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Category: News
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Published: Sunday, 07 October 2018 12:37
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Written by Bernd Riebe
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By Chief Mass Communication
Specialist Matthew R. White,
30th Naval Construction
Regiment Public Affairs
9/17/2018
CHUUK, The Federated States of Micronesia (NNS) --
Sailors from the U.S. Navy’s Underwater Construction Team (UCT) 2 conducted an underwater demolition blast to remove a hazard to navigation at the Chuuk Main Cargo Wharf, in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Sept. 9.
The controlled demolition removed a shallow shoal and will improve the safety of ships navigating in and out of the port.
Following a bathymetric survey of the demolition site, the blast lowered the depth of the sea floor by approximately five feet, displacing more than 3,000 cubic yards of shoal.
“We are grateful to the U.S. Navy for taking this positive and proactive step to maintain safety within Chuuk port,” said Robert Riley, U.S. Ambassador to the FSM. “The action is emblematic of the steadfast and enduring nature of the security relationship that exists between the United States and the FSM, and is indicative of the close bonds that exist between our two countries. The sun will not set on our commitment to the defense of the FSM.” During the preparation leading up to the blast, UCT 2 divers drilled 29 holes approximately three feet into the shoal, and filled them with 252 pounds of explosives. The controlled demolition lowered the depth of the shoal, which was initially at a depth of 20 feet below the water’s surface, to approximately 26 feet. Throughout the planning and execution stages of the project, environmental safety measures were employed in accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act.
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Category: News
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Published: Sunday, 07 October 2018 12:34
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Written by Bernd Riebe
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By Bill Jaynes
The Kaselehlie Press
September 21, 2018 Pohnpei—US Ambassador to the FSM, Robert Riley hosted a dinner reception to welcome the new Deputy Chief of Mission Heather Coble and her husband to the FSM.
According to a press release on the US Embassy website, Coble previously served primarily in economic positions, include Fiji, Panama, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Washington D.C., and the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. The Foreign Service is her third career after successful professions in the corporate and academic sectors. She has experience with global financial concerns, antimoney laundering and anti-corruption initiatives, business promotion, and environment, science, technology, and health issues. She speaks Spanish and Indonesian.
Heather earned her undergraduate degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. She completed her Masters of Business Administration and earned a Master of Science in Economics from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. Her husband is a retired FBI special agent. They have two daughters, a mechanical engineer and a marine biologist who like surfing. The entire family enjoys boating, SCUBA, and snorkeling.
During his speech, Ambassador Riley said that Coble has also earned a doctorate.
After her introduction, Coble spent the evening circulating among all of the tables, not just those where dignitaries such as Vice President Yosiwo George and others sat.
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Category: News
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Published: Sunday, 07 October 2018 12:10
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Written by Bernd Riebe
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Pacific Island Times
September 20, 2018
Governor Eddie Calvo and President Peter Christian of the Federated States of Micronesia sat down to meet yesterday, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. The two leaders discussed the need to work together to help FSM citizens living in Guam.
To assist the island of Guam with the typhoon recovery, President Christian told Governor Calvo the FSM will be making a $100,000 donation to the island.
Governor Calvo has said both governments need to work together to compel the federal government to live up to their part of the Compact agreement and help Guam and FSM. Both leaders expressed their frustration that discussions with U.S. Federal counterparts are mired in regulation and policy instead of solutions.
The Governor raised the issue of the FSM citizens who need help recovering from Typhoon Mangkhut but whose non-immigrant status with the U.S. Federal government means they can’t get FEMA assistance.
President Christian said the FSM has been trying to find solutions. In discussions with the U.S. Embassy located in FSM they have asked if U.S. AID can step in since FEMA cannot assist families.
President Christian said he and the FSM government have been discussing options for helping to ensure citizens are prepared for life in Guam and other jurisdictions before leaving their home nation. He said the government cannot deny a citizen’s request for a passport but what they can do is work with those citizens making the request to ensure they have confirmed jobs, homes or schooling plans awaiting them if their intent is to travel to Guam or another U.S. Community.
President Christian said his administration’s efforts are aimed at ensuring that people leaving the FSM go abroad and gain enlightenment but then return home to help their island.
President Christian has charged the FSM community to find ways to reach out to those not abiding with the precepts of the Compact Agreement between the U.S. And FSM.
“We are very concerned,” said President Christian about recent videos depicting violence by apparent Guam FSM residents. He added that the FSM community on Guam has communicated with him their worry that a small percentage of the Micronesian community is causing trouble and casting a cloud of negativity and shame on those nationals abiding by local laws.
“Everyone is upset about this lack of civility.” President Christian added his desire to revive discussions he had with the previous administration on a housing program for FSM nationals on Guam.
President Christian expects to return to Guam next month to continue discussions.
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Category: News
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Published: Sunday, 07 October 2018 12:08
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Written by Bernd Riebe
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Hits: 484
By Bill Jaynes
The Kaselehlie Press
September 15, 2018 – Pohnpei— This morning, volunteers from the Micro- Japan Club at the College of Micronesia FSM, students from Reitaku Uni and Risumeikan Uni in Japan, JICA volunteers, Ambassador Rieko Horie and his wife Yuko, Japanese Embassy staff members and Masahiro Michishiro picked up a truckload of trash on the causeway.
The effort was in celebration of World Cleanup Day.
A Pohnpeian volunteer expressed his disappointment at the amount of trash that residents of Pohnpei carelessly discard on the causeway and elsewhere. “They come out here and eat lunch, and just leave their trash for others to pick up”, he said. “We should expose them! It’s shameful.” The purpose of the cleanup was not to shame but to reclaim the pristine environment that should be Pohnpei.
All too often, volunteers walk the streets and villages of Pohnpei to clean up trash that is carelessly left behind. But by the next day, or sometimes even while the cleanup is happening trash is refilling from behind the people doing the cleanup.
Organizers seemed to hope that residents of Pohnpei will eventually get the message that it is their responsibility to clean up their own discards and that every item discarded carelessly stacks up with other people’s discards to create a monumental mess that should not be ignored. It should not take a cleanup program to keep Pohnpei clean.
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Category: News
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Published: Sunday, 07 October 2018 12:06
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Written by Super User
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By Bill Jaynes
The Kaselehlie Press FSM—
In March of 2018, Mrs. Karo Lelai, the chairperson of the Oceania National Olympic Committee Athletes Commission sent a letter to the FSM Swimming Association saying that it had received numerous reports that the Federation was discriminating in the selection process for elite FSM Swimming Association reminded of Olympic mandate for non-discrimination swimmers to compete internationally.
Since that time, Clark Graham of Chuuk has sent the letter several times to the Kaselehlie Press asking us to reprint it. His most recent demand came earlier this week, but the letter was copied to only four people and Graham’s name was not on that list. Mrs. Lelai expressly denied permission to reprint the contents of her letter.
“In my capacity as chairperson of the ONOC Athletes Commission and as far as I am aware, the matter was resolved,” Lelai wrote in response to our questions. “The issue was to ensure that athletes were given fair and equal opportunity to try out for the swimming team and as far as I know, this was the case.” Since that time, a young woman who has lived her life in New York whose mother is Chuukese went to Papua New Guinea for the Oceania Swimming Championships. Next week, she is going to the Young Olympic Games in Argentina representing the FSM as the FSM’s only swimmer. She is also going to the FINA world short course swimming championships in December.
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Category: News
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Published: Sunday, 07 October 2018 10:15
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Written by Bernd Riebe
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Hits: 537
By Bill Jaynes
The Kaselehlie Press
September 27, 2018 FSM— In a show of solidarity, Filipino workers across the FSM gathered together in each of the FSM states during the last two weeks to send the message to President Dutertre that they are not being abused in the FSM.
They asked their President to reinvestigate the total ban on processing and deployment of workers to the FSM.
Manila heard the message and today, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III announced that the Philippines government has entirely lifted the ban against overseas foreign workers in the FSM
A news article in yesterday’s “Manila Bulletin”, written by Leslie Ann Aquino indicated that the message sent by Filipinos working in the FSM was received in Manila. That article said that Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III would be meeting with Bernard Olalia, the head of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to see if there was any basis to lift the ban.
The article said that Bello had received many messages from workers in Micronesia saying that they were being treated well by their employers. The ban, issued earlier this month seemed to be based solely on the
recommendation of Marciano De Borja Philippines Consul in Guam. His recommendation seemed to be based, at least partially, on allegations of maltreatment and abuses from either one public health worker in Chuuk in 2017, or systemic mistreatment of Filipino doctors and nurses at Chuuk State Hospital. Those allegations led the powerful Philippines Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) to “blacklist” the Chuuk State Hospital.
