Breaking News 18

United States
The United States Congress is to vote on a bill which could see the US Government ordered to monitor the human rights situation in the Indonesian province of West Papua. The House International Relations Committee has passed the State Department Authorization Act for the next financial year. It contains a requirement that US diplomats report on the implementation of Indonesia's special autonomy law for the mainly Melanesian province.
Pacific Beat

New Caledonia
In Noumea, there are major construction works underway near the Museum of New Caledonia, with gardens and a giant canoe as the centrepiece. On September 24 last year, a massive carved statue was erected on the site - the Mwa Ka. Now, the area is being landscaped and a new statue added in preparation for this year's anniversary of the colonisation of the islands.
Pacific Beat

Debt Forgiveness
A call from a Vanuatu cabinet minister to have the country's debt cancelled is unlikely to be echoed in other parts of the Pacific, according to an academic specialising in development issues. Professor Vijay Naidu, Director of Development Studies at New Zealand's Victoria University, was commenting on a plea by Vanuatu's Trade, Commerce and Tourism minister, James Bule.
Pacific Beat

Gas Deal
Papua New Guinea can expect big returns from the four-point-five-billion Australian dollar deal between local company, Oil Search, and Australian energy giant, AGL. This deal was signed this week, and has all but secured the future of the long proposed multi-billion dollar gas pipeline linking the remote highlands of PNG to households on Australia's east coast.
Pacific Beat

Biofuel
From the start of this month, the Government of Vanuatu has begun converting all its vehicles to run on home grown bio-fuel. The change-over is being made in response to the soaring global cost of oil,and also to assist Vanuatu in meeting its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
Pacific Beat

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