Vanuatu Financial News

climate change and help vulnerable nations fight its devastating impact. After years of lobbying by island nations who fear they could simply disappear under rising sea waters, the UN General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice last year for an opinion on «the obligations of States in respect of climate change.» Any decision by the court would be non-binding advice and couldn't directly force wealthy nations into action to help struggling countries. Yet it would be more than just a powerful symbol since it could be the basis for other legal actions, including domestic lawsuits. «We want the court to confirm that the conduct that has wrecked the climate is unlawful,» Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh, who is leading the legal team for the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, told The Associated Press.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing a money laundering and alleged forex violation case against Indian Premier League (IPL) founder Lalit Modi has recently sent a letter rogatory (LR) to Singapore and Hong Kong seeking details of the alleged money trail that the agency is investigating to trace the ultimate beneficiary, if any, sources in the know told ET. Between 2008 and 2010, Modi was the IPL chief before being sacked by BCCI after allegations of financial misconduct linked to alleged proxy ownership of the franchises surfaced.

The top United Nations court will take up the largest case in its history on Monday

Vanuatu on the map. He had never been there; probably, he never would. Until the other day, he had not heard about the country. Vanuatu sounded like a mystery land in a ‘guess the country’ game. Nonetheless, he and his wife are citizens of Vanuatu — an island nation in the South Pacific that few Indians knew two years ago. Today, many do. Vanuatu has emerged as the quickest and cheapest avenue to switch citizenship, grab a new passport. Competing with Cyprus and Malta — which are more expensive and time-consuming options — Vanuatu is among the very few countries where one can become a citizen without ever visiting it. FIRST SPEND A YEAR IN UAE

trips go as planned. We were the last flight to touch down before the airport closed for an indefinite period. But driving down to Noumea, capital of New Caledonia, a French territory comprising dozens of islands in the South Pacific, we were still blissfully unaware of this. For nearly two weeks, we would sleep with the sonorous drone of choppers circling over our Hotel Le Paris, and we had no way of leaving the island. A state of emergency had been declared, a strict curfew imposed, and no restaurants or shops were open for business. Had we greedily ignored the warning signs? From East Timor we had planned to travel to Vanuatu via Sydney. But then Air Vanuatu announced its bankruptcy and cancelled all fights. Since we intended to travel onward to New Caledonia before returning to Singapore, we figured we might as well spend some extra time on Grand-Terre, the largest island in the Melanesian archipelago.

earthquake struck the South Pacific Island nation of Tonga on Monday, but there were no tsunami warnings or immediate reports of damage.The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 when it hit at 9:47 a.m. local time, the U.S.

Bengaluru weather: According to its website, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecasted the monsoon's arrival in Karnataka's capital of Bengaluru by June 13 or 14. Rainfall in the state is predicted to begin in the first week of June.CS Patil, a meteorologist at IMD Bengaluru told Times Now that monsoon has already advanced over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and is expected to reach the Kerala coast by June 1-2.

Air Vanuatu has filed for bankruptcy protection a day after it cancelled all international flights, stranding thousands of travelers

Air Vanuatu filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday a day after the South Pacific state-owned carrier cancelled all international flights, stranding thousands of travellers. The airline on Wednesday cancelled more than 20 flights to and from the Australian cities of Sydney and Brisbane, and the New Zealand city of Auckland for the rest of the week. The airline said it was the result of «extended maintenance requirements» on their aircraft. Ernst & Young Australia's Morgan Kelly, Justin Walsh and Andrew Hanson were appointed liquidators in an equivalent of a US Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the firm said in a statement. The liquidators said safety and maintenance checks would be made before normal operations resumed.

Vanuatu. Let’s be honest and there’s no shame here: you did not even know that this was a country. It’s a string of islands east of the northern part of Australia in the Pacific and its last recorded population was 3.27 lakh people. Of these about 50% are ruled out from this story by virtue of being male. Of the 1.6 lakh remaining, you can leave out another half on the basis that they would be either too young or old to make a cricket team. And so, from a potential pool of 80,000 (a generous estimate because not everyone is interested in one sport), emerges a team that was in contention for a berth in a World Cup comprising 10 teams from across the globe.

The central bank of the Pacific island country of Fiji has released a note to the public cautioning that cryptocurrencies and virtual assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether are not recognised as legal tender in the country.

Another international crypto exchange wants to gain a foothold in the elusive South Korean market, with a platform named Bitbest planning to launch in 2024.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed that the promoters of the Mahadev Book app made Rs 450 crore per month by offering illegal bets through a cache of online applications. In its prosecution complaint (PC), equivalent to a charge sheet, it said that a sizeable portion of the said amount has been invested in the Indian stock market through the Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) route. The ED, which has pegged the scam at over Rs 5,000 crore, has repeatedly summoned the main accused Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, even securing non-bailable warrants against them and writing to the nodal agency (the CBI) with a request to issue a Red Corner Notice against both.

Singapore police say they have uncovered more luxury watches, gold bars and other assets from a massive money laundering scheme that was busted last month, bringing the total amount of assets seized or frozen to $1.75 billion

Top local and international banks in Singapore have found themselves entangled in one of the city-state’s biggest money-laundering scandals, encompassing over $740 million. 

Hambantota port tops this list of eight international ports where China is most likely to land its second overseas base. China built a full-fledged naval base at Djibouti in the Horn of Africa in 2017.

greenhouse gas emissions, has led a successful effort to adopt a United Nations resolution that seeks a legal opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on states’ obligations to tackle climate crisis. This is a significant step towards holding polluting countries legally accountable for their contributions to climate change and the consequences of their inaction. However, despite the strides made by nations like Vanuatu, there is a clear inequity in how climate change affects the world.

G20 ministerial in Goa and Chennai, ministers from 14 countries including the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Vanuatu, Colombia, have under the banner of the High Ambition Coalition called on G20 hosts India and other members to agree on measures such as phasing out fossil fuel use to ensure that average increase in global temperature does not exceed 1.5°C compared to the 1850s. “We urge you, as leaders of the G20, to accelerate your efforts to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions, to expand your cooperation and lead the way in phasing out all fossil fuels and in transitioning to a green sustainable energy future where access to energy is guaranteed for all,” the ministers wrote in an open letter to the G20.

India has significantly improved its passport ranking by rising 5 spots from last years and is now ranked 80th in the latest Henley Passport Index. Owning to this, Indians can travel to 57 destinations completely visa free or visas on arrival arrangements.  However, it is to be noted here that India has scored poorly in mobility.

Astons, the world’s leading authority on residency and citizenship through investment, has examined the 13 new countries that are considering offering citizenship or residency by investment (CBI/RBI) programs and has selected the four that they feel offer the most alluring investment and lifestyle opportunities for investors.

It’s not every day that a country’s leader endorses a cryptocurrency project. Nayib Bukele, the President of orange-pilled El Salvador, was the first leader to endorse Bitcoin (BTC).