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Vanuatu's climate change minister says the country is working towards having 100 percent of its electricity generated from renewable energy sources by 2030. And the prime minister also announced a number of new renewable energy projects that were in the pipeline for the country. Radio Vanuatu reported that at the commissioning of a new solar farm funded by the United Arab Emirates and New Zealand, Charlot Salwai spoke of another 1.5 kilowatt solar farm at Devil's Point.

Small nations keep leading the charge on ratification of the Paris Climate Change Agreement which opened for signing on April 22nd according to a climate change specialist. Of 197 countries that are party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, only 15 island nations and the state of Palestine have signed and ratified the agreement. The agreement itself will not enter into force until at least 55 countries have signed and 55 percent of global emissions have been covered.

Police in Papua have taken nearly a hundred people in for questioning amid accusations they had taken tailings from a mining site in Mimika. The Jakarta Post reports 21 people were still being questioned and are alleged to have trespassed onto the mine owned by US-based gold and copper mining company Freeport Indonesia. The paper reports the incident began when about 400 local residents tried to enter on Thursday morning, but they were blocked by around 120 security personnel.

The couple that successfully challenged Northern Marianas gun regulations say a request to intervene in their lawsuit can't be approved because the old law no longer exists. The legal action launched by US Navy veteran David Radich and his wife led to the CNMI's 40 year old Weapons Control Act being thrown out on constitutional grounds. The Act had prohibited non-law enforcement people from owning handguns but was deemed in violation of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution.