Stories from and

New Caledonia: Political Tension Grows Over Rights to Nickel Mines

  28 September 2012

Claudine WERY writes [fr] that political tension grows between independentist and non-indenpendentist political parties in New Caledonia over the exploitation of Nickel mines. Non-independentists accuse the other party to strike deals with China and South Korea that they are not authorized to pursue. A referendum on gaining independence from France is scheduled...

New Caledonia: Controversy around the 1988 Ouvéa Hostage Taking Movie

  17 November 2011

French filmmaker Mathieu Kassovitz's movie “L'ordre et la  morale” (“Order and morality”), that recounts the tragic 1988 hostage taking at the Ouvéa cave, is not welcome in New Caledonia. The blog Ecran Noir (‘Black Screen’) describes the local controversy around the film's release, here and here [fr]. After New Caledonia's one and...

New Caledonia: From Paris to Nouméa in a Microlight Plane

  28 September 2011

Two French microlight planes enthusiasts, aboard the microlight Spirit of Noumea, are planning to re-live French aviators Paul Klein and Henri Martinet's groundbreaking 1939 plane journey from Nouméa, New Caledonia, to Paris. Their journey can be followed on this map and is also documented via their diary [fr] on the project's site.

Papua New Guinea: AIDS patients buried alive.

  27 August 2007

Caledosphere links to an article in which people living with AIDS in Papua New Guinea (New Caledonia's neighboring country) were buried alive by their relatives because they could not afford their treatments and were also afraid of being infected (Fr).

New Caledonia: 6.65 Times More Expensive Than France

  9 February 2007

Expat French blogger Katuali complains (Fr) about the ridiculous markup in prices on French products in New Caledonia, an Oceanian island which is technically part of France: “That there be taxes and custom fees is fine but from there to selling a product 6.65 times more than what it costs...

New Caledonia: Lagoon as Potential World Heritage Site

  14 January 2007

5 Minutes en Nouvelle Caledonie writes (Fr): “France will present on January 31 at Unesco, a request that the Caledonian lagoon be made into a world heritage site. A joy for Caledonia which has been lobbying for this for a while … Final verdict June 2008. “

New Caledonia: At the Beach

  31 October 2006

Two Caledonia-based bloggers have been to the ocean this week and brought back breathtaking pictures too. Sebastien Merion has just (Fr)come back from a week-long sailing excursion that involved sun, rain, a stopover at the Goa isles but thankfully no brush-up with Hurricane Xavier. Meanwhile Katuali (Fr) went to the...

New Caledonia: Surfer Video

  25 September 2006

Sebastien from 5 Minutes en Nouvelle Caledonie posts (Fr) a video of surfers on the beaches of Meridien and Anse-Vata.

France, DOM-TOM: Victory against housing discrimination

  26 July 2006

Reunion-based Pierrot Dupuy, himself the father of a victim of housing discrimination in France announces (Fr) advocacy group CollectifDOM’s legal victory in the area of housing discrimination against French citizens from the French Overseas Departments and Territories (DOM-TOM) living in France. From here on, landlords can no longer ask for...

France: The Beginnings of Affirmative Action

  19 July 2006

Says (Fr) France-based Senegalese blogger Seckasysteme about the allegedly affirmative-action induced hiring and debut of Black French newsanchor Harry Roselmack on French national television: “Roselmack's (…) professional competence and the recognition he has earned from his peers is so obvious that even the detractors of affirmative action are starting to...

New Caledonia: Collecting Clothing for Local Tribe

  7 July 2006

Sebastien from 5 Minutes en Nouvelle Caledonie is (fr) officially collecting clothing for the local Koulnoue tribe at the request of one of its members. Interested potential donors should email him at sebastienmerion@yahoo.fr. He posts pictures of members of the tribe and promises to post regular updates of the tribe's...

French DOM/TOMs: Sarkozy-Led Convention

  4 July 2006

Jean-Claude Halley from Guadeloupe Attitude posts (Fr) an invitation to an upcoming convention on the issues of French overseas departments and territories (a.k.a. DOM/TOMs) organized by controversial French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and his UMP party. The invitation enumerates issues faced by the DOMs including unemployment, discrimination, social tensions, inadequate...

New Caledonia, Francophones and Cricket

  17 June 2006

Over at 5 Minutes en Nouvelle Caledonie, Sebastien who lives in New Caledonia but is originally from continental France writes (Fr) a post that shows how little cricket resonates with most of the French-speaking world : “While the world focuses on soccer, I want to introduce you to a less...

New Caledonia: Holidays Not Necessarily Days Off

25 May 2006

Notre vie a Noumea explains that although today was a holiday in New Caledonia, she did not take the day off. You see (Fr) “In New Caledonia, holidays are not necessarily days off. The employer can ask employees to come to work anyway. Every industry has 6 to 7 days...

Mauritius/New Caledonia: Bloggers Send Card to Newlyweds

  16 May 2006

Many GV readers were touched by this picture of New Caledonia-based blogger Sebastien's wedding to Annoella in Mauritius. This week the couple post additional pictures of their big day as well as a best wishes card signed by bloggers from around the world.