Vanuatu

Mr Minogue said the trip was important with less than 6 months now to go before the Games to obtain a first-hand update on progress and to ensure that all Government support is in place.

The Pacific Games Authority confirmed that the remaining funds required by Van2017 will be forwarded to the Organizing Committee in accordance within an agreed to cash flow and under special considerations drafted by the State Law Office.

Preparations are progressing well to accommodate over 2400 athletes and officials coming from 24 countries in the region including New Zealand and Australia.

No budget was allocated specifically for Game Villages, so Van2017 will be using five schools as the games villages.

These schools are Lycee, INTV, Ecole D’Anabrou, Fresh Wota and Central School.

 Although there are five schools, Van2017 is looking at them as only 3 village sites because three schools are in close proximity.

Lycee, INTV and Ecole D’Naburu will be classed as only one village.

The quake was recorded at a depth of 175 km and was located about 115 km north of Vanuatu's Santo island just before 2 am New Zealand time, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

There was no immediate tsunami warning or any reports of damage or casualties.

RNZ reports he helped the island countries negotiate the deal and said it should bring significant benefits.

But Dr Kessie said a key is that New Zealand and Australia meet their commitments to allocate up to 20 per cent of their Pacific aid budgets to helping the island nations develop such things as the capacity to meet international bio-security requirements.

He said this would amount to $US300 million dollars annually being allocated.

This is the first workshop for regional executive-level police officers facilitated by the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) and funded by the Australian Federal Police (AFP). It builds on four previous training sessions funded by the AFP with frontline police officers from across the Pacific to improve policies and responses to cases of violence against women.

Members of the Malvatumauri, Vaturisu and Fat-Kor-Pau Council of Chiefs in partnership with representatives of the Vanuatu Government, Vanuatu Kaljorol Senta (cultural centre) and Van2017 assembled in a quaint yet significant ceremony in the newly opened Nakamal Blong ol Jif for the unveiling and blessing of the “Sagoa” (pronounced Sangoa), witnessed by Van2017 Sponsors, the media and members of the public on Wednesday April 19.

The cyclone caused flooding in Vanuatu's central islands yesterday and is now set to hit New Caledonia's main island.

The storm's centre is forecast to pass to the west of the Loyalty Islands, before making landfall on the east coast of the main island Grand Terre.

Cyclone Cook will be the first to directly hit New Caledonia since 2003.

A level-one alert is in force for New Caledonia's north and outer island, meaning properties and livestock should be secured.

After a team introduction, Champions Program coordinator, Wilfred Koran, made a presentation to the Heads of Schools and their Zone Curriculum Advisor on the content of the Champions Program and what the schools will expect if they are being visited by NASI.

During his presentation, Mr. Koran informed teachers that as part of the program and its legacy in schools, teaching materials on environment, custom & culture, health & sports will be produced to assist teachers with their available teaching resources.

Nine Pacific countries ran Operation Rai Balang 2017 which co-ordinated out of the Forum Fisheries Agency surveillance centre in Solomon Islands.

Operation Rai Balang 2017 covered 14.7 million square km and saw a total of 918 detections of fisheries vessels, 93 aircraft sightings, and 50 boardings 30 of them at sea.

Of the seven arrests five recorded in Vanuatu were long liners flagged to China with minor infringements.

In FSM, a purse seiner flagged to China allegedly had its vessel monitoring system turned off at the time of its inspection.

But the Solomon Islands champions admit they'll need to be at their very best to upset hosts and Group D leaders AS Tefana in Papeete.

The Honiara club was 4-2 winners against Fiji's Rewa in their first match but suffered a frustrating 2-1 defeat to Vanuatu side Erakor in midweek.

They need to beat Tefana by at least two goals to give themselves a chance of progressing to the next round and coach Juliano Schmeling said anything was possible.