In brief: news from around the Pacific rnz.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from rnz.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Students will have to wait to get home
The Solomon Islands government is holding back on repatriating its students from Fiji after more of them tested positive for Covid-19.
In a national address, prime minister Manasseh Sogavare, said 22 students and dependents have so far tested positive for the virus.
The Fijian authorities said 13 of those are active cases, which Mr Sogavare describes as extremely worrying.
He said there were 850 Solomon Islanders studying in Fiji, just over 50 of whom had graduated and were ready to return home.
But the Prime minister also said Fijian health officials are unsure when it will be safe to do so.
Opinion: July 4 is the time to remove the asterisk from US citizenship msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
It’s past time to provide U.S. maritime protection to American Samoa.
By
June 30, 2021
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When I represented the United States at the 7th ASEAN-U.S. Summit in Bangkok in 2019, I had a clear message for our allies and adversaries in the region: America is a Pacific power. America’s Pacific orientation does not arise just from our continental West Coast. We are a Pacific Island nation comprised of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, Hawaii, the often overlooked territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marinara Islands, and nine Pacific possessions, together with their vast exclusive economic zones (EEZs).
HONOLULU
In a decision citing American Samoa cultural traditions, those born in the U.S. territory shouldn’t have citizenship automatically forced on them, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling reverses a lower court ruling that sided with three people from American Samoa who live in Utah and sued to be recognized as citizens. The judge ruled the Utah residents are entitled to birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment. He then put his ruling on hold pending appeal.
U.S. Congress should play a bigger role than the courts in deciding citizenship for those in territories, the appeals court ruling said.