Regional

During the 1997-98 El Nino event, reefs in Palau, the Great Barrier Reef , and other locations experienced wide scale coral bleaching due to increased water temperatures.  In some of these places, the reefs have started to recover, but other reefs have not.   The participants in the Reef Resilience…

Masayos and Giramur appeared for arraignment on August 4 and denied the charges. Masayos was represented by Oldiais Ngirkelau while Giramur appeared with counsel Siegfried Nakamura.Their co-defendant Haruo Esang was also arraigned and was represented by counsel William Ridpath.They were all ordered…

According to Kioko Emesiochl of the Embassy of Japan, Japan will hold its General Election on August 30 to elect its government leadership.  She said that Japanese citizens residing outside of Japan are accorded opportunities to vote for leaders of choice through absentee ballots. Emesiochl said th…

House Bill 8-3-1, HD3, SD5, CD1 creates the Foreign Investment Authority which will advise and assist the promotion and encouragement of foreign investment in Palau. Toribiong’s bill wants to abolish the existing Foreign Investment Board (FIB) and instead administrative responsibilities of the curr…

The proposed bill also proposed that the Office of the Ombudsman’s functions be reformed to make it independent from the Executive Branch. President Johnson Toribiong however opposed the measure saying that the HOD “ is sending the wrong signal to the United States.”He said elimination of the Speci…

Alonso Joseph appeared on August 13 for arraignment and bail hearing with counsel Oldiais Ngirkelau and entered a not guilty plea to all his charges. Assistant Attorney General Ron Ledgerwood appeared on behalf of the government.Joseph tendered his resignation last month.Joseph was charged with fal…

Sgt. Michael Rafael identified the burglar as Ezra Ngiraked, 23. Ngiraked was arrested for burglary, grand larceny and trespassing.Rafael said that a security guard called police for assistance on Wednesday at 12:35 am and reported that someone broke into the establishment.The guard reported that t…

Lt. Aloysius Alonz identified the victim as Silvino Maech. Alonz said the victim was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. He was declared dead at 2:30 pm.The incident was reported to the police at 1:50 pm on Tuesday.The victim who is said to be active in the Catholic Church activities was …

In line with President Johnson Toribiong’s vision and intention to promote good governance, anti-corruption, freedom of information and to ensure a transparent and open government, the Ministry of State through its Bureau of Foreign Affairs was tasked to seek technical expertise and assistanc…

Palau’s chief representative to the Compact review, Ambassador Joshua Koshiba, said he does not think that a review at this time “would be productive.” Under the Compact, the U.S. financial assistance to Palau ends on Sept. 30 this year.Palau is requesting for an extension.President Johnson Toribio…