Type | Weekly newspaper |
---|---|
Founded | 2008 |
Language | French |
Headquarters | Port Vila |
L'Hebdo du Vanuatu is a ni-Vanuatu weekly newspaper. Launched on 11 December 2008, [1] it is the first newspaper in Vanuatu published exclusively in the French language. [2] [3] French is one of Vanuatu's three official languages, along with Bislama and English. [4]
The newspaper was launched by Gene Wong and Marc Neil-Jones of the anglophone Vanuatu Daily Post , [2] [3] [5] with support from the European Union and the French embassy in Vanuatu. [1] Its intended readership are francophone ni-Vanuatu, both in Vanuatu itself and in neighbouring, French-speaking New Caledonia. [1] It also covers news from both countries. [3]
The geography of New Caledonia (Nouvelle-Calédonie), an overseas collectivity of France located in the subregion of Melanesia, makes the continental island group unique in the southwest Pacific. Among other things, the island chain has played a role in preserving unique biological lineages from the Mesozoic. It served as a waystation in the expansion of the predecessors of the Polynesians, the Lapita culture. Under the Free French it was a vital naval base for Allied Forces during the War in the Pacific.
Vanuatu, officially the Republic of Vanuatu, is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is 1,750 km (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia, 540 km (340 mi) northeast of New Caledonia, east of New Guinea, southeast of Solomon Islands, and west of Fiji.
Vanuatu maintains diplomatic relations with many countries, and it has a small network of diplomatic missions. Australia, France, Japan, New Zealand, the People's Republic of China, South Korea and the United Kingdom maintain embassies, High Commissions, or missions in Port Vila. The British High Commission maintained a continued presence for almost a century, though closed from 2005 until reopening in 2019.
Nouméa is the capital and largest city of the French special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest Francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian, Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians, Ni-Vanuatu and Kanaks who work in one of the South Pacific's most industrialised cities. The city lies on a protected deepwater harbour that serves as the chief port for New Caledonia.
Franco-Columbians are French Canadians or Canadian francophones living in the province of British Columbia. According to the 2016 Canadian Census, 71,705 residents of the province stated that French is their mother tongue. In the same census, 388,815 British Columbians claimed full or partial French ancestry.
The United States and Vanuatu established diplomatic relations on September 30, 1986 – three months to the day after Vanuatu had established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. Relations were often tense in the 1980s, under the prime ministership of Father Walter Lini in Vanuatu, but eased after that. At present, bilateral relations consist primarily in US aid to Vanuatu, and are cordial.
Ralph John Regenvanu is a Ni-Vanuatu anthropologist, artist and politician. He has been a Member of Parliament since September 2008, was a member of Cabinet for most of the period from December 2010 to January 2012 and then from March 2013 to June 2015, and was the Director of the Vanuatu National Cultural Council from 1995 until December 2010.
Cuban-Pacific relations are diplomatic, economic, cultural, and other relations between the Cuba and countries situated in Oceania. In the 2000s, Cuba has been strengthening its relations with Pacific nations, which have, for the most part, responded favorably to Cuban medical aid in particular. The first Cuba-Pacific Islands ministerial meeting was held in September 2008 in Havana, with government members from ten Pacific countries—Kiribati, Tuvalu, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia and Papua New Guinea—attending. The meeting was a consolidation rather than a starting point of Cuban-Pacific relations.
The French Republic and the Republic of Vanuatu have long-standing bilateral relations which have varied over the years between tense and amicable. Vanuatu, then known as the New Hebrides, was a Franco-British condominium from 1906 to 1980, and maintained formal relations with both of its former colonial masters after gaining independence. Franco–Vanuatuan relations were rocked by a series of crises in the 1980s, and broke down completely on several occasions, with Vanuatu expelling the French ambassador in 1981, in 1984 and in 1987. Relations improved from the 1990s onwards and, today, France provides development aid to Vanuatu. The two countries also share amicable economic and cultural relations; both are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.
Robert F. Van Lierop is a United States and ni-Vanuatu lawyer, diplomat, political activist, filmmaker, writer and photojournalist.
The Republic of Vanuatu and the People's Republic of China (PRC) established official diplomatic relations on March 26, 1982. China established an embassy in Vanuatu in 1989, while Vanuatu established an honorary consulate in China in 1999; it officially became an embassy in 2005. The current Ambassador of China in Vanuatu is Liu Quan. The current Ambassador of Vanuatu in China is former Minister of Finance Willie Jimmy.
André Michel Rittie is a former Ambassador Extraordinaire and Plenipotentiary of Vanuatu. Ritte was formerly accredited as Ambassador to Morocco. He served as the official representative of Vanuatu with residence in Rabat.
The literature of Vanuatu, understood in the strict sense of written literature, began in the 1960s.
Love Patrol is a ni-Vanuatu television series. It is the first ever locally produced television series in Vanuatu. Produced by Wan Smolbag Theatre with financial assistance from AusAID, NZAID and the Asian Development Bank, it is a soap opera with a serious message, intended primarily to educate viewers on the topic of AIDS. It also tackles "youth unemployment, police brutality and the hypocrisy of keeping youth uninformed about sex". UNAIDS reported that it explores "the growing issues of high rates of STIs among young people, high teenage pregnancy, lack of discourse on sex and risk taking behaviours in [...] Pacific communities". It has been described as an "edutainment" series.
The Pentecost Star is a ni-Vanuatu weekly newspaper, issued on Pentecost Island. It was founded in August 2007 by Keithly Hango.
Patrick Joseph Manarewo Kalpuaso Crowby was a Vanuatuan politician.
Gilbert Đinh Văn Thân, more commonly known as Đinh Văn Thân, is a ni-Vanuatu businessperson and former politician. Ron Crocombe described him in 2007 as "perhaps the wealthiest entrepreneur and largest private employer in Vanuatu, and many say the most politically influential [...] citizen".
Paul Barthelemy Telukluk is a Vanuatuan politician.
Bertrand Patrice Charles Kaï is a New Caledonian international footballer who plays as a forward for Hienghène Sport and the New Caledonia national team. He is one of only two New Caledonians to be named Oceania Footballer of the Year.
The Republic of Vanuatu is an officially trilingual state in the western Pacific, the three national languages being English, French and Bislama. There is a diversity of newspapers, but only one, state-owned television channel. Private radio stations are a recent development; there were reportedly none in 2007.