Pacific colony votes to remain with France

Voters in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia opted to remain part of France on Sunday in voted in an independence referendum that President Emmanuel Macron welcomed as a ‘‘historic step’’. More than 80 per cent of the near 175,000 registered voters cast ballots despite a call to boycott the poll by some leaders of indigenous Kanak separatist groups. Some 56.4 per cent voted to stay French and 43.6 per cent for independence. Macron said he was ‘‘proud that the majority of Caledonians have chosen France’’.