Tag Archives: pacific

Australia’s deputy prime minister pledged support to the Solomon Islands during a visit to the archipelago nation on Tuesday, as Canberra intensifies efforts to counter China’s growing influence in the South Pacific. Richard Marles’ trip to the capital, Honiara, was the first by an Australian government minister since Jeremiah Manele was elected Solomon Islands’ new prime minister earlier this month. …

French President Emmanuel Macron is making a surprise trip to riot-hit New Caledonia, signaling French authorities’ growing confidence that reinforced security and emergency measures are bringing deadly unrest on the French Pacific territory under control. Government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot announced the trip, which required a shake-up of Macron’s schedule. “He will go there tonight,” she said after a Cabinet meeting …

The first Australian government flight from New Caledonia landed in Brisbane on the evening of Tuesday, May 21, after evacuating people from the French territory which has experienced a week of deadly riots, sparked by electoral changes by the French government in Paris. Around 3,200 people are waiting to leave or enter New Caledonia as commercial flights were canceled due …

Indonesian authorities evacuated residents of seven villages within a nearly four-mile radius of a volcano on the remote island of Halmahera in Indonesia after it erupted and spewed ash about 2.5 miles into the sky. Reuters reported that Mount Ibu erupted on Saturday night, turning the sky into a spectacle of gray ash spewing out of the volcano’s crater with …

The number of violent incidents reported in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia fell slightly on Friday, a day after France imposed a state of emergency as 1,000 promised reinforcements for security services were deployed with increased powers to quell unrest in the archipelago that has long sought independence. The top French official in the territory, High Commissioner Louis …

France hopes to regain full control of events in New Caledonia “in the coming hours”, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Thursday, after a third night of riots that have killed four people amid anger over a contested electoral reform. Rioters have burnt businesses, torched cars and looted shops, and road barricades put up by protesters were causing a “dire …

Indonesian authorities seeded clouds on Wednesday, trying to prevent further rain and flash floods after deluges that hit the country’s Sumatra Island over the weekend left at least 59 people dead and another 16 missing. Monsoon rains triggered a landslide of mud and cold lava from Mount Marapi, eventually causing rivers to breach their banks. The deluge tore through mountainside …

French President Emmanuel Macron is considering imposing state of emergency in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia to curb spiraling violence, the presidency said Wednesday. At least three people were killed and four others, including a gendarme, were seriously injured, according to officials in the territory and French media reports on Wednesday. More than 130 people have been arrested …

Authorities in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia announced a two-day curfew and banned gatherings on Tuesday after violent unrest erupted in the capital of Noumea and other areas. In Paris, the French Interior Ministry announced that police reinforcements were being sent to island. The territory’s top French official, High Commissioner Louis Le Franc, said 46 security forces had …

Mount Ibu, a volcano in Indonesia’s North Maluku province, erupted on Monday, spewing thick gray ash and dark clouds 16,400 feet into the sky for five minutes, officials said. “The volcanic earthquakes are still intense so there is a potential for a future eruption,” Hendra Gunawan, chief of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation said. After an eruption …