PINA

New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has stayed out of the ugly foreign policy questions hanging over the Indo-Pacific in her first significant foreign policy speech of the year. The big immediate question hanging over New Zealand foreign policy, whether New Zealand will sign up to pillar two of Aukus, didn’t get a mention, but Mahuta addressed head-on other concerns...

More voters in the Solomon Islands would choose a republic in a referendum tomorrow than would stay with the Crown, according to new research from Lord Ashcroft Polls – while most in Papua New Guinea and Tuvalu say they would vote for their countries to remain constitutional monarchies. People in the Solomon Islands said they would vote to become a...

Government is enjoying a “honeymoon” period with the media, says Dialogue Fiji executive director Nilesh Lal. As one of the panelists during an event marking World Press Freedom Day at University of the South Pacific (USP) Wednesday, Lal said the repeal of the Media Industry Development Act (MIDA) 2010 had led to the media industry being free from the restrictive...

The development of an El Niño climate pattern in the Pacific Ocean this year is more and more likely, with dangerously high temperatures and extreme weather events expected, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Wednesday. El Niño and La Niña are natural phenomena which WMO describes as “major drivers of the Earth’s climate system”. After a three-year La Niña...

By Sera Tikotikovatu-Sefeti The move by some countries across the region to introduce laws and policies to limit media freedom is a direct breach of their legal obligations under the UN human rights treaties to protect and promote freedom of expression. That was the message from the regional representative of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Heike...

The Fijian Media Association (FMA) is calling on journalists to fearlessly pursue the truth and demand transparency from those in positions of authority. Emphasising the theme of this year’s World Press Freedom Day, which focuses on the critical role of free expression in promoting democracy and informing the public, the association stresses the vital importance of objective and accurate reporting...

The head of the Cop28 climate talks has called for “phasing out fossil fuel emissions”, teeing up a debate between governments over the role of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology in the fight against climate change. In a speech setting out his agenda for the talks in Dubai in December, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) climate envoy Sultan Al-Jaber...

North Fly MP James Donald has issued orders for Papua New Guinea police to shoot to kill people using his district for drug and gun trafficking along the PNG-Indonesian border. Donald said this after police in Kiunga raided Mepu village along the border, and arrested and charged three men from Hela for being in possession of 3.4kg of marijuana valued...

The potential benefits in a contested region extend far beyond a military need. By David Van  Other than times of extreme crisis, (e.g., the Second World War), neither Australia or the surrounding South Pacific region has been threatened with military coercion. But with changes in capabilities and posture, it is timely that Australia has in recent years again pivoted towards the...

Eighty years after intense battles were fought over the archipelago, Solomon Islanders are still regularly maimed and killed by ordnance By Nicola Smith, Asia Correspondent, Charley Piringi in Honiara and Harriet Barber  The excited chatter among a gaggle of children rose as a little boy suddenly came forward, arms outstretched, hands cupped under a corroding pineapple-shaped Japanese WW2 grenade. “I found...