PINA

Papua New Guinea Opposition has taken the U.S-PNG Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) to the Supreme Court to seek legal interpretation. Opposition Leader Joseph Lelang said that the Office of the Opposition filed a Supreme Court Reference pursuant to Section 18 of the Constitution, seeking the court’s interpretation as to the constitutionality of the DCA which Papua New Guinea entered into...

Japan has started releasing treated nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean on Thursday at 1pm Japan Time (4pm Fiji Time), despite diverse views and opinions both from Pacific and abroad. The Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) said it plans to carry out the first round of release continuously around the clock for...

Flying Fijians captain Waisea Nayacalevu and Semi Radradra will for the first time pair up in the midfield as Head Coach Simon Raiwalui named his match day 23-member squad for the match against England. This is the first time in this campaign the duo will feature together forming one of the lethal midfield pairs in the Flying Fijians backline. Raiwalui said...

Japan has begun discharging more than 1m tonnes of tainted water into the Pacific Ocean from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a move that has sparked protests and import bans from China and Hong Kong, and anger in nearby fishing communities. The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), pumped a small quantity of water from the plant on...

Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen has confirmed that he is getting good support from Pacific Climate Ministers as Australia bids to host the 31st Conference of Parties. The Australian Minister attended the Pacific Small Islands Developing State Dialogue on Climate Change and said he met some of the ministers who were present. Bowen said hosting COP31 will...

Fiji’s former Minister for Foreign Affairs has criticised Japan’s plan to release more than one million tonnes of treated nuclear wastewater from its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean. Ambassador Kaliopate Tavola expressed his disappointment, questioning why Japan did not take any alternative possibilities for the treated wastewater when its own fishing community were against the dumping...

Japan and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)’s reckless decision to discharge over 1.3 million tonnes of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into our Blue Pacific is a testimony to the dangers of nuclear power,” says Pacific Elders Voice. “No Pacific state is reliant on the nuclear power industry. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (NPS) meltdown disaster of 2011 is evidence of the...

Pacific Island nations should delay supporting Australia’s bid to host a United Nations climate conference until it commits to ending support for fossil fuels, according to a full-page ad taken out in The Fiji Times newspaper on Wednesday, timed to coincide with the visit of Australian Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen. “Today the Australian government will ask Pacific...

Robert Richmond, University of Hawaii Japan plans to dump treated, radioactively contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific but it could be used in other ways instead. When the earthquake and resulting tsunami hit Fukushima, Japan in 2011, it killed thousands and caused severe damage to a nuclear power plant, which required a constant flow of cooling...

Representatives from 15 Pacific Island countries revisited and restructured the Regional School Leadership Standards at the regional summit convened by the Pacific Community’s (SPC) Educational Quality and Assessment Programme (EQAP). The five-day Regional Summit on Advancing Resilience and Inclusion through Sustainable Leadership was opened by the Permanent Secretary of Fiji’s Ministry of Education, Selina Kuruleca who emphasised the importance of...