New Caledonia

Tropical low TD08F, between New Caledonia and Vanuatu, is now a Category one Tropical Cyclone.

The Fiji Metrological Service has named the system, Dovi. It said the cyclone is moving East North-east at over 90km/h and intesifying.

For Vanuatu, the system will bring heavy rainfalls with flash flooding expected over low lying areas, and areas close to river banks, including coastal flooding over the Vanuatu group tonight and continuing tomorrow.

Very rough seas with heavy to phenomenal swells are expected over all Vanuatu waters.

The authorities say there are now 2520 active cases in the community.

20 people are in hospital care of whom seven are in intensive care.

The surge in case numbers follows the arrival of the Omicron variant this month and has prompted calls for more testing centres to open as more people show symptoms.

Rapid antigen tests with health professionals are free until at least the end of the month.

Selftests can be bought in pharmacies but their results aren't recognised to be able to get a health pass.

They say 11 positive results were returned over the past three days, with the analysis showing that omicron has had local transmission.

Some of the cases now concern people who have had no contact with travellers who imported the virus.

Fearing a further spike in the pandemic, anybody who recently attended any gatherings outside their families is encouraged to have a test.

New Caledonia had a sharp surge of the delta variant in September, which killed more than 280 people.

The unauthorised march in Noumea was held just a day after the government imposed a limit of 30 people for any outside gathering.

Police say while the meeting was illegal, they didn't intervene because many children were in the crowd.

However, according to the public broadcaster, police used teargas after the end of the rally to disperse some demonstrators.

The march was called to oppose the health pass required to enter venues, such as restaurants and museums, and to protest against the law making vaccinations mandatory.

More than 96 percent of New Caledonians voted against independence in a referendum boycotted by Kanaks. It was the last of three referendums, which concluded the 1998 Noumea Accord on the territory's decolonisation.

The Accord's provisions on the territory's institutional make-up remain in place until a new statute has been adopted.

While the anti-independence camp and Paris welcomed the referendum result, the pro-independence parties said the vote was bogus and they would not recognise its outcome.

Winds associated with the cyclone are now about 70km an hour, and forecast to drop further by this evening.

Strong winds and large waves are expected along eastern parts of New Caledonia throughout this morning.

The cyclone formed on Sunday, and people in New Caledonia are advised to stay updated of its progress.

New Zealand's MetService expects the weather system will continue weakening and travelling southeast tomorrow, passing the upper North Island offshore during Thursday afternoon and evening.

The calls were made by the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) and pro-independence parties in New Caledonia after Sunday’s vote.

Despite a low turnout, voters rejected independence from France in the third referendum.

The MSG Secretariat said Article 1 of the UN Charter and UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 on the Granting of Independence to colonized Territories, provided the need for the indigenous people of Kanaky to participate in the referendum and exercise their ‘right to self-determination’.

Unofficial results show more than 96 percent voted against independence in the third and last such plebiscite under the 1998 Noumea Accord.

Turnout was just under 44 percent, down from more than 85 percent last year.

Pro-independence parties had called on their supporters not to vote after France refused to postpone the referendum because of the impact of the pandemic on the indigenous Kanak population.

The customary Kanak Senate had declared Sunday to be a day of mourning for the 280 people who died in the pandemic.

Tony Wright, a former Port Vila MP who is in New Caledonia, said the students cannot stay at the campus because of outstanding bills.

Mr Wright said according to reports he's received, the students haven't been paid their allowances for November.

He said some ni-Vanuatu communities in New Caledonia have been fund raising to assist them.

The nuns said they are happy to house the students.

Last week marked the end of the study year but the students are unable to return to Port Vila because the borders is closed due to the pandemic.

Ratu Inoke is joined by Ali’ioaiga Feturi Elisaia, High Commissioner of Samoa to Fiji.

The Committee will be supported by the Forum Secretary General, Henry Puna, and staff of the Fiji Government and Forum Secretariat.

The committee was deployed by the Pacific Islands Forum to observe New Caledonia’s third and final independence referendum under the 1998 Noumea Accord on December 12.