Journal 10/9/1987
P1 Kabua: The next 10 years
President Amata Kabua today declared the goal of self-reliance in a policy statement delivered to the close of Nitijela. His impassioned call to his fellow leaders in Nitijela asked that they rise above politics and self-interest for this goal.
Journal 10/8/1999
P1 Kwaj missile right on target
A prototype national missile defense system passed a key test last Saturday, when a missile launched from the Kwajalein missile range intercepted and destroyed an unarmed missile high over the Pacific Ocean near the Marshall Islands. “It did everything it was supposed to do and it did it perfectly,” said a Defense Department spokesman.
P2 PII’s Mercy K cargo vessel arrives
The privately owned passenger and cargo vessel Mercy K has arrived in Majuro. PII’s Kenneth Kramer bought the 285-ton, 138-foot long vessel that will be providing service for supplies such as food and construction materials to the outer islands. The Mercy K is the first privately owned vessel to come into service for the outer islands since the RMI government virtually bowed out of the inter-island shipping business earlier this year.
P3 Immigration halts baby passports
RMI’s Immigration office has halted issuance of passports for children being adopted by non-Marshall Islanders following Nitijela passage of a temporary moratorium on adoptions. Last week, the newly instituted passport ban surprised about six American couples who had already completed their adoptions prior to the passage of the legislation.
P4 Fleet of small canoes ready to go to NZ
Five outrigger canoes will be making the planned trip to the New Zealand millennium dawn celebration, but things don’t look good for the voyaging canoe (walap), according to Alson Kelen of Youth to Youth in Health. With little more than two weeks before the deadline to prepare the larger vessel, there is still a shortage of funding, Kelen said, and the people with the ability to get the canoe seaworthy are in Enewetak.
Journal 10/15/2010
P1 Nauru to end hotel lease
After a nearly 40-year presence on prime Delap real estate, Republic of Nauru officials told RMI leaders they want out of the lease for the former Eastern Gateway Hotel in Majuro.
P3 No more nights out at the movies
K&K Theaters announced that it is closing down operations at the end of this week. The theater, originally opened in 1997 by Gibson’s, has been a welcome center of entertainment for the community for 14 years. But it has been steadily losing money, in large part because video rental stores are able to bring films in before they appear in theaters, reducing the theater’s ability to draw crowds.
P4 Fight against domestic abuse
The College the Marshall Islands Center for Marshallese Studies Letok Letak Melele program recently put the spotlight on the problem of violence against women. That this is an issue of community concern was confirmed by the turnout of hundreds of people at the CMI-sponsored public forum on domestic violence. In 2007, the RMI government’s planning office surveyed 312 women who were physically or sexually abused, or both, who sought help of any form. About half never told anyone that they were suffering from abuse. Why is it that half of the women who were victims of domestic violence did not tell anyone about their issue?
P11 Big changes for USAKA
The American population at the Kwajalein missile range is expected to go down over the next two years, the result of huge technological advances that allow testing to be controlled from the US. But those same technology upgrades may increase the number of customers using Kwajalein for missile test research and development, which would translate into jobs and revenue for the RMI.