PINA

On Friday, 01 March, World Seagrass Day was celebrated in the capital of Fiji to emphasise the critical role of seagrass ecosystems in sustaining biodiversity and mitigating climate change. German Ambassador to Fiji, Dr Andreas Prothmann described seagrass as the "lungs of the ocean", stressed the significance of seagrass conservation for Pacific Island nations, particularly in sustaining coastal fisheries and...

The new prime minister in the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu said on Friday his country shares democratic values with Taiwan and reaffirmed that his government would maintain diplomatic ties with Taipei, ruling out a shift to Beijing. Prime Minister Feleti Teo spoke to The Associated Press via Zoom, his first interview with international media since his government took office...

U.S agreements with Pacific islands are set to expire this year and Hawaii’s congressional delegation is urging action. An impasse has exposed Hawaii’s financial burden in paying for assistance for legal migrants. U.S Rep Ed Case says after negotiations under two administrations, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Republic of Palau have signed agreements...

World Trade Organisation (WTO) members concluded the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi on 2 March with the adoption of a Ministerial Declaration setting out a forward-looking, reform agenda for the organisation. Ministers also took a number of ministerial decisions, including renewing the commitment to have a fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system by 2024 and to improve use...

The United Republic of Tanzania is all set to welcome ministers and attorneys-general, including from Fiji, to the Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting, which will open in Zanzibar on 4 March 2024. Held every two years, the meeting of law ministers is a leading platform for collaboration among the 56 Commonwealth countries, which share a common legal tradition. The theme of this...

A fractious meeting of world trade ministers in Abu Dhabi ended with little to show for the time and money spent early Saturday morning New Zealand time. Pacific Island nations were seeking at the WTO ministerial meeting to have the governments of the larger fishing nations stop or reduce the subsidies they pay their fishers. This did not happen but a...

On 15 January 2022, a massive volcanic eruption shook the small island nation of Tonga at a scale that the country hadn’t witnessed since 1883. The volcanic eruption was followed by tsunami waves which struck the west coast of Tongatapu, ‘Eua and Ha’apai islands. Two weeks after the volcanic eruption, Tonga detected cases of COVID-19 and initiated a response to...

By Shaun Burnie 70 years ago, on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, a thermonuclear weapon with codename Castle Bravo, exploded with an energy of 15 megatons. The mushroom cloud reached 40 kilometres into the atmosphere, resulting in thousands of square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean being contaminated by radioactivity. Its explosive yield was 1000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima...

Measles cases went up 255 percent from 2022 to 2023 in the World Health Organisation (WHO) Western Pacific Region, an increase caused by gaps in vaccination coverage and disease surveillance and travel of people from countries experiencing outbreaks. The Western Pacific Region had lower levels of measles infections in 2021 (1080 cases) and 2022 (1422 cases), but in 2023 cases...

Former Fiji 7s reps have now teamed up with one voice and are calling for the removal of current coach Ben Gollings. This follows our winless run after 19 tournaments as Gollings and the team have failed to deliver a Cup title. Fiji bowed out of the LA 7s quarter-final after going down 19-21 to Spain. Olympic gold medalists like Vatemo Ravouvou...