Tongan schools set to restart, Cooks containing covid and disabled get payouts in Samoa
Schools in Tonga will soon resume for secondary students as curfews ease off.
The Tongan government has approved the return of face-to-face education for all students in forms 1 to 7 from Monday.
The curfew has also eased from midnight to 5am as Covid-19 cases in the Kingdom continue to drop.
Tongan high school students attend a three day youth camp aimed at curbing inter-school fighting. Photo: Fakaola 'Eku Kalofiama initiative
Minister of Health Saia Piukala says positive cases over the past three weeks were less than 100 per day.
Students from forms 2, 5, 6 and 7 got the green light to return to school two weeks ago.
Only students in kindergarten and primary schools up to class 6 will remain at home and continue with home schooling programmes implemented by the Ministry of Education.
Spread of covid in the Cooks limited
Covid cases in the Cook Islands seem to be slowing down despite the opening of the borders to international tourists.
There are now 104 active cases of Covid-19 in the Cook Islands.
The majority of cases are still in Rarotonga, three in Aitutaki and 32 in Atiu.
5,375 people have recovered.
Samoan benefit payout
The Samoan government has started paying a monthly benefit for people who have registered with disabilities.
This is part of a $US1.1million grant scheme promised during election campaigns for the 2021 General Elections.
The Samoa Observer reports that more than 900 people have been approved by Cabinet to receive the new benefit.
The Nuanua ole Alofa organisation has confirmed that close to 500 registered members received the subsidy earlier this month on Mother's Day holiday.
Minister of Finance Mulipola Anarosa Ale-Molio'o is encouraging people to seek help from the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development which runs the scheme.
Two covid cases on American Samoa island
The Department of Health in American Samoa has confirmed two positive cases of Covid 19 in the Manua island of Ofu.
The two workers on the Ofu Airport project have been isolated, according to the acting Clinical Director of Health Elizabeth Lauvao.
She said other workers who were exposed have been tested and while they tested negative are being quarantined.
Work on the airport has been suspended.
The company said the workers who tested positive have been in Ofu for at least four weeks.
Plea to Fijians overseas to vote
The leader of Fiji's opposition SODELPA Party, Bill Gavoka, is calling on people living overseas to complete their voter registration.
He said the party is urging families, relatives and friends overseas, particularly in Australia and New Zealand, to take advantage of the efforts by the Fijian Elections Office to register voters.
Gavoka said the party's overseas voters need to be proactive and ensure they're counted.
IFC to provide advisory services to PNG stock exchange
The International Finance Coropration (IFC) is to work with PNGX Markets Ltd, the national stock exchange of Papua New Guinea, to deepen the nation's capital market and boost access to long-term financing for companies in PNG.
IFC, which is part of the World Bank group, will provide additional advisory services to the stock exchange, including reviewing its listing rules and other technical elements related to the issuance of corporate bonds.
The PNGX's chairman David Lawrence says it is pleased to have this global expertise to help develop PNG's capital market.
He said it is creating the potential for PNG investors and debt issuers to have a well-regulated, efficient and transparent corporate bond market, laying the ground for more investment and
