Regional
North Island deluge prompts evacuations
Friday 9 March 2018 | Published in Regional
NEW ZEALAND – Severe weather has caused flooding and disruption for parts of the central North Island.
Cancer sufferers want drugs available overseas
Friday 9 March 2018 | Published in Regional
NEW ZEALAND – A Tauranga woman with terminal cancer has had to fundraise over $100,000 to pay for a treatment that would be free if she lived in Australia.
Tuna cannery penalised
Friday 9 March 2018 | Published in Regional
AMERICAN SAMOA – American Samoa tuna cannery StarKist has been handed a multi-million penalty by a US federal court.
Doctors facing burn out
Friday 9 March 2018 | Published in Regional
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – The doctor who is in charge of the medical response in Papua New Guinea’s earthquake-devastated Hela Province says his team is close to burning out, with backup yet to arrive.
Airport standoff intensifies
Friday 9 March 2018 | Published in Regional
SAMOA – Families refusing to relocate to allow for an extension to Samoa’s Faleolo International Airport may be charged with trespass.
PNG faces long road to recovery
Friday 9 March 2018 | Published in Regional
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Papua New Guinea faces a long road to recovery after the February 26 earthquake that hit the nation’s rugged highlands more than 10 days ago, with the death toll now believed to have climbed to more than 100.
Cyclone threatens Loyalty Islands
Friday 9 March 2018 | Published in Regional
NEW CALEDONIA – People in New Caledonia’s Loyalty Island group are preparing for the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Hola.
Journalist puts focus on PNG's positive stories
Thursday 8 March 2018 | Published in Regional
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – A journalist in Papua New Guinea has found there’s a need for stories about locals who have overcome the difficulties of life in their developing country.
The Pacific has a new sports hero
Thursday 8 March 2018 | Published in Regional
NEW ZEALAND – Star Black Caps cricketer Luteru Ross Poutoa Lote Taylor, known to most as Ross Taylor, says he would like the sport to promote him as a role model to Pacific Islanders.
'Spooked' locals point finger at Exxon
Thursday 8 March 2018 | Published in Regional
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – The earthquake in Papua New Guinea has sparked a backlash against the US energy giant ExxonMobil. Some ‘spooked’ locals blame Exxon’s $19 billion gas project of causing, or at least magnifying, the 7.5 magnitude quake and the series of intense aftershocks. While firmly denied by Exxon and debunked by geologists, the accusations suggest that the project known as PNG LNG has caused some sort of geological instability in the Highlands region. The concerns about the project – the country’s biggest revenue earner - are even being expressed at senior levels in the Papua New Guinea government. PNG’s Vice Minister for Petroleum and Energy, Manasseh Makiba, has said publicly that there should be an inquiry to respond to local concerns that “mother nature” was reacting to the ground disturbed by drilling. PNG’s Minister for Finance, James Marape, has also demanded answers from the company. “In a world of science and knowledge, I now demand answers from Exxon and my own government as to the cause of this unusual trend in Hela,” Marape posted on his private Facebook page. He is among many who have lit up social media in PNG, with blogs and Facebook posts pointing the finger at the oil and gas sector’s alleged contribution to the disaster. Around Exxon’s operation, communities remain fearful as the death toll climbs, with as many as 18 more killed by a 6.7 magnitude aftershock on Wednesday. Chris McKee, acting director of the Geohazards Management Division in Port Moresby, said there was no link between the project and seismic activity, which has included more than 120 quakes of magnitude 4.5 and greater in the week after the initial hit. Papua New Guinea straddles the geologically active Pacific Ring of Fire. - PNC sources
Vanuatu avoids brunt of cyclone
Thursday 8 March 2018 | Published in Regional
VANUATU – Cyclone Hola has passed over the islands of the Vanuatu archipelago.
Victims still waiting for basic needs
Thursday 8 March 2018 | Published in Regional
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Quake-affected communities in Papua New Guinea’s Hela province are still in urgent need of basic supplies. It’s been 11 days since a magnitude 7.5 quake in Hela caused buildings to collapse and triggered mass landslides in the surrounding Highlands region. At least 76 people have died, according to local officials. Power is still out in much of Hela, and there’s a shortage of medical, water and shelter supplies for an estimated 150,000 people. The provincial police commander Thomas Levongo said supplies were expected to arrive soon. “Yes, I heard from the provincial administrator yesterday. He told me that medical supplies are on the way..” He said there were more injured people in need across Hela following a 6.7 aftershock in the early hours of this morning. Tari local Moses Komengi said there was an acute need for tents because people were too afraid to stay in their homes. “If the aftershocks continue, some of the houses might break. It’s already shakey so we don’t know. “If things happen then people might need shelters to stay out, because at this moment some who have cars are with their families to the open fields and they are staying in the cars.” - RNZI
Concerns over Nauru court
Wednesday 7 March 2018 | Published in Regional
NAURU – A former Nauru chief justice has raised concerns at Nauru’s plans for its own court of appeal.
Cable deal makes progress
Wednesday 7 March 2018 | Published in Regional
SOLOMON ISLANDS – Discussions on a multi-million dollar submarine cable connecting Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea to Australia were progressed in Canberra last week.
Frustration growing in Highlands
Wednesday 7 March 2018 | Published in Regional
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Frustrations are building among some residents in the earthquake-devastated Papua New Guinea of Hela, as aid is slow to come a week after a deadly earthquake.
Tonga – and then Rarotonga today
Wednesday 7 March 2018 | Published in Regional
TONGA – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern touched down in Tonga yesterday afternoon on the third leg of her Pacific Mission.
Trade deal 'damaging'
Wednesday 7 March 2018 | Published in Regional
PACIFIC – An analyst says New Zealand’s planned trade deal with the Pacific Island nations could be extremely damaging to their economies.
Pension rules under scrutiny
Wednesday 7 March 2018 | Published in Regional
PACIFIC – The New Zealand government is looking at its pension rules to see if New Zealanders living in Niue and Cook Islands can access payments.
King 'out of town' on Chinese business
Wednesday 7 March 2018 | Published in Regional
PACIFIC – Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks in Beijing with Tonga’s King Tupou VI last Thursday where they agreed to further promote the strategic partnership between China and Tonga.
New Zealand treads softly in China's footsteps
Wednesday 7 March 2018 | Published in Regional
PACIFIC – New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern says the main goal of her delegation’s visit to Tonga this week was to see how the kingdom and other Pacific Island nations are recovering from last month’s Cyclone Gita – but Ardern and her ministers may also be worried about another force that’s hit the region – China.