Manager kills 6 in attack

Court decision

THE Vanuatu Appeal Court has overturned the acquittals of the crew of two Chinese fishing vessels for allegedly fishing illegally in Vanuatu waters. On January 21, 2021, two vessels were apprehended by the Vanuatu naval ship, the RVS Tukoro. Subsequently, the masters and their crews faced criminal prosecution alleging they had fished in territorial waters of Vanuatu without the required licences, in breach of the Vanuatu Fisheries Act.

Vaccine program

THE Federated States of Micronesia will begin a campaign to roll-out the Measles, Mumps and Rubella – or MMR – vaccine for young children. Children aged one to three will receive vaccines while others aged two to three will receive routine vaccines. COVID-19 vaccines for children aged between six months and four years will also be administered.

Mayor elected

THE fewer than 50 people living on Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific Ocean have chosen a non-Pitcairner to be their mayor, the top governmental office on the island. This is the first time this has happened in the island’s 232-year history. The new mayor is 57-year-old Simon Young of Yorkshire in England.

Shipping

THE New Zealand government has committed a further $US6.1 million ($F13.49 million) towards shipping infrastructure in Vanuatu. Associate Foreign Minister, Aupito William Sio, is in Vanuatu where he made the announcement at the Pacific Community Ministerial Conference in Port Vila. He said New Zealand has been a co-financier of the Vanuatu Interisland Shipping Support Project since 2012, alongside the Vanuatu Government and the Asian Development Bank.

Capacity-building

THE UK’s Minister for the Indo-Pacific is visiting Vanuatu. Anne-Marie Trevelyan was to talk with Vanuatu’s Prime Minister, Ishmael Kalsakau, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jotham Napat, about the priorities of their recentlyelected government. The UK works closely with Vanuatu to strengthen maritime security, and climate resilience as well as capacity-building in the region.

AT least 20,000 people in remote communities in Solomon Islands have been seriously impacted by the series of earthquakes that struck off the south coast of Guadalcanal from Tuesday afternoon through to Wednesday morning. The largest quake measured magnitude 7 at about 15km deep, just after 1pm Tuesday local time.

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CHESAPEAKE, Va. — A Walmart manager pulled out a handgun before a routine employee meeting and began firing wildly around the break room of a Virginia store, killing six people in the nation’s second high-profile mass shooting in four days, police and witnesses said Wednesday.

The gunman was dead when officers arrived late Tuesday at the store in Chesapeake, Virginia’s second-largest city.

Authorities said he apparently shot himself. Police were trying to determine a motive. One employee described watching “bodies drop” as the assailant fired haphazardly, without saying a word.

“He was just shooting all throughout the room. It didn’t matter who he hit. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t look at anybody in any specific type of way,” said Briana Tyler, a Walmart employee.

Six people were wounded in the shooting, which happened just after 10pm as shoppers were stocking up ahead of the

Thanksgiving holiday. Police said they believe about 50 people were in the store at the time.

The gunman was identified as Andre Bing, 31, an overnight team leader who had been a Walmart employee since 2010. Police said he had one handgun and several magazines of ammunition.

Ms Tyler said the overnight stocking team of 15 to 20 people had just gathered in the break room to go over the morning plan. She said the meeting was about to start, and one team leader said: “All right guys, we have a light night ahead of us”. Then Mr Bing turned around and opened fire on the staff.

At first, Ms Tyler doubted the shooting was real, thinking that it was an active shooter drill.

“It was all happening so fast,” she said, adding: “It is by the grace of God that a bullet missed me. I saw the smoke leaving the gun, and I literally watched bodies drop. It was crazy”. ■