PINA

Papua New Guinea is set to make history by entering the NRL competition in a $600 million (US$405 million) expansion coup for rugby league. This masthead can reveal the federal government has reached an in-principle agreement with the ARL Commission as prime minister Anthony Albanese backs a 10-year funding plan for PNG to become the NRL’s 19th team. As first revealed...

Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has raised concerns about persistent maladministration within the Fiji Rugby Union following recent tensions involving former Flying Fijians captain Waisea Nayacalevu and the union. Rabuka says that when issues of mismanagement at last year’s World Cup first came to his attention, he recognized ongoing administrative problems within the FRU. Waisea Nayacalevu had made claims about corruption...

An incredible lift by young John Tafi in the 73kg weight category secured Samoa’s first gold at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships 2024 in Suva Fiji on Wednesday evening. John has also set a new Commonwealth and Oceania Record. His spot in the 2026 Commonwealth has also been cemented. A post made by the official Samoa Weightlifting Federation page states: “Glory goes...

The Pacific Meteorological Council (PMC) Meeting has made a return to its place of origin in Port Vila, Vanuatu for its Seventh Meeting in session, under the theme ‘At the frontline of weather climate, water and ocean action in the Pacific’. The meeting brings together Council members, development partners, CROP agencies, United Nations agencies, collaborating organisations and institutions on the...

Vanuatu has taken a bold step in the fight for environmental justice by renewing its push for the recognition of ecocide as an independent crime under the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Rome Statute. The Pacific island nation, which first proposed the idea in 2019, is leading the global call for stronger legal mechanisms to hold accountable those responsible for the...

Cook Islands wants to be the country that is at the forefront of the seabed minerals sector, declared Prime Minister Mark Brown. At the opening cocktail event for the 52nd Underwater Minerals Conference being held at the National Auditorium, Brown said “we want to be the country that knows the most about its ocean and its deep-ocean resources”. The cocktail event...

Solomon Islands Minister for Police National Security, Jimson Tanangada attended a ground-breaking ceremony of the China-Pacific Island Training Centre Complex (CPPTC) in Fuzhou, Fujian Police College, on 11 September 11 2024. This centre will allow Pacific Island countries to send in police officers to attend various training courses in China. Minister Tanangada, when delivering his speech on behalf of the eight...

By Nathan Cooper and Leilani Tuala-Warren The recent proposal by Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa to recognise ecocide as a crime against humanity is timely and could provide a global framework of accountability for environmental damage. Ecocide is defined as acts of “unlawful or wanton” environmental destruction, committed in the knowledge of their likely severe, widespread or long-term effects. Last week, the...

The Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) has shed light on an internal standoff that occurred just days before the Flying Fijians’ Rugby World Cup quarter-final against England, following allegations of corruption and delayed payments made by former captain Waisea Nayacalevu. In an official response, FRU is calling on Nayacalevu to provide specific evidence to support his accusations of corruption at the...

International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN) director general, Dr Grethel Aguilar, has called for immediate action to address the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change, highlighting the severe impacts already being felt in Oceania. Addressing conservationists, government officials, and IUCN members from across the region Monday, Aguilar emphasised that 2023 was a critical tipping point, with temperatures reaching...