Solomon Islands

Local media reported the two, a male and a female, had been stabbed sometime over the weekend.

Police said they could not determine the relationship between the two and called for the public to come forward with information.

The killings happened in an area with many Chinese-owned shops and according to the Solomon Star, police have called on the Chinese community in Honiara to remain calm and allow the investigation to take its course.

The three boats and their 43 crew were caught last month in Rennell and Bellona province and brought to the capital Honiara for investigation.

The Solomon Star newspaper reports that the fisheries minister John Maneniaru revealed in parliament that after consultations with the Director of Public Prosecution and the Attorney General the fishermen would be fined $US1.59 million per boat.

Mr Maneniaru said if the owners fail to pay up, the boats will be destroyed and further action taken against their crew.

A source from the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force told the Solomon Star that the government bore the substantial cost for the operation since last week.

“We roughly estimate that it cost the government SBD 18,000 (aprox USD 2300) to house the Vietnamese,” the source, who deals directly with logistical side of the operation, said.

The source said that includes the detainees’ three meals per day.

“You multiply that amount with the number of days they are being kept at the Rove Police Club and you will come up with the overall projected cost,” the source said.

More than 600 Solomon Islanders currently work in viticulture and horticulture in New Zealand the highest number since Solomon Islands joined the scheme in 2007.

However this pales in comparison to other countries such as Vanuatu who have more than 4000 workers in NZ and Samoa and Tonga who have around 2000 workers respectively.

Solomon Islands minister of foreign affairs Milner Tozaka toured New Zealand last week visiting employers and workers in Wairarapa, Marlborough, Hawkes Bay and Napier.

Earlier this month customs intercepted a number of undeclared goods.

The new operation at the Honiara International Seaport is going on intelligence that a number of importers are attempting to smuggle, under declare or undervalue their goods.

The Minister of Finance and Treasury Snyder Rini said examination activities of this magnitude were challenging but he believed in the dedication of the officials involved and he is confident they would ensure importers were complying with duties and tax payable to the crown.

Supervising minister for education John Dean Kuku made the statement on the floor of parliament in response to questions raised about the status of the $US16.9 million project.

Mr Kuku said funding for the campus would be coming from the Asian Development Bank in the form of a $US15.4 million loan and a $US1.5 million grant.

The arrests were made on Sunday by police and fisheries officers.

A police statement said the boats were caught fishing illegally off the reef Indespensable Reef about 50 kilometres south of Rennell Island.

A total of 43 crew members were detained.

The arrests came after police received reports of blue boat activity from communities in Makira Province.

The reports have surfaced in relation to the proceed of a development bond issued to the country's national pension program called the Solomon Islands National Provident Fund.

According to online news site Solomon Fresh-beat the government on Monday signed an agreement with SINPF issuing Domestic Development Bonds worth more than 19 million US dollars.

But the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Finance Harry Kuma said this was not to finance a budget deficit but rather to raise funds for an undersea cable project the Government was pursuing with Huawei.

Nine Pacific countries ran Operation Rai Balang 2017 which co-ordinated out of the Forum Fisheries Agency surveillance centre in Solomon Islands.

Operation Rai Balang 2017 covered 14.7 million square km and saw a total of 918 detections of fisheries vessels, 93 aircraft sightings, and 50 boardings 30 of them at sea.

Of the seven arrests five recorded in Vanuatu were long liners flagged to China with minor infringements.

In FSM, a purse seiner flagged to China allegedly had its vessel monitoring system turned off at the time of its inspection.

But the Solomon Islands champions admit they'll need to be at their very best to upset hosts and Group D leaders AS Tefana in Papeete.

The Honiara club was 4-2 winners against Fiji's Rewa in their first match but suffered a frustrating 2-1 defeat to Vanuatu side Erakor in midweek.

They need to beat Tefana by at least two goals to give themselves a chance of progressing to the next round and coach Juliano Schmeling said anything was possible.