EU

The government is set to sign a deal with the EU that would allow Spanish vessels to fish in its exclusive economic zone for at least eight years.

About 4,000 people have signed a petition against the move.

The opposition's finance and economy spokesman, James Beer, has written to Sweden's minister for International Development Cooperation, Isabella Lovin, to lobby the EU.

Ms Lovin is a former member of the EU parliament and experienced in fisheries.

The funds will immediately be made available from EU-SPC projects for communities and businesses in the most severely affected regions of Fiji.

The new alliance has agreed a common position on some of the most divisive aspects of the proposed deal.

However, the EU climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete says talks are still ongoing on how to accommodate a 1.5 degrees warming limit within the agreement.

A short-stay visa waiver agreement between Tonga and the EU was signed this week allowing visa-free travel for EU citizens when travelling to Tonga.

Tongans travelling to the EU (Schengen area) will also not need visas.

The Agreement applies on a provisional basis as of 21 November 2015.

An EU statement said the agreement would encourage people-to-people contacts, boost tourism, and invigorate business.

Home Secretary Theresa May, the U.K.'s interior minister, told an audience at the Conservative Party conference that Britain should tighten control of its borders, admitting vulnerable refugees but keeping out those who simply want a better life.

She said other European countries should also toughen up their border controls, arguing that in the last few years more people had applied for asylum in the EU from Balkan countries — which have not seen war for years — than from war-torn Syria.

Top EU climate official Miguel Arias Canete called Thursday on Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey to submit goals to the United Nations.

He said it is important "to assess the level of ambition globally and to see whether we are on target" to keep the average global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees F) compared with pre-industrial times.