New Caledonia's Congress in budget emergency sitting Photo: DR
New Caledonia Congress MP wants young people to heed call for calm
New Caledonia's pro-France politician Philippe Blaise on Tuesday appealed to fellow local Congress MPs to use all ways and means to convince rioters to stop burning and looting, as the insurrectional crisis has entered its third month and is still unresolved.
New Caledonia's Congress was meeting in urgency to vote yet another US$300-million supplementary budget to brace for the huge damage of the crisis to the economy for an estimated US$2.4 billion.
"All good-willing political, moral, spiritual forces must tell the youths to stop because they are destroying the very country which they believe they are fighting for.
So it's an appeal to reason... And then I also wanted to say that those who are responsible for this situation, the real ones, must stop eluding their responsibilities by saying that others have done it, but not them", Blaise told local media after a Congress meeting on Tuesday.
New Caledonia's curfew conditions eased
Gendarme officers in Noumea Photo: AFP / Theo Rouby
New Caledonia's curfew conditions which have remained in place since riots erupted in New Caledonia mid-May will be slightly eased starting from Monday next week.
The dusk-to-dawn curfew, which was from 6pm to 6 am initially, then 8pm to 6am, will now be enforced from 9pm to 5am, French High Commissioner Louis le Franc said in a release on Friday.
The ban on the sale, possession and transportation of firearms, ammunition and alcohol remains in place, Le Franc said, adding New Caledonia's "securisation" was ongoing, as part as a "gradual return to normal life".
He however admitted "several malicious acts" had been committed, including during the previous night, he said on Friday.
He was mainly referring to the destruction by fire of yet another Catholic mission in the Isle of Pines (off Nouméa).
French Polynesia's President attends PALM
French Polynesia's President Moetai Brotherson held several side meetings while in Japan at PALM Photo: Présidence de la Polynésie française
French Polynesia's President Moetai Brotherson has held a series of side meetings in Tokyo, on the margins of the triennial Japan-Pacific summit or PALM.
Some of these meetings were aiming at establishing links with companies and institutions, including in the tuna aquaculture, but also in the movie animation industry.
Brotherson said he would try to establish a deal with the University of Kindai which is world-recognized in aquaculture
"It's the only university in the world that controls the complete tuna cycle, from hatchery to harvest", he told Tahiti Nui television.
He was also targeting, while in Japan, the Kyoto University Of Arts and Design.
"It trained most of the people who work in such prestigious studios as Studio Ghibli (...) So it would be interesting for us, in future, to send our young people for training", he said.
Olympics: Surfing event in Tahiti looks for the right security balance
French Polynesia's High Commissioner Eric Spitz Photo: Polynsie la 1 re
As Tahiti is preparing to host the PARIS 2024 Olympics surfing events on the iconic site of Teahupoo later this month, French Polynesia's High Commissioner Eric Spitz said he is trying to strike the right balance in order not to impose too much security on the public.
However, he told local media some risks, such as cybercrime or threats by drones, cannot be overlooked.
"I don't want the party to be spoiled by overly invasive security. Look, this is French Polynesia and compared to mainland France, the risks are significant. But I am thinking of two risks: the first is cyber risk. There is a commune here that was attacked recently. And then there is also the whole anti-drone fight system which is new and which we will experiment during these Olympic Games", he told Polynésie la 1ère.
The current set-up for the Paris 2024 Olympics surfing events in Tahiti includes the deployment of over 600 French terrestrial, maritime and air security forces.
FIFA World Cup 26: Oceania Preliminary Qualifying draw
Christian Karembeu and Dame Sarai Bareman OFC Preliminary Draw for the FIFA World Cup 26 FIFA Zurich headquarters on July 18, 2024. Photo: FIFA
New Caledonia's 1998 World Cup champion Christian Karembeu was one of the key participants on Thursday in Zürich (Switzerland) to officiate at the Oceania pools qualifying draw ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
For the first time, the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) will benefit from one guaranteed qualification slot at the 2026 World Cup, to be jointly organised by Canada, Mexico and the United States.
New Zealand, who have represented Oceania at the 1982 and 2010 FIFA World Cups, has been drawn in Group B alongside Tahiti, Vanuatu and the winner of round one, OFC said in a statement.
The Solomon Islands are the top-ranked team in Group A and will play Fiji, New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea.
Each country will play every opponent in the group once in matches staged in October and November with the top two teams from each group progressing to semi-final ties in March 2025.
The Group A winners will play the Group B runners-up and Group B winners will play the Group A runners-up.
The victors of those matches will then go head-to-head for the first-ever guaranteed ticket to a FIFA World Cup for an OFC nation.
The runner-up in that contest will progress to the FIFA Intercontinental Play-off Tournament and a chance to give Oceania a historic second FIFA World Cup representative in Canada, Mexico and the United States in 2026.
The host venues for match day three, four, five, six and seven and the match schedule will be announced later, OFC said.