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Pago Pago, American Samoa— The Samoa national rugby team has withdrawn from the Northern Hemisphere tour citing “significant financial challenges” and to “avoid the embarrassment of becoming the first minor league to go bankrupt”.
In a letter dated July 11, 2024 and seen by Radio Pacific New Zealand, Rakapi Samoa board chair Tu’ilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi wrote to World Rugby chairman Sir Bill Beaumont saying the decision “stems directly from the significant financial challenges currently facing Rakapi Samoa”.
The former Samoan Prime Minister said: “Our commitment to rugby and our desire to compete at the highest level remains unwavering. However, the financial realities we face require us to approach international affairs with greater caution to ensure the long-term sustainability and stability of Rakapi Samoa.
He added: “This is a vital decision to prevent a similar situation to what happened to the Rakapi Samoa Union from happening again and to avoid the embarrassment of being the first small union to go bankrupt.”
The letter said Rakapi Samoa had “tried very hard” to follow good governance practices, but a lack of financial support had hampered their efforts.
“…the lack of sponsorship from small economies is the biggest challenge preventing us from growing and sustaining the sport.”
Rugby is Samoa’s national sport, with approximately 5,000 active players in the country’s population of 200,000.
The Samoa national rugby team or Manu Samoa is ranked 13th in the world.
(Pacific Radio New Zealand)
Olympic surfing champion
French Polynesian lad Kauli Vaast made history in Te Ahupo when he won Olympic gold in the men’s shortboard final at the 2024 Paris Surfing Competition.
According to France 1 Radio, 22-year-old Vast from Tahiti defeated Jack Robinson of Australia to become France’s first Olympic surfing champion.
Waster grew up in Mahena (near Teahupo’o) and began surfing there at age four, immediately becoming known as the “King of Teahupo.”
He became the first French Polynesian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal for France – and added 13 more to the host nation’s total at the Paris Games.
“Ever since I was a kid, I knew I wanted to do a lot of things in this wave,” said Wast. Tell Before the game, Olympics.com.
“It’s a dream for me. I’ve always dreamed of competing here and winning there. It’s still in my mind, a dream. I’m going to work hard for it,” he said.
As fans and supporters began celebrating in Tahiti, Vast’s mother, Natou, told local media that she usually does not watch her son’s games because of the associated stress.
“But when he was playing in Tahiti, I was just out gardening in the backyard and I knew when I heard the neighbors cheering”.
Earlier on Tuesday (Monday Tahiti time), in the women’s event, France’s Johanne Defay won bronze and made history by winning the first medal in the history of Olympic surfing.
(Pacific Radio New Zealand)
Guam primary
Guam held its primary election on Saturday.
Despite a registered electorate of over 60,000, turnout was low, with just over 31 percent voting.
Polling stations were located in 19 villages across the U.S. territory.
According to the Guam Election Commission Informal resultsamong the Democratic candidates, the most popular candidates are Therese Terlaje (9321), Chris Barnet 8405), Joe San Agustin (8183) and Tina Muna Barnes (7851).
Republican candidates who received the most votes included Tony Adda (3,533), Sabrina Salas-Matanane (3,174), Frank Blass (3,099) and Jesse Lujan (3,068).
Indigenous Chamorro voter Larry Dahilig told RNZ Pacific veterans care affected how he voted.
“I’ve been voting since I got out of the U.S. Navy, which is 20 years of service, but it’s always good to get out and vote because there are always issues that come up,” he said.
He said health care on Guam is so poor that veterans have to travel off island to Hawaii for better care.
Guam’s general election will be held on November 5, and voters will choose the island’s governor, a non-voting representative to the U.S. House of Representatives, the attorney general and all fifteen members of the territorial legislature.
The purpose of primaries is to thin the number of Democrats and Republicans in the general election — which makes the primary a party choice.
(Pacific Radio New Zealand)
Fijian Constitution
Fijian Prime Minister Sitiweni Rabuka has reportedly confirmed that the Fijian government has begun laying the groundwork for amending the country’s constitution.
The 2013 Constitution has been criticised by political commentators and opponents of the former Fiji First Government, including Rabuka, who argued that “Imposed on the people”.
That view was strongly opposed by former leader Frank Bainimarama, currently serving a one-year jail term for abuse of power, who insisted the document was common to all Fijians. “Equal rights, equal votes of equal value and the same national identity”.
However, Rabuka’s People’s Alliance Party (PAP) 2022 Election Manifesto The constitution “contains numerous limitations that render it incompatible with international human rights law.”
“The government is in the process of preparing legislation or introducing a bill to Parliament to start the (amendment) process,” the Prime Minister said in a report by the Fiji Sun on Monday.
He told the newspaper that the constitution gave the country’s prime minister and attorney general “unusual” powers.
Fiji has had four constitutions: in 1970, 1990, 1997 and 2013.
in a A public lecture held at the Fiji National University last ThursdayAustralian academic Anthony Regan said the Fijian government could take legal action to amend the 2013 constitution, and said a review was necessary.
“I know that there are so many constitutions in the world today, but there is no constitution about the best path for the future,” Reagan said.
Rabuka told the Fiji Sun he welcomed Regan’s comments.
“It’s an eye-opener for a lot of people, but it’s something most of us have been thinking about,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.
The Fiji Times editorialised on Sunday that Reagan’s comments about the need for a review of the 2013 constitution “will undoubtedly stimulate discussion on this important topic”.
“He therefore believed that the Constitution, if left to its present state, would be liable to abuse by future governments,” wrote Fred Wesley, the paper’s editor.
(Pacific Radio New Zealand)
Maui Wildfire
This week marks the one-year anniversary of the Maui wildfires, and the county has announced a series of events to honor the 102 people killed and two missing.
The four-day event — Kuhinia Maui — will be held from August 8 to 11.
It will host a series of community events in hopes that the people of Maui can come together to pay their respects and mourn their losses.
“Kuhinia Maui is named after a traditional Maui chant that proudly describes Maui’s unparalleled beauty and bounty, and emphasizes that Maui and its people will recover from tragedy,” said Maui Mayor Richard Beeson.
Some highlights on the agenda include musical performances at local schools and the Civic Center, prayer groups, luncheons and boating activities along the Lahaina coast.
“Our community is strong when we are able to support each other,” Beeson said. “I am grateful to those who have participated and helped organize so many gatherings to give our community the opportunity to care for and check in on one another during this week of remembrance.”
(Hawaii News Now)
Animals on Earth
Research from the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the Smithsonian Institution has proposed a whimsical idea to protect Earth’s animals in the event of a global disaster – storing their cells on our lunar companion.
published in Biology A roadmap for establishing a biobank on the Moon is outlined.
“Initially, the lunar biobank will target the most endangered species on Earth today, but our ultimate goal is to cryopreserve most species on Earth,” said lead author Mary Hagedorn, a cryobiologist affiliated with the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. “This is to help offset natural disasters and potentially enhance space travel.”
The study was conducted by scientists from the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and the Smithsonian in collaboration with researchers from the National Ecological Observatory Network, the Consortium for Atmospheric Research, the University of Minnesota and Harvard Medical School.
The idea was inspired by the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway, which holds more than a million frozen seeds and provides a backup for Earth’s crop biodiversity.
Preserving animal cells requires low temperatures that do not occur naturally on Earth, as low as -320 degrees Celsius.
The team successfully cryopreserved skin cells from a reef fish called Asterropteryx semipunctatus, which lives in Hawaiian waters. These are the first samples made for the lunar biobank, which is now being stored at the Smithsonian.
The idea was inspired by the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway, which holds more than a million frozen seeds and provides a backup for Earth’s crop biodiversity.
The samples could be stored underground or in thick-walled buildings made of lunar rock to block DNA-damaging radiation from space.
The researchers envision building a lunar biobank as a public entity, including public and private funding sources, scientific partners, and national and public representatives, with a cooperative governance mechanism similar to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
(Big Island News Now)
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