Regional

While 53 out of 220 Majuro businesses were given citations for illegally selling cigarettes to youth under the age of 18, local officials said this actually confirms a significant improvement for Majuro. “We had 75 percent compliance (with the law),” said Maybelline Ipil, the project manager at Mar…

The objective of the observance was to raise awareness about how people were taking action to reduce their risk to disasters. This year, the observance took place with the framework of the “Step Up for Disaster Risk Reduction” campaign, and its theme was “Making Children and Young People Partners f…

Adding to these academic woes, a Ministry of Education official said “inconsistencies in administration of the test” resulted in unreliably high scores for eighth graders in some schools. The third, sixth and eighth grade results are disappointing for the Marshall Islands, which since 2004 has inve…

The Voyager had been servicing Yap and the outer islands since its arrival from Pohnpei earlier in September with multiple trips to provide the outer islands with supplies and medical services. The voyages had all been supplemented by Yap due to budgetary restraints within the national government. …

Mori initially sent a communication to Yap two months before, informing the state government that the 4th National Prayer Day is planned to be celebrated in Yap. That same month, Anefal replied to Mori, informing him that the state will take time to consider the matter and react accordingly. A rece…

Kim’s comments were based on a study published in the British medical journal in January this year. “Worldwide obesity rates have increased significantly over the past three decades and, to my surprise, the greatest increase was in the Pacific islands,”  Kim said. “This is a result of a combination…

The Dutch government last week announced the world’s first tax which specifically targets saturated fats in efforts to fight cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes. Under the tax, the price for foods like butter, cheese and pork fat experienced price rises from 45 cents to 70  cents. The tax…

The objective of the observance is to raise awareness how people are taking action to reduce their risk to disasters. In 2011, the observance takes place with the framework of the “Step Up for Disaster Risk Reduction” campaign, and its theme is “Making Children and Young People Partners for Disaste…

Taylor praised the Centrer for Excellence in Management and Humanitarian Assistance, a U.S. Department of Defense organization, for organizing a disaster and emergency workshop in Port Moresby on Sept 22-23. “The common sense, practical training will enable PNG authorities to save hundreds if not t…

This comes after the French high commissioner, Richard Didier, rejected claims that Paris had stopped a French Development Bank loan which Temaru said is needed to be able to pay the public service at the end of the month. Contradicting Didier publicly, Temaru has refused to meet him, which in turn…