Son of Jacques Lafleur eyes political career, penalties for funeral homes, new airline for Northern Marianas, and American Samoa looks to buy land in Hawaii
Pascal Lafleur eyes political career
The son of New Caledonia's erstwhile anti-independence leader Jacques Lafleur has launched a last-minute candidacy as an independent in next month's election of the French National Assembly.
Pascal Lafleur, who is a businessman, said nobody in leadership is taking New Caledonia to where he wants it to be, and therefore he has decided to step up.
Seventeen candidates are contesting the territory's two seats in Paris - one of which Jacques Lafleur held for more than 29 years until 2007.
Pascal Lafleur said he wants to continue on the path chosen in the 1980s by his father and by the FLNKS leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou, whose handshake restored calm and led to the 1988 Matignon Accords.
He said this perspective has been lost and there is no unity in New Caledonia.
Lafleur said he is against anyone being excluded as there is room for everybody.
Now, he said, there are too many voices defending different things and what unites them is either independence or the wish to stay French.
Funeral homes fined for abusing monopoly positions
Two funeral homes in New Caledonia have been fined for abusing their near monopoly positions at two different hospitals.
The competition watchdog found that the company PFC used its link to the mortuary of the main hospital to get the families of the deceased to use its services and billed them for unwanted services.
Photo: 123RF
It considered the conduct as serious because it affected vulnerable families who could ill afford the costs.
PFC was fined $US30,000.
Another company, AZ Deces, was fined $US 4,400 for colluding with PFC, which in turn was ordered to pay a further $US50,000 for anti-competitive activity.
New airline for Northern Marianas
A new inter-island carrier is being launched in the Northern Marianas.
The new flight is a joint venture between MP Enterprises and Southern Airways Express.
MP Enterprises president Keith Stewart says they're planning for seven aircraft over the next three years to meet growing demand.
Services will begin from July and the company will announce the airline name, schedules, fares, and open ticket sales in the coming weeks once U.S. Department of Transportation's approval of the local trade name has been received.
Stewart said the initial offering of the still-unnamed airline will include over 90 weekly flights serving Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and Guam.
American Samoa government looking at land in Hawaii
The American Samoa Government is looking to buy 65 acres of land in Kunia, Hawaii.
The land, north-west of Honolulu, is intended to bring in revenue, be a base for people unable to return home due to covid or other reasons, and for American Samoan students to stay while studying in Hawaii.
Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga says the land purchase has not been finalised and they're in the due diligence phase.
Last year during his trip to Hawaii he met twice with the landowner of the land, a Vietnamese man.
The owner is proposing to sell 65 acres of land which is currently zoned for farming.
Lemanu said, most don't have families in Hawaii to stay with so perhaps the government could build accommodations to house them. He also pointed to the medical referrals, many of whom are elderly citizens, who don't have relatives in Hawaii and cannot afford the cost of accommodations while seeking treatment.
"We were also thinking of our young people attending college in Honolulu, this would be a place for them to stay rather than live with relatives while going to school," he said.
Renewable energy commitment
A broad commitment has been made in New Caledonia to increase the share of renewable energy from 20 to 70 percent by the end of the decade.
New Caledonia is among the top per capita carbon emitters because of the nickel industry, which accounts for almost all its exports.
The accord was signed by representatives of the government, the Southern Province, the power company Enercal as well as the two nickel producers, SLN and Prony Resources.
The signatories described the accord as historic as it will help reduce emissions and increase the nickel sector's competitiveness.
The plan is to boost the production of solar energy, set up pumped energy stations with high-capacity batteries and use gas to stabilise the system for assured electricity supply.
'Middle road' party in New Caledonia reconfirms Tukumuli as leader
The leader of New Caledonia's Pacific Awakening Party Milakulo Tukumuli has been confirmed in his position at its first Congress since its foundation three years ago.
The party, which represents local Wallisians and Futunians in New Caledonia, won three seats in the 2019 provincial election to hold the balance of power between the pro-and anti-independence parties in Congress.
Mr Tukumuli is urging a consensus by moving away from the perspective of either for or against independence, adding that consensus is to be found in the middle.
He said his party isn't standing candidates in next month's French National Assembly election, saying there should be one pro- and one anti-independence member to reflect the situation.
After last year's rejection of independence in the third referendum under the Noumea Accord, the party has been advocating for the creation of a New Caledonian state with its sovereignty shared with France.
Life expectancy rates fall in French Polynesia
Figures released in French Polynesia show the size of the population remained largely unchanged last year, growing by 250 to just under 280,000.
Continuing a decades-long decline in the birth rate, just under 3,500 babies were born while the death rate jumped because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
With more than 2,000 deaths, the life expectancy for women fell by three years to 76, which is nine years lower than in France.
Men's life expectancy dropped slightly less and is now 72.
Outward migration last year meant French Polynesia lost 1'000 people.
The statistics show the population continues to age, with 3.3 percent of it now over 75.
By comparison, almost 10 percent of France's population is over 75.
Final touches to Pacific Mini Games
With just over three weeks to go before the opening of the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022, the Commonwealth is rushing to complete the competition sites for the quadrennial event's nine sports.
The Mini Games Organising Committee CEO, Vicente Babauta Quite, says everything will be set by June 1st and then the container offices, a tent for the medical care and a broadcasting unit will be installed.
Babauta said the track is completed, the hammer cage foundation is done and they're waiting to install the cage this week and complete the track and field.