BY RICHARD MENANOPO

St Nicholas Anglican College has announced it will not be accepting any inward transfers for the school this year.

School Administrator John Patteson made the announcement through notice to all parents, caregivers, supporters, staff and students.

He stressed that the ‘Principal, all teaching and support staff for all strands are not responsible for inward transfers as there will be no inward transfers for St Nicholas in 2026’.

The announcement also says that all teaching and support staff should start reporting to school on January 12.

“The school registration starts on 19th January 2026 at the school assembly hall. All students both old and new needs to be registered as all details and information needs to be updated. This is for all strands,” Patteson said.

“Before the commencement of registration on January 19 and formal academic programs on January 26, make sure all our students/ children are student-groomed and be in their student mode.

“And lastly, all fee arrears in 2025 must be paid in full before a student can be considered to start the registration process for 2026,” the announcement said.

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BY JOHN HOUANIHAU

Just a week into the new year and the entire Honiara city was hit by a major power outage yesterday for seven hours.

And, the electricity authority has revealed that the cause of it was vandalism.

The vandalism incident took place around the KGVI and Burns Creek area.

The network fault yesterday morning, caused power outage across whole of Honiara city until power was restored at 12 midday.

Speaking to Island Sun yesterday, Solomon Power, Acting Chief Engineer, Dickson Alamania, said that yesterday’s vandalism incident happened around King George VI and the Burns Creek vicinity.

“Someone tied a stone to the two ends of a rope and threw it onto the 33kV overhead main power supply line to Honiara.  That was the fault that caused the unplanned power outage yesterday.

“In these kinds of cases, we have to ensure that we locate and identify the fault. Must certain everything is clear before dealing with it. What also delays us is access to the identified site. That’s what’s delaying our team linemen distribution team on Saturday,” Alamania said.

He said that the 33kV overhead main power supply is the main line that supplies power to Honiara Power House to power the whole City.

“For the Eastern end, Ranadi, there was a brief power outage, power restored at 7 am since the line is not affected,” Alamania said.

He called on the public to respect Solomon Power’s property, as damage to these utilities is an impact on everyone.

“I call on everyone to respect Solomon Power’s properties. When things like this happen, it affects everyone. It was a deliberate act. And it’s ongoing with all powerlines. Otherwise, any future fault might be caused by a different cause,” he said.

Public took to social media yesterday following the power outage to express their fears that the norm of prolonged mass power cuts experienced in 2025 will continue on in 2026.

Honiara city experienced one of its longest power blackouts in years in 2025, following a significant fault on Solomon Power’s 11KV generator at Lungga Power Station.

The unplanned outage, which began on the evening of Thursday, January 16, 2025, left most of the city without power for over 12 hours.

The power failure, which affected the entire city, plunged Honiara into darkness from around 7pm Thursday until early Friday morning.

Among the victims of Honiara’s power outage trend is the business community, which continue to experience financial loss with each unexpected major power cut.

A SICCI statement issued in November 2025 in response to last year’s chronic power cut problem said that the Chamber views reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy as a critical enabler for national development and economic growth.

SICCI views access to stable electricity as not just a utility issue but a fundamental business issue for our manufacturers to compete, for the nation’s construction industry to thrive, and for every SME to grow.

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BY GREGORY HAKA

Honiara City Council (HCC) on Tuesday this week brought all salt fish vendors together to discuss issues concerning the sale of salt fish at Honiara Central Market

The Council informed the vendors that the sale of salt fish is only permitted at the White River Fish Market and not at the Honiara Central Market, a HCC statement yesterday said. 

This decision remains in effect and must be complied with by all salt fish vendors.

City Clerk Justus Denni explained that the decision was made by the Honiara City Council Trade and Commerce Standing Committee and later approved by the HCC Executive Committee.

He emphasised that this decision represents the official position of the Council’s governance structure.

Denni further clarified that neither the City Clerk’s office, the Legal Office, nor the Law Enforcement Office has the authority to change or override this decision.

He stressed that no individual office within HCC can permit salt-fish vendors to sell their fish at the Central Market – as such the authority rests solely with the HCC Executive Committee.

The City Clerk emphasised the importance of respecting decisions made through proper governance processes, noting that this decision is made in the interest of orderly market operations and public health standards.

According to the HCC Market Ordinance, the Honiara City Council has the legal authority to control, regulate and manage all markets under its jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, the Council said it will continue to exercise this authority to ensure compliance with market rules and regulations.

HCC encourages all salt fish vendors to cooperate with the Council and operate within designated market areas to maintain order in the city’s markets.

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BY RICHARD MENANOPO

THE Prime Minister’s Office has issued a statement reminding public to remain vigilant when engaging with content on social media.

This follows continued occurrence of fake profiles and AI-generated content posing as Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele on social media.

“As digital technology evolves, it is inevitable to encounter accounts and videos that are designed to mislead us,” the statement from the Prime Minister’s official Facebook page said.

Recently, several fake profiles and AI-generated (Deepfake) videos have appeared, pretending to be Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele. These fakes often promote fraudulent schemes, such as the ‘SBD900 Development Grant’, the statement said.

The Prime Minister’s office encourages social media users to learn the ‘Three Official Checks’ to distinguish real content from digital fakes.

The Account Check: Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele DOES NOT have a personal Facebook profile. He will never send you a “Friend Request” or an “Inbox” message.

The Source Check: Official information is only shared through this Facebook Page and the Government Communication Unit (GCU) page plus other Government Ministries (tagged) Facebook Pages.

Reporting Fraud: If you encounter a profile pretending to be the Prime Minister or a video offering “cash prizes” in his name, please take the following steps (as shown in the guide below):

“Do not click any links or provide personal bank details.

“Report the profile immediately to Facebook.

“Share this warning with your family and elders to ensure they are not misled by these scams,” the PMO statement said.

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BY JOHN HOUANIHAU

The Solomon Islands Meteorological (SIMS) weather forecasting office will closely monitor the weather in the region this week towards the weekend.

The SIMS weather forecasting office, through the SI Met Admin, issued on their official Facebook page at 4 pm yesterday, Wednesday, January 7, 2026.

“We will be monitoring closely some weather systems around our region later this week towards the weekend, so continue to follow daily updates,” SIMS confirmed.

There are no weather warnings at the moment, according to the SIMS statement.

The statement said that generally fair but unstable weather remains over the region.

The SIMS at the meantime advises that the general public remain updated at all times as the country is in its rainy and cyclone season.

“Always stay updated and prepared as we are still in the rain and cyclone season for our region,” SIMS advised.

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