PM Fiamē gives best wishes to Manu Samoa
Samoa Prime Minister, Fiamē Naomi Mata'afa and Education Minister, Seuula Ioane Tuaau joined the Manu Samoa team on Monday in a service (faigalotu) at the Tanoa Tusitala Hotel.
The Manu Samoa Rugby World Cup (RWC) squad will be travelling out of Samoa for the RWC in France.
In the lead-up to the RWC in France in September, they will play Japan...
1.5°C limit still possible: UN SG
The UN chief António Guterres says limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5°C is still attainable, but requires a 45 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.
Addressing world leaders on Monday at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Summit in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Guterres said his proposal for a climate solidarity pact urges major emitters to intensify emissions cuts and...
Global shipping poised to get new emissions-fighting strategy
A new strategy is expected to set global shipping on an ambitious path towards phasing out greenhouse gas emissions, top UN officials said at the opening of the latest session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) in London on Monday.
“Humanity is in dangerous waters on climate,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a video message at the start...
‘We depend on our beautiful reefs’: Fukushima water release plan sparks concern across Pacific
Every day fisher Charlie Maleb takes his string lines and his nets out from Wala Island, Vanuatu, into the Pacific Ocean.
The 54-year-old drops his net around 5am and waits an hour before pulling it out, hoping to catch sardines, poulet and mangrove fish. Later in the day Maleb drops a line attached to a traditional fishing rod, fashioned out...
UN rights chief: ‘Don’t leave the climate crisis for our children to fix’
Global heating is a burning human rights issue, as extreme weather and climate disasters threaten humanity’s universal right to food, UN rights chief Volker Türk said on Monday.
“We must not leave this for our children to fix – no matter how inspiring their activism,” he told the Human Rights Council, advocating for a “just transition” to a green economy.
“I...
Japan’s nuclear contaminated water discharge plan poses unacceptable risks: Observer
Japan's plan to discharge nuclear contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the ocean poses unacceptable risks, according to an observer from the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA).
The release of contaminated water will severely impact various parts of the Pacific, including countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which depend on fisheries, both for...
PNG MP Kessy Sawang appointed Labour Minister
Raicoast MP Kessy Sawang has been appointed as the Papua New Guinea labour and employment minister.
Sawang was sworn in Monday at the Government House in Konedobu.
Prime Minister James Marape congratulated her and said she would bring in a wealth of experience from her time serving in the public service and would help clean up the ministry and address outstanding...
Jakarta ready to buy NZ pilot freedom
Indonesia is prepared to pay a ransom of 5bn rupiah (US$332,000) to a Papuan separatist group to secure the release of New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens, but talks have stalled five months after his kidnapping.
With Indonesia President Joko Widodo arriving in Australia on Monday night, Papua Police spokesman Ignatius Benny Ady Prabowo said the ransom was one of several...
You can’t mine the seabed without proper rules
Mining the seabed without proper regulations seems outlandish. But it could happen sooner than we think.
10 July, 2023 is shaping as D-Day for the world’s oceans.
That is the day after a two-year deadline placed on the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to finalise mining regulations in seabed areas beyond national jurisdiction is set to expire.
The possibility of mining the seabed...
Treaty to Protect High Seas too late to stop mining
By Mohd Hazmi Mohd Rusli, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia
When the International Seabed Authority begins accepting applications for deep sea mining operations in the coming weeks, there will remain a lingering question.
How much control will authorities have over operations to ensure environmental protection of marine habitats far from coastlines, or will it turn into a wild high seas free-for-all?
The...