Vanuatu

Up to $150,000 of the amount can be used for emergency and humanitarian costs, which the government has incurred to date in response to the disaster.

The agreement was signed by Executive Director Mr. In-chang Song representing Vanuatu on the ADB Board of Directors and ADB Pacific Department Director General Ms. Carmela Locsin at a ceremony at ADB headquarters.

VMGD said the Tropical Cyclone is positioned just north of the top center of the square letter A, number 1 (A,1) of the Vanuatu tropical cyclone tracking map. This is about 640 KM west northwest of Torres. The system is moving west at 2 KM/HR.

The potential for the Tropical Cyclone to move towards northern Vanuatu group in the next 24 to 48 hours is low to moderate.

However, winds close to the center are estimated at 64KM/HR with gusts up to 92KM/HR. The position of the system is expected to be at 11.2S, 161.5E in the next 6 hours.

The parade was led by the Vanuatu Mobile Force band.

The programme included discussions about different national maritime laws and regulations; combating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing activities within Vanuatu EEZ and regionally and the protection of unlawful transhipment of weapons, drugs and people across national boarder.

Minister Napat highlighted the role of seafarers who work every day in good and bad weather conditions  

Reports from Tanna island confirmed that there was poor turnout in some polling stations.

Unofficial results after the counting yesterday evening indicated that VLP candidate Nipo got 3877 votes out of all 36 polling station in Tanna.

Vanua’aku party candidate, Harry Iati, finished second with 2980 votes.

Ten candidates contested the by-election on Tanna.

Speaker Trevor Mallard, along with five women and three male MPs, will meet with parliamentarians, NGOs, businesses and women's groups in both countries.

RNZ Pacific reports the visit will focus on New Zealand's development programme, building relationships with parliamentary colleagues, and exploring trade and investment ties.

Mr Mallard said the women MPs will have discussions with local women leaders about the contributions they can make in Parliament.

The director of the Campaign for Justice says police statistics reveal a three-fold increase in the number of complaints to police in Port Vila.

They also show that seventy percent of cases go unresolved.

Russel Nari says his group has written to the police commissioner three times seeking an explanation but has not received any response.

"We've spoken to the Minister of Internal Affairs who is directly responsible for the police, so we're hoping that through this process we can come to the table and discuss this issue further," he said.

The Daily Post newspaper said it remained to be seen if political alliances would come into play to determine who is going to win the by-election.

There are representatives from the Iauko Group, Vanuaaku Pati, Leaders Party, Leleon Vanua Democratic Party, Rural development Party, Union Moderate Party, and Vanuatu National Democratic Party.

There are also two independents running.

The biggest competition is touted to be between the Vanuaaku Pati's Harry Iatika Nakat Namak and Jimmy Nipo Nanuman from the Leaders Party.

VMGD stated that the volcanic activity is likely to continue at similar levels, consistent with Volcanic Alert Level 2.

Observations and seismic data analysis in September 2018 confirm a continuous volcanic activity in the level of major unrest state and is confined in the crater.

The activity consists of ongoing explosions. Some explosions remain strong and volcanic bombs may fall in and/or around the crater

VMGD warns that eruptive vents may emit volcanic gases and ashes cloud. Gas will continue to be smelt while approaching the caldera and crater.

During the day special speeches were made by kava exporters, kava processors, farmers association representatives, and the kava export regulator.

The purpose of the mission to Pentecost is to conduct a kava re-planting launch and training/awareness to farmers from Southern Ward up to Northern Ward of Pentecost island.

During the awareness program the department of agriculture distributed over 33,000 kava stalks to over 150 farmers.

Stevens will be responsible for overseeing risk strategies and policies, as well as protecting the bank’s balance sheet in both markets.

He will be part of the local leadership team in Vanuatu and report to Brent Turner, Chief Risk Officer, Pacific Islands.

Commenting on the appointment, Turner said: “Jonathan’s knowledge of credit and risk processes across the region, including his most experience as Lending Service Manager for Pacific, will be an asset to the team here in Vanuatu.