New Caledonia

The French Senate has debated the planned change of electoral law for New Caledonia and will vote on it next week.

New Caledonian civil defence authorities have issued a first warning in preparation for Cyclone Gita.

Officials from Vanuatu and France are meeting on neutral ground in Sydney this week for negotiations on their dispute over the ownership of the Matthew and Hunter islands.

Fiji's Meteorological Service says Cyclone Gita is likely to pass very close to New Caledonia tomorrow afternoon bringing gale force winds.

Leaders of Melanesian Spearhead Group countries have referred a West Papuan application for full membership in the group to its secretariat for processing.

A community leader on the Fiji island of Ono-i-lau says the damaging winds from yesterday's cyclone Gita were the most frightening and dangerous on living memory on the island.

Vanuatu's Erakor Golden Star and host club AS Dragon have made winning starts to their OFC Champions League football campaigns in Tahiti.

The French Senate is today due to discuss the planned change of electoral law for New Caledonia.

A New Caledonian Kanak pro-independence group is still undecided if it will tell its supporters to vote in the independence referendum later this year.

A former French prime minister Manuel Valls has been appointed as the French National Assembly's Law Commission rapporteur for the planned change of the electoral law for New Caledonia.

A weekend Congress of New Caledonia's pro-independence FLNKS movement has failed to elect a nominal president as the territory gears up for this year's independence referendum.

A New Caledonia airline hopes its first charter flight between the Chinese city of Hangzhou and Noumea will be the start of a regular service.

The authorities in New Caledonia's northern province are alarmed at the vandalism directed towards health professionals and pharmacies.

New Caledonia's pro-independence FLNKS movement says it wants to close its ranks at the weekend Congress preparing the independence referendum later this year.

The French overseas minister Annick Girardin has called for a political dialogue in New Caledonia to make this year's independence referendum a success.

The Fiji Meteorological Service says Tropical Cyclone Fehi is expected to dissipate over the next 24 hours and eventually die out.

The first tropical cyclone for this season Fehi is a slow moving one, located to the northwest of New Caledonia.