Bikini Atoll nuclear test: 60 years later and islands still unliveable | World news. The Marshall Islands are marking 60 years since the devastating US hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll, with exiled islanders saying they are too fearful to ever go back because of nuclear contamination. Part of the intense cold war nuclear arms race, the 15-megatonne Bravo test on 1 March 1954 was a thousand times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
It exposed thousands in the surrounding area to radioactive fallout. Bikini islanders and their descendants have lived in exile since they were moved for the first weapons tests in 1946. When US government scientists declared Bikini safe for resettlement some residents were allowed to return in the early 1970s. But they were removed again in 1978 after ingesting high levels of radiation from eating foods grown on the former nuclear test site. “I won’t move there,” said Evelyn Ralpho-Jeadrik of her home atoll, Rongelap, which was engulfed in fallout from Bravo and evacuated two days after the test. Whistleblowing line averages two calls a month. Samoa Parliament Unanimously Approves Women’s Reserve Seat Bill- June 24, 2013. Samoa Parliament Unanimously Approves Women’s Reserve Seat Bill Constitutional Amendment guarantees at least 5 women in Parliament By Alan Ah Mu APIA, Samoa (Talamua, June 22, 2013) – From the next general elections at least five seats in Parliament will be occupied by women.
Passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill 2013 this morning made that law. "It’s a new dawn for women," Speaker of Parliament, La’auli Leuatea Fosi said. An outbreak of clapping by MPs greeted passage of the bill. None of the 44 MPs present in Parliament voted against it. Opposition party Tautua Samoa Party joined Government to make the amendment law. It reserves 10 percent of the seats in Parliament for women electoral candidates. With 49 seats in Parliament this works out to five seats guaranteed for women, to start on the polling day of the next general election. In such a situation the number of seats in Parliament will be increased to 54 seats. After the last general election in 2011, the number dropped to two. President Declares Disaster for the Republic of the Marshall Islands | FEMA.gov. Drought still hitting Northern Marshall Islands | Pacific Beat. Vanuatu Government agrees to improve women's representation in parliament. The Vanuatu Government has approved a plan for a minimum of 30 per cent representation of women in parliament.
This means the Vanuatu Parliament could pass a law in August to ensure that seats are set aside for women. The chairperson of the Coalition for Gender Equity in Parliament, Jenny Ligo, says she is pleased with the agreement and hopes it will be passed. "The process is still long, but...we are eager to see it through and implement it," Ms Ligo said. "It is something that we want the government to do and now they have started and we will want to see it go through. " Ms Ligo believes the criteria of the agreement needs to be clear in order to ensure a smooth election process. "It has to be clear to women so that women themselves then don't argue over who will get a seat," she said. "Seats will have to come clearly so women understand the process, and then we will agree that this is it, so that we will not have any hiccups on the way, in implementing or achieving the final outcome.
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Pacific leaders want action on gender equality – but divided on urgency - Pale Moon. 2013-03-28 How relevant is the Melanesian Spearhead Group? | Pacific Institute of Public Policy - Pale Moon. Pacific Voices features opinion and analysis from commentators throughout the Pacific. PiPP encourages a wide-ranging and spirited exchange of views and welcomes submissions from all those interested in policy development. The views expressed here -and in every Pacific Voices piece- are entirely those of the author. By: Patrick Kaiku Earlier this year, Vanuatu hosted the 25th Anniversary of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). The formal establishment of the MSG was made in 1988 through the signing of the Agreed Principles of Co-operation among Independent States of Melanesia in Port Vila, Vanuatu.
This was the question raised by Peter Forau, the Director General of the Melanesian Spearhead Group Secretariat at the Vanuatu Silver Jubilee celebrations. Presently citizens of member states of the MSG have very limited appreciation of the significance of the MSG – its functions, the idea behind its creation, the values that it promotes, the benefits of its existence, and so forth. UberFacts : Tavarua Island is a tiny ... - Pale Moon... Pacific island nations band together as overfishing takes toll on global tuna supply | PRI.ORG - Pale Moon. Matthew Rivera has been spearfishing for tuna in Palau’s clear, blue waters most of his 40 or so years. It’s a big part of life here in this tiny Southern Pacific archipelago 600 miles east of the Philippines. “Because us here in Palau, we can’t eat meat everyday,” Rivera said.
“We can’t eat chicken. We have to eat fish. It’s what we grew up with, as little kids.” Palauans are lucky. See a graphic about tuna's struggle to survive at TheWorld.org. In recent years, the global demand for tuna has exploded, and populations elsewhere have crashed. The combination of collapsing stocks and skyrocketing prices are prompting tuna boats to flood into the waters around Palau and its neighbors.
And as a marine policeman here, Rivera works to protect Palau’s nearly quarter-million square miles of ocean from illegal fishing. But there’s a problem: the country has only one patrol boat. It’s an unprecedented arrangement, but enforcement remains a constant struggle. Conservationists call it tuna laundering. Michel Rocard fait le « show » | Les Nouvelles calédoniennes - Pale Moon. NZ company turns on first Tokelau solar system - Business. A New Zealand solar company has switched on the first of three solar power systems being installed on the South Pacific nation of Tokelau.
Mount Maunganui-based Powersmart Solar is the lead contractor in a renewable energy project to see Tokelau replace its diesel electricity systems with solar power systems and battery storage. Tokelau is made up of three atolls - Fakaofo, Nukunonu and Atafu - with Fakaofo the first to become fully solar powered this week. Powersmart director Mike Bassett-Smith said the project would allow Tokelau to become the first wholly solar-powered nation on earth. "This system is among the largest off-grid solar power systems in the world and the largest solar system being installed the South Pacific.
" After turning on the first system on Fakaofo, construction work would now begin on the second atoll. Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said turning on the first system was "a major milestone in the project". Welcome to Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.