PINA

Australia coach Eddie Jones has named La Rochelle second-row Will Skelton as captain of a young Wallabies squad for Rugby World Cup 2023. Three uncapped players, Issak Fines-Leleiwasa, Max Jorgensen and Blake Schoupp have been included in the 33-player squad, but there is no room for Michael Hooper or Quade Cooper. Only eight of the 33 players called up by Jones...

A motion of no confidence against Vanuatu Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau will now be debated next Wednesday, after the government didn’t appear at Parliament today, Twenty-five members of the Opposition camp attended Parliament’s second extraordinary session for the scheduled debate. The motion could not be debated because there weren’t enough members in attendance to form a quorum. The motion will now...

By Sera Sefeti The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) submitted its final report to Japan on 04 July on the safety of dumping treated nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean, saying the discharge proposal is consistent with relevant international safety standards. But the small island nations of the Pacific remain strongly concerned over Japan’s persistent intention to dump nuclear waste on...

We try bringing together Pacific people and groups, in unity and solidarity so that we have one united way against nuclear waste dumping, nuclear testing and addressing nuclear legacy issues in the Pacific. This was highlighted by Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) in Fiji Nuclear Justice campaigner Epeli Lesuma in an interview with fijivillage News about the environmental issues surrounding...

Prolonged tightening of monetary policy in neighbouring Australia and New Zealand will have a huge impact in the Pacific, including Fiji. This was revealed in a Pacific Economic Update report by the World Bank. These are measures that these two trading partners will use to address increasing inflation. World Bank Country Economist Reshika Singh says Pacific Islanders working in Australia and New...

By Richard Naidu An Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations has urged a key gathering of finance ministers from across the Pacific to form a “unified and strengthened Pacific” as a game changer in the struggle against the increasing weight of climate change and a new era of geopolitical jostling by global superpowers. Armida Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic...

Pacific activists and civil society presented a historic new climate finance initiative to the community of Kioa Island in Fiji this week. The Kato Pacific Community Climate Fund is a response to resounding cries from frontline communities that current climate finance is often inaccessible and insufficient. Ahead of the Pacific Islands Forum Economic Ministers Meeting in Fiji, Pacific civil society gathered...

Solomon Islands leader of Opposition Matthew Wale has apologised to the people of Solomon Islands on behalf of the people of Malaita province for what happened during the ethnic tensions. Speaking in Parliament on the Truth and Reconciliation Report (TRC) debate, Wale made the apology as a prominent Malaita leader and Member of Parliament for Aoke/Langalanga. “As an MP for Malaita...

Pacific leaders are concerned with the hypocrisy of the Pacific Islands Forum’s development partners. Fiji’s deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad and Pacific Islands Forum Chair Mark Brown shared these sentiments at a public seminar during the Forum Economic Ministers Meeting in Suva. Prasad said the words of commitment and the actions of these so-called partners are...

Three Members of Vanuatu Parliament (MPs) have withdrawn their support for the motion of no-confidence, according to the Parliamentary Speakers’ Office. These three MPs wrote letters Tuesday to inform Speaker Seoule Simeon of the withdrawal of their signatures from the motion against Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau. But the Speaker’s Office spokesman said although they wrote a letter to withdraw their signatures,...