Samoa, China and India top NZ’s overstayers list

Samoa is New Zealand's top-ranked country for the largest decrease in overstayers since 2000.

China and India are at the bottom with the highest increase in overstayers for the same period. A different perspective for Samoa from a 2012 headline that read, Samoa, India and China top deportation list.

On Tuesday, the New Zealand government congratulated itself by releasing latest estimates showing a 45 per cent decrease (more than 20,000) in the number of overstayers in New Zealand, for the period July 2000 to January 2016.

Samoa leads the list with a 61 per cent decrease in the number of overstayers (from 5,456 to 2,124). Tonga also had a significant 53 per cent decrease in overstayer numbers (from 5,073 to 2,381).

However, over the same period, Chinese overstayers increased by a massive 120 per cent, while Indians increased by 69 per cent.

But Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse has batted away the Chinese and Indian trend-buckers by saying, “You have to put that in the context of the far greater number of Chinese nationals coming to New Zealand for any reason - whether it's for tourism, for study, skilled work.”

Instead he focused praise on Immigration New Zealand for reducing overstayer numbers and the corresponding cost savings to the tax payer.

“The latest figures show the Government’s focus on improved security at the border and decisive action to deal with overstayers continues to pay dividends,” Mr Woodhouse stated yesterday.

“The current estimate is 45 per cent lower than the overstayer estimate a decade ago of more than 20,000. At the same time, removal and deportation costs have more than halved from $3 million in 2005/06 to $1.3 million in 2014/15.

“I congratulate Immigration New Zealand on the work they are doing alongside other agencies in ensuring that those who do become overstayers, leave quickly.”

But Immigration lawyer Richard Small told Radio NZ that instead of celebrating numbers, the government should look at the human stories behind the statistics and take a more caring response to each case accordingly.

He said overstayers often had good reasons to stay that did not involve working illegally including those, especially Pacific islanders, trying to stay in New Zealand to look after sick relatives, or because their homes had been destroyed by cyclones.

“People who for example are caring for terminally ill family members and for whom there is no family visa and no option,” he said.

“We might [also] be talking about people whose home island - in the last three years we have had three or four devastating cyclones in the Pacific - is no longer viable.”

Labour’s Pacific spokesperson, Su’a William Sio, having just returned from a trip to cyclone vulnerable Kiribati and Tuvalu, backed up Mr Small.

He said from the many Pasifika overstayers he had spoke to, it was often not as simple as just sending them back.

“When the cyclone hit Tonga a year ago, I know immigration was deporting people to the mainland of Tonga, when those people lived on Ha'apai - which was the most affected island,” Su’a told Radio NZ.

“We had a huge argument - some of the people here - who could not go back to Ha'apai, because there was nothing for them to go back to.”

Mr Small put in a suggestion to the New Zealand government that they would do well to copy Australia's carer visa that would allow a lawful avenue for people who offered a benefit to New Zealand by caring for relatives who would otherwise need care from their district health board.

Mr Small also pointed out that the overstayer situation could increase in the future with the number of children born in New Zealand, but who were not citizens, who could add hundreds - or even thousands - to the estimates of overstayers.

And these children/potential overstayers would be highly vulnerable to deportation as result of a change to the Immigration Act in 2010.

The Immigration Act 1987 states that a deportation occurs when someone holding a New Zealand residence permit is convicted of an offence. The number of deportations between 2007 and November 2010 was just 118 people.

However once the act was amended so deportation describes "all processes for requiring a foreign national who has no right to remain in New Zealand to leave", it has been revealed that the majority of deportations have been overstayers.

However, there is a positive from the Immigration New Zealand report. That the department negotiated the voluntary departure of many more overstayers rather than formally deporting them. More than over 1200 people left New Zealand voluntarily in the 2014-2015 financial year.

Su'a said he was pleased the department was taking that approach. “That's sort of what my office ... and lawyers in the Pacific community have been arguing for quite some time.”



   
Source:
Scoop Media

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Asian Economies Must Build Resilience to Growing Risks

Building resilience calls for quality investments in infrastructure and institutions. Photo ADB

MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Emerging risks and destabilizers as diverse as widening income inequality, slower growth, and climate change are reshaping Asia’s economic landscape at such a rapid pace that governments must build far greater resilience into their national plans, says Independent Evaluation at Asian Development Bank (ADB). 

“The urgency for countries to adapt to the new environment is growing,” concludes Independent Evaluation’s 2016 Annual Evaluation Review of ADB’s operations and challenges for the region.

Countries in Asia are already grappling with slower growth and falling international trade, and need to find new drivers for growth while extracting extra mileage from existing industries. Asia today is more exposed to external shocks through the closer integration of global markets. The region’s economic prospects are also increasingly linked to the ability of the People’s Republic of China and India to address their economic, environmental, and climate challenges. 

“External shocks—irrespective of their origin—quickly push the vulnerable below the poverty line and the poor deeper into poverty,” says Vinod Thomas, director general of Independent Evaluation. 

Latest data for extreme poverty in Asia and the Pacific—based on a person living on less than $1.90 a day in 2011 purchasing power parity terms—is just over 450 million people. More than 1.3 billion people—those living on less than $3.10 a day—are at high risk of falling back into poverty again because of their vulnerability to shocks and the proximity of their incomes to the poverty line. Meanwhile, inequality is rising in a number of the region’s more populous countries, and the provision of basic services is under severe pressure in some countries. 

“Building resilience calls for quality investments in infrastructure and institutions. But it must go beyond buffering shocks and preventing contagion,” says Thomas. “Countries must vigorously promote social inclusion and environmental sustainability, both involving private sector solutions, to ensure that Asia’s economic growth does not peter out.” 

The report warns that development gains can be worn away by the rising frequency and ferocity of natural disasters, and the degradation of the environment.  As the benefits and costs of Asia’s growth are increasingly manifested in cities—Asia’s urban population is expected to nearly double from 1.6 billion in 2010 to 3.0 billion by 2050, while 13 of the world’s 23 megacities are located in the region—addressing urban issues such as water supply, sanitation, and waste management will be key. 

The private sector can be instrumental in providing innovative approaches to service delivery, as, for example, witnessed in the distribution of fluorescent lights in the Philippines. The review found that for 60 percent of ADB’s private sector investment projects, both development results and ADB profitability were high, highlighting that development impact and profitability are not at odds with each other. 

A major theme of the report is the immediate need to sustain strong and inclusive growth. “Strengthening how new infrastructure can reduce the opportunity gaps between income groups is particularly important in Asia, where most of the world’s poor live,” says Jiro Tominaga, the report’s lead author. “Take the quality of piped water: the better-off can always buy bottled water, but this is beyond the means of the poor.”

“Lenders for development such as ADB need to work with countries to weigh the benefits and costs to the affected communities of the infrastructure projects that they help to fund,” says Tominaga. 

The increased demand for better public services and social welfare programs from the many countries across the region that have transitioned to middle-income status over the past decades will continue to shape ADB’s agenda. In 2015, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Tajikistan moved from low-income to lower middle-income status, based on World Bank income measures. By 2020, ADB expects that Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka to reach upper middle-income status.  

The review found a significant improvement in operations outside ADB’s main focus on infrastructure, particularly in education and public sector management. It recommends that ADB continue its focus on infrastructure given its potential impact on economic growth and for promoting inclusive growth, but complement that effort forcefully in non-infrastructure areas. 

It also points to the benefits of due diligence in operations—projects with high environmental risks which require additional safeguards perform better than others. Similarly, projects involving development partners, cofinancing, and regional cooperation do better because of the greater care that goes into these efforts.

ADB lending for climate-change-related projects is set to double to $6 billion in 2020 from 2.8 billion in 2014, bringing support for climate change to about 30% of total lending. This laudable direction needs to be underpinned by strong institutional arrangements to achieve them. Climate change and environmental sustainability need to be at the center of ADB’s operational strategy for the institution to align itself with the global actions to respond to climate change and achieve sustainable development. 

“As the environment in which the Asia and Pacific countries operate changes, ADB also needs to change,” says the report, noting that the Sustainable Development Goals, the global climate change agreement, and the entry of two new lenders for development will affect the strategic direction taken by ADB, which is readying its long-term development strategy to 2030.

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Zika virus may have originated from Pacific Island canoeists

The Zika virus may have originated in Polynesia and been taken to South America by Pacific Island canoeing teams competing in Rio de Janeiro in 2014, new research has shown.

NZ Herald reports the study, published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, suggests the Zika virus sweeping through Latin America may have been introduced to Rio de Janeiro during the 6th World Sprint Championship canoe race in August 2014.

The race included teams from four Pacific countries French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Cook Islands and Easter Island where the virus circulated during 2014.

Zika is believed to cause defects in the brains of fetuses if women become infected during pregnancy.

As part of the study, researchers observed 119 Brazilian patients who tested positive for Zika. None of those studied had travelled in previous months, confirming the virus was acquired locally.

The researchers looked at 10 randomly selected positive samples and found similarities in the Brazilian strain of the virus and Asian strains.

Professor Michael Baker, of the University of Otago in Wellington, said the timing was plausible because of the intense outbreaks in 2014 in several Pacific countries and then a few months later that same virus in January 2015 in Rio.

“They speculate that there were quite large teams of canoers who came from Pacific specifically to Rio so it does seem like a plausible hypothesis.”

Professor Baker said although the hypothesis was speculative, it was a reminder of how easily viruses could “hitchhike” to different parts of the world.

“However, it is a reminder that emerging infectious diseases will frequently 'hitchhike' across the globe in infected humans, who may be asymptomatic [show no symptoms].”

University of Otago professor Philip Hill said the assertion that the virus had originated from the Pacific was purely speculation.

“My guess is that this study shows the virus they have found in this small population in Brazil likely originated from Asia-Pacific somewhere and it found its way into this group of people around 2014/15, but it could easily have started off in Asia a long time before then and come from another part of Brazil in 2014/15. You can't be more specific than that.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said the virus has been reported in 61 countries and territories, mostly in Latin America and the Western Pacific region.

Most people who get the virus have no symptoms. Others may suffer from a mild and brief illness, but infections in pregnant women have been strongly linked to fetal deaths and to potentially devastating birth defects such as babies born with abnormally small heads.

   
Source:
PACNEWS

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Warning in Tonga over eating hotdogs

A Tongan authority is warning consumers to take care when buying and eating hotdog, which is considered a high-risk food.

It said the hotdogs that were packed in plastic container in which the name Golden Maple is written on and were sold at retail shops were not fit for human consumption.

According to Kaniva News, the warning comes after some concerned consumers in Nukuʻalofa complaint that they found what appeared to be worms in the hotdogs when they cut them into pieces.

It was unclear whether or not the hotdogs were produced and packed in Tonga or they were imported into the country.

The Chair of the Tonga National Food Council, Mele ʻAmanaki has warned that the hotdogs were not fit for consumption.

“In my capacity as Chair of the Tonga National Food Council. I’m giving out this warning to all consumers in Tonga to please [do not eat] the hotdogs brand as shown in the photos below”, ʻAmanaki said.

The warning was issued with a notice of meetings with Chinese Ambassador at 2pm Monday as well as with the Chinese Business Association at 3.00pm.

The Consumer Affairs & Food Divisions of MCL & MAFFF are investigating the issue.

   
Source:
Kaniva News

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Pop Star Bitten By Cobra Sings On Before Dying

A pop star in Indonesia has died after being bitten by a cobra mid-performance on stage.

Irma Bule astonishingly carried on singing for a further 45 minutes before she collapsed in front of fans.

The 29-year-old is known for wearing snakes during her acts, but the cobra which she danced with on Sunday had not been defanged.

It is understood she was bitten after she stood on the snake during the gig in a village in Karawang, West Java.

Footage captured the moment the blonde singer was bitten.

Her body jerks and she momentarily stops dancing, sits down and is attended to on stage by a snake handler.

"The accident happened in the middle of the second song when Irma stepped on the snake's tail," Ferlando Octavion Auzura, who was in the audience, told local website merdeka.com.

"The snake then bit Irma on the thigh." He said the pop star refused treatment and carried on singing before she started vomiting and collapsed.

She was taken to hospital where she was later confirmed to have died.

King cobras are the world's longest venomous snakes and can be more than five metres long.

Source:
sky.com

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Stigmata case divides Samoans, expert attributes to religious stress, rapid social change

Rapid social change and the challenge of new religious movements to mainstream Christianity in Samoa may have played a role in a case where a young woman has developed wounds on her body similar to those portrayed in Christian scripture, an expert says.

Toaipuapuaga Opapo Soana'i, 23, developed the stigmata, as the wounds on her hands and feet are called, when she played Jesus in a Sunday school Easter play at the Congregational Church where her father is a minister.

The incident divided Samoans — some saw it as a miracle, while others said it was a hoax and suggested she needed psychological counselling.

Professor Paul Morris from the department of religious studies at Victoria University of Wellington said it was extremely unusual for stigmata to occur outside of the Roman Catholic Church.

"It is unusual... there are literally a handful of non-Catholic stigmata cases," Professor Morris told the ABC.

"But the Congregational Church — the largest in Samoa — has undergone tremendous pressure over the last 15 to 20 years from [other churches].

"In the history of stigmata incidents, they arise in a particular social reality and context and call those who are ebbing away from faith, back to faith.

"So in that way, it isn't all that unusual in terms of the context, but, she should be Catholic."

"Auto-suggestibility can lead to this physical transformation [stigmata]."

Religious studies Professor Paul Morris

But questions remain over what would be an appropriate response to the case.

"The first response must be that this is a breach of nature, and that it doesn't make sense," Professor Morris said.

But he said there was good evidence to see it not simply as a hoax, which is generally the norm.

"The other explanation is that it's psycho-somatic, that intensity of identification... where a young woman or man identify with Jesus to an extreme degree," Professor Morris said.

"This auto-suggestibility [can] lead to this physical transformation."

Professor Morris cited rapid social change and the challenges of religious security, which can catalyse "a call to faith", for reasons why it could have happened in Samoa.

   
Source:
ABC

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Fiji floods: One reported dead, one missing

One person is reported dead and another missing in the widespread flooding which has hit Fiji over the past two days.

The body of a 70-year-old man was found floating in the Sabeto River this morning, FBC News reported.

The broadcaster said the man was believed to have gone for an early morning swim.

A 19-year-old girl, meanwhile, has been reported missing after she was washed away by strong river currents last night.

More than 3500 people have moved to 79 evacuation centres in the north and west of the main island Viti Levu, as two tropical depressions to the west of Fiji continue to affect the country.

Authorities are warning people not to travel because of the risk of more heavy rain and flooding.

The town of Nadi has been under metres of floodwaters, and people throughout Fiji are bracing for more heavy rain and floods over the next 24 hours.

Parts of the country were already in a state of natural disaster after the country received a direct hit from Cyclone Winston six weeks ago.

Forecasters at the Fiji Met Office said Tropical Depression 16F, currently northwest of Vanuatu, could develop into a tropical cyclone overnight and move in an easterly direction towards Fiji.

Fiji has already been experiencing heavy rainfall from another tropical disturbance, 14F, which is currently over the country.

Forecasters said the new weather system could bring further heavy rainfall and strong winds overnight.

RNZI

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Fiji braces for Tropical Cyclone Zena, All Schools are closed today

There is a Tropical Cyclone Alert in force for the whole of Fiji.

Tropical Cyclone Zena is a category 2 cyclone that is expected to bring even more rain and strong winds.

Acting Director for the Fiji Meteorological Services Misaele Funaki says TC Zena is moving quickly at 80 km/hr.

“As of 6am this morning Tropical cyclone Zena was located approximately 740km to the West of Nadi it is moving towards the south east and it is a very fast moving system approximately 8okm per hour with the system moving very fast the alert which was previously for the Yasawa and Mamanuca group has been given warnings.

“There is a gale warning for Yasawa and Mamanuca group, for whole of Viti Levu for Kadavu and nearby smaller Islands. The Tropical cyclone alert has been in force for the Lau group in anticipation of tropical cyclone Zena coming in very close to our area and then it starts affecting areas under gale warning from this evening.

“Because of the heavy rain which you have experienced for the 12 hours, river levels are rising and flood warnings remains in force for most of major rivers along the western division. These areas include Nadi town, Rakiraki town, Nadi River, Rewa River and Semo River as well,” sai Funaki.

Meanwhile, all schools in Fiji will be closed today due to the Tropical Cyclone Zena.

Education Minister Dr Mahendra Reddy has told FBC News that all schools across the Western, Northern, Central and Eastern divisions have been directed to close because of the cyclone alert.

Parents and guardians are to monitor the weather and radio reports for more information on the situation.



SOURCE: FBC NEWS

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Social gap between Papua and other regions still exists

Jayapura: After almost 16 years, the Special Autonomy Law has not solved the social gap between Papua and other regions in Indonesia.

The Special Autonomy Law is also a materialisation of the highest recognition from the Indonesian Government towards Papuan people, especially the indigenous people.

It is expected to provide opportunities and broaden the participation of indigenous Papuans in all areas of development. However, in reality, many Papuans believed it has not achieved its purpose. But Papua Governor Lukas Enembe wanted to retain it.

The Second Secretary of Papua Customary Council, John NR Gobai said the authority of Special Autonomy Law wasn’t running optimal because of overlapping rules or double standard.

“We are really different with Aceh, for instance in the use of full authority of Special Autonomy. In Papua, it is not firmed, and so many interventions from the Central Government to Papua,” he told Jubi in Abepura last Saturday (2/4/2016).

According to Gobai who also the Paniai Regional Customary Council Chief, each Perdasus (Special Regional Regulation) or Perdasi (Provincial Regulation) always need to be consulted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, therefore speaking on Papua Special Autonomy is clearly to be cut by the Central Government.

He said the Central Government believes in ‘spies’ in Papua than the Regional Government. He gave example on the conflict of mining permits that are still overlapping between the authority of Papua Governor and the regents.

“It is happening because of the appliance of two regulations, namely the Law of Regional Government and Special Autonomy Law in Papua Province,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian councillor of Papua representative, Rev Charles Simaremare, firmly said in line with the rejection of Special Autonomy by Papuan people and Papua provincial civil servants happened because the implementation of Papua Special Autonomy was not run properly. The authority has not been fully given to the Provincial Government as the administrator.

As its reference is not clear, he added, many Special Regional Regulations are certainly not running yet.

“Because if talking about Papua Special Autonomy, it should involve a huge authority and the important role of people also needs to be improved to prosperity,” he said. (Abeth You/rom)
Source:
West Papua Daily

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Young Samoan woman testifies to Easter weekend miracle

A young woman from Siufaga, Falelatai is claiming an Easter day miracle in what many bible scholars are describing as a sign of the times.

Toaipuapuaga Opapo says she has been experiencing the changes in her body since the Easter preparations began.

These changes were not easy to look at. She bled from the palm of her hands, and feet, her forehead bled with scars like those on the head of Christ on the day of his crucifixion.

"I have been having visions and I’ve seen things for the last week that I know are signs from God himself," she said.

Opapo enacted Jesus crucifixion during her youth group’s performance on Good Friday and during the play, she bled and started having scars similar to what Jesus had.

Pictures and testimony from her father who is a church minister for the EFKS church in Siufaga Falelatai showed the incredible marks on her body.

"I am a sinner just like you, but this sign and these marks on my body are a way to tell me that Jesus is the greatest healer," she said.

"I told my parents that on Friday I will be suffering a lot from the ordeal, and on Friday during the play I started bleeding, and I truly believe these were signs," she added.

Opapo believes the experience she went through, is a reminder to Samoa and she gladly bears a witness to his messages.

So what better way to spread the message than through the media.

Opapo’s story has been broadcast on television as well as radio and printed in the newspaper.

While there has been no official explanation about Opapo's condtition, her story of a miracle is also generating a lot of interest on social media.

Loop Samoa

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Tribute to the victims of the terrorist attacks that hit Brussels on March 22

Following the tragic events in Brussels, as an expression of solidarity with the people of Belgium all flags of the European Union worldwide have been raised at half-mast.

Furthermore, the Delegation of the European Union to Papua New Guinea, on behalf of the people of Belgium, has opened a book of condolences at its premises, BSP Haus, 6th floor, Harbour City, Port Moresby from Tuesday 29 March to Wednesday 6 April, from 8:30am to 4:30 pm.

The European Union would also like to thank the Government and the people of Papua New Guinea, as well as the diplomatic missions and international organizations for their messages of support to the victims and the people of Belgium with whom our thoughts are with.

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Pakistan suicide bomber strikes public at least 65 dead

A suicide bomber has killed at least 65 people and injured more than 300 others — mostly women and children — at a public park in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

The blast occurred in the parking area of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park — situated at the heart of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's political base of Punjab — a few metres away from children's swings.

The Taliban faction Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it targeted Muslim Pakistan's small Christian minority.

Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation of 190 million people, is plagued by a Taliban insurgency, criminal gangs and sectarian violence — Punjab is its biggest and wealthiest province.

Eyewitnesses said they saw body parts strewn across the parking lot once the dust had settled after the blast, which struck in a busy residential area during the Easter holiday weekend.

"When the blast occurred, the flames were so high they reached above the trees and I saw bodies flying in the air," said Hasan Imran, 30, a resident who had come to Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park for a walk.

Officials said 65 people were killed and about 300 wounded.

"Many are in operation theatres now being treated and we fear that the death toll may climb considerably," Salman Rafique, a health adviser for the Punjab provincial government, said.

Mustansar Feroz, police superintendent for the area in which the park is located, said "most of the dead and injured are women and children".

The United States, a strategic ally of Pakistan, condemned the attack.

"We will continue to work with our partners in Pakistan and across the region ... to root out the scourge of terrorism," White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

Media footage showed children and women crying and screaming and rescue officials, police and bystanders carrying injured people to ambulances and private cars.

Dozens of women and children were seen being wheeled into hospitals, covered in blood. Many of the injured were transported to hospitals on taxis and auto-rickshaws due to a shortage of ambulances.

Hundreds of citizens arrived outside hospitals to donate blood.

Local television channels reported that many of the bodies were being kept in hospital wards as morgues were overcrowded.

"We were just here to have a nice evening and enjoy the weather," Nasreen Bibi said at the Services Hospital, crying as she waited for doctors to update her on the condition of her two-year-old injured daughter.

"May God shower his wrath upon these attackers. What kind of people target little children in a park?"

Soon after the attack, the Punjab Government ordered all public parks to be closed and announced three days of mourning in the province. The main shopping areas were shut down and many of the city's main roads were deserted.

The army was called in to control crowds outside the park. Some distraught, sobbing relatives clashed with police and rescue officials.

Punjab has traditionally been more peaceful than other parts of Pakistan. Mr Sharif's opponents have accused him of tolerating militancy in return for peace in his province, a charge he strongly denies.

Last year, a bomb killed a popular Pakistani provincial minister and at least eight others when it destroyed the minister's home in Punjab.

Source: Reuters

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Palau President declares state of emergency

Palau President Tommy Remengesau on Tuesday declared a state of emergency after severe drought continues to affect the island nation.

“The declining water levels caused by this drought seriously threaten the availability and quality of potable water,” Executive Order No. 389 issued by the president which declares a state of emergency due to extreme drought.”

Water shortage in Palau worsens as the Palau Public Utilities Corporation (PPUC) shortened the water supply starting March 19 from 10 hours since it implemented it on March 12 to six hours last March 21 everyday in Koror and Airai States.

The water levels of the Palau reservoir is going down on a critical level due to lack of rain.PPUC said that during a short period of rains on March 16, 2016 water levels gained about 3 feet but then dropped again back to 1.5 feet  Average consumption is about 125,000 gallons per hour or 625,000 gallons every five hours.

Remengesau in his executive order said the drought is also affecting others states of Palau and that the Ministry of Health fears that the water shortage continues to cause health implications to the public through food and water-borne illnesses.

The water shortage has also affected schools and hospitals and the power system, which are dependent on water supply to function.

The president is now awaiting approval from Palau Congress. The president upon approval will have 10 days to assume power and tap into funding to address the crisis.

In an earlier statement Remengesau said Palau would into desalination system as an alternative source of water supply.


SOURCE: TIA BELAU

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