Pacific news in brief for 30 July
Mark Rabago
The state funeral for the late Northern Mariana Islands Governor Arnold Palācious is to be held Saturday morning, August 2nd, at the Pedro P.Tenōrio Multipurpose Center on Saipan.
Elected leaders and visiting dignitaries from across the globe will be in attendance.
The Governor's office says the general public will be able to pay their final respects during the memorial wake and funeral service at Mount Carmel Cathedral after the state funeral.
A Mass of Christian burial and internment at the Marpi Public Cemetery will follow.
An ocean-focused non-governmental organisation, the Waitte Institute, is contributing US$1 million for a fund to safely remove derelict fishing vessels from Fiji's Suva Harbour.
The fund was named in honour of Captain Jonathan Smith, a mariner and ocean advocate, who died in 2021.
In addition to the cleanup, the fund will work towards legal, policy, and institutional reforms.
The Fiji government said Suva Harbour has become a graveyard for abandoned and sunken vessels.
The Shefa Provincial Government Council must elect its new president and vice president on Wednesday or face possible intervention by the Minister of Internal Affairs.
Since the council's first sitting on 24 July, the councillors have failed to agree on the province's leadership.
The
Vanuatu Daily Post
reported the political deadlock has continued through several meetings, including the most recent one on Sunday.
The deadlock stems from political divisions within the council, with opposing factions pushing for different leadership outcomes.
Motu-Koita people in Papua New Guinea's National Capital District will have their own representative in Parliament in 2027.
The National
newspaper reported this is one of the six new electorates confirmed by Electoral Commissioner Simon Sinai.
Sinai said Motu-Koitabuans will have their own electorate, and it will be for the indigenous people to contest for the seat.
Sinai, who is also the Electoral Boundaries Commission chairman, said this would take the total number of open seats in Parliament to 102.
South Pentecost is celebrating the traditional circumcision of 14 boys using bamboo and the start of the yam harvest.
More than 400 people from South Pentecost gathered at Lonesis village on Monday to mark the end of a traditional circumcision ceremony.
Point Cross villager, Danstan Tate, told the
Vanuatu Daily Post
it is an annual custom that also marks the end of the Naghol season and the beginning of the yam harvest.
Attendees brought yams and water taro as gifts for the boys to present to their aunties and uncles.
South Pentecost is one of the few places in the country where traditional circumcision is still practised using bamboo.
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