A 55-year-old woman from the Isle of Man has pleaded guilty to defrauding victims of approximately GBP 830,000 (USD 1.12 million) through a fictitious tuna fishing and fish-processing business. Zarnie Abenojar Khan admitted charges including fraud, concealing criminal property, and acquiring criminal property, the Isle of Man Today reported.

The prosecutor said Khan had fraudulently obtained money from several individuals, between 2021 and 2023, by claiming to represent a tuna company, Goodwill Fish Processing, which did not exist. Khan, who appeared at the Court of General Gaol Delivery, a criminal court in the territory, last week, admitted the offenses. She was also charged with witness intimidation and an act against public justice, but pleaded not guilty to these offenses, stated the news site. Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown Dependency located in the Irish Sea.

Supermarket chains across several European countries were hit by a major cyberattack on Monday, disrupting freezer and refrigeration systems. Thousands of euros’ worth of chilled and frozen foods and seafood have been lost in the incident, although no reports have yet confirmed the destruction of frozen or chilled tuna. The temperature of freezers in some stores across Europe reportedly rose to as high as 50C (122F).

Beyond France, where retailers experienced a similar cyberattack in early October, supermarket freezers in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Ireland, Germany and Portugal were also affected. Retailers including Ahold Delhaize, Carrefour, Coop, ICA Sweden and Ikea were among those impacted. Supermarket refrigeration systems across Europe are commonly connected to the internet, allowing maintenance and troubleshooting to be carried out remotely. The perpetrators have not been identified, and no group has claimed responsibility, according to international media reports.

Papua New Guinea’s National Fisheries Authority (NFA) has graduated the first batch of Pacific Islands Regional Fisheries Observers (PIRFO) this year. The graduation ceremony was held on October 30 for 25 students. They were trained to the PIRFO standard and will now join the NFA Observer Program to serve on tuna vessels in PNG waters and the WCPO region. These new observers will collect data on catch, bycatch, and compliance, which are essential to fisheries management, according to NBC New Ireland.

David Karis, NFA Managing Director and Executive Manager Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS), told graduates during the ceremony that PNG “has one of the strongest observer programmes in the region, and you are now part of that legacy.” PIRFO is a standardized framework, training, and certification program for fisheries monitoring personnel across Pacific Island countries and territories. It is managed by the WCPFC’s scientific community, the SPC.