Six months on, key measures languish in Pacific Islands pact with US

WASHINGTON - More than six months after a crucial security deal between Washington and some Pacific Island nations was signed into law, key features of the Compacts of Free Association have not been implemented, raising questions in the region about U.S. commitment to its Pacific partners in the face of an increasingly assertive Beijing.

In March, the passage of the Compacts of Free Association, or COFA, extended