PINA

Hundreds of participants from close to 30 countries marched in the early hours of Saturday in Apia to mark the official opening of the International Vaa Federation World Distance Championship 2023. The parade and official opening concluded at the Tamaligi shores in Apia where guests were welcomed in an ava ceremony, entertainment, prayer, and words of encouragement from the Prime...

Pacific Islands Forum Troika leaders are meeting in Suva for the first time Friday. The Troika leaders include Cook Islands Prime Minister and Forum Chair, Mark Brown, former Forum chair and Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and incoming Forum Chair, Tongan Prime Minister Hu'akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni. Prime Minister Brown told journalists the three leaders will discuss how the Forum Troika mechanism...

Vanuatu has a new brand identity for climate information – Klaemet Save. This exciting new brand has been developed to focus attention on information products that increase the ability of Vanuatu’s people to plan for and respond to climate impacts. Klaemet Save is an initiative of the Climate Information Services for Resilient Development in Vanuatu Project, known in Vanuatu by its...

By Randy Mulyanto Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) Prime Minister James Marape is a busy host. Once a sleepy town, Port Moresby, the country’s capital, is now a buzzing diplomatic destination with VIP planes queueing up to land at its airport. China’s recently reappointed Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited in June 2022, at the end of a trip to eight Pacific Island...

Vanuatu Opposition Leader Bob Loughman Thursday said they still have enough numbers to oust the Prime Minister and form the next government. The Speaker of Parliament adjourned the no confidence session to Wednesday next week because there was no quorum. The Opposition side turned up with 25 members while the government boycotted the session. Previously, the Opposition Bloc claimed it has...

A search of the wildfire devastation on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Thursday revealed a wasteland of obliterated neighborhoods and landmarks charred beyond recognition, as the death toll reached at least 36 and survivors told harrowing tales of narrow escapes with only the clothes on their backs. A flyover of historic Lahaina showed entire neighborhoods that had been a...

By Biman Chand Prasad The Pacific Islands are now at a cliff edge. As a region, as countries and as peoples, we face some of the hardest and cruellest choices. First is the growing burden of the climate crisis. The climate crisis impacts on all areas of life, on livelihoods and on human security. It is doing so with fierceness not...

The Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Leaders Meeting later this year in Rarotonga is expected to adopt and approve the redesigned Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) after it was endorsed by the Forum Economic Ministers Meeting (FEMM) in Suva this week. Forum Chair and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown told journalists, this initiative has been regionally led and developed and is...

For the first time in decades, foreign and defence policy are in the electoral spotlight in New Zealand, as opinion surveys show public concern about the security environment and the major parties wrestle with how to respond to an assertive China. The first part of the country’s defence review, released last week, said that New Zealand's military capabilities had fallen...

Solomon Islands leader of Opposition Matthew Wale has revealed weaknesses in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Act. Speaking in Parliament in Honiara this week, Wale said firstly there is a lack of a specified timeframe for the implementation of the TRC recommendations. Wale said this has led to a delay of over a decade, an indication of a lack of...