Photo: AFP
West Papuan youths declared treason suspects for raising flag
Eight youths in West Papua have been declared suspects on treasons charges for flying the banned Papuan independence Morning Star flag last week.
Indonesian police arrested the group of mostly university students following an event at the Cenderawasih Sports Centre in Papua's capital Jayapura.
The event was part of commemorations around Papua, and in other countries, to mark the 60th anniversary of West Papua's declaration of independence from Dutch colonial rule in 1961.
Soon after the declaration, Indonesia soon took control of Papua, and the Morning Star flag is now banned by local authorities.
Amnesty International says the arrests were among 34 detentions of Papuan protesters last week.
Audit to probe majors overruns in PNG public service pay
An audit by international firm Deloitte is to be held into the US$1.6-billion in salaries and emoluments paid to Papua New Guinea's 130,000 public servants
The chairman of the special parliamentary committee on public sector reform and service delivery, Oro Governor Gary Juffa, has announced the audit.
He says Deloitte will find out why for the last 10 years PNG has had hundreds of millions of Kina in overruns in public service salaries and emolument.
Juffa says either someone cannot draft budgets or someone is just adding people onto the public payroll at will or ghosts have appeared through ghost holes.
He says either way, it has to stop, suggesting recommendations from the audit review will be a basis to modernise PNG's public service payroll system and save a lot of money.
NZ Digital Council selects first ever Pacific representative
New Zealand's Digital Council has selected its first ever Pacific representative.
Julia Arnott-Neenee has been chosen by the Minister for Digital Economy and Communications, David Clark, to be one of the seven members of the Digital Council of Aotearoa New Zealand.
She hopes to be a bridge for Pacific groups and will promote diversity within the tech sphere.
"My biggest mission is really to see, to just imagine a digital world that was created solely by Maori and Pasifika, what would that look like?
"For me I would love to see more Pacific creators of digital and of technology and of our digital future, versus consumers."
Julia Arnott-Neenee says being able to inform government with this new role, will open doors for Pacific innovators.
Covid surge continues in Northern Marianas
In the Northern Marianas, a recent surge of COVID-19 cases is showing no signs of abating.
Seventy-eight people have tested positive for the coronavirus bringing the islands' total to more than 11-hundred March last year.
The continued rise in cases has forced the public school system to ditch in-person classes and return to an online schooling until December 23.
The Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. says there are eight people in hospital with Covid-19.
Over the weekend, the Commonwealth recorded its fourth and fifth COVID-19 related deaths.
Covid-19 Fiji: 10 new cases in the community
Fiji has reported 10 new cases of Covid-19 in the community, bringing the total number of active cases to 129.
The Government also confirmed on Monday two Fijians returning from Nigeria had tested positive for the Omicron variant.
There are 8 covid patients in hospital in serious conditions.
Ninety-one percent of the adult population has now been fully vaccinated, while 27,420 children aged 15-17 have received both doses.
Fiji has had over 52,562 cases of Covid-19 since March 2020, with the death toll at 697.