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.
NEW ZEALAND – Cyclone Hola is looking likely to hit New Zealand, and scientists say the tropical cyclone season is not over yet.
NEW ZEALAND – Jacinda Ardern has completed a whirlwind trip of the Pacific Islands, stopping in Samoa, Niue, Tonga and the Cook Islands.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA –Rumours of a pending volcanic eruption is adding to the chaos in the earthquakes shaken highlands of Papua New Guinea.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Aid workers and government officials have been threatened by people in Papua New Guinea who are angry at the slow delivery of emergency help.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – “The earth started to shift and shake violently.”
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – A large earthquake that struck in Papua New Guinea’s islands region this week has been revised downwards to magnitude 6.8.
NORTHERN MARIANAS – Construction companies which built the Imperial Pacific Resort on Saipan have been ordered to pay $13.9 million in back wages and damages to thousands of Chinese construction workers.
PACIFIC – An independent adjudicator in New York has dismissed an objection to the re-certification of sustainable tuna fisheries controlled by the Parties to the Nauru Agreement, or PNA.
FRENCH POLYNESIA – The appeal court in French Polynesia has given suspended jail sentences to three politicians, including a former president, for abusing public funds.
NEW CALEDONIA – Tropical Cyclone Hola intensified into a category three system as it yesterday spiralled south towards New Caledonia after earlier passing over Vanuatu.
TONGA – Parliaments throughout the Pacific, including Australia and New Zealand with support from the United Nations, have rallied behind Tonga to ensure the March sitting of the nation’s Parliament.
The fatal shooting of an aviation security dog that escaped onto Auckland Airport’s runway was avoidable, a report into the incident suggests. Grizz escaped from the Aviation Security (Avsec) compound at the airport in March last year.
Wellington City council has moved to widen a proposed bed tax, as it looks for ways to fund economic and tourism growth in the city while keeping rates down.
The 21 iwi radio stations that make up Te Whakaruruhau o Nga Irirangi Maori, or the Maori Radio Network, have told the Maori Affairs Select Committee that current government funding is only enough to get by, but not enough to thrive.
NEW ZEALAND – A Christchurch company is offering hard cash to employees who bike to work everyday in a bid to energise staff and move the city away from a reliance on cars.
NEW ZEALAND – Severe weather has caused flooding and disruption for parts of the central North Island.
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.
AMERICAN SAMOA – American Samoa tuna cannery StarKist has been handed a multi-million penalty by a US federal court.
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.
SAMOA – Families refusing to relocate to allow for an extension to Samoa’s Faleolo International Airport may be charged with trespass.