Police warn public
Police in Port Vila are appealing for people to take extra care while out in the Vanuatu capital at night. The police issued the warning after four killings in Port Vila last week. The latest happened on Saturday night near one of the capital’s nightclubs. Vanuatu Daily Post reported the man from Erromango died in hospital after being found in Independence Park with serious head injuries.
New Caledonia meeting
A meeting is expected to be held in New Caledonia to discuss security concerns raised by the civil society. The talks at the French High Commission in Noumea was after a rally by a small group earlier this week. The group was formed last month after the death of a motorcyclist.
Deportation fears
A Manus Island refugee says the asylum seeker resisting deportation to Lebanon fears for his life if he is sent home without money. Azzam El Sheikh has been detained by Australia in PNG for more than three years and is one of 200 detainees denied refugee status. The governments of Australia and PNG are deporting the non-refugees, but neither government would reveal how many men have been sent home.
Typhoid precautions
The health authorities in Samoa have asked people to report for health screening if they’ve visited parts of Auckland in the last three weeks, after an outbreak of typhoid there. There were 16 confirmed and two probable cases of typhoid in the city and 12 people were in hospital.
Canadian miner urged to condemn violent evictions in PNG
A US human rights community says a Canadian mining company must condemn the violent eviction of villagers near its goldmine in Papua New Guinea.
A local human rights organisation, the Akali Tange Association claims police raped and assaulted villagers and burned down houses during an operation near the Porgera Mine.
The association has also accused the mine co-owners Barrick Gold of ordering the operation late last month.
The company has denied any involvement but Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic Director Sarah Knuckey said it must go further.
