Results for Pacific Islands

Legislation to introduce the death penalty for the most serious illicit drugs offences stirred vociferous debate in the Tongan parliament yesterday evening, 26 August 2021. Although a majority of members were unhappy with death penalty clauses, they proceeded to pass the bill without the changes they wanted being written. From the House by Pesi Fonua.

The cocaine haul seized in Vava’u has been weighed at just over 14 kilograms, with an estimated street value over $5 million pa’anga, Tonga Police said today. Twelve people have been charged in relation to the haul.

The Pacific faces huge challenges should the world warm by 1.5 degrees Celsius by the early 2030s, warns an Australian climate change expert after a UN scientific report was released yesterday.

Pacific Civil Society, including youth, has called on Vanuatu’s Prime Minister to raise a proposal on climate change at the upcoming virtual Pacific Island Forum Meeting, on August 6.

Olympics.com reporting: Fiji sealed an emotional second consecutive Olympic gold medal with a 27-12 win over World Cup champions New Zealand at Tokyo Stadium.

Fiji recorded 873 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths over a 24-hour period ending at 8:00am on July 12. The country’s Ministry of Health and Medical Services said with daily increases in cases, they were seeing increasing cases of severe COVID-19 and increasing deaths.

A five-year strategy to help 12 smallest Pacific Island countries, including Tonga, build resilience against economic shocks, deliver sustainable services, and promote inclusive and sustainable growth, was endorsed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Fiji has recorded 656 COVID-19 active cases currently in isolation as of 10 June, according to its Ministry of Health and Medical services.

New York Times reporting: Fiame Naomi Mata’afa walked toward Samoa’s beehive-shaped Parliament House on Monday morning intending to be sworn in as the first female prime minister in the Pacific Island nation’s 56-year history. What she and her fellow party members found instead were locked doors. The speaker of parliament had issued orders to keep them out. And so deepened a constitutional crisis that has convulsed this long-stable nation and thrown into doubt whether Mata’afa, whose party won the April 9 election, would actually take office.