PINA

The sheer environmental degradation and considerable loss of life that followed Rio Tinto’s running of Bougainville’s Panguna gold and copper mine must rank it as one of the world’s greatest mining debacles. Seven years after Rio transferred its majority shareholding to the Papua New Guinea and Bougainville governments, and 25 years after the end of the civil war sparked by...

Four Pacific nations plan to mine the ocean for high-value metals, but seven other Pacific countries oppose deep sea mining, saying the untested industry could have catastrophic environmental consequences. By Lucy Murray Hundreds of billions of dollars is sitting in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, but the decision about whether to extract them is pitting neighbour against neighbour. Nuggets containing metals...

Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) President Ian Chesterman has been elected to the Executive Board of the Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC). Chesterman secured the position after beating three other candidates in a vote at the ONOC General Assembly in Australian city Brisbane. The annual meeting came at the end of a busy week in Brisbane where representatives from 17 National Olympic...

South Africa women and Tonga men took one step closer towards promotion by winning the opening tournament of the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series 2023 on Saturday at Markötter Stadium. Following three days of energy-sapping action in Stellenbosch, hosts South Africa dug deep to turn in an impressive performance in the women’s final, coming from behind to beat Belgium 17-10...

As James Cleverly took the rutted gravel road from the main airport of the Solomon Islands that leads to the prime minister’s residence, he passed under a flag bearing the red background and yellow stars of the People's Republic of China. It fluttered prominently on Thursday above the motorcade passing the construction site of a US$50 million (£40 million) stadium...

The United Kingdom's commitments to upholding human rights came under question on Monday over the West Papua issue, resulting in a heated exchange between a government representative and five members of the House of Lords in the Upper Chamber of the British Parliament. The exchange occurred after Minister of State for the United Nations, Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon responded...

If governments continue with the same environmental policies currently in place, the world will become 2.8°C hotter by the end of the century, which would be “a death sentence”, warned the UN chief on Thursday. Antonio Guterres was addressing via videolink, the fourth meeting of the Major Economies Forum, convened by the United States President Joe Biden, which is designed...

Papua New Guinea is sitting on a ticking bomb regarding the selling and consumption of synthetic drugs, says a senior policeman in charge of the fight against drugs. Donald Yamasombi, head of the illicit and narcotics investigations team, said the recent seizures of 500kg of cocaine, 245kg of methamphetamine, K11,400 (US$3,237) in demonetised fake money and the presence of an...

British foreign minister James Cleverly has skipped a planned trip to Samoa to focus on coordinating the UK response to the Sudan crisis, which he is doing from New Zealand, his office said on Thursday. Cleverly had been scheduled to meet Samoan officials and New Zealand's Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta in Samoa but has instead arrived in Wellington, New Zealand,...

French Polynesia's President Edouard Fritch has warned of chaos, should his party lose power to the pro-independence Tavini Huiraatira. In last Sunday's first round of the territorial elections, his Tapura Huiraatira came second, winning 30 percent of the votes against Tavini's 35 percent. Fritch's Tapura has now joined forces with the opposition Amuitahiraa to have a joint list of candidates in...