A Cook Islands electricity support reaches third phase, American Samoa's third repatriation flight from Hawai'i is confirmed, Pacific communities in US part of support for anti-asian violence measures and more.
Cook Islands electricity support reaches third phase
Cook Islands Prime Minister has announced the continuation of electricity support under phase three of their economic response plan.
The Te Aponga Uira Phase Three Rarotonga electricity support will result in every household connection being credited for their electricity costs up to a maximum of around $US56 each month.
Mark Brown said every business that currently received or was eligible to get government support, would continue to receive a 60 percent discount, for a further one month period.
Brown said the discount was in recognition that the borders remained closed and reflected the intention of Te Aponga to juggle its resources and risk in order to continue much needed support to households and businesses.
The discounts from Te Aponga Uira would be effective for the April 2021 meter reading.
The support would be reviewed again at a later date.
Third American Samoan repatriation confirmed
American Samoa's third repatriation flight from Hawai'i has been confirmed for an April 15 arrival in Pago Pago.
Some 220 travellers have been contacted for pre-travel quarantine in Honolulu.
The US territory's Covid-19 Taskforce said numbers would be confirmed when travellers arrived at the Ohana Waikiki East Hotel quarantine site.
Pre-travel quarantine begins on Good Friday, 2 April.
Due to the increased number of repatriations in this cohort, extra quarantine sites would be required.
The Taskforce was looking at using the Catholic Church's Fatuoaiga facility alongside the usual Tradewinds Hotel site.
American gets first shipment of Johnson and Johnson vaccine
American Samoa has received its first shipment of the recently US approved Johnson and Johnson's Janssen Covid-19 vaccine.
The territory's Covid-19 Taskforce says a shipment of 600 doses arrived this week.
The Janssen vaccine requires only one shot and the Taskforce says it's looking at utilising these doses for the repatriation flights or for people who have difficulty returning or acquiring the second shots of Pfizer and Moderna.
As of March the 30th the territory has an inventory of nearly 13,100 doses of all three vaccines and the Health Department is aiming to have all the eligible population, of over 33,200, vaccinated.
According to the task force, the latest records show more than 50 percent of American Samoa's older population have now completed their full two-shot vaccination for Covid-19.
Pacific community included in anti-Asian violence measures.
The Biden administration has announced measures to respond to rising anti-Asian violence in the United States.
The measures also aim to advance safety, inclusion, and belonging for all Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities.
They include about 50-million-US-dollars from Covid-19 relief funds for community programmes which help victims.
The White House says the Department of Justice is also focusing on a rising number of hate crimes targeting Pacific Islanders.
French Polynesian court annuls drug sentence
The appeal court in French Polynesia has annulled a nine-year prison sentence of a man jailed for running a methamphetamine importation ring.
Yannick Mai had been imprisoned last year for his role in smuggling 7.2 kilogrammes of the drug from the US.
However, the court found that he had not been questioned by a local investigative judge when he was first given a 10-year sentence in absentia three years ago.
At the time, Mai was in a US jail serving a sentence for drugs possession.
After his release in the US last year he was extradited to Tahiti, tried in court and imprisoned.
The appeal court ruling meant that the entire prosecution case had to be restarted.
Fiji government says it is resolving water issues in west
The Fiji Government said a drought would be a thing of the past for a group of Western Division farmers.
It handed over water tanks to nine farmers there.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mahendra Reddy, said it would help them increase productivity by providing water for irrigation during the dry season.
He said that all farmers around the country would be supported by the ministry to combat the drought period.
The minister said land size shouldn't limit production with farmers able to intensify their activities if they had water access.
