Surprising revelation on American Samoan inmates, government channel switched off, and covid restrictions return in Tonga
Half of all prisoners in American Samoa are from Samoa
More than 50 percent of prisoners in American Samoa are citizens of Samoa.
American Samoa has expanded its Territorial Correctional Facility Photo: RNZI Monica Miller
Repatriating prisoners from the Tafuna Correctional Facility in American Samoa was one of the issues the two Governments discussed during the Atoa of Samoa meetings last week.
The two Samoas discussed the importance of improving processes for repatriating criminals.
Samoan govt information channel turned off
The operator of the digital television platform in Samoa has turned off the government information channel forcing Samoa's government to discuss paying to use the platform.
The platform was built by private company Samoa Digital Company and broadcasters pay to use it at a cost of $US8,000 a month for commercial stations and almost $US6,500 for non-commercial community broadcasters.
Samoa Observer reports that an agreement between the previous administration and the Samoa Digital Company allowed the government channel on the platform free of charge.
Acting Chief Executive Officer for the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Suetena Loia, said they are in discussions with Samoa Digital Company "to reaffirm terms and conditions of access on the platform".
Commercial television stations have been critical of the government channel for airing commercial movies and Loia said they were "testing viewership" but had now resumed airing informational programmes only.
The television channel owned by the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa, EFKSTV2, was also taken off the platform temporarily by Samoa Digital Company over an ongoing dispute over the tariff paid.
Tonga brings back some covid restrictions
Tonga's Government is revisiting tougher covid restrictions and has renewed a state emergency for the seventh consecutive month since the January's volcanic eruption and tsunami.
Restrictions include a midnight to 5am curfew, as well as mandatory mask wearing and social distancing at all times in public.
The public are prohibited from entering the four small islands of 'Atata, Makaha'a, Nukunukumotu and Mango, except for residents of these islands.
Travel restrictions have also been applied to the villages of Kanukupolu and Patangata on the main island of Tongatapu.
The new protocols comes as Tonga begins to open its borders, with the Kingdom now accepting two flights per week from New Zealand.
New Caledonia reaches unwanted covid landmark
The total number of covid cases in New Caledonia has surpassed 70,000 in the past year after the territory recorded another 1614 cases.
The latest figure, covering the past week, brings the total number of cases since September 2021 to 70,937.
The death toll remains at 314 - all of them died after the Delta variant entered the community in that same month.
Pandemic-related restrictions have now been lifted.
Kiribati police heading to first UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan
Five Kiribati police officers left on Monday for the South Sudan.
The team will spend 12 months there promoting peace, security, and stability.
The mission has been fully supported by the Kiribati Government through its Permanent UN Mission in New York and with the assistance of the UN Police.
Pacific Islands Forum's climate and disaster feedback event
The Pacific Islands Forum has organised a two-day meeting for stakeholders to share their experiences and lessons learned on climate and disaster resilience actions that have been taking place at a national and regional level.
The Forum says the event which started on Wednesday will allow interested organisations and projects in the region to showcase some of their products and results for a wide audience in an environment that is more conducive to the 'Pacific way'.
The meeting is expected to conclude with the launch of the Pacific Resilience Nexus - an integrated web-based information portal that will house all Pacific disaster and resilience knowledge resources managed by the Pacific Community.
