Negative Covid-19 result for 10 yr old in Cook Islands
The 10 year old boy who tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving in Rarotonga has returned a negative result from his latest test.
The boy recorded two 'weak positive' results after arriving on a repatriation flight from New Zealand last Thursday.
Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Cook Islands Secretary of Health Bob Williams said the negative result is good news, and the mostly likely explanation is the boy has been exposed to Covid-19 in the past.
He said further tests will be sent to New Zealand to confirm it's an historic case.
All passengers and border personnel on duty when the flight came in - including airport and MIQ staff and drivers - have all come back negative.
More deadly violence in West Papua
At least one Indonesian soldier has been killed amid ongoing exchanges with West Papuan pro-independence fighters.
Indonesia's military forces used aerial fire on a village in Suru Suru of Yahukimo District in order to evacuate two soldiers reportedly shot by the West Papua Liberation Army.
Police say the soldiers were shot at while fetching water from a reservoir.
Yahukimo is one of seven regencies where Indonesian military and police forces have been squaring off against the Liberation Army's guerilla fighters in the past two years.
It has caused displacement of tens of thousands of Papuans from their rural villages into bush areas or neighbouring districts.
More new positive Covid-19 cases in the CNMI as schools return to online learning
The Nothern Marianas recent surge of Covid-19 cases is showing no signs of abating as 78 individuals tested positive for coronavirus last Friday.
This brings the islands total 1,182 cases since March 28, 2020.
The continued rise in cases has forced the hand of the Public School System to ditch in-person classes and return to an online platform.
The return to online learning will be for 14 days starting on December 5 and ending December 23, just in time for the Christmas break.
The Northern Marianas College has opted for a more relaxed approach, as its facilities will remain open with continued flexibility for teleworking and online learning.
The Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation (CHCC) said of the 78 cases identified on December 3, 2021, 52 were identified via community testing and 26 via contact tracing.
Over the weekend, the CNMI recorded its fifth Covid-19 related death as the CHCC and the Governor's Covid-19 Task Force continue to encourage everyone to get vaccinated and take booster shots.
Videos for anti-independence camp in New Caledonia called 'racist'
A group of citizens in New Caledonia has called on France's highest court to order the immediate withdrawal of what it calls a racist videos by the official anti-independence camp.
They say they are astounded that the Audivisual Council approved such campaign material for Sunday's referendum as it dishonours and humiliates Pacific people.
They say these clips imply a racial hierarchy which damages coexistence and the construction of a New Caledonian people.
They also appeal to mainly young people to watch out for racism shrouded in condescending humour at a time when an important vote is imminent.
Another rally in New Caledonia aganist new mandatory vax law before Congress
There has been another large rally in New Caledonia against the law making vaccinations against Covid-19 mandatory as Congress is still considering amending it.
The crowd of several hundred gathered outside the seat of government in Noumea and marched to the Congress building.
The legislature adjourned Friday's review of the law until tomorrow, but from today the use of QR-codes to access many sites and events will be compulsory.
Last month, five members submitted an amendment, seeking to soften the vaccination law, which was adopted in September.
They say vaccination levels have been raised and contend that the law creates more divisions than necessary.
The law was passed just days before a community outbreak of the delta variant, which rapidly infected more than 10,000 people and to date killed 278 mainly Kanak people.
Two Samoan high chiefs fine for forgery
Two high chiefs in Samoa have been fined for forging the signatures of another chief in order to register a title with the Lands and Titles Registration Division of the Court.
Mutimuti Teleiai Samuelu and Teleiai Emosi, who are from from Samatau on Savaii, were in court last week when their lawyer entered a guilty plea.
Justice Vui Clarence Nelson has given the two until midday to pay their fines or else they will be imprisoned for three months.
Justice Nelson said forgery is a serious crime and the reason they are not jail is because their offence occurred at the last phase of the registration.
Descendant of Tahiti's Pomare royal family relaunches Pomare Principality
A descendant of Tahiti's Pomare royal family has relaunched what he calls the Pomare Principality in a ceremony at the tomb of King Pomare V.
Joinville Pomare said he and his supporters took the step in order to help Maohi people after French Polynesia's assembly ruled that unoccupied and unclaimed land would go into the territory's ownership.
He said the Maohi people are the victims of colonisation, citing the French nuclear weapon tests as the cause of many radiation-related illnesses.
Last year, he claimed the test sites, saying the land in question was never sold but taken by the French state in 1842.
France no longer recognises a Tahitian royal family, although in 1880 Paris signed a treaty which guaranteed that the titles and customs of the Polynesians under its control would be maintained.
Vanuatu students studying in Fiji go home for Christmas
All Vanuatu students studying in Fiji have all been repatriated for the Christmas holidays.
The Daily Post Newspaper reports the last students have arrived back in Port Vila and are in quarantine.
Vanuatu is again Covid-19 free after the two people who tested positive after arriving from New Caledonia have now been confirmed healthy and released to go home from quarantine.