Three Samoa police staff died in car crash; New Zealand Govt called on to fund diabetes funding devices; woman permitted to marry dead partner in French Polynesia; some Vanuatu farmers no longer reliant on imported seed; Pacific fisheries scientists meet to discuss weak hooks, to save whales, and other stories
Three Samoa police staff died in car crash
Three staff members from Samoa's Ministry of Police and Prisons have died in a road crash at Tiavi.
Deputy Police Commissioner Auapa'au Logoitino Filipo has confirmed the deaths.
He says the three dead were members of the assets division and another is in a critical condition.
An eyewitness told Radio Polynesia that the police truck was overturned several metres away from the main road.
Photo: RNZ Pacific / Autagavaia Tipi Autagavaia
New Zealand Govt called on to fund diabetes testing devices
Diabetes New Zealand is launching a social media campaign, calling on Government to fund monitoring devices for people with diabetes.
The campaign is aiming to get people with diabetes to flood social media with images of their daily struggles.
CEO Heather Verry says that expensive glucose monitors would significantly improve the quality of life for people with diabetes.
"This is like a visual undertanding for people as to what it means to have to test 10 times a day and how many strips they have to use. So it's just a visual way to say to Government and Pharmac, this is what it means to not have the technology," she said.
Over 250,000 Kiwis have diabetes with a high prevalence among Pasifika. More than half of Pasifika aged 65-74 years have diabetes.
Woman permitted to marry dead partner in French Polynesia.
A marriage has been made official in French Polynesia between a woman and her partner who died an hour before the wedding ceremony in 2020.
The posthumous marriage is the first in French Polynesia's history.
The couple had planned to get married after living together for 39 years, but the groom fell ill and died in hospital in Tahiti on the wedding day.
The couple's family appealed to the French president Emmanuel Macron, who by law can authorise the celebration of the marriage if one of the future spouses has died, after the completion of official formalities indicating unequivocal consent.
After 14 months of lobbying with the help of a local member of the French legislature, the family obtained the president's consent.
The marriage ceremony was held at the Town Hall of Faa'a.
Some Vanuatu farmers no longer reliant on imported seed
Thirteen farmers around the island of Malekula in Vanuatu are no longer using imported seeds.
The members of the Melekula Farmers Seed organisation have their own local vegetable and fruit seeds and they have met at Lakatoro to share and exchange ideas.
With traditional knowledge they have developed methods for preserving seeds including in bamboo and coconut shells as well as in plastic bags, bottles and containers.
Malekula Farmers Seeds is currently selling seeds around their island through Malampa Handicraft center at Lakatoro and there's demand from other islands too.
The farmers say with Vanuatu's borders closed and a Covid lockdown between Malekula and Port Vila, their island has its own seeds.
Pacific fisheries scientists meet to discuss weak hooks, to save whales
Scientists across the Pacific Region are meeting today to discuss proposed practices that would better preserve marine life.
The three day virtual conference is hosted by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council in Hawaii.
It will hear recommendations from Pacific scientists about marine preservation policies and discussions will weigh in on a proposed "Weak Hook" strategy that advocates longline fishing boats use weakers hooks to reduce accidental injuries and deaths on whales.
The Council's Protected Species Coordinator Asuka Ishizaki said an average of 10 whales die each year as a result of injuries caused by longline fishing hooks.
How to ease the tax burden in New Caledonia
The New Caledonian government wants to embark on broad consultations to reform the tax system as it struggles to balance the budget.
The minister overseeing taxation Gilbert Tyuienon warned last week that the finances were in big trouble, adding that there needs to be a timetable to address the problem.
Last month, the French government gave New Caledonia a further $US200 million after lending $US270 million in 2020 to cope with the pandemic.
The reforms plan to focus on the fight against tax fraud as well as the creation of a real estate capital gains tax and a royalty.
The head of the employers' organisation MEDEF Mimsy Daly said New Caledonia is living beyond its means, making it necessary to question its model and its short- and long-term financing.
Unions have asked for less pressure on consumers and instead for a fairer distribution of the tax burden.