GIFF JOHNSON Two senior US government officials are — or will be — in Majuro for high-level talks with RMI authorities this week. Wednesday’s first in-person JEMFAC meeting in three years is to be followed by one or more days of Compact negotiations late this week with the arrival Thursday of the chief US negotiator. […]
Two prominent Marshallese women are among nine Micronesian women who are featured in an upcoming photography exhibit in Honolulu that’s designed to challenge Hawaii stereotypes about Micronesians. Diplomat Isabela Silk, Consul General of the Marshall Islands to Hawaii, and attorney Arsima Muller, a partner in Honolulu’s oldest law firm, are in “The Micronesians,” a photo […]
GIFF JOHNSON The United States Justice Department unsealed an indictment September 2 in New York City against two naturalized Marshall Islands citizens that alleges they bribed numerous high-level elected and other officials in the Marshall Islands to gain government support for establishing a controversial semi-autonomous zone for foreign investment activities. Cary Yan and Gina Zhou […]
The Kora Fund issued its first loan to an Ebeye woman as part of its official launch for Kwajalein Atoll last week. A team of Kora (women’s) Fund and Bank of Marshall Islands officials went to Ebeye for the launch and to run a series of informational and training sessions about the new loan program. […]
A new publication featuring the people behind several women’s crisis centers in Pacific islands was issued this past week to coincide with the “16 Days of Activism.”“We Don’t Whisper Anymore” features the stories of women from Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Kiribati and other parts of the Pacific — though it is primarily focused on the Micronesia […]
Aur Atoll has a new mayor. Fred Bukida took the oath of office Monday afternoon at the Majuro courthouse. His swearing in by TRC Judge Nixon David before a courtroom gallery packed with family and friends ends a period of uncertainty after the special election that ended with a court complaint from his main competitor […]
President David Kabua nominated Ebon Nitijela Member John Silk to Cabinet Tuesday, and Speaker Kenneth Kedi confirmed the nomination late Tuesday afternoon. This is the President’s second appointment of a former opposition Nitijela Member to his Cabinet, a development that largely blurs political lines in Nitijela, giving the President wide latitude to choose from the […]
EVE BURNS To say last Thursday’s Pink Tea Party was a success is to be guilty of a gross understatement. The fourth annual Pink Tea Party was a spectacular event organized by the Ministry of Health and Human Services’ National Cancer Prevention Program, Marshall Islands Breast Cancer Society, Cancer Support Group and Women United Together […]
GIFF JOHNSON “Eighth graders’ results a bomb” blared the page one headline in the Journal’s August 28, 2020 edition.Fast forward to this week, and the high school entrance results are out with almost exactly the same result as last year. In 2020, only 109 — 12.5 percent — out of 868 taking the test managed […]
GIFF JOHNSONThe five Micronesian leaders have drawn a line in the sand over their support of the nomination of Marshall Islands Ambassador Gerald Zackios to head the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. Palau and the FSM have taken the lead, saying if the Forum does not support the Micronesia area nominee, they will consider pulling out […]