Sailors from Tahiti edged over Rarotonga, proving to be very competitive taking out first place in both the Lasers and the Optimist classes, winning the 2024 sailing challenge overall trophy.
Former Cook Islands prime minister and secretary-general of the Pacific Islands Forum, Henry Puna, has been confirmed as the first Cook Islander appointed to the East-West Center Board of Governors based in Honolulu, Hawaii.
AMERICAN SAMOA – A doctor in American Samoan says a free 24 hour clinic operating after Cyclone Gita has seen a steady flow of patients.
SAMOA – Businesses in Samoa are being urged to support and collaborate with other entrepreneurs around the region.
MICRONESIA – Three fishermen have been rescued in the Federated States of Micronesia after they spent eight days stranded at sea.
TONGA – Emergency educational supplies from UNICEF have been flown to Tonga this week.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Nine Manus Island refugees who tried to resettle in Papua New Guinea are reportedly being returned to the island.
FIJI – New accusations of police brutality with claims of torture and rape have surfaced in Fiji.
PACIFIC – New research shows targets set out in the Paris climate change agreement may not be enough to offset sea level rise in the next 300 years. The research, published this week in the journal Nature Communications, says the world will experience sea level rise of between 0.7 and 1.2 metres even if the targets are met.
TONGA – New photographs taken just yesterday around the eastern area of Tonga’s main island of Tongatapu show extensive damage to homes, vegetation and schools caused by the category four Cyclone Gita.
PACIFIC – UNICEF says the rate of newborn deaths in Kiribati, Papua New Guinea and the Federated States of Micronesia remains alarmingly high.
NAURU – A female asylum seeker on Nauru with a life-threatening heart condition is refusing an offer to be transferred overseas for medical treatment, saying she will not go without her son.
TONGA – As Cyclone Gita roared across Tonga last week it destroyed government buildings, churches and private homes – it also smashed the island’s schools and has sabotaged the immediate education prospects of hundreds of Tongan children.
SAMOA – Concerns are being raised in the two Samoas about the state of emergency communications and the lack of updates during Cyclone Gita.
TONGA – Cyclone Gita’s trail of destruction has exposed poor building standards in Tonga
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Papua New Guinea’s government has been asked to investigate the disappearance of nationals aboard foreign fishing vessels in recent years.
TONGA – Tonga’s disaster authorities say good progress is being made getting emergency shelter out to the remote villages lashed by Cyclone Gita.
NEW CALEDONIA – A level 1 storm alert was issued for New Caledonia’s Isle of Pines yesterday as Tropical Cyclone Gita was forecast to pass tonight.
TONGA – As Tonga struggles to recover from Cyclone Gita, authorities are looking for somewhere to host the next Parliamentary sessions next month.
FIJI – A community leader on the Fiji island of Ono-i-lau says the damaging winds from yesterday’s cyclone Gita were the most frightening and dangerous on living memory on the island.
TONGA – Tonga could take six months or more to recover from what’s being called the worst storm there in 60 years, while nearly half of Fiji island’s residents are still in evacuation centres.
NEW ZEALAND – Captain Cook saw nothing of value in Poverty Bay when he named it in 1769 – but 250 years later that could be about to change.