Latest Solomon Islands Stories

By Buden, Donald W Abstract: Eleven species of reptiles are reported from Nauru in the first systematic treatment of the herpetofauna. Four of the species are marine; the seven others include six lizards (four geckos, two skinks) and one snake. Gehyra mutilata (Wiegman), G. oceanica (Lesson), Pelamis platura (Linnaeus), and Ramphotyphlops braminus (Daudin) are recorded on Nauru for the first time. With the exception of Emoia arnoensis Brown & Marshall, which is endemic to eastern Micronesia,...

Text of report by Solomon Islands locally-owned newspaper website, Solomon Times Online on 15 September [By Joy Basi] Another 25 more students intending to study medicine will leave the country for Cuba at the end of the month. This was confirmed by the Ministry of Health's under-secretary for health care, Dr Cedric Alependava in an interview last week. "Under the agreement between the Cuban government and the Solomon Islands government there are 50 scholarship for 2007-2008 offered for...

Excerpt from report by Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation text website on 20 August Visiting WHO consultant Dr Anuj Sharma, of the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi, India, has found an alarming trend of very high antibiotic usage in the country which is leading towards dangerous levels of resistance. [passage omitted] Dr Sharma, who is soon to complete a three-week consultancy in Solomon Islands, has found that the antibiotic usage in the country is extremely high when compared to many...

Text of report by Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation text website on 26 July The Solomon Islands Electricity Authority, SIEA, owes 18m dollars in fuel to its suppliers. Minister for Mines and Energy Edward Huni'ehu last week directed an emergency meeting with the SIEA Board and Management to discuss the matter. In a statement, Minister Huni'ehu said the debt crisis reached this point because SIEA's fuel suppliers are paid on a hand to mouth basis. He also said that the board and...

By ROOKES, Felicity FOR the past eight years David Nunn has gone back and forth to the South Pacific helping those less fortunate. This time the New Plymouth man is heading to the Solomon Islands with supplies to build and furnish a high school, after one was destroyed by a tsunami last year. The volunteer aid worker is packing up old computer monitors, stacks of paper and other bits and pieces to take overseas, all of which have been donated by New Zealand businesses. The computer...

By TIFFANY, Martin An Australia-based NGO is encouraging Pacific governments to take a closer look at the potential devastation of sea-bed mining. The Mineral Policy Institute is one of several groups raising concerns about Canadian mining company Nautilus Minerals, which has carried out sea-bed test extractions in Papua New Guinea's exclusive economic zone. Nautilus is also starting explorations in Tonga, and has lodged exploration licence applications in Fiji and Solomon Islands. (c) 2008...

Text of report by Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation text website on 23 June The parliamentary opposition has called on the prime minister, Dr Derek Sikua to use his reserved powers under the country's Telecommunication Act to end the telecommunication crisis besetting the country. Leader of the opposition group Manasseh Sogavare said the crisis has now entered another week and this only goes to demonstrate that the government is not taking a bold stand to resolve the dispute between...

Discovery means other sites such as the Cascadia Subduction Zone in northwestern North America have potential for more severe earthquakes than once thoughtOn the one year anniversary of a devastating earthquake and tsunami in the Solomon Islands that killed 52 people and displaced more than 6,000, scientists are revising their understanding of the potential for similar giant earthquakes in other parts of the globe.Geoscientists from The University of Texas at Austin's Jackson School of...

HONIARA, Solomon Islands -- The carcasses of three bottlenose dolphins - including a calf - were found dumped near a holding pen in the Solomon Islands where controversial exports of the mammals were planned. The exporting company on Wednesday denied any knowledge.The partly decomposed bodies of the dolphins, which were torn open, apparently by stray dogs, were found on Tuesday night lying in the open near a coastal garbage dump site near the capital, Honiara.Solomon Island Marine Mammal...

By James Grubel CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia announced a A$10 billion ($7.6 billion) plan to increase the size of its army on Thursday so it could respond more quickly to emergencies caused by growing instability in small Asia-Pacific nations. Prime Minister John Howard said the army would seek an extra 2,600 troops, on top of the 1,500 extra forces announced earlier in the year, to provide two more battalions. He said the rapid deterioration of law and order in the Solomon Islands...