Latest news with #JothamNapat
RNZ News
26-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Pacific news in brief for 26 May
Royal Solomon Islands Police Force are urging the community to report any cases related to abortion. Photo: Facebook / RSIFP Solomon Islands police are hunting a man they alleged raped and murdered a woman in north Guadalcanal last Wednesday. Superintendent Edwin Sevoa said the dead woman is from North Malaita but had been living in North Guadalcanal with her husband and a small baby she had still been breastfeeding. Sevoa has appealed to the public for anyone with information to come forward. Australia has announced an additional US$3.8 million in support of Vanuatu's earthquake recovery. The Vanuatu Daily Post reported this was announced by Australian foreign minister Penny Wong in Port Vila last week. The money will go towards rebuilding schools and engineering support for more resilient infrastructure. Wong and Vanuatu prime minister Jotham Napat also discussed the Vanuatu-Australia Nakamal Partnership Agreement, a development cooperation framework expected to be signed in September. The Cook Islands shipping registry has been removed from an information-sharing database which aims to clamp down on tankers avoiding international sanctions. Lloyds List reports Maritime Cook Islands was removed from the Registry Information Sharing Compact for breaching its policy. However, Maritime Cook Islands claims it does not allow any sanctioned vessels to remain on its register and wants to know why they were removed. On Christmas Day, Cook Islands-registered tanker Eagle S was seized in the Baltic Sea by Finnish authorities. It was believed to be avoiding Russian oil sanctions. The Pacific Island News Association (PINA) has spoken out in support of Lagi Keresoma, the Samoan journalist facing libel charges. ` Keresoma was charged after publishing an article about a former police officer who she asserted had sought the help of the Head of State to withdraw charges brought against him. PINA has called the matter "a serious concern for medical practicioners" and a "direct threat to press freedom in Samoa and across the Pacific". Seven people have now been charged in connection to a recent import of methamphetamine seized at Fiji's Nadi International Airport. A senior customs official is among them. Fiji Live reports the official is alleged to have disclosed confidential information received in the performance of his duties.
ABC News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Vanuatu president to revoke sentence reduction for 70 prisoners
The victim of a horrific bashing in Vanuatu says he was shocked, confused and re-traumatised by the Vanuatu President's decision to reduce his attackers' sentences. The men who brutally assaulted Peter Walker six years ago were among the 70 prisoners who's custodial sentences were to be reduced to community service. But following the public outcry prime minister Jotham Napat announced President Nikenike Vurobaravu will revoke the order. In a statement Mr Napat says the president was not given accurate information about several of the detainees and there'll be an investigation into why that happened. He also apologised for the distress and concern the situation has caused and says all prisoners remain in custody. That's a relief to Mr Walker but he says it still doesn't explain how the decision was made and why victims weren't notified.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pacific nation Vanuatu elects prime minister
Vanuatu's parliament resoundingly elected a former foreign minister as premier Tuesday, less than two months after a deadly earthquake rocked the Pacific nation. Jotham Napat, a senior disaster management official before entering politics, was backed to be prime minister by 50 of the 52 members of parliament, a livestream of the proceedings showed. Two ballots were declared void. The 52-year-old had been favoured to take the top job after his Leaders Party of Vanuatu won nine seats in January elections -- more than any other party. While foreign minister from 2022-2023, he told local media of the government's commitment to "strong diplomatic relations" with China but also said the two countries did not discuss security matters. Vanuatu, home to around 330,000 people, has strong relations with Australia, which touts its role as the archipelago's largest single aid donor and strongest security partner. Napat was a weather forecaster in his early career, later taking a string of top positions including as chairman of Air Vanuatu and head of the country's national disaster committee, the parliament website showed. After entering parliament in 2016, he served in senior roles including as deputy prime minister and foreign minister. The January general election date was postponed for two days after a 7.3-magnitude earthquake hit Vanuatu in December, killing 14 people, rupturing roads and flattening buildings in the capital Port Vila. Vanuatu's parliament had already been dissolved in November, before disgruntled MPs could launch a no-confidence motion designed to topple Charlot Salwai, who was then prime minister. The motion reportedly cited a grab bag of grievances including the flagging fortunes of national carrier Air Vanuatu, a teachers' strike and financial transparency questions. Such political instability has become familiar in the former British and French colony, which changed prime minister 20 times between 1991 and 2017. The tumult reached crisis levels at the end of 2023, when Vanuatu churned through three premiers in the space of a month. lec/djw/cms/rsc
