PINA

Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Security, Politics and Legal Affairs Wiranto – a former high-ranking military officer — has proposed an additional budget of 60 billion rupiahs (US$4 million) to fund diplomatic efforts related to the so-called “Papua problem”. The proposed budget would be separate from the Coordinating Ministry for Security, Politics and Legal Affairs’ (Kemenko Polhukam) annual budget. Wiranto said that...

While Parties to the 2015 Paris Agreement have taken widespread actions to address climate change and its impacts, ambition and implementation must be accelerated rapidly. Many creative and actionable solutions to overcome challenges are ready to be implemented, finds a key technical report on the global stocktake published Friday. The global stocktake was designed under the Paris Agreement to assess our...

Wales struggled to hold off fast-finishing Fiji to win 32-26 in the latest instalment of their entertaining Rugby World Cup rivalry on Monday. The pre-tournament hype around Fiji looked to be justified when Waisea Nayacalevu and Lekima Tagitagivalu scored classic Fijian tries from deep in the space of four minutes to vault their team into a 14-8 lead by the...

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape met with the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Leaders Summit Thursday. Amongst issues discussed by the two leaders was the issue of West Papua and the application by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (UMLWP) to become full members of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). A PNG...

Fiji's former prime minister Frank Bainimarama and suspended police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho will go to trial over corruption allegations. The charge being brought against Bainimarama is attempting to pervert the course of justice and Qiliho is charged with one count of abuse of office. The allegations are related to a complaint filed by the University of the South Pacific (USP) in...

Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna says the Pacific needs to move away from the heavy reliance on access revenues and move towards diversifying and future proofing the Tuna industry. In his keynote address Wednesday at the two days Pacific Tuna Forum in Port Moresby, Puna believes that the future of prosperity lies in our ocean – its fishery...

Amplified by wildfires and desert dust fanned by climate change, more frequent heatwaves are leading to a sharp drop in air quality and human health, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said in a new report on Wednesday. The news came as the UN chief released a strongly worded statement on a record summer of global warming in the northern hemisphere,...

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday condemned the opening of Papua New Guinea's embassy in Jerusalem as an “aggression” and a “violation” of international law. In a statement, the ministry termed the embassy opening as "an aggression against the Palestinian people and their rights." It warned that the move would cause "great harm to the chances of achieving peace on the...

A group of influential civil society organisations has called on the Export-Import Bank of the United States (U.S Exim) to reject an application to support a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Papua New Guinea. The Papua LNG project risks leaving “US$13bn in stranded assets without securing guaranteed sales”, according to Oil Change International, at a time when the Pacific...

The vote of no confidence to oust Tonga’s Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni was defeated in Parliament Wednesday afternoon with a vote of 14-11. The motion was submitted by 10 people’s MPs including two members of the nobility. The motion detailed a list of allegations against Hu’akavameiliku, mostly around government spending, mismanagement, lack of financial reports and non compliant activities surrounding...