Tonga - El Niño
Tonga is experiencing unusually cool weather, with the lowest temperature for the year recorded last Sunday, July 30.
Tonga Meteorological Services said a low of 9.3 degrees Celsius was recorded at the village of Lapaha on Tongatapu.
The met office have issued an El Niño alert for Tonga last month, meaning there is a 70 percent chance of El Niño happening before the end of the year.
It said nights are unusually cooler now, and the climate is leaning towards El Niño conditions.
Samoa - policy
Samoa's police commissioner Auapaau Logoitino Filipo says the country's No Drop policy will ensure that offenders in cases of domestic violence and abuse are made to answer for their actions.
Filipo told the Samoa Observer the policy was only applied to domestic violence cases where children and mothers are abused in their homes.
He said there were many cases of domestic violence that never end up going to court because the victim ends up withdrawing charges because of family and village pressure or other reasons, and this policy helps with that.
Pacific - agrifood
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and the European Union are launching a new project to create sustainable agrifood systems in Fiji, Samoa and Solomon Islands.
The three-year project has funding of nearly $US11 million and aims to improve the domestic agricultural production in those countries and the wider Pacific region.
The FAO said high food inflation disproportionately affects the vulnerable segments of the population, leading to increased consumption of unhealthy local and imported foods, and further impacting the health of individuals and the domestic agrifood system.
Papua New Guinea - dropouts
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape says the Flexible Open Distance Education programme has given a new lease of life to school dropouts across the country.
The Department of Education's 2022 annual report revealed a large boost in enrolment in 2022 with nearly 83-thousand students registering.
Marape, who launched the programme in 2020, said many students who had completed Grade 12 through the programme were continuing their education at universities and higher education institutions.
He also shed light on the expansion of of the programme, utilising existing secondary school resources and gaining advocacy at all levels.
Pacific - climate
The Greenpeace ship the Rainbow Warrior is in Fiji, rallying support for the Pacific push to the International Court of Justice.
The push to get an advisory opinion on climate harm to protect vulnerable nations - known as the I-C-J-A-O - was born in a university classroom in the Pacific.
In March, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously voted for a resolution calling on the International Court of Justice to establish the legal obligations of nations in addressing climate change.
From Suva, the Rainbow Warrior will travel to Kioa Island to join civil society leaders from across the Pacific as part of the Kioa Climate Emergency dialogue, then onwards to Rabi Island, before returning to Suva.
Traditional dancers welcomed Rainbow Warrior to Port Vila Vanuatu last week. Photo: Greenpeace / Island Roots
