Cook Islander Archie Atiau says the impact of Tropical Cyclone Alfred, which affected South East Queensland and the New South Wales North Coast, Australia, has been severe.
Fiji's Prime Minister is set to restore a backbencher to cabinet after she appeared in a private video dancing naked.
NAVUTOKA – A 62-year-old man from the village of Navutoka, in eastern Tongatapu died at Vaiola Hospital on Monday after drinking from a bottle of hazardous weed killing chemicals.
SUVA – Fiji’s Lau islands escaped the full wrath of Tropical Cyclone Ula – but two more fishermen are reported missing bringing the number of people lost at sea in Fiji to five.
NUKU‘ALOFA – A German man was found dead at sea off ‘Eua, Tonga, after he was reported missing between Christmas and New year..
APIA – IN Samoa, more than 300 guns were handed in to police during a recent firearm amnesty which lasted for two months.
PORT MORESBY – The Acting Deputy Police Commissioner in Papua New Guinea says the suspension of over 40 officers for a range of brutality and misconduct charges is a step in the right direction.
SUVA – Fiji police have confirmed that the acting commissioner Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho has not suspended his assistant, Henry Brown, but sent him on leave last week pending an investigation of what they describe as a “serious in-house matter”.
YAREN – The Pacific Islands Forum says it is keen to send an observer mission to help monitor elections in Nauru but only if invited by the Nauru government.
PORT VILA – Campaigning is officially underway in Vanuatu’s snap election set for January 22 amid confusion over the number of candidates taking part.
NUKU‘ALOFA – The Tongan government says one of the reasons it declared a state of emergency for Cyclone Ula was so people could work on Sunday in order to assist the islands of Vava‘u if necessary.
APIA – Samoa has established its first credit bureau to promote greater transparency and efficiency in the money lending market.
APIA – The Samoan Independent Seventh Day Adventist Church wants a healthier congregation.
PORT MORESBY – Papua New Guinea’s government has removed more than a dozen foreign advisers working in government departments, a move that was foreshadowed several months ago.
SUVA – Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has made it quite clear where he stands on the issue of same sex marriage.
PORT VILA – Several political parties in Vanuatu have already launched their election campaigns despite delays to the publication of the official candidates list.
PACIFIC VIEWPOINT By Pesi Fonua Publisher of Matangi Tonga A year after Tonga’s second democratically elected government came into power at the end of December 2014, Tongan politics is stuck in the doldrums.
PAPEETE – French Polynesia’s assembly has approved US$8 million in funds to help rebuild parts of Tahiti badly damaged by floods before Christmas.
NUKU‘ALOFA – The Tonga government has cancelled the state of emergency that was declared for the Vava‘u and Ha‘apai island groups on January 31 as Tropical Cyclone Ula entered Tongan waters.
PORT MORESBY – Papua New Guinea’s National Disaster Centre is working tirelessly to make the country more drought resistant, according to a report in the Post-Courier.
PAPEETE – French Polynesia’s pro-independence opposition leader, Oscar Temaru, says he plans to make a bid for the French presidency next year.
PORT VILA – Vanuatu’s electoral office says it has been allocated US$142,000 less than what it estimates it needs to carry out this month’s snap election. The acting principal electoral officer, Joe Johnson Iati, says the office estimates the election will cost $765,000, but it has only been allocated $622,000. The election was called after the president, Baldwin Lonsdale, dissolved parliament to end weeks of political deadlock that stemmed from the jailing of 14 government MPs for corruption. Iati says the sudden announcement means that the office has had to bring forward election planning and stretch its resources. “There are a lot of challenges. Since we ran into this dissolution of parliament, we’ve had to source all the resources that we have in terms of budget and manpower and we are hoping to have everything smoothly running.” Iati says the office will try its best to run the election within its budget, but the government may be asked to provide extra if that’s not possible. The electoral office says it has received applications from 10 of the jailed former members of parliament to contest the election.
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