Photo: 123RF
Samoa - power crisis
Samoa's government emergency centre has issued a form for gathering data on the energy crisis.
The form is intended to gather accurate information on damages to electrical appliances and equipment, disruptions to services, and loss of income resulting from the crisis.
It said the information collected will guide planning and coordination of support, subject to available resources and verified need.
Forms must be in by 25 April.
The historic signing of the Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Rarotonga, took place in Majuro during the observance of the Nuclear Victims Remembrance Day on the same day. 3 March 2025 Photo: Pacific Islands Forum
Marshall Islands - Rarotonga Treaty
The Marshall Islands has formally signed the Rarotonga Treaty.
The country's Minister for Natural Resources and Commerce Anthony Muller said the Marshall Islands is honored to join the original 13 Pacific nations as a signatory.
The Treaty was set up in August 1985 and its purpose is to prohibit the manufacturing, possession, stationing, and testing of nuclear explosive devices in the South Pacific.
Muller said although the Marshall Islands was not able to sign the Treaty at the time, they recognized the collective strength and power to seek peace, harmony, security and economic prosperity.
Papua New Guinea - apology
The Tukunjup tribe of Upper Mendi have given 70,000 kina (US$17,062.50), 19 pigs, and a cow as a gesture of peace and apology to the relatives of a police officer who died in January.
The National reported the vehicle Constable Noah Biape was travelling in was shot at as it was passing through Mendi.
His body was retrieved from the vehicle which went off the road.
The Koroba people accepted the gesture with both parties clarifying that it was not a compensation payment for Constable Biape's death.
Tukunjup representative Morgan Mendepo expressed sorrow to the family saying the presentation was an expression of remorse and respect.
Another occupant of the police vehicle, Harry Gorano, died a week later from injuries.
Vanuatu - food
Mataso Island residents in Vanuatu are calling for urgent assistance after their main gardening area was destroyed during December's massive earthquake.
Mataso Island Chiefs Council Chairman, Joshua Siviu, has told local media many families have been left without access to locally grown food.
He describes the aftermath of the quake as devastating, not because of damage to homes, but due to a massive landslide that buried their primary agricultural land.
Pacific Islands Forum - New Caledonia
The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Secretary General, Baron Waqa has met with the French Ambassador to the Pacific to discuss the Forum Troika mission to New Caledonia.
Pacific leaders traveled to Noumea at the request of the former President Loui Mapou last October for a three-day fact-finding mission on the French territory's political crisis.
Véronique Roger-Lacan has met Waqa to discuss a draft report on the visit.
The full report is expected to be presented to Pacific leaders at their next summit in Solomon Islands in September.
The pair also spoke about reforms on the status of PIF dialogue partners.
Vanuatu - tourism
International arrivals in Santo, the largest island in Vanuatu, are up more than 40 percent for February, compared to the same time last year.
Airports Vanuatu Limited's February report found overall passenger traffic is down for the whole of Vanuatu by 26 percent.
Local media reported the positive results for Santo have been attributed to travel from Solomon Islands through Solomon Airlines.
