Visa fee

NAURU President Baron Waqa has indicated a $US6,089 ($F12,298) visa fee for journalists will be waived when his country hosts the Pacific Islands Forum next year. At this year’s Forum, in Samoa, Mr Waqa was asked if journalists would be allowed into Nauru next year when it hosts the annual event. Currently, journalists have to pay a non-refundable $US6089 application fee for a visa to enter Nauru.

Tuna data

THE Forum Fisheries Agency is urging caution over new data showing Pacific tuna are not being overfished. The figures suggest the entire tuna stock is at a healthy level, including Bigeye which has long been been reported as severely overfished. The agency’s Wez Norris said the data is potentially great news for the sustainability of fishery but countries need to be cautious about acting on it.

Man arrested

A nine-hour siege at Rosebud, on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, has come to a peaceful end with a man handing himself over to police. The 30-year-old Rosebud man, who was in the Ocean St house alone, was arrested just before 7am. Witnesses heard a series of bangs before the man was dragged outside the house.

Fatal dose

A party-loving law student had five bags of ecstasy inside her stomach when she was found dead on holiday in Ibiza, an inquest heard. Rebecca Brock, 18, was discovered with a pool of blood next to her head in a hotel room on September 28, 2015, after travelling to the party island for a friend’s birthday. A police probe was launched because the amount of drugs in her system was “double the level” of a normal fatal dose.

Swiss offer

The country place where a young Kim Jong Un is believed to have gone to boarding school as a Nike-wearing, basketball-playing child has offered its services as a mediator in the growing North Korean missile crisis. Swiss President Doris Leuthard said she believed the neutral country, along with Sweden, could play a role “behind the curtain” to facilitate dialogue between North Korea, the US and South Korea.

Pope visit

THE government of Colombia and the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group have agreed to a ceasefire days before Pope Francis was set to arrive, President Juan Manuel Santos has announced. The stop in fighting will take effect on October 1 and last until January 12, with the possibility of an extension. Both sides had been eager to negotiate a ceasefire ahead of Pope Francis’ visit to Colombia.

Mumps outbreak

A mumps outbreak is now widespread in Auckland and is mostly affecting young Pasifika people. There have been 300 cases recorded since January, which is more than all the cases over the previous 16 years. Public health authorities say it poses a serious risk to young people who have not been vaccinated.