PINA

By John Grady The Freely Associated States lying between Hawaii and the Philippines are crucial to the United States remaining a Pacific power, the special envoy to these three island nations said Friday. To China, the Republics of the Marshall Islands and Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia “are the Second Island chain” in defining its historic territorial claims across...

The fourth-ranked Fijiana Drua scored 20 unanswered points to stun the previous unbeaten Waratahs in a rematch of last year’s final. Centre Vana Arei scored a double, including the match-winner in the 69th minute to seal their place in the Final for the second straight year, The Waratahs looked like they were going to replicate their 31-5 victory from round three...

Tonga earned their third PacificAus Sports Netball Series title on the Gold Coast in Australia, beating Malawi by 13 goals in the final. The tournament at the Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre served as a warm up for this year's Netball World Cup in Cape Town, featuring Pacific nations and three African countries appearing for the first time. One of...

After six days of exciting competition in Stellenbosch, South Africa, the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series 2023 came to a climax at Markötter Stadium on Sunday with South Africa women and Tonga men being crowned overall tournament champions. South Africa women captured back-to-back gold medals with a slim 17-14 victory over Belgium thanks to a final minute try by Elizabatha...

A total of 1,167 Niuean voters get a chance to elect a new parliament this weekend. They will choose from the 17 candidiates lining up for the six common roll seats, while six of the 14 village seats have already returned MPs unopposed. One of those already back is the incumbent premier Dalton Tagelagi in Alofi South. Esther Pavihi, the head of...

Schools in Samoa have been closed for a further week as more than two thousand cases of the Influenza B flu have been recorded affecting mainly children. The public notice was issued Thursday by the Director of Education following a Cabinet directive to close all schools in order to curb the rapid spread of the virus and also to assist...

The Board of the Reserve Bank has approved further relaxation of exchange controls. This comes into effect from 01 June. Governor Ariff Ali said the changes are in line with the current strong performance of the economy and its favorable growth prospects moving forward. Ali said that over the years, changes to exchange controls were made progressively in a sequenced programme, simultaneous...

Joe Biden is set to become the first sitting U.S president in at least a century to visit Papua New Guinea, Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko said Thursday, revealing plans for a brief but symbolic trip. Biden plans to stop at Port Moresby in May as he travels between a G7 summit in Japan and a Quad summit in Sydney, Australia,...

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has met with Nauru President Russ in Brisbane. Prime Minister Albanese and President Kun discussed Australia and Nauru’s shared priorities for regional security, climate resilience and regional connectivity. Australia is supporting infrastructure projects in Nauru through the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific. These include Nauru’s Airport Refurbishment Project and the East Micronesia Cable Project. Prime...

Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr unveiled some of the details of the new economic package under the renegotiated provisions of the nation's Compact of Free Association with Washington. Palau stands to receive US$890 million in economic assistance from the U.S for the next 20 years. The Washington-pledged amount was more than double the price that was initially on the table,...