Page 7 - IB April 2023

Briefs Briefs

The new data further said Taiwan represents 38% of arrivals,
followed by the United States and Canada with 36%. In 2022,
Marshall Islands Palau received 12,328 visitors as borders reopened. The
Marshall Islands is making use of a ‘maritime domain number was far below the 93,723 visitors from the pre-COVID
awareness platform’ developed by a New Zealand company year 2019. Direct flights between Singapore and Palau are
to identify suspected illegal fishing activity in the western expected to boost the territory’s tourism sector this summer.
Pacific. Information obtained by Marshall Islands Marine
Resources Authority fisheries surveillance officers via the
platform has already led to Thailand banning a tuna carrier Papua New Guinea
vessel from unloading its $US7 million cargo last month, based Barrick Gold Corp is set to restart operations at one of
on concerns over alleged illegal fishing activity in Kiribati. its biggest gold mines after inking a deal with Papua New
Guinea’s government over its shuttered mine. The world’s
second-largest gold producer signed an agreement with
the government and its PNG partners to resume operations
Nauru at Porgera mine, which had been suspended since 2020.
Nauru’s judiciary department has launched its first-ever All parties are committed to reopening at “the earliest
website. Registrar of Courts, Ronald Prakash says the website opportunity,” Barrick said in a statement without disclosing
is designed in a way that viewers can navigate through the an exact date. The mine is expected to produce an average of
complex court system with ease. “With a click of a button, 700,000 ounces a year, the Toronto-based company said.
you can access case information, download necessary forms,
and get direct access to legislation,” said Prakash. Acting
President Gababu said the use of technology can help to
reduce the time and cost involved in the legal process. Samoa
Samoa is slowly recovering from the effects of the COVID-19
pandemic lockdowns, according to the latest Samoa Bureau
of Statistics data. This quarter generated a positive growth
New Caledonia in expenditure recovering from two consecutive quarters of
A room at France’s National Assembly has been named after negative growth. The total sum of expenditure components at
the two New Caledonian leaders who ended years of unrest. constant prices stood at US$1.95 billion for the calendar year
In 1988, Jean-Marie Tjibaou of the pro-independence FLNKS, under review.
and the head of the anti-independence RPCR Jaques Lafleur,
shook hands in Paris and ushered in a peace process which has
endured. The president of the National Assembly and former Solomon Islands
overseas minister Yael Braun-Pivet said by going against their Broadcasting rights for the upcoming Pacific Games in
camps to forge peace, the two are heroes. However the Solomon Islands will focus on member countries rather than
naming event wasn’t attended by any of the FLNKS members an individual company. Pacific Games Council Chief Executive
who were in Paris at the invitation of the French government.
Officer, Andrew Minogue says the Pacific Games Organising
Committee would produce the programmes and have the
selected broadcasters share that in their respective countries.
Niue While the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corp will be the local
Six members of the last 17th Niue Legislative Assembly will broadcaster of the Games, the Pacific Games Council hopes
not be seeking re-election, in what was a hard decision for that the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Channel
some. Others have decided not to return for health reasons. will assist in boosting the reach worldwide, through their
The six members who will not be returning into parliament online platform.
include first termer Minister Hon. Sauni Tongatule, long-
serving Alofi North MP Hon. Va’aiga Tukuitoga, Lakepa MP John
Tiakia, long-serving MP for Liku Hon. Pokotoa Sipeli, longest Tonga
serving member for Namukulu Hon. Jack Willie Lipitoa, and The eruption of a submarine volcano in Tonga more powerful
former Common Roll Members Stanley Kalauni and Richard than the largest U.S. nuclear explosion, according to a new
Hipa. The general election is scheduled for April 29. study. A 15-megaton volcanic explosion from Hunga-Tonga
Hunga-Ha’apai generated a mega-tsunami with waves up
to 85 meters high one minute after the explosion. A new
simulation in the study led by scientists at the University of
Palau Miami and the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation
The Palau Visitors’ Authority has confirmed arrivals increased also suggests that the eruption location relative to urban
more than 300% in February 2023, compared to the same centers saved Tonga from a worse outcome.
month a year earlier. The authority recorded 2415 visitors in
February this year, compared to 518 arrivals in February 2022.

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