PINA

By Anita Roberts Vanuatu and its coalition partners for the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion (ICJAO) resolution are confident of reaching the required number of votes at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). This was conveyed by the Minister of Climate Change, Ralph Regenvanu, during a press conference at COP27 Climate Change Summit in Egypt. The ICJAO resolution is expected...

The U.S Department of Defence is beefing up forces in Guam and other island nations in the region to ensure a prompt counteraction should China launch an act of aggression, a military official said. “The geopolitical tensions we are experiencing are no secret – China is our most consequential challenger, and they are rapidly building up their own staging areas,...

By Lara BULLENS Although they contribute less than 0.03 percent of the world’s total carbon emissions, Pacific Islands are at the front line of the climate crisis. Entire countries could be submerged under water within the next two to three decades. How are these island states fighting for their survival? A country is more than its land. A country is...

Developing nations could have a greater say over global tax rules after winning a diplomatic tussle at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday. A new resolution, agreed by UN members, gives the body a mandate to kickstart intergovernmental talks on tax. The policy area has long been dominated by the Paris-headquartered Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a...

Fiji's National Federation Party Leader Professor Biman Prasad says he and Sitiveni Rabuka are the best alternative leaders. He claims jointly, they can fix Fiji’s economy and that with the skill sets they possess, they can improve the health system, reduce the living cost and implement other developments. While addressing party supporters in Rakiraki in Fiji’s Western division, Prasad has again...

By Denise Fisher After proclaiming that New Caledonians had voted to stay with France in three recent referendums, despite a massive boycott by indigenous parties of the last one, French President Emmanuel Macron’s government now faces hostility and resistance in France’s pre-eminent overseas territory. The pro- and anti-independence sides remain diametrically opposed, along ethnic lines. And, most worryingly, the long-term...

Malia Tuitupou, a volunteer working at one of the “Women Friendly Spaces” established and supported by the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) Pacific in Tonga, still vividly remembers the aftermath of the unprecedented natural disasters, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption that occurred in the late afternoon of 15 January 2022 along with the subsequent tsunami, which combinedly changed...

Despite reaching the final of the World Cup, Samoa will remain a tier two nation — and International Rugby League chairman Troy Grant says that won’t change “any time soon.” Samoa’s historical win over England to reach the final sparked a debate over the international tier system, just like Tonga’s upset win over Australia in 2019. But Grant has confirmed to...

Solomon Islands nationals and nationals of other Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) countries can now get their visa on arrival when traveling to Papua New Guinea (PNG). This came after the PNG government formally declared the re-activation of Visa on Arrival (VOA) procedure. The announcement on Tuesday in Port Moresby was made by PNG’s Deputy Prime Minister & Acting Minister for Labour...

For Ursula Rakova of Carteret Islands in Bougainville, the proposed Loss and Damage finance facility agreed to at the global climate talks in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt last week, is ‘too late’ to compensate for more than 15 years of suffering endured by her people. And, she’s not waiting for world leaders to agree on how to operationalise the funding...