PINA

BY INOKE RABONU In a stark warning highlighting the grave health risks posed by the Vunato rubbish dump, the Health Ministry has issued an urgent call for its relocation. In a statement issued in response to queries by the Fiji Sun, the ministry made an urgent call to the Ministry of Local Government to identify a new suitable waste disposal dumping...

World Rugby has published a landmark report looking at the projected impacts of climate change on the sport of rugby in an effort to raise awareness of the issue that is already affecting the game as whole. With the world heating up and likely heading towards a 1.5-degree increase in global average temperatures by 2026, the study demonstrates that consequences...

The three years that Fijian Drua coach Mick Byrne has spent with the players have taught him one valuable lesson. In Fiji, rugby is what you do and not who you are. Byrne said in some other countries rugby is who you are and not what you do. “The people of Fiji really show you what rugby means, I think we’ve all...

The U.S Missile Defence Agency (MDA) is proposing to launch the initial flight test of Guam’s missile defence system in the first quarter of fiscal 2025, which would be followed by annual tests in subsequent years. According to the MDA’s environmental assessment published today, the proposed action would include up to two flight tests or tracking exercises per year. They...

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has assured the nation that it will be “business as usual” when parliament sits today, dispelling speculation of an early adjournment to September to avoid a no-confidence motion against him. “For the Government, it will be business as usual. The Opposition has been sensationalising the vote of no confidence (without having the required)...

By Inoke Rabonu A five-to-seven-minute drive outside of Lautoka’s central business district, one would find the Vunato Rubbish Dump - a grim testament to the challenges of waste management in Fiji. What was once a small landfill in the midst of the country’s second city has now ballooned into a ‘50-acre’ of extensive expanse of trash. The journey to Vunato Dump is...

Leaders of island nations and territories in Micronesia gathered in Guam on Monday for the 26th Micronesians Islands Forum. Governor Lou Leon Guerrero welcomed the Federated States of Micronesia and its states, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the CNMI, Palau and Nauru. “Our islands may be small, but we are not. Like the Pacific Ocean, our resources are many and...

The official counting of votes for Vanuatu's inaugural Referendum commenced Monday, with the process overseen by Edward Kaltamat, Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), and Principal Electoral Officer (PEO) Guilain Malessas, and members of the EC and Electoral officials. Kaltamat and Malessas explained that the counting procedure for this referendum is different from normal elections. The Electoral Office and the EC...

UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell Monday opened the 60th Subsidiary Bodies session in Bonn with a clear and determined message. “People talk about the architecture of the Paris Agreement that all your nations collectively created and agreed. I prefer to think of its engineering,” Stiell stated at the opening meetings in Bonn. “The design phase is completed, and...

Pacific Islands Forum Chair and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown Monday welcomed the new Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum, Baron Waqa. “I am delighted to welcome the new Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum, Baron Waqa, as he begins his tenure at the Secretariat today” Brown said in a statement. Highlighting Waqa's experience, Brown noted, “A former...