Vanuatu lawyers who have jobs say the workload has become overwhelming. Photo: RNZI / Jamie Tahana
Vanuatu - lawyers
Vanuatu's Legal Offices say they are battling on despite a lawyer shortage.
The Vanuatu Daily Post reported the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), Office of the Public Prosecutor (PP), and Public Solicitor's (PS) Office are all in need of more lawyers.
Attorney General, Arnold Kiel Loughman, says his office has several vacant positions, including a Principal State Counsel, a Junior State Counsel, a Senior State Counsel, and an Assistant Senior State Counsel.
Lawyers who have jobs say the workload has become overwhelming.
"The number of cases they are dealing with daily is just too much," the Attorney-General said.
Solomon Islands - visa
The Solomon Islands prime minister is seeking to establish reciprocal visa arrangements with Japan.
Jeremiah Manele expressed his interest in the immigration arrangement to his counterpart Kishida Fumio in Tokyo at the recent PALM leaders summit.
The Solomon Star reported Prime Minister Kishida acknowledging Manele's request, saying they would consider the proposal.
Solomon Islands passport holders are currently able to travel to more than 140 destinations without a visa most of which are in Asia, Africa and Europe.
In recent years, Australia and New Zealand have come under increasing pressure from Pacific leaders to consider reciprocal visa arrangements with Pacific Island countries.
Fiji - drugs
Fiji police are reiterating calls for an all of country effort to curb the illicit drug trade in the country.
The Fiji Times reported this comes after school children in the north of the country were caught with drugs in their possession.
Divisional police commander Kemueili Baledrokadroka told the paper a 14-year-old student who was recently apprehended told officers he had been using drugs for a long time.
Baledrokadroka said marijuana is more prevalent in the north than methamphetamine.
He called on the vanua and leaders to work together to help address the "serious issue" saying police cannot do it on their own.
Samoa - investigation
A civil aviation investigation is underway in Samoa after a Talofa Airways flight from Apia to Pagopago lost its front wheel on landing.
Eight passengers walked away from the flight unscathed, following the crash landing on Monday.
A passenger on the flight, Mataua Aasa-Matai, said on Facebook the wheel "tilted and popped" on landing.
She posted a message saying: "Shouts to our pilot for being brave and confident in steering the aircraft and landing safely."
The owner of Talofa Airways, Toleafoa Jeffrey Hunter told the Samoa Observer the Civil Aviation Authority and the company were jointly investigating the incident.
Hunter said the most important thing is the plane landed safely and no-one was injured.
Fiji - visitors
Arrival numbers from Fiji Bureau of Statistics show an increase by 2.3 percent for this June compared to a year earlier.
There were more than 92,000 visitors this year compared to 90,000 in 2023.
The June figures show that post-pandemic visitor arrival numbers have now fully recovered and even surpassed pre-Covid-19 numbers by 8.1 percent.
Over 91,000 of last months visitors came by air, while 1200 came by sea.
Most of those arriving by sea were fisherman while around 500 were yachties.
Bougainville - investors
The President of the autonomous Papua New Guinea region of Bougainville, Ishmael Toroama, says landowners need to engage with credible investors.
He said some exploration licences had been granted to various local joint venture companies but these projects have come to nothing because the landowners were aligned with non-genuine investors.
Toroama said the government is always ready to help landowners vet investors, using the Bougainville Inward Investment Act.
He also said circumventing the government means landowners and their investors can have problems meeting the administration's compliance standards.
Cook Islands - tobacco
The Cook Islands Ministry of Health has nearly approved all tobacco retailers.
All those approved can sell tobacco from the first of August under the new Tobacco Products Control Amendment Act 2024.
The Act increases the legal age of sale of tobacco products from 18 to 21 years.
It also bans the manufacture, importation and sale of imitation tobacco products, including vapes and e-cigarettes.