Solomon Islands

Three masked men armed with semi-automatic guns walked into the Bank South Pacific BSP branch, in Auki, Malaita and robbed the bank.

They then hijacked a truck and took off with bags of money.

Police are now questioning witnesses who were there.

Hundreds of people were at the bank waiting to withdraw their salaries when the robbery happened.

The bank is yet to confirm how much was stolen.

The police commissioner, Frank Prendergast, says the situation is fluid.

Sogavare accused the opposition MPs Bodo Dettke and Mathew Wale of trying to bribe the tourism minister, Bartholomew Parapolo, soon after the death of his wife on Tuesday.

He says the MPs met Parapolo at the hospital while he was grieving with other relatives.

The director of the police community policing and public relations unit, Solomon Sisimia, says a two-day workshop hopes to come up with a standardised arrangement for addressing traditional compensation claims.

Mr Simisia says the meeting between traditional leaders and law enforcement agencies is a result of an increasing number of excessive compensation claims around Honiara.

He says some claims for compensation have been double the traditional standards.

With the help of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has been running workshops to educate performers about how to protect their livelihoods.

The Ministry's Director of Culture, Dennis Marita, says many need to be made aware of their rights and how to benefit fairly from the tourism dollar.

In 2013, the General Assembly voted for a resolution sponsored by Solomon Islands to re-inscribe the territory on the UN decolonisation list but Paris has all but ignored the decision.

France has said it won't buy into the UN decolonisation process and also ruled out holding an immediate independence referendum as requested by the territorial assembly.

Speaking at the UN in New York, Sogavare has urged France to change.

Sogavare made the call in New York Thursday in his address at the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

“All states have a legal duty and moral responsibility to uphold, respect and promote human rights and where necessary take preventive, protective and punitive measures against human rights abuses or violations in accordance with the UN Charter and applicable international laws,” Sogavare said.

Sogavare's statement is the second statement from the Pacific that has raised concerns of human rights violations in West Papua, with emphasis for the UN to intervene.

Tongan Prime Minister this week also highlighted humanrights abuses facing people of West Papua.

The Solomon Islands Prime Minister informed  UNGA on the developments at the MSG and the Pacific Islands Forum, including the plea to Indonesia to accept unrestricted access to a possible mission of a fact finding mission to West Papua.

The hawksbill sea turtle, spotted off the Solomon Islands, is the first reptile seen to exhibit biofluorescence.

The creature was spotted in July by marine biologist David Gruber, who was on a nightdive hoping to capture footage of biofluorescent sharks and coral reefs. 

Gruber, based at City University in New York, described the endangered turtle as looking like 'a big spaceship gliding into view', National Geographic reported. 

The EU-Solomon Islands National Indicative Programme (NIP), supported by a bilateral financial envelope of SB$360 million (US$44.7 million) from the 11th European Development Fund (EDF), will target improvements to Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) and Rural Development. 

The programme has been prepared jointly by the European Union and the Government of Solomon Islands to address key development challenges in rural and urban areas of the country. 

 The leaders discussed the issue of Climate Change at the margins of the 70th UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

Prime Minister Sogavare said the meeting concluded with a resolution by the Pacific SIDS Leaders to speak with one firm voice on climate change as agreed upon in the Suva Declaration on Climate Change.

The Suva Declaration emanated from the recent Pacific Islands Development Forum held in Suva, Fiji.