In Brief: 7.2 earthquake north of New Zealand

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck near New Zealand’s Kermadec Islands at a depth of 30km, the US Geological Survey says.

7.2 earthquake north of New Zealand

KERMADEC ISLANDS – A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck near New Zealand’s Kermadec Islands at a depth of 30km, the US Geological Survey says. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said no destructive widespread tsunami threat existed, based on historical earthquake and tsunami data. The USGS gave the epicentre as 73km south-southeast of Raoul Island. Raoul Island is the biggest in the Kermedecs group of islands which are between 800km and 1000km north-east of New Zealand. The Kermadecs are made up of a chain of about 80 volcanoes, stretching for 2600km between Tonga and New Zealand. The area is well-known for volcanic activity and earthquakes.

Protested plans to remove memorial

FRENCH POLYNESIA– French Polynesia’s nuclear test veterans organisation says close to 400 people turned out on Sunday at a protest against a plan to remove a memorial site for victims in Tahiti. The French Polynesian President, Gaston Flosse has directed that the present memorial on the beach be removed and a new one set up elsewhere at a later date. But the head of Mururoa e Tatou, Roland Oldham, has accused Flosse of trying to move the memorial to a less prominent location to erase the nuclear testing era from French Polynesian history. Oldham says hundreds of people turned out and not just test veterans. “A lot them are sick and a lot of them are dying of cancer. It is very good to have another generation taking on the battle.”

Test missile intercepted successfully

MARSHALL ISLANDS – The United States military says it has successfully intercepted a simulated incoming missile over the Pacific Ocean for the first time. The ground-based Midcourse Defense system aims to protect the continental US from long-range ballistic missiles. At the weekend the interceptor missile was fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and struck a dummy intermediate-range ballistic missile launched from the US Army’s Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The successful test followed the system’s failure to hit a simulated missile in five of eight previous tests since being launched ten years ago.

Ban on journalist at PIDF condemned

FIJI – A University of the South Pacific academic says moves to restrict journalists from the Pacific Islands Development Forum amounts to government harassment of the media. Journalism lecturer, Pat Craddock, says the Islands Business editor, Samisoni Pareti, was denied accreditation to the forum without explanation, and Netani Rika, the Pacific Conference of Churches communications manager, was visited by police multiple times at his Nadi hotel. Craddock says this yet another example of the government intimidating journalists. Craddock says it is disappointing the Media Industry and Development Authority has been silent on the issue, despite often talking about the importance of robust journalism.

‘No comment’ until facts are known

FIJI – The Media Industry and Development Authority in Fiji says it cannot yet comment on claims the government restricted journalists from covering the Pacific Islands Development Forum. Authority chair, Ashwin Raj, says he has not received an official complaint from any of the parties involved. Dr Raj says MIDA is writing to the journalists in an attempt to find out all the facts before taking a stance on the issue.

Political row could delay Manus probe

PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Australia’s Refugee Action Coalition says the latest political storm in Papua New Guinea makes it even less likely that arrests will be made in relation to violent clashes at Australia’s Manus Island detention centre in February. Ian Rintoul says he has no confidence anyone will ever be charged. “It’s really degenerated into a farce and a farce which is now even more ridiculous. Papua New Guinea is rapidly turning into Nauru with no legitimate legal system, there really is a serious question over their credibility and after four months we’re still no closer to anyone being held accountable for Reza Barati’s murder.”