Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Working alongside Royal Australian Navy forces on the east coast of Australia, disposing of Second World War bombs in Vanuatu, marching in a street parade in Tonga and surveying areas of the sea floor in Ha’apai has kept the Royal New Zealand Navy Littoral Warfare Force busy in the South West Pacific for the past eight weeks.

 HMNZS Manawanui arrived back at Devonport Naval Base on Wednesday, allowing the crew to take a well-earned break after the busy deployment.

Commander Yvonne Gray has now led HMNZS Manawanui through two Operation Calypso deployments to the South West Pacific, and says the highlight of this one was completing the disposal of five 1000lb bombs located in around 20 metres of water in Port Vila harbor.

Five Maritime Explosive Ordnance Disposal (MEOD) divers from the expeditionary unit HMNZS Matataua used low order charges to crack the bombs open, filling them with sea water and rendering them safe with minimal disturbance to sea life and the reef.

“From the planning at Headquarters Joint Forces in New Zealand and at HMNZS Matataua, through to the liaison and cordon support from the Vanuatu Mobile Force, Vanuatu Police, and the Vanuatu Ports and Harbor Authority, this was an effective and efficient operation that really demonstrated the team effort between the New Zealand Defence Force and Vanuatu officials,” said Commander Gray.

Able Rating Nicole Anderson was the lead hydrographer embarked on the ship, working with HMNZS Matataua’s Survey Search and Rescue (SSR) team to complete a survey of a 41 nautical miles squared area in Ha’apai, Tonga, in just 72 hours.

“We’d been asked by the Government of Tonga to carry out the hydrographic survey, which will improve safety of navigation after the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano and subsequent tsunami in January 2022. We were joined by two hydrographers from the Republic of Fiji Navy and one from the Tongan Royal Navy, which gave them some valuable experience and meant they were part of an important task which will benefit all Pacific nations and mariners when navigating in and around Tonga.”

(Royal Navy press release)

CNMI HOSPITAL GETS MRI

The Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation (CHCC) in the Northern Mariana Islands has received a grant of more than US$6 million to allow it to acquire a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine.

The grant comes from the Helmsley Charitable Trust, which decided this year to expand its Rural Healthcare Program to the CNMI and American Samoa.

The Trust has, over the last 15 years, funded over $700m in eight rural states in the US mainland.

CHCC chief executive Esther Muña thanked Helmsley Charitable Trust and said the MRI will be a real game-changer for the hospital, saying that having no MRI was one of the challenges that CHCC has.

"Hundreds of our patients must travel off-island for a service that most people in the United States provide their own communities," she said.

"Having an MRI on island will improve our ability to diagnose and monitor various medical conditions including (but not limited to) neurological issues, cardiovascular diseases, and more."

CNMI governor Arnold Palacios said the equipment "has been badly needed and we have not been able to find the funding for it".

The Helmsley Charitable Trust said patients currently must travel 2000 miles to Hawaii for standard MRIs.

"This expansion aims to do the same for the residents of these US territories [CNMI and American Samoa] with both grants providing funds for the first MRI machines for the islands.

"These grants, totaling almost $10 million, also provide both Islands with x-ray units and ultrasound equipment to ensure that medical providers are able to properly diagnose and treat patients."

Magnetic resonance imaging is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes inside the body.

MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio waves to generate images of the organs in the body.

(RNZ Pacific)

AMATA HONORS LIFE OF SENATOR INHOFE

Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is honoring the life of Senator James Inhofe, who retired from the U.S. Senate in January 2023 and passed away July 9, 2024 at age 89.

“Senator Jim Inhofe was Oklahoma’s longest-serving senator, in the Senate more than 27 years, after he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for four terms. Before that he was Mayor of Tulsa, and a state legislator totaling some 56 years of public service, after time in the U.S. Army. I knew him already in the 1990s, as I worked for Congressman J.C. Watts, his colleague from the Oklahoma congressional delegation,” said Aumua Amata. “He came through American Samoa with a congressional delegation a few years ago, and I spoke to him there and after he came back to Washington, D.C. at the time.”

“As a senior senator, he served as Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee with oversight of the Pentagon. As Acting Chairman during Senator John McCain’s illness, Senator Inhofe led the John McCain National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2019, which was a then-record investment in our national defense and military personnel,” she continued. “Early in his career he honored his state’s veterans and service members with an influential role in bringing the retired World War II submarine USS Batfish, which served in the Pacific, upriver to Oklahoma as the centerpiece of a Veterans Memorial Park.”

“He was a pilot and enjoyed flying aircraft for many decades, and was honored with the U.S. Air Force Academy's Character and Leadership Award in 2013. I extend condolences and prayers to his family and friends, and the people of Oklahoma.”

(Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata’s D.C. staff)

TONGA CONNECTIVITY ISSUES

Connectivity issues in Tonga have reportedly been affecting ATMs and Eftpos.

The ABC's Pacific Beat reports internet services to Vava'u and Ha'apai earlier this month were severely disrupted, with internet providers switching over to satellite internet.

A source told Kaniva News it was hard to make calls on Digicel and the ATM service was "up and down", while EFTPOS was barely working.

A specialist cable repair ship is sailing to Tonga from Singapore, and is expected to arrive next Thursday.

Kaniva News reported yesterday the internet has improved, but the good patches are intermittent and there are still "off hours."

(RNZ Pacific)

FIJI POLITICS

Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has urged nine Opposition MPs — who have expressed their support for him — to keep on representing the people who voted for them.

Rabuka told The Fiji Times it is very important for the MPs to continue to represent the people.

The deregistered FijiFirst political party amassed more than 200-thousand votes in the last election.

Opposition MP, Mosese Bulitavu, said the nine former FijiFirst MPs collectively received more than 7000 votes.

Bulitavu said the decision to approach Rabuka offering support was influenced by some of the now independent MPs who urged him to work with the government.

(RNZ Pacific)

PNG VIOLENCE

The effects of binge drinking in a village in Papua New Guinea has left two people dead and homes and food gardens destroyed.

The National newspaper reported a drunk man lost his phone and picked a fight with his drinking buddies.

Police said the 22-year-old man reportedly slashed five people and ran into a house before being killed.

Police reports said after hearing of the death, fellow clansman and relatives advanced on the village and burned homes and destroyed food gardens.

Local MP Richard Maru has called for calm.

(RNZ Pacific)

BOUGAINVILLE — WOOD

The autonomous Papua New Guinea region of Bougainville has marked a milestone with its first export of balsa wood.

The wood is going to an Australian company called 3A Composite.

The balsa is grown by Rarung Integrated Farming, which started planting the trees in 2016 at Halia on Buka Island.

The Bougainville vice president, Patrick Nisira, called the development of a new industry a 'very exciting and historic day for Bougainville."

The company said this first shipment is one of several that will go to 3A Composite through a three- month trial period.

(RNZ Pacific)

HUMAN REMAINS FOUND

An investigation is underway after human skeletal remains were discovered in a cave in the Northern Mariana Islands.

The Marianas Variety reported the bones are determined to have been there less than 20 years.

A group of hikers exploring a cave at Banzaii Cliff stumbled upon the skeletal remains on July 7.

It was originally thought that the bones were World War II remains as the cliff site is a war location.

Public Safety Commissioner Anthony Macaranas told the media this week that this is not the case, and an investigation is now underway.

He said they cannot yet confirm if 'foul play is a factor.'

The bones are being sent to a forensic anthropologist to determine age and gender.

Macaranas said the remains are of one person.

(RNZ Pacific)

WORLD BANK UPGRADE PALAU

Palau has been upgraded to a 'high-income' country by the World Bank.

'High-income' countries are often referred to as 'first-world' countries.

The World Bank report says Palau's economy has recovered post-covid, surpassing the required amount to qualify as a 'high-income' country.

Palau's biggest economy is the tourism sector which makes up 40 percent of the country's GDP.

(RNZ Pacific)