Congress in session on Tuesday 26 November 2024. Photo: LNC
Special funds to cover unpaid electricity bills
New Caledonia's Congress has approved a new emergency assistance package designed to assist people who can no longer afford to pay their electricity bills.
The package, approved on Tuesday, is aimed at those who lost their jobs mostly as a result of the May riots, with nearly 10,000 people eligible.
The funds come from the European Union's "energy transition" scheme, which has been redirected to those affected in New Caledonia.
Each eligible beneficiary, recognised as being jobless as a result of the unrest, will receive a sum not exceeding US$175 for outstanding unpaid bills, as well as US$43 per month for up to four months.
The total EU envelope amounts to €1.75 million and will be disbursed directly to New Caledonia's energy provider, ENERCAL.
New Caledonia’s NGO “SOS Violences” President Anne-Marie Mestre. Photo: NC la 1ère
Violence against women has increased due to the post-riots crisis - NGO
Figures for violence against women figures in New Caledonia have increased due to the post-riots crisis, according to local NGO "SOS Violences" President Anne-Marie Mestre.
Mestre told local media last week that the recent upsurge was mainly due to the riots that broke out on 13 May, which resulted in a rising number of jobless people due to the destruction by arson and looting of over 600 businesses and the associated jobs.
She stressed that all ethnic communities in New Caledonia were affected by domestic violence and that the trend was there even before the riots-triggered crisis.
New Caledonia's domestic violence statistics are 2.5 times higher than in mainland France.
In 2023, 3012 cases were reported in the French Pacific territory, a staggering increase of some 91 percent compared to 2019, the French Auditor General's office reported in its latest survey published in April 2024.
New Caledonia's curfew extended until 2 December, less stringent on alcohol
New Caledonia's curfew remains in place until 2 December, according to the latest advisory from the French High commission.
The restrictions still include the curfew per se from midnight to 5am, and most notably the ban on transportation, possession and sale of firearms and ammunition.
Public meetings remain banned in the Greater Nouméa Area and will be maintained until 20 December, when the ban will be re-assessed with a possible relaxation just before Christmas.
Although opening hours for the sale of alcohol have now returned to normal, the authorised quantity per person per day remains under control: up to four litres of beer (under 10% alcohol) or two litres of wine (10 to 22%) or one litre of spirits (above 22%).
A group of young New Caledonians hosted to a government ceremony before flying to New Zealand as part of regional labour mobility scheme. Photo: Gouvernement de la Nouvelle-Calédonie
30 New Caledonian youth in New Zealand join regional mobility programme
Thirty young New Caledonians aged between 21 and 30 have arrived in New Zealand this week as part of an ongoing regional mobility scheme.
The programme, funded by New Caledonia's government, is based on a one-year working holiday visa and the notions of "regional integration" and "Pacific cultural insertion".
The programme's official aim is to foster increased exchanges between New Caledonia and its regional neighbours.
Since it was launched in 2022, it has allowed young professionals from New Caledonia to practice English and gain a first international employment experience.
This year, 30 of them are once again travelling to New Zealand's South Island in Cromwell (Otago region), on a cherry producing farm. They were selected from 117 applicants.
"For New Zealand, it is very important to develop more links with New Caledonia's people", Nouméa-based New Zealand deputy Consul General Lauren Anderson-Lister told local media earlier this week.
New Caledonia's Congress President Veylma Falaéo is also this week in New Zealand to develop more links between Nouméa and Wellington.
And back in Paris, on Tuesday, New Zealand's Foreign Affairs minister Winston Peters, in a public address while on an official travel to Paris, said "New Caledonia is New Zealand's closest neighbour. What happens there matters to New Zealand. They (...) are part of our Pacific family. So, we have fraternal bonds with New Caledonia. As we do with France."
In Paris, Peters met his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot and other ministers, including François-Noël Buffet (minister for Overseas).
Fiji Military (RFMF) platoon undergoes comprehensive training exercise with French Armed Forces in New Caledonia (FANC). Photo: Forces Armées en Nouvelle-Calédonie
Fiji forces train in New Caledonia
A platoon of 27 soldiers from the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) have just returned from one week of joint exercises in New Caledonia.
Hosted by the French Armed Forces in New Caledonia (FANC), the Fijian platoon was engaged in realistic joint operations to enhance "interoperability and regional security", the FANC said in a release.
The drills included close combat and jungle warfare land exercises, jungle warfare drills, as well as nautical commando procedures.
One of the scenarios involved "seizing strategic military targets" to simulate real-life "operational environments" to "secure military objectives" near Nouméa.
The Fijian platoon also worked on joint humanitarian operations, including Search-And-Rescue (SAR) procedures and disaster response readiness.
French Polynesia’s Manu ornithological society gets EU aid to prevent extinction of the most threatened species. Photo: Radio 1
French Polynesia's birdlife gets EU boost to stop extinction
French Polynesia's "Manu" ornithological society has received a significant boost from the European Union to prevent the extinction of several endangered birdlife species.
The EU aid, to the tune of some US$8.85 million over six years, is dedicated to the protection of five of the most endangered species.
This includes the Fatu Hiva Monarch, of which only 19 specimens are believed to be still alive.
The funds come from EU's "Life" and Manu's birdlife Stop Extinction scheme will therefore be re-named "Life Stop Extinction".
It will focus on French Polynesia's islands groups of Austral Islands, Marquesas, and the Tuamotu.
The most common threats to these endangered bird species range from rats to mosquito-borne avian malaria.
Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A330 with Moana livery welcomed at Tahiti-Faa'a airport on 26 November 2024. Photo: Rare Tahitian Air-Port view
Moana 2-livered Hawaiian Airlines' Airbus makes big impression
Hawaiian Airlines' A330 Airbus had made a big impression at the weekend on Tahiti-Faa'a international airport tarmac as it landed with its new livery dedicated to Polynesian animated movie "Moana 2".
The plane's fuselage has been painted with a portrait of Moana with, in a direct reference to the movie characters' navigating spirit, the mention "Welcome, voyagers".
The Pixar movie is also highly popular in French Polynesia, even though it has been renamed "Vaiana" in its French version.
It bears several direct visual references to Tahitian culture, as well as many other countries from the "Polynesian triangle" (including Fiji, New Zealand and Samoa) where the pottery-making Lapita people have travelled on large sailing outrigger canoes.
In New Zealand, the movie was released this week in Te Reo Maori the same day as its global English version.
Pacific Games Council President Vidhya Lakhan, right ,in Papeete with French Polynesian Organising Committee Louis Provost. Photo: Radio 1
Pacific Games Council chair in Tahiti
Pacific Games Council Chair Vidhya Lakhan is in Tahiti this week as part of a mission to check on preparedness progress for the Tahiti-hosted 2027 Games.
The high point on his mission will be to take part in the Game's newly-created Strategic Committee, which also includes French Polynesia's government, its organising committee, Youth and Sports ministry, and the French State.
Lakhan told local Radio 1 his main role will be to "assist and support" the local organising committee.
"When there are issues, we're ready to provide advice", he assured.
Works to build new sports infrastructure will get underway next year and in 2026, organising committee President Louis Provost said.