Non-government organisations are frustrated with the Cook Islands government seabed mineral consultations that are being held in New Zealand, calling for a 10-year moratorium to allow for independent research and capacity building within the Cook Islands.
The University of the South Pacific Students’ Association (USPSA) from 14 campuses spanning 12 member countries convened in Rarotonga yesterday representing the voice of 14,000 students.
Once people thought the Amazon was a near-uninhabited rainforest before the Europeans turned up, but researchers say they have found new evidence that it was in fact a hive of human culture and home to millions of people.
Earth’s nights are getting brighter, and that has scientists concerned.
NEW ZEALAND – A Timaru woman says calls to change compulsory helmet rules are ridiculous, after a helmet saved her husband’s life.
NEW ZEALAND – The New Zealand health system is facing a funding shortfall so bad that three DHBs are likely to need at least $4.3 billion in capital expenditure alone.
NEW ZEALAND – Ed Sheeran’s tour in Dunedin this week has been called the city’s biggest event ever, and is hoped to bring its biggest economic windfall since the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
NEW ZEALAND – Counties Manukau DHB was reluctant to ask the previous National-led government for funding to fix mouldy, rotting and unstable buildings because of pressure from ministers to stay in surplus, its acting CEO says.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – The controversial Papua New Guinea lawyer Paul Paraka has launched legal action seeking damages for the long-running probe into state payments to his law firm.
FIJI – Fijian opposition MP Mosese Bulitavu has lost his seat in parliament after being convicted on six year old sedition charges.
VANUATU – Residents on Ambae in Vanuatu are living in fear as their island’s volcano continues to belch fire and ash with the danger level of the Manaro Voui crater at level 3 – signifying an escalating eruption event.
TONGA – Tonga’s Education Minister remains adamant that girls should not play rugby or take part in boxing.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – New Zealand should bypass Australia and negotiate the resettlement of Manus Island refugees with the PNG government, a sick asylum seeker says.
NAURU – A senior United Nations official has demanded Australia reconsider its offshore processing policy as concerns about detainees’ mental health grows.
TONGA – Tongans have prayed for forgiveness following a month of shocking murders and road accident deaths in the Christian kingdom.
PACIFIC – The Pacific Rugby Players Association says professional contracts are already on the table for some of the players who attended this week’s Pacific Island combined training camp.
Tonga – Three container loads of building supplies from Fletcher Building South Pacific are set to arrive in Tonga to assist in rebuilding cyclone-damaged homes of people most in need.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – The Papua New Guinea government wants Australia to set a deadline to get refugees from Manus Island out of the country.
NEW ZEALAND – Organisers of Pasifika Festival, held in Auckland this weekend, want to focus the two-day event on re-connecting with grassroots this year.
VANUATU – Vanuatu’s government has signed orders limiting the use of plastic and regulating waste throughout its 82 islands.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Papua New Guinea’s weather office is warning people to prepare for a possible tropical cyclone.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – More than a quarter of a million people remain in need of urgent assistance almost a month after a large earthquake devastated the Papua New Guinea highlands.