francisco instead of holding the meeting on island.
“The guy goes out and speaks without information,” the governor said of Cruz.
She said the meeting was initiated by the Department of War.
“They’ve been planning this because they felt that in order for us to get heard they needed to make sure federal agencies also were present,” the governor said in an interview with the Pacific Island Times.
Leon Guerrero said the Department of War’s Office of Defence Liaison will provide an executive summary of the meeting, along with a federal package proposal, which she expects to be tackled at the Economic Adjustment Committee and eventually proposed in the U.S Congress.
In an earlier statement, the governor’s office said the government of Guam is projected to incur US$11.7 billion in infrastructure and service costs or more than US$415 million a year by 2034, resulting from the rapidly expanding military footprint on island.
While the military presence on Guam is projected to double in 10 years from 10,000 in 2024 to 20,000 in 2033—the Department of War has yet to determine the infrastructure capacity it needs to support the population surge, which has hindered its ability to make adequate plans, according to the Government Accountability Office.
The department will beef up its capability on Guam with a missile defence system that will bring Army personnel to the island.
Leon Guerrero said Cabinet members made the case for the impact of military expansion on healthcare, roads, utilities, the port authority, the airport, labor and housing.
“I thought we presented our case very well,” the governor said. “We actually drilled, like two or three times, before we made our presentation because we regarded this as a very significant, important meeting where they are going to be hearing from us for the first time about the military buildup and the military impact on it.”
Responding to residents’ criticisms of the trip, the governor said: “I’m sorry that the critics don’t understand it, but they need to understand it and not really deflect from what the great purpose is of this meeting.”….PACNEWS
SOL – CHOCOLATE PROJECT: SOLOMON TIMES ONLINE PACNEWS BIZ: Mon 12 Oct 2026
UK hands chocolate processing machine to Kokonut Pacific Solomon Islands
HONIARA, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (SOLOMON TIMES ONLINE)—The British High Commission in Honiara marked the handover of a new chocolate processing machine to Kokonut Pacific Solomon Islands (KOSI) on 9 October, in support of local cocoa processing and exports.
The machine was provided through the KOSI project, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which the high commission said is designed to increase cocoa processing capacity, improve market access and support exports to international markets.
British High Commissioner to Solomon Islands Paul Turner said the UK supports Solomon Islands businesses that are creating economic opportunities and adding value to local products.
“KOSI demonstrates how entrepreneurship, innovation and determination can transform a small business into a growing enterprise with international reach,” Turner said.
KOSI is a Solomon Islands social enterprise that works with rural communities on coconut and cocoa production. The high commission said the organisation was set up in 2004 and supports more than 1,000 farmers across the country with training, market access and business opportunities.
Based in Honiara, KOSI processes and markets products sourced from its network of village producers. The high commission said the business has been recognised nationally for its contribution to agribusiness, exports and community development.
The project grew out of talks between the high commission and KOSI after Turner visited the company’s facility, where he saw cocoa fermentation and chocolate production. A project was then developed to support the business, improve its visibility and buy additional chocolate-processing equipment.
The high commission said the new machine is expected to increase production of chocolate paste and finished chocolate products, helping the business meet local demand while supplying export markets including the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
The project proposal also identifies increased revenue, improved export visibility and stronger livelihoods for staff employed by the business.
The initiative builds on wider UK support for the Solomon Islands cocoa sector, which the high commission said has helped connect cocoa producers and processors with international buyers and promote their products through trade activities….PACNEWS
PAC – FISHERIES: GUAM PACIFIC DAILY NEWS PACNEWS BIZ: Mon 12 Oct 2026
Fishing council: Guam pelagic fishing lands $163K in revenue, ‘trip expenses exceed sales returns’
HAGATNA, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (GUAM PACIFIC DAILY NEWS)— A 2025 overview of the Western Pacific’s fishing activities shows mixed results across the U.S Pacific Islands, though Guam’s pelagic fishers are landing more revenue compared to a year prior.
That’s according to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council’s Western Pacific Region Status of the Fisheries 2025 report which provides information on how fisheries in the council’s jurisdiction have changed from 2023 to 2025.
Commercial pelagic revenue on Guam is up some 39 percebt, according to the report, along with a 7.4 percent increase in trolling hours. This is despite a sharp drop in estimated catch of 53 percent.
In 2025, pelagic fishing brought in US$163,621 in revenue, up from US$117,477 in 2024. That’s down from a 2023 high of US$255,429.
The fishing council reported that higher fish prices partially offset the lower landings. The inflation-adjusted average price per pound of landed pelagic catch increased by 17 cents in Guam.
“Even so, fishers reported that trip expenses exceeded sales returns,” the Council wrote.
Estimated pelagic trolling hours have only gone up since 2023, topping 41,518 in 2025, while the number of trolling vessels and fishing trips remained about the same over the three-year period.
According to the report, staff at the Guam Department of Agriculture’s Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources said lower landings may be associated with the lagged effects of the 2023-2024 El Niño event.
Meanwhile, Guam’s bottom fish fisheries are down about 6 percent compared to 2024 but remain above long-term averages.
The 2024 assessment of bottom fish management unit species in Guam, which cover 13 species of shallow and deep-water snappers, groupers, jacks, and emperor fish, determined that the stock is no longer overfished and is not experiencing overfishing according to the report.
However, revenues fell dramatically in 2025, down by 94% despite an increase in bottom fishing vessels.
Northern Marianas fisheries
Fisheries data in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands were impacted by funding and staffing constraints in 2020, according to the Council, leading to incomplete survey coverage that limited catch estimates.
Available data showed that estimated pelagic catch totaled 78,161 pounds in 2025, continuing a downward trend from 2023. The Council said this is far below the 10-year average of 334,101 pounds.
The CNMI’s pelagic fisheries continue to see decreases in the number of active commercial fishers, commercial fishing trips and commercial revenue, all while fishers put in more trolling hours compared to 2024.
Pelagic commercial fishing revenue sat at US$75,926 in 2025 compared to US$286,356 and far below the 2024 high of US$443,581.
Bottom fishing estimates in the CNMI seem to have rebounded according to the Council, however 2024 and 2025 estimates are based on incomplete data.
Like Guam, despite the higher catch bottom fish revenue fell 46.3 percent to US$20,461.
“CNMI fishers reported severe market constraints and rising maintenance costs,” the Council wrote. “On Saipan, limited consumer purchasing power further constrained commercial sales.”
Fishers also faced access restrictions due to military activities in the region.
On Tinian, small-boat fishers raised concerns about shifting buffer zones and enforcement rules when military vessels were in port, the Council said….PANEWS
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The views expressed in PACNEWS are those of agencies contributing articles and do not necessarily those of PINA and/or PACNEWS
PARS, Moylan share updates on push for radiation exposure compensation
HAGATNA, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (PACIFIC DAILY NEWS) —Assan-Ma’ina resident Andie Torres Mesa, 82, attended Saturday’s Pacific Association for Radiation Survivors meeting at the Government House on behalf of her sister, who passed away from cancer in 2008.
Mesa shared with Pacific Daily News written testimony her late husband received from a mutual friend, which was written by Charles Bert Schreiber. Schreiber was the Atomic, Biological and Chemical Warfare Defence Officer in Guam in 1952.
His account details discovery of dangerous radiation in Guam in early November 1952, later attributed to radiation blowing downwind from the hydrogen bomb detonation at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
“My original thought was that the Geiger Counter was malfunctioning,” Schreiber stated, reffering to the instrument used to detect and measure ionizing radiation, “but when I raised it up and put it nearer the screen window, the dial needle swung even further over, and the sound increased still further … I knew it was not the counter, but that there was some radioactivity outside.”
Schreiber panicked and first thought Guam had been subjected to a radioactive attack. When he spoke to his flag lieutenant, he was told to ignore the findings, “period.”
“I then knew something was very, very wrong,” Schreiber stated.
Mesa also possessed an old newspaper clipping from Marianas Variety in 2013 with a story about several veterans and their family members contracting diseases from on Andersen Air Force Base due to Agent Orange.
“When I see this in the paper, I immediately took [Schreiber’s report] from the drawer, and I read it, and it’s just the same thing. I immediately think about my sister, Emily Torres Tedtaotao, drinking rainwater out of a big tank because that’s all she had and getting very sick,” Mesa said.
Schreiber also mentioned that his command was aware residents were drinking highly contaminated radioactive rainwater but did nothing to stop or help them.
“The Navy did not provide any information to the military personnel, civilians or the natives about how to protect themselves. I knew that many of the Guamanians and the other natives in that fallout area would eventually die horribly from cancer, leukemia, subtle birth defects,” Schreiber stated.
Schreiber would end his testimony calling what happened “one of the greatest cover-ups in history.”
He delivered his testimony to the Board on Radiation Effects Research in 2001.
PARS, Moylan seek reparations
At the Saturday meeting, PARS President Robert Celestial mentioned his team had also spoken with Schreiber, who would help them in their mission to include Guam in the Radition Exposure Compensation Act program. He said Schreiber helped them access unclassified documents to support Guam’s case for radiation exposure.
These efforts would finally lead to a bill Del. James Moylan introduced to the U.S. Congress in August, called the Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorisation Act of 2026.
Moylan is seeking reelection.
His bill would extend compensation of up to US$150,000 to people on Guam affected by nuclear weapons tests, who have been excluded from past rounds of federal compensation that started in 1990.
It increases the compensation cap from US$100,000, and lifetime medical benefits. It also expands eligible diseases to include renal cancer and diseases, such as lymphocytic cancers. All changes were in collaboration with the National Academies of Science, Celestial added.
Guam was previously excluded from the program when it was first implemented in 1990, and excluded again from an expansion of the program in June last year.
Moylan introduced the bill in August with the support of representatives from both parties:
*CNMI Del. Katherine King-Hinds,
*Missouri Rep. Wesley Bell,
*New Mexico Reps. Teresa Leger Fernandez and Gabe Vasquez,
*Colorado Reps. Brittany Pettersen and Joe Neguse,
*Nevada Reps. Dina Titus and Steven Horsford,
*Arizona Rep. Greg Stanton and
* Illinois Rep. Nikki Budzinski.
No move from Congress
According to Celestiala and Moylan, Congress is at a pause and likely won’t discuss the bill until January. If Moylan retains his position after the General Election in November, he will push for this to be one of the first bills discussed in January.
On the chance that Alicia Limtiaco takes the seat instead, Moylan said he is “not even thinking that far.”
“I am the author, and I’m going to get reelected, and I’m going to move forward with this bill. It’s up to the others who wish to oppose me, run against me, how they figure that out. Of course, I’m hoping I can continue to help the island of Guam in any way I can,” Moylan said Satuday.
Celestial said the bill also moved the eligibility window from 1946 and 1962 to 1946 and 1992, opening it up for more affected people in Guam.
He added that there is still risk to be assessed. Although the 30-year half-life has passed for radionuclides such as strontium to degrade in the environment, other radionuclides could still be lingering, such as plutonium, which has a half-life of thousands of years.
“We don’t know what the ramifications are going to be down the road. What I’ve requested is that we have monitoring systems here in our waters and in the area surrounding Guam, but no one has moved in that direction,” Celestial said.
CNMI, FSM eligibility
Moylan and Celestial also attended the Asia Pacific Island Legislature earlier this year, convening with representatives from the CNMI and Federated States of Micronesia to discuss whether their citizens could be included in a future version of the programme, also being downwinders.
Because CNMI and FSM are separate entities, Moylan said it would require separate negotiations with the Trump administration, because their status prevents them from being included in the bill or the RECRA program as is.
According to Celestial, Del. King-Hinds was interested in there being a study to determine if CNMI was affected, but not to be included in the program.
Help from the diaspora
To garner more support for the bill, Moylan plans to use the CHamoru diaspora in the mainland. He hopes CHamoru families in Texas, California and other states with hotspots will call their representatives and encourage them to support his bill.
Moylan also plans to bring those senators and representatives to some of the celebrations and events hosted by CHamorus. He wants to show his colleagues CHamorus are an active group in their constituency.
“If they know this is something their representatives are asking for to help their relatives and help their ancestral land where they grew up, then they’re going to vote,” Moylan said…. PACNEWS
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The views expressed in PACNEWS are those of agencies contributing articles and do not necessarily those of PINA and/or PACNEWS
Conservation lessons: speak less, listen more, be patient
SUVA, 12 OCTOBER 2026 (GEF)—Jessie Siga is a Fijian advocate for marine conservation and biodiversity. She is an active member of the WWF Pacific Volunteer Programme as well as the UN Decade Youth Taskforce on Biodiversity Restoration.
In a GEF Voices interview, she reflected on her the long-term impact of today’s work to advance conservation for the land and the sea.
What do you do for a living? What are you currently focused on?
I am a conservation officer for the Ministry of iTaukei Affairs in Fiji, serving the greater Nadroga Navosa province with over 100 villages and 22 districts. I work closely with natural resource owners’ committees, focusing on natural resource management, climate adaptation, and protection of biodiversity.
How did you get into this line of work?
I have been passionate about environmental sustainability and conservation my whole life and the rising climate issues facing my small island nation have only ignited the spark to help. I studied environmental science and later pursued a postgraduate diploma in climate change which landed me on this appointment that I am so grateful for.
Has anyone you have met through your work made a lasting impact on you?
I have met lots of people that inspire me but one that stands out is Manoa Duwai, a good colleague of mine and the co-founder of the Naidiri Marine Biodiversity Park in Fiji. His organisation is dedicated to improving ocean health and engaging youth in protecting the marine environment. The Naidiri Youth Club that manages the marine protected area won the #OceanLoveAward in 2025. His conservation journey has taught me that it takes time to see impact, but with passion and determination, acting locally leads to global change.
What life lessons has your job taught you?
The importance of patience. We may not see the benefits of conservation work with our own eyes, but future generations will. Secondly, to always be grateful for what I have, as there are many communities in Fiji struggling with environmental issues and do not have the resources to combat these issues. Lastly, speak less and listen more. I’ve learned so much from communities that I work with that possess invaluable Indigenous knowledge and science that has been practiced for hundreds of years in Fiji before colonialism.
The state of the global environment is concerning. What gives you hope?
I see more young people like me getting into the climate space and taking ownership of projects. This is the hope for our future. We must recognise the right of people to take the lead on climate change, especially in Fiji, where the people are deeply rooted to the land and sea.
What advice would you give a young person interested in a career like yours?
Go out of your comfort zone and learn as much as you can and do as much as you can. Do not underestimate voluntary work –– while it may not have monetary benefits, it can surely grow one’s knowledge, experience and wisdom…..PACNEWS
