Vanuatu

Carlo in his report to the Pacific Games Council (PGC) Annual General Meeting in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea yesterday said swimming one of the major attractions at any Pacific or Oceania meet is not on the programme.

“We had discussions with the Pacific Games Council executives on deleting swimming, there’s also a big question mark on  weightlifting because you know the small countries would like to have weightlifting because its their medal winning event.”

The project manager of UN Women's Markets for Change initiative in Vanuatu says the association's registration is quite an achievement for the women given the difficulty of their circumstances after Cyclone Pam.

Kilman only came to power earlier this month after bringing a successful vote of no confidence against Jo Natuman's government.

But Natuman's group has contested the legality of that and is seeking to overturn it on the grounds that most of Kilman's supporters are facing charges of bribery.

He also claims the dumping of his government has interfered with the recovery from Cyclone Pam.

The Supreme Court this week declared a decision by the newly-appointed speaker of parliament, Marcellino Pipite, to rule out the opposition's motion of no confidence against the new prime minister Sato Kilman, and ordered parliament to reconvene on Tuesday to hear it.
 

The affected population has received aid through a mixture of distribution, emergency training and service provision across six sectors: Health, Shelter, Education, Food Security and Livelihood, WASH, Child Protection.

With shelter, food and hygiene the most pressing needs in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, Save the Children worked in partnership with the World Food Programme and the National Disaster Management Office to effect food distributions to the entire populations of Epi, Tongoa, the Shepherd Islands and the outer islands of Efate – almost 23,000 people.

Air Niugini General Manager Marketing Dominic Kaumu told PNG Loop that Vanuatu needed business minded people from PNG to invest in that country.

 He said the first commercial flight by Air Niugini yesterday opened the doors to businesses to invest in Vanuatu.

"There is a lot of investment opportunities in Vanuatu.”

“Business houses in PNG and especially Small and Medium Term Enterprises must start venturing into Vanuatu and grow their business," Kaumu said.

It's the first commercial flight. General manager Dominic Kaumu says the flight is a way to help the Melanesian Spearhead Group countries in the Pacific.

He said the flight will also help the people of Vanuatu and Solomon Island during the upcoming Pacific Games in Port Moresby.

 Onboard the flight include Air Niugini executive officers, National Airport Corporation staff, journalists and other passengers.

From Radio New Zealand

The secretary general of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua says he is confident in Vanuatu's support, despite the change in government.

Vanuatu got a new government 12 days ago after a vote of no confidence.

The ULMWP's Octo Mote is in Port Vila ahead of this week's Melanesian Spearhead Group summit in neighbouring Solomon Islands, where the West Papuan group will be pushing for full membership of the MSG.

 From Vanuatu Daily Post/PACNEWS

That case has been delayed until Wednesday afternoon.

The Vanuatu opposition had challenged the decision by the newly appointed Speaker of Parliament Marcellino Pipite to dismiss the application against the Sato Kilman led government.

Meanwhile the trial of 19 MPs who allegedly received money from the then opposition leader, Moana Carcasses, in exchange for their support to effect a change of government is also underway.

Mr Carcasses has previously admitted giving the money to the MPs but insists they were personal loans, not bribes.