Author: TMC Palau
There were two medals for Pacific Island athletes on the final day of competition at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.In judo, Tonga’s Paula Monta beat Canada’s John Messe A Bessong for a bronze medal in the men’s +100kg category – Tonga’s only medal.The Tonga Judo Association said Monta held off a determined comeback from the Canadian to secure victory by the narrowest of margins – winning on one waza-ari and two yuko to one waza-ari and one yuko.”This medal caps off an incredible day for Paula, who battled through the repechage to earn his place in the bronze medal contest before…
[Photo: FILE] Queen Victoria School Under-15 coach Misaele Gavidi says there is still room for improvement despite his side’s victory over Holy Family School in Saturday’s Vodafone Deans elimination round. Gavidi praised his players for executing their game plan and securing the result, but admitted there are areas the team must address ahead of the national quarter-finals. “They played a good game. The boys executed their game plan. It’s a well-structured game, but we have some weaknesses. We have to improve on it.” The QVS coach says the team will use the coming week to fine-tune its performance as preparations…
[Photo: FILE] New Swire Shipping Fijian Drua head coach Brad Mooar believes the club is already in a strong position and is determined to build on the foundations laid by former coaches Mick Byrne and Glen Jackson. Mooar says the Drua’s existing strengths, particularly the quality of its players, provide an ideal platform for future success. “I always start from a position of strength, and this privilege of the role that I’m now in comes off the back of Mick Byrne and Glen Jackson doing some excellent work with the Drua already.” The New Zealander described the Drua squad as…
This is the first in a three-part series in which the author, an I-Kiribati researcher, argues that Australia’s and New Zealand’s Pacific migration schemes are unfair to Kiribati. Part 1 sets out the census evidence. I sometimes struggle to understand the way Pacific migration is designed in Australia and New Zealand. Australia’s Pacific Engagement Visa (PEV), for example, is a very good idea in principle, but the important question is how Australia decides who receives access, and in what numbers. I believe that decisions around these arrangements should be based on fairness and on objective indicators such as existing migration…
[Photo: FILE] Health workers’ safety is under scrutiny after concerns were raised that their protection is inadequately addressed in the Ministry of Health’s 2026–2031 Strategic Plan. Fiji Institute of Pacific Health Research Director Avelina Rokoduru says an independent unit should be considered to address the risks faced by health professionals. “It doesn’t have anything about protecting all of us sitting here. We just went past COVID-19. We lost a lot of people. Yet our strategic plan doesn’t have anything like that, protecting us as workers.” Rokoduru highlighted that health workers are routinely exposed to trauma, accidents, and long-term health risks.…
The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) says it has completed more than half of the requested temporary generator installations on Rota, as crews work to restore essential services following the devastation caused by Super Typhoon Bavi last month.The USACE Temporary Power Team has been installing generators at critical facilities, including shelters, the Rota Health Center, telecommunications sites, water wells, police and fire stations, the judicial center, hotels housing emergency responders, a bottled water plant, an ice production facility and a diesel service station.USACE said additional personnel and equipment had been pre-positioned before Bavi struck because crews were already deployed…
[Photo: FILE] A 22-year-old man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after being found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting his teenage cousin. The offences were committed over several years, with the High Court finding that he repeatedly exploited his close family relationship with the victim. The man was found guilty on one count of indecent assault, two counts of rape, one count of sexual assault and one count of attempted rape. High Court judge Justice Thushara Rajasinghe, while delivering the sentence, said the offending was of extremely high seriousness, highlighting that the victim was repeatedly sexually exploited…
[Source: Reuters] Piotr Mirowski occupies a rare space where theatre improvisation overlaps with artificial intelligence research. The Poland-born computer scientist and actor has spent years experimenting with the ways that performers, audiences and language models can interact, producing hundreds of live shows and a body of academic research. Now a visiting researcher at Goldsmiths, University of London, Mirowski is preparing to take his latest production, “Improbotics Presents: Artificial Reality,” a high-tech satire in which a robot performs alongside a human cast, to this month’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Speaking with Reuters from London ahead of the show, he discusses the possibilities…
[Source: Reuters] In an age when viewers can drift from TikTok to Netflix to YouTube within minutes, the World Cup remains a rare thing: a live event that can capture the attention of a huge, simultaneous worldwide audience. Banijay Live, part of Banijay Entertainment that is behind hit TV franchises including “MasterChef,” “Big Brother,” and “The Traitors,” is producing the tournament’s closing ceremony on July 19 at the New York New Jersey Stadium. Marco Bassetti, its chief executive, says earning that kind of global attention is harder than ever — and keeping it depends on understanding local culture. Bassetti, who…
[Source: Reuters] A small tourist plane crashed on Saturday as it flew over the Nazca Lines archaeological site in southern Peru, killing 13 people, Peru’s government said. Peru’s Ministry of Transport and Communications said in a statement that the plane was carrying 11 foreign tourists — German, Italian and Spanish visitors — and two crew members. The Ministry said the plane crashed in the area of Socos, approximately 6 km (4 miles) from the city of Nazca and roughly 19 km (12 miles) from the Nazca Lines site. The small plane, a Cessna Caravan C-208 aircraft, belonged to the local…