PNG produces own salt
PORT MORESBY (NAUFM/PINA) — Papua New Guinea is now producing its own salt with the launching of PNG Salt Industries refinery at Konedobu, Port Moresby.
Guest speaker and Chinese Ambassador Zhao Zhenyu said its products will fully meet the demands of the domestic market, help create job opportunities and bring in revenue for the country.
The project was undertaken by the governments of both countries financed by a Chinese government subsidized loan of $10.75 million.
PAPEETE (Tahitipresse/PINA) — Yolanda, a 11-year-old Samoan, is to undergo heart surgery this week in a famous Paris hospital.
This is thanks to a program launched by the government of French Polynesia and a French association, Mecenat Chirurgie Cardiaque, which takes care of underprivileged children.
Yolanda has a very rare heart disease which could be fatal in a few months if nothing is done.
ALOFI (PINA) — Niue has announced the establishment of a whale sanctuary that covers its exclusive economic zone, making it the third declared in the Pacific.
The declarations come as the International Whaling Commission meets in Japan, with Australia and New Zealand lobbying for ratification of a South Pacific Whale Sanctuary.
Papua New Guinea and French Polynesia already have declared whale sanctuaries and the Cook Islands is expected to declare its waters one in the near future.
SYDNEY (PINA) — Australia is teaching Pacific island nations the best way to control their borders against people smugglers and transnational crime, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
A landmark course, run by the Australian Department of Immigration and the Australian Federal Police, started at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in Suva, Fiji, it said.
Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock was quoted as saying there had been an escalation in the transit of illegal immigrants through the region.
