Vanuatu

For two weeks now the resort has been running solely on electricity generated by a newly installed solar power plant.

The Vanuatu Daily Post reports the country's climate change minister Ham Lini applauded the resort owner for leading the way in investing in clean energy.

Mr Lini said he looked forward to seeing future data on how much the plant had reduced the resort's carbon emissions.

Its owner Peter Stockley told the paper the decision to go off the grid was made after Cyclone Pam forced the resort to close for major renovations in 2015.

Regional Secretary blong Anglican church long Port Vila na  New Caledonia, Selwyn Leodoro i mekim despla toktok bihaenim dai blong Father Luc Dini long Fraide long wik igo pinis.

Mr Leodoro itok Fr Dini ibin skul long Papua New Guinea long kamap Nurse, na bihaen emi bin skul long kamap priest blong Anglican church long Solomon Islands.

Emi tok tu olsem taem Fr Luc ibin go bek long Vanuatu emi bin go insaet long wok politik.

According to RNZI, the agreement comes amid reports of a possible cabinet reshuffle.

The prime minister has welcomed the assurance of solidarity and said it would enable economic development and service delivery.

Several MPs crossed the floor in April to support Mr Salwai, giving him the backing of 32 MPs in the 52-seat parliament.

This was followed by kava at VT56 million then beef and cocoa at 5% each according to provisional trade figures for January 2017 released by Vanuatu National Statistics Office last Friday.

Vanuatu recorded a trade deficit balance of VT 1,984 million, a deterioration of VT 783 million compared to January 2016.

This trade deficit balance was due to the value of imports VT 2,576 million, exceeded that of total exports of VT 591 million.

Both teams ended the match after extra time 0-0 and during the penalty shootout, Taiwia saved three penalty shots from Erakor strikers.

Ifira fans celebrated the win after the match but one player they will remembered last Saturday was Taiwia.

He reminded the people of Ifira Black Bird FC of former top Black Bird goalkeeper the late Kelly, who helped Ifira win the championship 31 years ago.

Taiwia who helped Ifira reach the final for the first time has one more last match in the next two weeks against the winner of Digicel Amicale and Erakor Golden Star.

The Red Cross hopes to address that by linking with aid agencies and local communities via an online digital 'warehouse'.

Astrid Boulekone, the General Manager of the Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the initiative will help all people and organisations involved in disaster response work.

Boulekone told Pacific Beat the platform will allow NGO’s to communicate directly with local suppliers about their orders for the supply of items.

She said the local suppliers could include retailers, wholesalers, hardware shops and suppliers of agriculture products.

The regional free trade agreement, which had been negotiated for nearly a decade, would be signed by the region's trade ministers in Tonga this week.

RNZI reports that on Thursday, Vanuatu's government said it would not sign the agreement, joining two of the Pacific's other large economies, Fiji and Papua New Guinea, in refusing to do so.

Steve Siro, from the Office of the Chief Trade Advisor, said the announcement came out of the blue, as it had until a week ago been a big proponent.

This follows a hard battle to beat 2016 champions, Erakor Golden Star after penalty shootout at Port Vila Stadium yesterday Saturday 10 June 2017.

Both clubs ended the match 0-0 after extra time and the winner must be decided by penalty shootout and Ifira came out the winners 3-0 , thanks to goals from Charles Atainoa and Harrison Mala from Solomon Islands and the third goal from Lee Taiwia.

The hero of the match is Ifira Black Bird FC goal keeper, Antony Taiwia who stopped all three shots from Erakor Golden Star FC.

Delegates from 14 Pacific nations are due to meet in Nuku'alofa on Wednesday to sign a free trade deal that has been under negotiation for eight years.

TNC Pacific Consulting's Tess Newton Cain said the government was seeking more information before it went any further with the deal.

RNZI reports she said there had always been significant opposition in Vanuatu over such matters as the impact on infant industries and the loss of tariffs.

But Ms Newton Cain said those issues, as well as the benefits to the island countries from PACER Plus, have been overstated.

The Council of Ministers had issued a statement saying it intended to sign eventually, but not until it had a more thorough look at the 1000 page document - the text of which has only just been made public.

He said there had also been strong local opposition to the deal from NGOs, churches and MPs.

RNZI reports the two biggest nations in the Pacific, Fiji and Papua New Guinea, are not currently part of PACER Plus, with Fiji saying it wants to renegotiate parts of it.