PINA

Cuba stressed the importance of having multilateral ties with South Pacific Island States and reasserted its commitment to friendship and cooperation at the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Meeting, held in the Cook Islands. “Our links with the Pacific Islands are based on deep feelings of friendship, solidarity and brotherhood,” said the deputy minister of Science, Technology and the...

National Invasive Species Coordinator of the Tonga Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change and Communications (MEIDECC), Viliami Hakaumotu and has been honoured as the 2023 Battler of the Year. Described by David Moverley, SPREP Invasive Species Adviser, as one of the most eagerly anticipated events on the calendar, this year's Pacific Invasive Species Battler of the...

The 2019 Pacific Games Champion New Caledonia leads the 2023 Pacific Games medal tally at the end of the fourth day of competition in Honiara on Monday night. They took over from hosts the Solomon Islands late on Monday following their dominance in the pool, during the swimming competition. New Caledonia have claimed eight gold medals so far plus seven silver...

Solomon Islands' Golden Girl Jenly Tegu Wini claimed the first gold medals at the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara on Monday, claiming three gold medals in the weightlifting competition. She claimed the three gold in the women's 55 kilograms category. Wini, her country's flagbearer at the opening ceremony on Sunday, lifted 82kg in the snatch and 108kg in the clean and...

The Toua sisters put up a brilliant performance in weightlifting Monday for Papua New Guinea. Thelma and Dika competed in the 49kg category while Konio contested the 45kg class. They collected nine medals between them with three golds coming from Dika. Thelma got two silver medals and a bronze while Konio also won two silver and a bronze. Weightlifting has won another...

The partnership between the European Union (EU) and its 27 Member States, and the 79 Member States of the Organisation of African Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) was solidified with the signing of the Samoa Agreement in Apia, Samoa on 15 November. The historic signing ceremony a first to be held in the Pacific, was attended by more than 250...

By Nic Maclellan, in Waa wi Lûû, New Caledonia  As the bus traverses the Col des rousettes – a pass through New Caledonia’s central mountain chain – the guitars come out. Heading towards the east coast town of Waa wi Lûû (Houaïlou), the bus resonates to Kanak hymns, ‘Isa Lei Lia’ and ‘Three Little Birds.’ Music, song and poetry unite youth...

Small island nations, mainly in the Caribbean and Pacific, are most at risk from catastrophic damage caused by greenhouse gases, new research by Victoria University economics professor Ilan Noy and others concludes. Being a small island is a bigger risk factor than being in the poorest groups of nations, according to the working paper for non-profit think tank the Overseas...

Abandoned, Lost, Discarded Fishing Gear (ALDFG), also known as Ghost Gear, is one of the most harmful forms of marine debris devastating our Ocean. Studies have found that 640,000 tonnes of fishing gear, consisting of fishing nets, traps and fishing lines, are lost and abandoned in the Ocean, posing a major threat to marine ecosystems. The threat is not lost on...

Marshall Islanders go to the polls Monday 20 November following what may have been the quietest election campaign in the 44-years of constitutional government. But the muted campaign — there are no political parties in the Marshall Islands — might mislead observers to think this every-four-year election is of little consequence. On the contrary, the Marshall Islands is moving into...