France is “checking” whether a high-level mission to New Caledonia will be possible prior to or after the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Summit in Tonga at the end of the month. Forum leaders have written to French President Emmanuel Macron requesting to send a Forum Ministerial Committee to Nouméa to gather information from all sides involved in the ongoing crisis. The French Ambassador to the Pacific, Véronique Roger-Lacan, will be in Suva on Friday for the Forum Foreign Ministers Meeting to “continue the dialogue…and explain the facts”. She told RNZ Pacific sending a mission to New Caledonia is a request…
Author: Newsdesk
The South West Pacific Heads of Maritime Forces (SWPHMF) convened on Wednesday at the Leadership Centre, Masefield Naval Base, for a pivotal meeting focused on maritime security. This seventh annual meeting, hosted by Tonga for the second time, brought together navy leaders from 14 member nations under the theme “Pursuing maritime security through information sharing and closer coordination.” Commander of Tonga Royal Navy, Taniela Tuita, emphasized the importance of collaboration in ensuring the safety of the Pacific Ocean. “This meeting is a chance for the heads of maritime forces to share knowledge, skills, and action plans to ensure the safety…
Tonga’s Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni has rejected claims that there is a foreign affairs ministerial portfolio standoff which poses a threat to the upcoming Pacific leaders meeting. Tonga is hosting Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Summit at the end of this month. Earlier this year, Tonga’s King Tupou VI disapproved of the government’s appointment of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. As a result, the then-minister, Fekita ‘Utoikamanu, stepped away from the post in April and a replacement is yet to be named. RNZ Pacific’s Tonga correspondent, Kalafi Moala, said two weeks ago the matter was not resolved at all. “There is a…
In parliament yesterday, Ha’apai 12 representative Mo’ale Finau raised concerns over delays in government construction work, emphasising the urgent need for action due to rising sea levels damaging homes in his constituency. Finau said affected residents are being forced to relocate to safer areas. The government has yet to confirm when construction will start. Finau said that planned works include coastal areas of Hihifo and Pangai. He is aware of $1.2 million paanga allocated for the project, but Minister of Infrastructure, Hon. Seventeen Toumo’ua clarified that this funding is shared between coastal areas in Tongatapu and Ha’apai. Noble Representative Lord…
A new report by the Asian Development Bank has found that more Pacific women are taking up leadership roles in business, but they continue to face discrimination. The report, published in the second edition of the Leadership Matters series, found the average proportion of women directors in the Pacific rose by five percent – from 21 percent in 2021 to 26 percent in 2024. While Cook Islands, Kiribati, Samoa and Tuvalu have higher proportions of women directors and chief executives in the region, Fiji and Papua New Guinea are yet to meet the regional average. The report’s author Sarah Boxall…
French Polynesia’s homeboy Kauli Vaast has won the Olympic gold medal in the men’s shortboard finals of the Paris 2024 surfing event and in the process made history in Teahupo’o. Radio 1 reports Vaast 22, a Tahitian native, beat Australia’s Jack Robinson to become the first French Olympic surf champion. Vaast, who grew up in Mahina (near Teahupo’o) and started surfing there when he was four years old, was immediately dubbed “the King of Teahupo’o”. He becomes the first ever French Polynesian sportsman to win an Olympic gold medal for France – and adding to the Paris Olympics hosts tally…
China achieved a significant milestone in the satellite internet industry on Tuesday with the successful launch of 18 Qianfan satellites aboard a Long March-6 rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi Province. This marks the inaugural deployment of the Qianfan megaconstellation, also known as G60, which aims to create China’s version of SpaceX’s Starlink. The Qianfan project, initiated in 2023, plans to deploy over 15,000 low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to enhance communication services across China. By the end of 2025, the constellation is expected to include 648 satellites, with a goal of achieving global coverage by 2027…
“COVID-19 is still very much with us,” and circulating in all countries, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove of WHO told journalists in Geneva. “Data from our sentinel-based surveillance system across 84 countries reports that the percent of positive tests for SARS-CoV-2 has been rising over several weeks,” she said. “Overall, test positivity is above 10 per cent, but this fluctuates per region. In Europe, percent positivity is above 20 percent,” she added. New waves of infection have been registered in the Americas, Europe and the western Pacific. Wastewater surveillance suggests the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 is from two to 20 times higher…
Noah Lyles stormed to victory in 9.79 seconds in the men’s Olympic 100m final in Paris on Sunday. The race, marked by a dramatic photo-finish, saw Lyles edge out Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by a mere five thousandths of a second. Both athletes clocked 9.79 seconds, but Lyles’ winning time was officially recorded as 9.784 to Thompson’s 9.789. This victory makes Lyles the first American to win the event since Justin Gatlin in 2004. “It’s the one I wanted,” Lyles said. “It’s the hard battle, it’s the amazing opponents. I wanted to prove that I’m the man amongst all of them.”…
The Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC) hosted a lunch reception in Paris to celebrate sport and sustainable development as the Paris 2024 Olympic Games get underway. The reception was hosted at New Zealand House at the Paris Mariott Champs Elysees in partnership with the New Zealand Olympic Committee on Saturday 27th July 2024, just one day after the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Over a hundred guests joined the reception including Heads of State, Ministers of Sports, Ambassadors, Chefs de Mission, NOC Presidents and Secretary Generals and invited guests. Under the theme ‘Radiant and Resilient: Advancing Sustainability,…