Results for Pacific Islands

A new DNA study by scientists at the Australian National University has indicated that the first people to live in Tonga and Vanuatu originated directly from Taiwan and the Northern Philippines. The study Named “Genomic insights into the peopling of the Southwest Pacific” bases its findings from DNA tests conducted on ancient skeletal remains uncovered in Tonga and Vanuatu.

Stronger guidelines to assess the impact of development on the environment in the Pacific have just been released by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).

Ministers and parliamentarians from the Commonwealth, including Tonga, spoke at a panel on Migration in the Commonwealth: International Movement and Human Rights Challenges and Opportunities, at the United Nations General Assembly on 18 September in New York.

Some 22.5% of Tonga’s population - or over 23,200 people live below the national poverty line, according to the Asian Development Bank's latest statistics released yesterday. The high cost of living as well as lack of access to basic infrastructure, services and utilities and the lack of employment or opportunities to generate income make it difficult for people to meet their basic needs.

A contribution of more than USD$30m from the USA government to its “friends in the Pacific” was announced by US President Obama at the East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii on Thursday, 1 September.

The Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Hon. Henry Puna is the new Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific (USP) and was officially installed at a graduation ceremony on 26 August in Fiji.

The singers of the University of the South Pacific’s (USP) Pasifika Voices have been recorded for the soundtrack of the much anticipated Hollywood Disney Animation 'Moana', to be released in November this year.

A petition by civil societies from around the Pacific was sent to Pacific Trade Ministers today, 24 August, two days ahead of their Christchurch meeting, calling for them to not reach any conclusion on the PACER-Plus talks, until all texts have been released and there has been a fully funded independent and comprehensive impact assessment.

Five Tongan workers including a father and son have been killed in a horrific car crash near Tauranga in New Zealand last night. New Zealand Police said that at about 8:10pm on August 2 a northbound vehicle pulled out of a side road onto State Highway 2 near Katikai and was struck by a southbound logging truck and trailer. The victims have been named as Halani Fine, Koli Vaipulu, Sitiveni Vaipulu, Sione Teulaka, and Samuela Taukatelata.