Latest news with #DavidManning
RNZ News
24-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Pacific news in brief for 24 July
Buka jail, Bougainville Photo: Supplied Reports out of the Papua New Guinea region of Bougainville say prison warders are illegally freeing offenders from jail. The Post-Courier reports the warders are bypassing legal procedures and allowing dangerous individuals to roam communities unchecked. Bougainville's head of Correctional Institute Services, Vincent Kundi, says inmates are walking out of Bekut Correctional Facility on unauthorised release - for weeks or months and sometimes even years. He said legally that makes them escapees. Calls are ongoing for a maximum-security prison to house Bougainville's high-risk offenders. Police Commissioner David Manning is warning that there is zero tolerance for threats to essential services. Landowners are threatening to shut off the water supply through the Rouna 2 Hydro Station in Central Province, which feeds Port Moresby. Manning said police will not tolerate attempted extortion. The Post-Courier reports Manning saying there are appropriate, lawful mechanisms for resolving disputes. He has directed police to arrest the landowner group's leader. The Solomon Islands is modernising its immigration services with a new Digital Border Management System. Immigration Minister Trevor Manemahanga has hailed it as a major step towards more modern, efficient, and secure border management. He said digital visas will enhance service delivery and national security. The digital platform is supported by Australia. Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka will not rule out sacking his Chief Justice Salesi Temo. This comes as the government works through the Commission of Inquiry report into the appointment of sacked anti-corruption commissioner Barbara Malimali. Some have accused the government of double standards. Rabuka said no decisions will be made until Temo has explained his involvement. A $3.2 million funding boost from New Zealand should help Fiji support cleaner and greener agriculture under the Pacific Climate Smart Agriculture and Sustainable Land Management Partnership. Longer-term, Aotearoa has committed nearly $14m over four years to Fiji, Niue, the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu. Pacific Peoples Minister Dr Shane Reti said the funding will provide scientific and technical support in climate-resilient crop trials and also help in soil monitoring and landscape planning. Fiji's fight against HIV has received a boost of $5.4 million from the New Zealand government. Pacific People's Minister Dr Shane Reti met with Fijian Health Minister Dr Ratu Atonio Lalabalavu over the weekend, to hear firsthand about the country's nationwide HIV outbreak, and Fiji's response plan. Reti said the funding reflects Aotearoa's ongoing commitment to Pacific health security. He hopes it will help ease pressures on Fiji's public health system.
The Guardian
21-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Britain told US that invading Iraq could cost Blair his premiership, papers reveal
The stark terms in which the US was warned that invading Iraq without a second UN security council resolution could cost Tony Blair his premiership have been revealed in newly released documents. Blair's foreign policy adviser, David Manning, warned Condoleezza Rice, the then US national security adviser: 'The US must not promote regime change in Baghdad at the price of regime change in London.' The meeting between the two took place before Blair visited the US president, George W Bush, at Camp David on 31 January 2003, two months before the Iraq invasion. While the US had not yet decided on a second security council resolution, Blair's objectives at Camp David were to convince the US a second resolution was 'politically essential for the UK and almost certainly legally essential as well', and to hold off from a February invasion until the end of March, according to a briefing note to Blair from Manning released by the National Archives in London. In a separate 29 January memo to Blair marked 'secret – strictly personal, very sensitive', Manning said he told Rice: 'A second resolution is a political necessity for you [Blair] domestically. Without it, you would not secure cabinet and parliamentary support for military action. She must understand that you could be forced from office if you tried. The US must not promote regime change in Baghdad at the price of regime change in London.' Manning wrote: 'I said that Bush could afford to gamble. He wanted a second resolution but it was not crucial to him. He already had congressional authority to act unilaterally. This was quite different from the situation you were facing. 'Condi acknowledged this but said that there came a point in any poker game when you had to show your cards. I said that was fine for Bush. He would still be at the table if he showed his cards later. You would not.' The Americans were becoming increasingly impatient with the unwillingness of France and Russia – which both had a veto on the UN security council – to agree a resolution so long as UN inspectors were unable to find any evidence of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, the supposed justification for war. After Bush's annual State of the Union address to Congress, shortly before Blair's visit, the UK's Washington ambassador, Christopher Meyer, warned that the options for a peaceful solution had effectively run out. Meyer described Bush's message on Iraq by this point as 'messianic'. It was now 'politically impossible' for Bush to back down from war 'absent Saddam's surrender or disappearance from the scene', he wrote. Bush's State of the Union address had closed off any room for manoeuvre, Meyer informed London: 'In the high-flown prose to which Bush is drawn on these set-piece occasions, he said in effect that destroying Saddam is a crusade against evil to be undertaken by God's chosen people.' In another cable the previous month, he said of Bush: 'His view of the world is Manichean. He sees his mission as ridding it of evil-doers.' In the end, the US and UK abandoned their efforts to get agreement on a resolution, claiming the French president, Jacques Chirac, had made it clear he would never agree. In another briefing note before Camp David, the Ministry of Defence warned: 'The loosening of Saddam's grip on power may give rise to significant levels of internecine violence.' One of the key findings of the Chilcot report was that Blair had ignored warnings on what would happen in Iraq after invasion, and it rejected Blair's claim that the subsequent chaos and sectarian conflict could not have been predicted.
ABC News
02-07-2025
- ABC News
Papua New Guinea police say they caught NSW man with 60 kilograms of cocaine in Port Moresby hotel
An Australian man has allegedly been caught with 60 kilograms of cocaine at a hotel in Papua New Guinea's capital, Port Moresby. The 45-year-old man from New South Wales was apprehended by PNG police at the North Waigani Universal Lodge around 10pm last night. Police allege he was in possession of 60 kilograms of cocaine, estimated to have a street value worth millions of dollars. The man is being held in custody while police charge him with serious drug trafficking offences. PNG Police Commissioner David Manning says a broader investigation is underway. "While specific details of the arrest overnight cannot be released until the matter goes to court, police operations are ongoing into the broader criminal syndicate," Commissioner Manning said. He added it was a warning to anyone who thinks they can get away with trafficking drugs to Papua New Guinea. "The arrest last night adds to the list of criminals who have been caught transporting or facilitating the movement of drugs over recent years," Commissioner Manning said.
RNZ News
09-06-2025
- RNZ News
Investigation after alleged rape of detained woman in PNG
A group of New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel, with two Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) NH90 helicopters, arrived in Honiara on November 14. Military police personnel from Fiji and Papua New Guinea are also present to assist the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force in maintaining security. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koroi Hawkins Investigation is underway within Papua New Guinea police to determine how a former policeman who served time for rape was allowed to rejoin the police force, only to then allegedly commit another rape at a police station. The officer was convicted in 2012 and served 14 years. From initial indications, he may not have been formally dismissed from the force when he was convicted. He and two other officers are now in custody for the alleged rape of a woman who was detained. This incident has raised significant concerns about the the constabulary's recruitment and vetting processes, especially given previous calls for greater accountability and professionalism within the force. Police Commissioner David Manning has indicated that the focus is now on ensuring the individual is returned to prison.
Irish Examiner
08-06-2025
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Cork villagers demand independent oversight of asbestos clean-up at demolished piggery
Residents of a Cork village want an independent consultant funded by Cork County Council to oversee plans to clean up the site of a demolished piggery which contained asbestos. Last week, members of a local residents group in Grenagh wrote to the council to highlight their concerns about the demolition on April 12 and 13. Asbestos has been linked to the development of diseases such as lung cancer and mesothelioma. It is now illegal to place asbestos or asbestos-containing products on the market, though it is often present in buildings constructed before the millennium. Immediately following the demolition, the concerns led to the cancellation of GAA games on a neighbouring pitch while the local playground was also empty in the immediate aftermath of the demolition. The rubble currently remains onsite. David Manning of the Grenagh residents sub-committee said locals are concerned, particularly as summer holidays will mean an increase in the presence of children at the playground. In a letter to the council last week, the group said: 'The children of this community now face years — perhaps even decades — before they will know whether these reckless actions have had serious, life-altering consequences.' The sub-committee is to hold a meeting with council representatives next week after outlining their requests in the correspondence. They also asked that, given the concern and worry about further dispersal of asbestos dust from the site, 'the community need to be given written information on planned dates, times, hours of work, extent of supervision of work by Cork County Council, HSE and HSA. We will also need to know who will be allowed on site during the clean-up and how this will be supervised and managed.' Silica dust exposure Meanwhile, the Health and Safety Authority will begin a two-week national inspection campaign on Monday focusing on silica dust exposure in construction. The campaign aims to highlight the serious risks associated with exposure to silica dust, which can occur anywhere that concrete, stone, or sand-based materials are being used. The HSA says that exposure to respirable crystalline silica dust at work can cause a progressive lung disease caused silicosis, as well as diseases including lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and other serious diseases. During this campaign, inspectors will focus on activities known to generate silica dust, such as cutting, grinding, drilling, and demolition of materials like concrete, stone, and brick. They will assess whether appropriate control measures are in place, to eliminate exposure where possible, and then to reduce exposure. Read More Material at demolished Cork piggery dampened during hot spell to prevent asbestos spreading in wind
