Trade facilitation top on Fiji’s development agenda

300-plus RNZAF officers conduct disaster response exercise in Fiji

Officers of the Royal New Zealand Air Force conducted an exercise between Nadi and the HMNZS Canterbury situated off Lomolomo Beach in Lautoka. The exercise tested the New Zealand Air Force and Naval Force’s capabilities to respond to natural disasters. Rotor Wing Task Unit Flying Operations Flight Commander Flight Lieutenant Nicole Brooke said they ran...

Sigatoka-based company records $795k profit

Sigatoka-based Pacific Green has reported a profit of $795,691 for the 2022 financial year compared with a profit of $381,766 from the same period last year. The company recorded total revenue of $4.8 million in 2022. “These strong results were due to reduced operating costs through more efficient production processes and better inventory management, timely...

NZ Defence Force conducts humanitarian aid relief response exercise in Fiji

Members of the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) conducted a humanitarian aid and disaster relief response exercise at Lomolomo Beach in Lautoka this morning. The live exercise displayed the New Zealand military’s disaster response capabilities with state of the art machinery carried onboard the Royal New Zealand Navy ship HMNZS Canterbury. More than 300 NZDF...

NZ Foreign Minister says encouraged China to support Pacific regional institutions

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand’s foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta said on Tuesday she had encouraged China to support and strengthen Pacific regional institutions and uphold a 22-year old agreement that sees Pacific countries look after their own security needs. After returning from Beijing, Mahuta told reporters she had encouraged China to support regional Pacific architecture...

New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) conducts disaster relief response exercise

Members of the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) conducted a humanitarian aid and disaster relief response exercise at Lomolomo Beach in Lautoka this morning. The live exercise displayed the New Zealand military’s disaster response capabilities with state-of-the-art machinery carried onboard the Royal New Zealand Navy ship HMNZS Canterbury. More than 300 NZDF travelled to Fiji...

Brown poses difficult but real climate-related questions; solutions required

Pacific islanders’ stewardship, vision, development aspirations and climate change-related sea level rise threatens the future of people and the statehood of many Pacific nations. Pacific Islands Forum chairperson and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown made these comments in his opening address at the regional conference on Preserving Statehood and Protecting Persons: Legal Options and...

Australia’s Latitude says 7.9 million driver licence numbers stolen in data theft

(Reuters) -Digital payments and lending firm Latitude Holdings said on Monday it has determined that 7.9 million Australian and New Zealand driver licence numbers were stolen in a large-scale information theft on March 16. Apart from the 7.9 million driver licence numbers stolen, the Australian fintech firm also identified about 53,000 passport numbers were stolen...

Influenza B/Victoria strain in predominant circulation in Fiji – Health Ministry

The Fiji Centre of Disease Control (CDC) has confirmed that the influenza-like illness in predominant circulation in the country is that of the Influenza B/Victoria strain. The Ministry of Health and Medical Services say this may be the likely cause of the second surge of influenza-like illnesses being reported and observed locally. According to the...

Anger over close of Noumea beaches due to deadly shark attacks

Beachgoers in New Caledonia have protested against the closure of Noumea’s swimming beaches until the end of the year. The mayor took the decision ten days ago because of a spate of shark attacks, including the fatal mauling of a swimmer. About 100 people formed a chain along a beach, denouncing the ban as discriminatory. They...

French High Commission validates lists contesting French Polynesia elections

The French High Commission has validated the seven lists contesting next month’s territorial elections in French Polynesia. It has approved their emblems and published the candidates’ names in the Official Journal. In a late change, the pro-independence Tavini Huiraatira dropped veteran politician Eliane Tevahitua when it submitted its list. On April 16 and 30, voters...

Guilty verdicts for two men who conspired to kill ex-Samoa PM

Two men who conspired to murder former Samoa prime minister Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi have been found guilty of the charges laid against them. Samoa’s Supreme Court delivered the decision on Friday, in the trial of Malele Paulo and Lema’i Faioso Sione. The Samoa Observer reports the defendants Paulo also known as King Faipopo, and Sione had maintained...

New Zealand foreign minister to discuss security with Chinese counterpart on Friday

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said she will discuss concerns about key regional and global security challenges when she meets with her Chinese counterpart, foreign minister Qin Gang in Beijing Friday. Mahuta arrived in China on Wednesday for a four-day trip, the first by a New Zealand minister since 2019, and...

Utah governor signs laws curbing social media use for minors

(Reuters) – Utah Governor Spencer Cox on Thursday signed two laws intended to restrict social media use by minors, becoming the first U.S. state to require parental permission for anyone under 18 to use such platforms as Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. The two bills, passed earlier this month by Utah’s Republican-controlled legislature, are also meant...

Australia’s biggest state to vote in close-run election

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s most populous state will vote for a new government on Saturday with most opinion polls showing a close-run election with the opposition centre-left Labor party ahead of the ruling conservative coalition by a narrow margin. New South Wales (NSW), the home state of one-third of Australians, could face a hung parliament...

After twin cyclones leave thousands homeless, Vanuatu takes climate plea to world stage

(Reuters) – Vanuatu, still reeling from two cyclones that struck within a week, says it hopes the United Nations General Assembly will next week adopt its push for greater priority to be given to the human rights impact of climate change. The Pacific island nation’s Minister of Climate Change, Ralph Regenvanu, said 119 governments have...

New Zealand insurers receive NZ$890 million in claims after cyclone

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Insurance companies in New Zealand have received 40,000 claims worth around NZ$890 million ($560 million) for damage from a cyclone that hit the country last month, their industry association said on Thursday. Among the claims, 27,800 had been for home and contents damage worth an initial NZ$453 million, said the association, the...

UN welcomes move to repeal Media Act

Human rights, dignity and freedom of expression must be the cornerstone of any legislation drafted for the media industry in Fiji. This was highlighted by United Nations Human Rights legal adviser Releshni Karan during public consultations on the Media Industry Development Act (MIDA) in Suva yesterday. She also said the provisions on sedition in the...

‘If not now, when?’: Emotional Australian PM advances Indigenous referendum

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese fought back tears on Thursday as he revealed the question the government wants to ask in a referendum on whether to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the country’s constitution. “If not now, when?,” Albanese asked, choking up during a televised media conference, standing alongside several Indigenous...

China firm wins Solomon Islands port project as Australia watches on

SYDNEY (Reuters) -The Solomon Islands has awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to a Chinese state company to upgrade an international port in Honiara in a project funded by the Asian Development Bank, an official of the island nation said on Wednesday. The United States and its allies, including Australia, New Zealand and Japan, have held concerns...

China, Australia defence officials hold first formal meeting since 2019

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese defence officials met their Australian counterparts in Canberra on Wednesday, China’s Ministry of National Defense said, in their first formal meeting since 2019. The talks were helpful in developing a stable relationship between their militaries, the Chinese defence ministry said, and further enhanced mutual understanding. Australia’s defence department confirmed the meeting,...

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