Dr Koroivueta shares REACH mission in Samoa

Polling date in Solomon Islands to be announced next month

HONIARA, 22 JANUARY 2019 (SOLOMON STAR) – Solomon Islands Governor General Sir Frank Kabui will announce the election date in the first week of February, reports the Solomon Star. Chief electoral officer Mose Saitala said the announcement will be made as soon as all preparatory work are completed. Saitala said with the voters’ list finalised,...

PNG Government intact: O’Neill

PORT MORESBY, 22 JANUARY 2019 (THE NATIONAL) – Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has rubbished a claim by the Opposition that eight MPs from the Government side are crossing the floor, saying it is coming from “desperate people”. “Their statement cannot be trusted – just desperate people calling all sorts of names and...

Vote of No Confidence queried

PORT MORESBY, 22 JANUARY 2019 (POST COURIER) – A special Supreme Court reference has been filed to determine the constitutionality of a vote of no-confidence and the powers of the Supreme Court to adjudicate over parliamentary processes. The Reference SCR 5 of 2018 is a Section 19 reference, seeking the Supreme Court’s opinion and interpretation...

Australia to create dedicated Office of the Pacific

AUSTRALIA would soon create a dedicated Office of the Pacific within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This was revealed by its Prime Minister Scott Morrison while officiating at the University of the South Pacific this week. He said following commitments to step up their Pacific engagement, the office would drive the implementation, not...

Man charged with murder of Israeli exchange student in Melbourne

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – A 20-year-old man was charged on Saturday with the murder of Israeli student Aiia Maasarwe in Melbourne amidst an outrage over violence against women in Australia’s second-largest city. Maasarwe, 21, an international exchange student, was killed when walking home after a night out with friends in Melbourne earlier this week, with the...

Faith and trust: ‘We were saved by the power of God’

WHEN news broke that seven men from Nawaikama, Gau had failed to return from a boating trip, one man stood out at sea and was reminded of an incident that could have ended tragically if it was not for faith and trust in one another. The seven whose bodies have never been recovered were returning from...

Deadline for new seasonal agent applications extended

PORT VILA, 18 JANUARY 2019 (VANUATU DAILY POST) – Vanuatu’s Ministry of Internal Affairs through the Department of Labour & Employment Services is extending the time frame for new seasonal agent applications. This is to provide opportunities to interested individuals or groups who wish to apply for the seasonal agents, to recruit workers around Vanuatu...

Wellington hosts 15th Pacific festival this weekend

WELLINGON, 18 JANUARY 2019 (RNZ PACIFIC) – New Zealand’s capital will host its 15th Pacific arts festival this weekend. The Wellington Pasifika Festival coincides with the city’s anniversary weekend and showcases the region’s diverse Pacific communities, cultures and cuisines. Wellington City Council’s events producer Suzanne Tamaki said since its beginning in 2005, the festival has...

Kiribati Emergency Response and Assessment team returns from storm-hit islands in Southern Gilbert

TARAWA, 18 JANUARY 2019 (RADIO KIRIBATI) – Kiribati Government’s Emergency Response and Assessment Team has returned to Tarawa after visiting the two most affected islands of Tamana and Arorae to survey the destruction of the recent storm surges that hit the two islands earlier this month. The team comprised officials from the Office of Te...

Parliament plans to sit for up to two weeks: Official

PORT MORESBY, 18 JANUARY 2019 (THE NATIONAL) – The Papua New Guinea Parliament will sit for up to two weeks from next Tuesday, and is expected to rise before the grace period of the current Government expires, an official says. Clerk to Parliament Vela Konivaro said the two weeks would “fall in line with the...

Fiji urges Australia not to put coal above Pacific nations battling climate change

SUVA, 18 JANUARY 2019 9AAP) – Australia must not put the interests of the coal industry above the lives of Pacific nations battling climate change, Fiji’s prime minister has told Scott Morrison. At an official dinner in Fiji to mark a newly announced partnership between the two nations, Frank Bainimarama explicitly told Australia to do...

Climate change is ‘no laughing matter’, Fiji’s PM Frank Bainimarama tells Australia during Scott Morrison’s Pacific trip

SUVA, 18 JANUARY 2019 (ABC NEWS) – Climate change is “no laughing matter” and poses an “enormous” threat to Fijians and Pacific Islanders, Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has warned Australia. In a speech during his counterpart Scott Morrison’s Pacific visit, PM Bainimarama called on Australia to put the welfare of Pacific peoples before the...

Australia’s blistering heat set records for December: weather bureau

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australia reported its hottest day on record for December and it was also the warmest December ever, during a heatwave that began last month and has continued into January, the country’s Bureau of Meteorology said on Thursday. Every Australian state and territory was affected by the heatwave at some stage and numerous...

Airline cabin crew member arrested in Australian drug bust

SYDNEY (Reuters) – An employee of a Malaysian airline was among eight people arrested in Australia on charges of trafficking more than 14 kg (30 lb) of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines, Australian authorities said on Wednesday. The suspect worked for Malindo Air, a subsidiary of Indonesia’s Lion Air, which said the crew member had been...

Cheers mate: Australia to allow kava imports to bolster Pacific ties

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia will allow imports of the intoxicating drink kava, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday, as it seeks to forge closer ties with its Pacific neighbours amid growing Chinese interest in the region. Australia and China have been vying for influence in sparsely populated Pacific island countries that control vast swathes...

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