PINA

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has challenged the Papua New Guinea Football Association to be a leading symbol of football in the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). Infantino arrived in Port Moresby Sunday with his delegation including the OFC president Lambert Maltock and legendary referee Pierluigi Collina among other Fifa officials. He told PNGFA president John Kapi Natto and Sports Minister Don Polye...

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has visited the Solomon Islands to see for himself the work that is being done to develop football in the Pacific Island nation. The first FIFA President to visit the country, Infantino was shown a new headquarters for the Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) and discussed future FIFA Forward projects and talent development with Prime Minister...

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has unveiled the Pacific Games 2023 Baton and also launched the 100- day Baton Relay Friday. The paddle shaped baton will be flown to all nine Provinces with the courtesy of Solomon Airlines. The baton will return to the national stadium on the 19th of November, the date of the official opening of the Games. In...

The sixth Meeting of the Pacific Meteorological Council (PMC-6), where officials have gathered to discuss and explore opportunities to strengthen weather, climate, water, ocean and related development services in the context of sustainable development, opened in Nadi, Fiji on Monday. More than 160 delegates observed a moment of silence in respect of the victims of the Maui wildfire in Hawaii...

Geostrategic contests in the Pacific region have “elevated” over the past few years. This was highlighted by newlyappointed Australian high commissioner to Fiji Ewen McDonald, when he appeared as a guest on The Fiji Times’ online news portal The Lens @177 last Friday. He was asked whether the Pacific had become increasingly significant as a theatre for strategic competition mainly due...

Young climate advocates will tell leaders at a UN summit next month that they are out of options: government and big business must work together on ambitious climate action that pushes the world faster towards sustainability and empowers youth with the ‘green skills’ that will secure our future. International Youth Day is marked annually on 12 August and the 2023...

Hawaii officials urged tourists to avoid traveling to Maui as many hotels prepared to house evacuees and first responders on the island that faces a long recovery from the wildfire that demolished a historic town and killed more than 90 people. About 46,000 residents and visitors have flown out of Kahului Airport in West Maui since the devastation in Lahaina...

By Pita Ligaiula With so many regional plans, strategies, frameworks – and now the 2050 Strategy, some Pacific countries are concerned with very less implementation and benefits flowing to member countries. There are now calls to review the ‘regional architecture’ to make regional organisations ‘fit for purpose’. The issue was raised at last week’s Forum Economic Minister Meeting (FEMM) in Suva. Forum deputy...

Tough questions need to be asked as the Pacific confronts climate change, lack of progress in sustainable development and the growing vulnerabilities in the region, Fiji’s government says. Addressing the Pacific Islands Forum Economic Ministers’ Meeting in Suva last week, Fiji deputy Prime Minister Professor Biman Prasad said a “business as usual” approach to these challenges would be “the surest...

The U.S aid agency will open its expanded mission to Pacific island countries this week, aiming to show commitment to a region that now has the option of turning to China for infrastructure and development assistance. The visit of the agency’s top official, former diplomat and journalist Samantha Power, to Papua New Guinea and Fiji from 13-16 August coincides with...