Record debt for New Caledonia after a new French loan, Covid-19 numbers spike in French Polynesia, and Tongan deputy PM says US expat's complaints unfounded, and more.
The New Caledonian government has signed up for a new multi-million dollar loan from France. Photo: 123rf
French loan takes New Caledonian debt to record high
New Caledonia has officially signed up to a $US180 million loan from France, thereby raising its indebtedness to record levels.
The loan agreement was guaranteed by the French state, and was signed in Noumea by the New Caledonian president Louis Mapou, French High Commissioner Patrice Faure and a representative of the French Development Agency.
The loan is for 25 years, and the first repayments are due in three years.
Faure said while the loan would allow the books to be balanced for 2022, it would be the last one, meaning urgent reforms had become indispensable.
He said in the past ten years New Caledonia's ratio of debt to revenue jumped from 35 percent to its current high of 255 percent.
Two years ago, a $US245 million loan was given to New Caledonia, but the terms of that loan were not adhered to.
Last month, the Territorial Chamber of Accounts warned of a critical situation with the public finances and urged the creation of new revenue streams.
The Chamber found that the overall deficit of the social welfare accounts grew five-fold between 2017 and 2020, and social welfare protection schemes were close to defaulting.
Tongan deputy PM says US expat's allegations are false
Tonga's government has rejected complaints on social media made by an American expatriate, who claimed he was being unfairly stopped from leaving the Kingdom.
Deputy Prime Minister Poasi Tei released a scathing media statement, in which he said that comments by Jonathan Brent Estren had damaged Tonga's reputation.
He said Estren, who was living in the Vava'u islands in Tonga, accused the Ministry of Health of demanding $11,000 for a vaccination shot.
And that Estren's claim that aviation officials threatened to confiscate a chartered aircraft that was set to fly him out of Tonga, were false.
Tei said vaccinations are free, and an investigation found that Estren and two other expats would not accept the country's state of emergency rules.
Covid-19 numbers spike in French Polynesia
French Polynesia has recorded another 114 Covid-19 cases in the last 48-hour reporting period.
Health authorities said there are now 283 active cases, which means another doubling of numbers in about a week.
There no Covid-19 patients currently in hospital.
The pandemic eased in French Polynesia a month ago and so far it has been weaker than at the outbreak's peak last year.
There have been 649 deaths of people with Covid-19 during the pandemic, with most fatalities registered during last year's Delta outbreak.
Vaccinations have continued, and more than 81 percent of people 12 years and older have had two doses.
More than 25,000 people take place in military exercise in Hawaii
One of the world's largest international training military exercise, the Rim of The Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC), is currently taking place in Hawaii, with more than 25,000 participants from more than 27 countries.
The New Zealand Defence Force has sent the HMNZS Manawanui, along with a detachment of ground troops.
Royal New Zealand Navy captain Steve Lennick spoke to RNZ from the bridge of the cruiser USS Mobile Bay and said the mission fosters connections between countries, and provides an opportunity for people from the different armed forces to meet each other.
"It's fantastic, ... I'm gazing around the Pearl Harbour naval base here, looking at the 38 ships from all over the Indo-Pacific region, and some submarines, and it's quite an atmosphere."
The exercise runs until 4 August.
Ten arrested in Solomon Islands crackdown
Police in the Solomon Islands town of Auki have arrested ten people at the weekend, in a crackdown on kwaso (illegal alcohol) and consumption of liquor in public.
Superintendent Leslie Kili appealed to the community to help police with information on kwaso production and sales of marijuana.
He also called on makers to surrender their kwaso distillation equipment.
New Zealand medical support team continues work in Niue
A medical team from New Zealand continues to work alongside medical authorities in Niue, to help stop Covid-19 cases at the border spreading into the community.
On Saturday, the Government of Niue reported the country had one new case, and five existing cases, all were at the border. There were no cases in the community.
On 28 June, positive cases were detected as part of compulsory day-one testing of passengers who had arrived in Niue the day before, on the first quarantine-free passenger flight from New Zealand.
Since then, another quarantine-free flight has arrived from New Zealand.
Mission leader Martin Buet, from the NZ Ministry of Health, said the team was supporting Niue's medical experts.
"The idea and the request was ... to give some surge support to the team here in Niue.
"It put them under, I wont says stress but the same people had to do multiple jobs and obviously this was an extra burden to them at this point."
