French Pacific News in Brief for June 29, 2024

‘Aroha mai i Fenua’, Google

French Polynesia’s Reo Tahiti is one of several Pacific languages ​​now supported by Google Translate, the company announced.

The addition is part of a large global package covering approximately 110 languages ​​worldwide.

Photo: AFP

These include a list of Pacific languages, such as Reo Maohi (Tahitian) in French Polynesia, Chamorro spoken in Guam and the Mariana Islands of Rota, Tinian and Saipan, Marshallese in the Marshall Islands, Fijian, Tongan and Tok Pisin (widely spoken in Papua New Guinea, but also spoken in a slightly different form in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu).

The upgrade would rely on Google’s Artificial Intelligence tool PaLM 2 Google Translate Senior Software Engineer, Isaac Caswell.

It is said to include an estimated population of half a billion people who speak the newly introduced languages.

Until now, Google Translate included a list of the 133 most spoken languages.

The company plans to eventually publish a global list of a thousand supported languages.

2024 Olympics: French “dream team” of surfers announced for Teahupoo

(From left to right) Jérémy Florès, Joan Duru, Jacques Lajuncomme, Kauli Vaast and Vahine Fierro at a press conference in Paris on Monday, June 24, 2024
Photo: Outremers360

France this week presented its “dream team” to the media for the upcoming surfing event to be held in Tahiti as part of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The team, which will compete at Tahiti’s iconic Teahupoo (on the west coast of Tahiti), includes 22-year-old Vahine Fierro (born in French Polynesia, who made history in May 2024 by finishing first at the Tahiti Pro of the World Surfing League) and Johanne Defay.

The men’s competition will feature 22-year-old Kauli Vaast (also born in Tahiti) and 35-year-old Joan Duru.

Both Vaast and Fierro are widely considered favorites for the competition, which takes place at Teahupoo from July 27 to August 5, 2024.

Vaast grew up in Vairao, near the iconic surfing spot, and started surfing there at the age of eight.

Fierro, now called “The Queen of Teahupoo,” started surfing there when she was 15.

The introduction, which came as no surprise, was made Monday during a press conference at the headquarters of the French National Olympic Committee in Paris by the president of the French Surfing Federation, Jacques Lajuncomme.

“This is the most beautiful team we could ever have dreamed of,” field manager Jérémy Florès said on Monday.

Tahiti prison will have to provide hot water according to court order

Nuutania Prison, French Polynesia
Photo: Delivered

Tahiti’s main prison, Nuutania, must install hot water for all inmates within the next two years, an administrative court in Papeete ordered this week.

The complaint came from the French Polynesia Bar Association, which had initially asked the court to order that the prison simply be closed.

Although the judge denied the request for closure, he did agree that the lack of hot water in the inmates’ showers was a concern and therefore needed to be addressed.

The prison has often been the focus of intense criticism over living conditions, including overcrowding and a desolate state.

French Polynesian selected to restore historic Air Force One in Seattle

The Museum of Flight’s Restoration Center and Reserve Collection in Seattle
Photo: Delivered

A French Polynesian specialist has been selected for the first time to join a team of volunteer detailers restoring vintage aircraft, including a decommissioned presidential Air Force One plane.

Self-taught 38-year-old Taianui Goubrey, whose profession is ‘detailing’ (renovating) old cars and boats, told Tahiti Nui Television One of his assignments will be to work on the first presidential aircraft, initially known as SAM (Special Air Mission) 970.

Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon were once transported here.

While working at the Restoration Center and Reserve Collection of the Museum of Flight in Seattle (USA), Goubrey will also be deployed on other ships, including a Concorde G-BOARG Alpha Golf, the first editions of the Boeing 727 and the Boeing 747, a Lockheed 1049G Super Constellation Connie and a B-29 Superfortress T Square 54.

The Museum of Flight’s Restoration Center and Reserve Collection is a 240,000-square-foot facility where volunteers restore aircraft to exhibition quality.

New Caledonia unrest on agenda for New Zealand regional tour

Photo: RNZ/Samuel Rillstone

The current unrest in New Caledonia will be on the agenda of a New Zealand-led high-level political delegation touring the Pacific next week, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said on Thursday.

Peters will lead “a high-level political delegation to the Solomon Islands, Nauru and Niue” from July 1 to 6.

The deputy prime minister added in a statement that “important regional issues are on the agenda, including events in New Caledonia.”

New Caledonia has been experiencing severe and devastating political unrest since riots and violence broke out in mid-May, causing widespread destruction, arson, looting and roadblocks. Damage is estimated at around €1.5 million and nine people have died.

This also caused a previously planned visit by Peters to New Caledonia, as part of another regional tour, in May, to be postponed forever. Peters has since consistently expressed his “strong concern” and called for “cool heads, wisdom (…) peace, calm and open dialogue on all sides” regarding the situation in the French Pacific archipelago.

More than 3,500 French security forces are stationed there, still trying to restore public order and suppress the quasi-insurgent situation.

“We look forward to engaging with the political leaders of Solomon Islands, Nauru and Niue next week, in the context of urgent developments and strategic challenges in the region.

Mr Peters is accompanied by Minister for Police, Emergency Management and Reconstruction Mark Mitchell; Chair of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee (FADTC) Tim van de Molen; FADTC members Damien O’Connor and Teanau Tuiono; and Chair of the Labour Pacific Caucus Jenny Salesa.