Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Manu Samoa head coach has been charged with “multiple serious offences” including “sexual conduct with a person under 16”, according to local media reports.
Mase Mahonri Schwalger, who was appointed by Lakapi Samoa to lead the national rugby team in March, was arrested last Thursday and will appear in court on 4 November.
Samoa media reported at the weekend that Samoa Police charged Mase “with multiple serious offences, including unlawful sexual connection, attempted sexual violation, sexual conduct with a person under 16, indecent assault, and common assault.”
The online news portal, Samoa Global News, reported that police confirmed that two complainants filed allegations against the coach.
“There are two complainants…they are his family members,” Samoa’s Police Commissioner, Auapaau Logoitino Filipo, was quoted as saying by the news website.
Mase has been released on bail and his bail condition requires that he signs in with police on a weekly basis, until his first court appearance.
SAIPAN POLICE DOGS DIE FROM HEAT EXHAUSTION
Two K-9 dogs on the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands (CMNI) Department of Public Safety (DPS) in Saipan died from from heat exhaustion after the air-conditioning unit inside the car they were left in by their handlers failed.
DPS said while the matter is still under investigation, it assured there will be no cover-up if their handlers are found at fault.
“There is an active investigation being conducted in reference to the death of the two K-9s,” DPS assistant chief of police and acting public information officer Simon Manacop said.
“If an officer is found to have violated any procedures that caused the death, they would face disciplinary actions.
“Now, procedures could be administrative, but the investigation could also take into account criminal violations. If there are criminal statutes that were violated, officers may also face criminal actions,” he added.
Earlier this month, KUAM News reported that CNMI’s Department of Corrections was in the early stages of establishing its own K-9 unit amid the battle against drugs.
DPS held a small private burial ceremony last Friday for two K-9 dogs, who Manacop confirmed were left in a heated car for more than 30 minutes on 8 September.
“The dogs were inside a patrol car and the aircon malfunctioned and started blowing hot air.”
He added that the K-9 handlers that day had originally left the dogs in the car with the A/C on as they went to secure drug evidence at DPS headquarters.
“They returned to the vehicle 30 minutes later and discovered the dogs passed out. One passed that same morning. Officers attempted to resuscitate but were unsuccessful.
The other one was rushed to a veterinarian but also passed in the evening, he said.
When asked if it was normal for DPS personnel to leave K-9 officers unattended in the car, Manacop stated, “It is standard procedure that the dogs be left in the vehicle with air-con on while they perform other duties, such as while they were securing evidence,” he added.
CALL FOR END TO BALLISTIC MISSILE TESTING
Speaking at the UN General Assembly (UNGA), Ratu Viliame Katonivere said the Blue Pacific continent knows the value of peace, having lived through the horrors of its absence in the two World Wars.
Katonivere referenced China’s test missile last week Wednesday, and called for a halt to such actions.
“We urge respect for our region, and call for cessation of such action under principle four of the Ocean of Peace, as was endorsed by the Pacific leaders in Tonga last month,” he said.
“Our statement reinforces the Pacific’s peaceful example to uphold international law and urge others to refrain from actions that undermine peace and security in the blue Pacific.”
The Fiji government launched its first foreign policy white paper last week.
According to the policy paper, the strategic competition between the US and China is the “largest challenge facing the Indo-Pacific”.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka noted due to the “competition for primacy” between the two global powers, the “stakes are high” and “how this competition will play out is open to question”.
It is the first time China has launched a missile into the Pacific Ocean in over four decades, but Stanton Senior Fellow, Ankit Panda said China regularly tests long-range missiles.
The Chinese defense ministry said in a statement the missile was part of a “routine arrangement in our annual training plan”, and that it was not directed at any country or target.
The missile “fell into expected sea areas”, the statement said.
New Zealand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters called it a “concerning development”.
“We remain in the process of gathering further information,” Peters said in a statement.
“Pacific Leaders have clearly articulated their expectation that we have a peaceful, stable, prosperous, and secure region. As part of the region, New Zealand strongly supports that expectation.”
ACCELERATE DEEP SEA MINING WITHOUT DELAY
Nauru’s leader has told global leaders at the United Nations that the world will miss out on decarbonizing the planet if deep sea mining does not start immediately.
President David Adeang was the first Pacific island leader to take the podium at the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York last month.
Adeang said “failing to seize the opportunity” holds great risk “to transform to renewable energy and decarbonise our planet”.
He asked world leaders not to let fear and misinformation creep in — because the climate crisis will not wait.
“The greatest risk we face is not the potential environmental impacts of mineral recovery, but the risk of inaction.
“We cannot let fear and misinformation hold us back. We have the science, we have the technology, and we have the imperative, let us rise to the challenge and opportunity before us, and let the time for action be now.”
He said dee sea mining was not only an economic opportunity, but also “an environmental imperative”.
“We therefore call on the international community not to ignore the science and progress we have made.
“Instead, we urge you and the International Seabed Authority council to work with us to establish and adopt robust regulations necessary for the conservation and sustainable use of marine resources.
“We must accelerate our efforts without delay, because the climate crisis will not wait for us to get our acts together.”
‘PRECAUTIONARY APPROACH’ TO DEEP SEA MINING
The Marshall Islands has told the United Nations General Assembly it opposes any plans to mine the seabed, a stance 180 degrees opposite Nauru’s, which has called to “accelerate efforts without delay: to deep sea mining.
On the opening day of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Nauru’s President David Adeang advocated for deep sea mining as an economic opportunity, saying “We cannot let fear and misinformation hold us back” to “seize the opportunity…to decarbonize our planet.”
But speaking on the second day of the UNGA in New York, Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine said that “the world’s oceans are too fragile to turn into a speculative experiment.”
“The world needs to ensure that the high seas seabed is not stripped of its unique biodiversity before we even document it,” Heine said.
“Without a clear-eyed scientific understanding of impacts and risks – the world’s oceans are too fragile to turn into a speculative experiment.
“The Marshall Islands joins the growing chorus applying a precautionary approach towards high seas mining, at least until there is adequate and meaningful agreement at the International Seabed Authority on binding environmental measures and the mining code.”
The opposing views of the two leaders from the Micronesian sub-region at the UNGA underscores the divisive nature of the issue for Pacific Islands Forum member states.
While islands nations like Tuvalu, Palau and Vanuatu have been strong voices against deep sea mining, others like Nauru, Kiribati, and the Cook Islands have pushed for exploration of deep sea minerals.
Heine also said Marshall Islands “will not be wiped off the map, nor will we go silently to our watery graves” due to sea-level rise.
She said the Marshall Islands strongly supports the declaration made by the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) on sea-level rise and statehood this week.
She urged other nations to join small island states (SIDS) in support.
SEVERE SENTENCES FOR DRUG SMUGGLERS
Four people connected with a so-called ‘black-flight’ from Papua New Guinea, intending to deliver a huge quantity of cocaine to Australia, have been sentenced in the National Court.
They were part of a failed attempt to fly 611 kilogrammes of cocaine, valued at 200 million kina, or US$49.7 million, from a makeshift airfield outside Port Moresby.
The plane crashed at the end of the runway on takeoff.
The Australian pilot John Cutmore was sentenced to 18 years jail last year, but now four others — one Italian and three Papua New Guineans, have also been sentenced,
Italian Carlos D’Attanasio was given 19 years jail with light labor, and with time already served this comes to a little over 14 years 10 months.
The court acknowledged he was seriously ill with his medical bills for a private hospital in Port Moresby being paid by the Italian government.
The three Papua New Guineans, Shane Dikana, Dominic Terupo, and Morgan Mugo, have all received jail terms of 18 years with heavy labor, with deductions for time already served.
(Source: RNZ Pacific)
Pacific News Briefs | American Samoa
