From The Islands Press

The Samoa Times, Apia, Western Samoa The government should shut down newspapers which are proving to be a nuisance to the community. This was the call made by Li’o Tusiofo, speaking in parliament during the course of the budget debate. In a general attack on the press, Li’o accused newpapers of telling untruths, using words which should not be used and relying on gossip for their articles. He said the government should look into the operation of local newspapers and shut down those which are guilty of telling falsehoods and other crimes.

From the Pedro Males column in the Marianas Variety News and Views, Saipan, Mariana Islands Six congressmen from the Northern Marianas flew to Honolulu recently when they learnt that an aid conference was in progress there.

One was babbling on about the need for more federal aid when the conference chairman interrupted him and set the record straight. The conference was not on aid, but on AIDS (Acquired Immune

Deficiency Syndrome) and genital herpes.

Tohi Tala Niue, Niue Professor Nobuo Tamiya of Tohoku University and Dr Toshio Endo of Gunma University, both in Japan, met up in Nauru with Dr Hal Cogger from the Australian Museum in Sydney and they began the first leg of a three-year herpetology (study of snakes) project in the South Pacific. The first part of the study is taking in Nauru, Tuvalu, Fiji, Western Samoa and Niue. They left Niue after uncovering for the second time over 90 different species of sea snakes peculiar to Niue.