TAIPEI/NAHA, Okinawa Pref. A fishing boat carrying Taiwanese activists was spotted sailing Wednesday morning near the Japan-held Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea and eventually entering Japanese territorial waters, the Japan Coast Guard said.

"We do not know their objective but whatever the purpose, we will definitely not tolerate the action of entering (Japanese) waters," Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told a news conference in Tokyo. A liaison team has been set up at the prime minister's office to keep watch, he said.

An aircraft of the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, spotted the boat about 37 km west-southwest of Uotsuri Island, part of the disputed Senkaku Islands administered as part of Okinawa.

The location of the boat falls in the contiguous zone, which is defined by Japan in line with international law as an area where Japanese laws may be applied just outside its territorial waters.

The coast guard said the boat entered the zone around 6:35 a.m. and entered Japan's territorial waters around 7:15 a.m. Four Taiwanese patrol boats were also sailing nearby.

After the coast guard warned the vessels to leave the area, one of the Taiwanese patrol boats responded by displaying a sign saying the waters belong to Taiwan.

In Taipei, Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration officials said five patrol boats were sent to protect the Taiwanese fishing boat that sailed to the disputed islands with nine people on board ? three activists advocating Taiwanese sovereignty over the islands, three Taiwanese crew members and three Indonesian fishermen.

They said the fishing boat, which had left port at 11 p.m. the previous evening, reached a point 0.8 nautical miles (1.5 km) from Uotsuri, the main island of the Senkakus at 7:20 a.m.

At 8:25 a.m. three Japan Coast Guard vessels that arrived on scene lowered three smaller boats into the water, apparently to board the fishing boat for inspection, they said.

At 8:57 a.m., they said, three unarmed Taiwan Coast Guard members boarded the fishing boat, which left the area at 9:05 a.m. and headed back to Taiwan with the coast guard members still on board.

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Taiwanese vessel enters Japanese waters near Senkaku Islands

Beijing on Wednesday urged Tokyo not to take any action that could endanger Chinese lives or property, including those of Taiwan compatriots. Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin made the remarks in response to a Taiwan fishing boat entering waters near China's Diaoyu Islands.

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China vows to safeguard islands' sovereignty

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) -

The Islands Gymnastics team from the Islands YMCA recently competed at the 2012 YMCA National Gymnastics Championship in Milwaukee. 1,700 gymnasts from 22 states and 106 YMCA's took part in the competition.

The Islands Team sent 22 girls and three boys, all ages 6 to 16, to compete. It was the first year that the men's competition was included in the meet. By the end of the three day competition, the Islands Team won over 40 gold, silver and bronze medals and eight of the gymnasts walked away with first place all around in their age division.

Jill Conway, from the Islands Team, competed in the championship event, which only the top 25 in the country qualify for, and placed 12th. She also made the All America Team.

Copyright 2012WTOC. All rights reserved.

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Islands Gymnastics team dominates at YMCA National Championship

3 July 2012

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, JAPAN OR SOUTH AFRICA.

This announcement is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States. The securities discussed herein have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the "Securities Act") and may not be offered or sold within the United States absent registration or an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act. No public offering of the securities discussed herein is being made in the United States and the information contained herein does not constitute an offering of securities for sale in the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan (EUREX: FMJP.EX - news) , New Zealand or the Republic of South Africa.

Falkland Islands Holdings plc

("FIH" or "the Company")

Result of Open Offer

Falkland Islands Holdings plc, the AIM quoted international group which owns essential services businesses focused on retail, transport and logistics announces that the open offer announced on 14 June 2012 closed for applications at 11 a.m. on 2 July 2012 and that the Open Offer of 619,837 shares has been fully subscribed . Valid applications have been received for 1,601,914 Offer Shares, being 258 per cent. of the amount available.

Basic entitlement applications for the 619,837 shares available amount to 487,393 shares, whilst excess applications for the 132,444 shares not applied for total 1,114,521 shares. As a result excess applications will be scaled back as provided in the Circular posted to shareholders on 14 June 2012 ("the Circular").

The Open Offer remains conditional upon inter alia Admission occurring by 8:00 a.m. on 4 July 2012 (or such later time or date as the Company may determine).

This announcement should be read in conjunction with the full text of the Circular, a copy of which is available on the Company's website at http://www.fihplc.com. Capitalised terms in this announcement have the meanings defined in the Circular.

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Falkland Islands Hlg - Result of Open Offer

By Lorraine Eaton The Virginian-Pilot July 4, 2012

Perhaps the good women of Hog Island sensed they were staging a food fight that day. Perhaps they did not.

But on July 4, 1925, following days of kneading, frying, roasting, steaming, beating, baking and boiling, residents of the remote barrier island greeted a flotilla of Eastern Shore mainlanders for their Fourth of July picnic and baseball game, a church fundraiser and one of the areas biggest events of the year.

Awaiting the visitors were fried chicken and shorebirds. Roast mutton and beef. Clam fritters and crabcakes. Collards and corn cakes. All manner of garden vegetables.

And for dessert, each Hog Island woman made the cake or pie that she was most famous for, recalled Yvonne Widgeon, who lived on the rapidly eroding island as a child.

Among the 1925 visitors: the Franktown-Nassawadox baseball team, composed of the mainlands best high school players. One of them, according to an account published years later in the Eastern Shore News, would become a pitcher for the College of William and Mary.

We were ready to take them on, Franktown-Nassawadox coach Joe Gibb told the paper.

But first, some major-league feasting.

Hog Island women were famous for their cooking, said Laura Vaughan, executive director of the Barrier Islands Center museum, located in Machipongo on the Eastern Shore mainland.

The boys who came over just gorged themselves on the goodies. No one noticed that the island boys held back.

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Barrier Islands Center hails old times on Hog Island

Well-known TV personality Te Radar (Andrew Lumsden) loved his entire Cook Islands experience but was "blown away" by the beauty of Atiu while filming his latest television series, Te Radar Across the Pacific. Te Radar expressed his adoration and wonder for Atiu stating "I think this has been the highlight of my trip, this island".

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Atiu 'highlight' of Te Radar's trip

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

HONIARA, Solomon Islands-Thousands braved the sweltering heat for the very colorful and culturally charged opening of the 11th Festival of Pacific Arts in Honiara, Solomon Islands yesterday.

To open this major regional event, dubbed the Olympics of Pacific arts and culture by local media, delegations from 19 countries as well as the Solomon Islands' nine provinces marched from the town center to Lawson Tama Stadium in full national regalia, where they presented traditional song and dance as well as gifts to the Solomon Islands Governor General Sir Frank Kabui.

Earlier the same day, Solomon Islands, which is hosting the festival for the first time, presented traditional gifts to visiting countries at an early morning ceremony on the beach that began with spectacular fireworks, followed by vaka (double-hulled canoes) from several countries and tomoko (war canoes) from Solomon Islands' Western Province pulling ashore and ending with rousing performances by delegations.

The next two weeks will see Honiara transformed into a mini Pacific, to quote Solomon Islands Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo, who officially opened the festival.

Reflecting on the festival's theme, Culture in harmony with nature, Lilo said: I am confident that enhancing understanding of cultures amongst the people of the pacific will help in social development, peace and prosperity and at the same time, conserve the natural environment for our survival.

He added: Twenty years after the UN Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, scientists have sufficient evidence to inform us that the earth has reached its planetary limits or abilities to contain global warming and climate changes. Against this, it is essential for us to explore with haste and progress appropriate actions and identify key strategic areas to save and protect our ocean and land for our generation and future generations. Some of the solutions for these challenges are in the knowledge of our cultures.

Dr. Jimmie Rodgers, director-general of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and a Solomon Islander himself, echoed those sentiments in his opening address, saying: The Festival provides an opportunity to reflect on the critical importance of culture in the sustainable development of our nations.

Indeed, culture is just as important as economic and social development and the sustainable management of natural resources. It is the glue that underpins the fundamental values of heritage, knowledge, creativity, diversity and identity that define our character as people and citizens of our respective nations.

Alongside the cultural components such as dance, music, art, craft and fashion taking place at the festival, a number of important high-level meetings are being held to examine some of the questions facing the region's cultural sector.

Link:

11th 'Olympics of Pacific arts' opens in Solomon Islands

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday landed on one of the four Pacific Kuril islands claimed by Japan, in a visit that risks once again inflaming tensions with Tokyo.

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Russian PM visits islands claimed by Japan

Maritime disputes seem to dot the entire coastline of East Asia. In the south, nations bicker over the status of the South China Sea. In the East China Sea, Japan and China squabble over who truly owns the Senkaku / Diaoyu Islands. In the Sea of Japan, Japan and Korea argue over which country Takeshima / Dokdo really belongs to. The disputes include the islands' names, which change depending on the country.

And in the north, Japan is also in a controversial and seemingly endless spat with Russia over the Kuril Islands, which it calls the Northern Territories -- a chain of 18 volcanic islands that span from the northern tip of Japan's Hokkaido Island to the southern tip of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. Russia administers all 18 of the islands, but Japan claims that the southernmost four are being held illegally and should be returned.

A visit this week by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to the Southern Kurils has drawn anger from Tokyo. Protection and development of the Far East was a major pet project of Medvedev in his previous capacity as Russian president, also an effective means of building his nationalistic credentials.

The Russian prime minister said Tuesday that the islands are "our territory which should develop just like the mainland of our country," before his departure to Kunashir (known as Kunashiri in Japan), the southernmost island in the chain, and therefore the one closest to Japan.

Russia is now embarking on a major initiative to strenghten its eastern provinces. Medvedev has promised funding to develop the Kurils' infrastructure and boost defenses. The government is also exploring subsidizing air travel in the area to overcome the difficulty of transportation across vast distances (the Kurils are 4,100 miles, or 6,600 kilometers, by air from Moscow.) Russia is eager to tap into the vast resources of its Far Eastern provinces, rich in fisheries, timber, minerals and hydrocarbons. But the area is sparsely populated and long neglected by the capital.

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"We have to develop new investment projects, including those with the participation of foreign firms," said Medvedev.

In a gesture showing the importance it now places on the region, the Russian government has recently created a new Ministry for the Far East. In a meeting with the regional governments of Eastern Russia on Monday, Medvedev noted that "over the past five years more than 300 billion rubles [$9.3 billon] of federal budget funding have been allocated for projects that form part of the targeted program to develop the Far East and the Trans-Baikal Territory and over 110 billion [$3.4 billion] additional rubles will be allocated over the next two years."

Another photo-op: The Russian PM ready to board a new train servicing Vladivostok's airport on Tuesday. Photos from Reuters.

This September, Russia will host the APEC Summit in Vladivostok, a port city on the Northern Pacific founded in 1860 as a hub for expanding Russian influence and power into East Asia. (Its very name, in fact, means "rule the East" in Russian.)

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Russia And Japan At Odds Again Over Remote, Energy-Rich Kuril Islands

MOSCOW In a visit that left Japan seething, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev traveled Tuesday to a disputed Pacific island and pledged to boost financing for four impoverished islands whose ownership has been disputed by Tokyo since World War II.

Russia captured the Southern Kurils chain that lie some 7,100 kilometers (4,400) miles from Moscow in 1945, but Japan still claims it as its own. The dispute for nearly seven decades has prevented Moscow and Tokyo from signing a peace treaty to formally end their hostilities.

Surrounded by rich fishing waters, the islands are believed to have offshore hydrocarbon reserves, gold and silver deposits.

The Russian government said Medvedev arrived at Kunashir Island on Tuesday with a group of officials. In 2010, he became the first Russian leader to visit the chain, which Japan calls the Northern Territories.

During a meeting with local officials, Medvedev pledged to allocate more government funding for the construction of fisheries and roads on the islands.

"Our easternmost region cannot be the most deprived one," Medvedev said in televised remarks.

After the 1991 Soviet collapse, the island chain has suffered neglect and its population has plummeted. Many remaining residents took up poaching of fish and crustaceans that are then sold illegally to Japan, South Korea and China.

Japan protested the visit.

"Medvedev's visit to Kunashir pours cold water on our relations," Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying Tuesday.

Although economic ties between Japan and Russia have grown, little progress has been made in resolving the island dispute, which remains a source of deep political tension and distrust.

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Russian PM Medvedev visits disputed Pacific islands despite Japan's angry protest

In a visit that left Japan seething, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev traveled Tuesday to a disputed Pacific island and pledged to boost financing for four impoverished islands whose ownership has been disputed by Tokyo since World War II.

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Russia's Medvedev visits disputed Pacific islands

Sunday December 28, 2003

IN recent years, the area around Pulau Sipadan has been under public scrutiny, not only for its tourist attractions and scenic beauty but also because of criminal incidents in the area.

Several kidnappings have occurred in the last two years, bringing about doubts over general and personal security on the 42 islands in the region.

These incidents have prompted the implementation of a much stricter security system manned by the combined forces of the Royal Malaysian Army, Air Force (RMAF), the Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) and the Pasukan Gerakan Am (PGA) made up of concerned volunteers.

About 650 officers from the RMAF, PDRM and PGA are stationed on each and every island in the region from Lahad Datu to Roach Reef, a man-made island located north towards the Philippines, according to officer-in-charge of troops Major Abdul Karim Ahmad (briefing the BRATs above)

Out of these officers, there are an estimated 100 commandos and a further 100 elite forces from Malacca, he explained to the BRATs. Even islands without inhabitants are occupied by at least two men.

For certain islands, security is beefed up, especially where there are visitors. For instance, during the BRATs 10th anniversary celebrations in Mabul, a contingency plan was devised for the expedition of 31 BRATs and a handful of facilitators should any emergency occur.

If any of the 42 islands come under terrorist threat, the BRATs would be evacuated. We have identified safe and classified areas in Mabul itself, and if an emergency such as a breach to security occurs, we will put everyone there. Then, we will evacuate the island either by helicopter or speedboat as soon as possible, Major Abdul Karim clarified .

He identified the close links between certain locals groups and the terrorist network as the main cause behind the successful terrorism-related activities around the islands. Without the villagers help, it would be virtually impossible for these terrorist groups to breach the military defences.

However, with the islands defences greatly strengthened now, it is certain that the security risks are kept at a minimum.

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Tighter security around islands

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Heat islands - one effect of climate change

Rock Islands' Southern Lagoon has become Palau's first World Heritage site.

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World heritage site for Palau

Wikimedia Commons

A map showing the de-facto Kuril Island border over time between Japan and Russia. The currently disputed islands fall between the lines marked 1945 and 1855.

During a visit to the Far East, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev Tuesday traveled to Kunashir island, inflaming a long-standing territorial dispute with Japan over the Kuril Islands.

Medvedev took anunflinching tone before the visit, saying that "the practice ofvisiting theislands bythe Russian leadership will continue," RIA-Novosti reported.

Theislands, surrounded byrich fishing grounds believed tohave oil, natural gas andmineral deposits, were seized bySoviet troops inthe closing days ofWorld War II, but Japan says they are part ofits territory.

"I would like toemphasize that I consider it very important that members ofthe government visit theKurils. This is animportant part ofthe Sakhalin region andsimply animportant part ofour Russian lands," Medvedev said.

It has been earlier reported that theprime minister's planned trip tothe Kuril Islands would be postponed due toweather conditions, but conditions improved enough toallow thegovernment delegation tofly tothe island.

"Life inSakhalin is such that it changes very quickly. Andit's alesson fora lot ofpeople who are here with me today because I just said that we would not go, but now we have theopportunity tovisit theKurils. I think this is avery important part ofour program," Medvedev said.

Medvedev's visit tofar eastern regions will last until Thursday.

InNovember 2010 Dmitry Medvedev became thefirst Russian president tovisit theislands, causing astrong outcry fromthe Japanese government.

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Medvedev to Visit Disputed Kuril Islands

3 July 2012 Last updated at 03:51 ET

The head teacher of the only secondary school on the Isles of Scilly has resigned, the BBC has learned.

Bryce Wilby was suspended in May from the Five Islands School after "apparent financial irregularities" were found during a routine audit.

But Mr Wilby previously told the BBC he was confident any investigation would show he had done nothing wrong.

The Council of the Isles of Scilly said it had accepted Mr Wilby's decision to stand down.

The Church of England school has about 250 students and is controlled by the council, the islands' unitary authority.

Mr Wilby, who was head teacher for more than three years, said he was not told the reasons for his suspension.

Two school governors have also resigned since his suspension.

The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall are due to visit and officially open the Five Islands School later.

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Five Islands head teacher resigns

A crew member on board an Aran Islands ferry has been taken to University Hospital Galway after sustaining injuries to his head in a fall this afternoon.

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Aran Islands ferry crew member hurt in fall

Asylum seekers arrive on Christmas Island yesterday. Photo: Sharon Tisdale

AUTHORITIES are rushing to upgrade quarantine facilities at the remote Cocos Islands, confirming fears that people smugglers from Sri Lanka and southern India have chosen the location as a new frontier in the asylum seeker trade.

A jet-load of stretchers, washing machines, dryers, antiseptic and other supplies was flown out of Christmas Island early yesterday morning, bound for the Cocos Islands, almost 1000 kilometres across the Indian Ocean to the west.

A boat carrying 67 Sri Lankan Tamils arrived at the Cocos cluster of islands, also known as the Keelings, on Saturday. They were housed overnight in the only available accommodation, the Cocos and Keeling Social Club, before being flown by chartered jet back to Christmas Island this morning, where they were transported to the island's packed detention centre.

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It was the fourth people smuggling boat transporting Tamils in less than a month to reach Cocos, which previously had been immune from the sea-borne traffic of asylum seekers.

However, the Cocos group is much closer to Sri Lanka and southern India, where hundreds of thousands of Tamils are in refugee camps, than Christmas Island. Christmas Island itself is more than 1500 kilometres west of the nearest point on the Australian mainland.

The latest arrival at the Cocos cluster has alarmed Border Protection authorities, because the route to the Cocos group adds many thousands of square kilometres to the already vast spread of ocean it must place under surveillance.

The tiny population of the Cocos Islands - 600, spread over two outcrops, one inhabited mainly by Caucasians, the other by ethnic Malays - is angry at losing access to its only social club every time a load of asylum seekers arrives.

The club, on the main Caucasian-inhabited island, known as West Island, is closed to its members while asylum seekers are housed there, and also for several days after they leave, because it must be quarantined and disinfected.

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People smugglers move to Cocos Islands

Post offices play a key role in keeping Maines islands sustainable. Aside from helping maintain the islanders contact with each other and with the mainland, they serve as social centers.

The U.S. Postal Service tries to protect small rural post offices as best it can while cutting back service to deal with reduction in mail use and a mounting deficit. But one of the measures in its two-year reorganization plan discriminates against the island post offices.

Most of Maines small post offices are scheduled to have their hours of operation cut to four from the present eight. But theres an exception for post offices located 25 miles or more away from another post office. They will be operational for six hours a day regardless of their workload, says Tom Rizzo, the National Postal Service spokesman for its northern New England district.

Heres where the islands are hurt: That exemption doesnt apply to the two year-round inhabited Cranberry Isles or to Swans Island, Matinicus or Monhegan. Each is within 25 miles of a mainland post office. But a 25-mile trip is a lot harder and more expensive than most 25-mile trips on land. It involves paying for a ferry ride or owning or borrowing a boat.

Any island post office that seeks relief from this 25-mile rule, so it can keep six-hour service, should probably apply first to the postmaster general. Another possibility would be to bring up the matter at one of the community discussion meetings that the postal service plans to schedule in September.

Still another avenue would be to ask for help from Maines congressional delegation. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, interceded last year when the Matinicus Island post office was slated for closing. She obtained a reprieve.

Maines islands are a prime asset to the state, but they are vulnerable to change. Fifteen of them still have year-round populations, but some of them are gradually losing residents. On Swans Island, two of its post offices have already been closed. If its remaining post office and those on other islands serving as social centers for the islands are cut to four hours, eventual complete closure is probably more likely than if they are on the six-hour list.

The Stamp by Mail program has helped keep some of the island post offices profitable or at least less unprofitable. Summer residents have been ordering their year-round supply of stamps from their island post office, making its balance sheet look good to postal headquarters.

But, the postal service is discontinuing that program. Summer folks will still be able to buy their stamps in quantity from their island post office, but they must go to the counter instead of getting delivery by mail.

People who want to help keep their island post offices in business will do well to speak up at the September meetings or write letters to the postmaster general or their federal lawmakers.

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Maine islands at risk

2nd July 2012

Falkland Islands Holdings plc

("FIH" or the "Group")

Sale of Falkland Oil and Gas Limited ("FOGL") Shares

Falkland Islands Holdings plc, the AIM quoted international group which owns essential services businesses focused on retail, transport and logistics announces that on 29 June 2012, FIH sold 1.18 million shares in FOGL for 1.01m, generating a profit of 0.77m for FIH. Following the sale, FIH owns 12.82 million shares in FOGL; representing 4.01% of the issued share capital. The funds will be available for the development of the Groups businesses in the Falkland Islands and the UK.

The Board of FIH does not intend to dispose of any further shares in FOGL prior to the completion of the drilling of the Loligo well in the South Falkland basin.

Chairman of FIH, David Hudd commented:

"As a result of this disposal, we have more than recouped the further investment we made in FOGL in January this year and have generated a useful profit for the Group. The Subscription and Open offer announced by the Group on 14 June and this disposal have significantly enhanced the resources of the Group whilst retaining a substantial financial interest in FOGL and we look forward to their drilling campaign which is expected to commence in July 2012."

- Ends -

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Falkland Islands Hlg - Sale of FOGL shares