1 APRIL  Marshall Islands / By Giff Johnson, For Variety

The Marshall Islands is promoting fuel sales to Asian fishing boats and U.S. Navy vessels to stabilize its struggling national utility company. The Marshalls Energy Company, once a profitable power firm, has sustained heavy losses since 2005 largely as a result of world market diesel prices coupled with reduced revenues as households and businesses cutback power usage in response to skyrocketing electricity rates.

30 MARCH 2009 MANILA

(Pacnews) ---- The Asian Development Bank's (ADB) Board of Directors have approved a supplementary loan of $US36 million to help finance 50 kilometers of road upgrading, which was partly completed under an original ADB loan for the Third Fiji Road Upgrading Project.

26 MARCH 2009

SYDNEY (Pacnews) — A brilliant green tree frog with huge black eyes, jumping spiders and a striped gecko are among more than 50 new animal species scientists have discovered in a remote, mountainous region of Papua New Guinea (PNG), reports AP.