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Friday, August 22, 2008
| Emergency extended The state of economic emergency in the Marshall Islands was extended for another 30 days by the Cabinet at its meeting last Thursday. The National Disaster Committee had recommended extending it beyond the early August expiration of the initial 30-day emergency declaration, according to the government’s Chief Secretary Casten Nemra. Tracking the 'intrepid' Zac At 7am on Wednesday morning, teen solo sailor Zac Sunderland had covered almost a third of the distance from Majuro to his intended next port of call in Darwin, northern Australia. “He sounded pretty good this morning,” said Ted Cary on the yacht Sequester, who speaks to Zac twice a day on his high frequency radio. “The wind had filled in nicely of his port quarter and he was having an easy sail.” Majuro cuts power use Majuro power users, particularly businesses, have drastically reduced power use in response to high prices. Since MEC raised its rates to their highest levels ever on June 1, power use in June dropped to just over four million kilowatt hours for the month, its lowest in more than four years. Nitijela lifts tax on imported food items The Nitijela passed bill 13 Tuesday with lightning speed, eliminating import taxes on many food items in an effort to ease the community’s burden with soaring world prices. Introduced Friday by Finance Minister Jack Ading, the bill gets rid of the five percent tax on a variety of imported food. |
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E-mail: |
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Phone: |
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Fax:
(692) 625-3136 |
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Mail:
PO Box 14 Majuro, MH 96960 Marshall Islands |
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In Person:
On the ocean road behind Formosa in Uliga, Majuro |
By CINDY SUI
Pacific Magazine,
at the Beijing Olympics
Anju Jason, 20, was the picture of calm on Sunday despite the fact most fellow athletes from the Pacific islands have finished their competitions in the 2008 Olympic Games —but his isn’t until this Friday, August
Pacific Magazine,
at the Beijing Olympics
Anju Jason, 20, was the picture of calm on Sunday despite the fact most fellow athletes from the Pacific islands have finished their competitions in the 2008 Olympic Games —but his isn’t until this Friday, August
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Anju Jason takes on Brit at Games |
22. The taekwando athlete said he’s learned to cope with stress. “Before I used to be very nervous and let it get to me. Now, because I’ve competed in so many tournaments, it doesn’t get to me as much,” said Jason. That’s no small feat considering that more than half of the population of 56,000 in his native Marshall Islands is expected to watch him compete. Large Marshallese communities in Arkansas and Hawaii will also be watching him. For small nations such as the Marshall Islands, just being able to send athletes to the Olympics is no small endeavor — this Olympics is the first for the RMI. To get an athlete like Jason who qualified to compete on merit is considered an accomplishment in itself. Jason is the only one of the Marshalls’ five Olympic athletes who got into the world’s largest sporting event on merit. Other athletes also had to have performed well in championships to be invited by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). For Jason, the road to the Beijing Olympics is one of hard work, long hours and personal sacrifices. As a child, he liked to imitate the kicks and punches of the Power Rangers and began training when he was 11 to 12 years old. When taekwando became an Olympic sport in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Jason said he thought: “That’s cool, maybe I can do this.”
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An internal police investigation resulted in a three-week suspension without pay for a national policeman who improperly arrested and assaulted a Delap businessman in late May. The investigation was caused when Zhou Xian You, owner of You You Store in Delap, filed a formal complaint with the police over the incident. The national police officer, Hesmy Henson, was “suspended for 15 days without pay” and reassigned to a different post within the department, Police Commissioner George Lanwi told the Journal Wednesday. Lanwi acknowledged that You had been improperly detained by Henson. You had called the national police to report a crime in progress, but when police responded to his call, they arrested You instead, took him to the police station and required him to pay $100 before they would release him.
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P1: Lagoon Aviation air taxi service lost an engine on their six-passenger twin-engine seaplane this week. The engine failure occurred during a medical evacuation flight to Ailuk Atoll. “We were able to return safely to Majuro because the engine never stopped,” said Lagoon mechanic Jack Huey. “But we feel that the condition of the engine demands its replacement.”
P1: Kwajalein Senator Ataji Balos and Mayor Alvin Jacklick arrived from Honolulu Sunday bringing with them materials for the upcoming campaign by the Coalition to Oppose the Compact of Free Association in the September 7th plebiscite. Senator Balos stated that they are preparing to campaign actively in the next three weeks.
P1: The government issued checks totaling more than $500,000 last year without proper documentation of authorization, according to an audit by Deloitte and Touche provided to the Nitijela last week.