Honiara

Lavalou fought fairly and squarely defeating his New Caledonian opposition in the finals, before taking on the Tahitian opponent in the semi-final where he suffered defeat through a miscount by the technical officials.

Lavalou said: “I fought well in the first quarter. In the second quarter, I scored many points but the points were registered against the name of my opponent.”

“If the score was recorded correctly against my name, I would have gone all the way to defeat Niue in the in the Gold medal play-offs,” stated Lavalou.

In a press conference, he highlighted the successful hosting of the event and discussed crucial bilateral meetings held during his visit.

Marape revealed that before his departure, he engaged in significant bilateral discussions with the President of Palau and Solomon Islands Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare. These discussions focused on reinforcing mutual support and cooperation between the nations.

They were deployed one month prior to the games to join forces with the Solomon Islands and other Pacific Island countries to ensure the game is conducted safely. 

Speaking during a press conference in Honiara recently, the Contingent Commander for the 17th Pacific Games, John Sagom said the RPNGC is set and ready to assist the Solomon Islands Police Force to mitigate any uprising crime that may occur during the games.

They now join the advance team that arrived last Friday, November 10th.

Team PNG consists of 483 athletes and 22 team officials who will compete in 21 different sports during the games.

Chef De Mission (CDM) Faye Zina Lalo, who led Team PNG's first contingent yesterday expressed her excitement.

“Today marks my third visit to the Solomon Islands, and I’m thrilled to be here with my team for this year’s games in Honiara.

More than 200 new cases were recorded over the weekend with the Prime Minister warning that case numbers would climb as testing continues.

Health Minister Culwick Togamana told the ABC that authorities were facing a major challenge to contain the outbreak.

“The COVID-19 community transmission occurred before we detected the first case, it has already spread,” said Dr Culwick.

He said the country could only do 180 tests every 12 hours and modelling showed that cases could be in the thousands.

Solomons Business Magazine reports after two years of keeping the virus from entering the community, Sogavare pronounced in his much awaited special address after 10am today that the virus has finally entered the community.

Yesterday Sogavare announced that there was a community transmission in Pelau in Malaita Outer Island after a PNG medical illegally crossed the border from Mortlock Island to attend a wedding on “our side of border.”

Six people in the remote atoll of Malaita Outer Island were tested positive for the virus according to the report by SBM.

“I must make it very clear here that no one is above the law,” Commissioner Mostyn Mangau said.

Mr Mangau added “We are expected to live and make decisions within the principles of the rule of law regardless of our positions in our society. I therefore forewarned that if anybody is found in breach of such illegal activities, Police will not hesitate to arrest and deal with him/her.”

A protest on Wednesday calling for the Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to step down lapsed into major unrest and three days of rioting.

A police forensic team are on the ground and investigations are underway.

A spokesperson said they are yet to confirm the identities of the bodies.

Local reports say the remains are of some of the looters trapped inside the building.

Most of the rioting and looting took place in Chinatown, and RNZ Pacific correspondent there said only six buildings are left standing.

Photo RNZ Pacific 

In a statement on Friday the government said the lockdown was necessary given the surge of the deadly COVID-19 delta variant globally.

It said this was especially important as the country prepares for a limited re-opening of incoming flights which have been suspended for weeks because of worsening delta outbreaks in neighbouring countries.

It said Cabinet has approved the trial of the revised Lock-down plan for the Honiara Emergency Zone through a 36-hour lockdown from 6pm on Sunday 29th August to 6am Tuesday 31 August 2021.

The primary to high school students welcomed the 2018 Melanesian Arts & Cultural Festival participants in true Pacific style contemporary fashion with an homage to the Melanesian spirit of unity and peace.

Each body was decked up in gold, white and green – symbolic to the festival host.

Participants watched in awe as they wowed the crowds at Lawson Tama on Sunday during the festival’s opening ceremony.