PINA

Flying Fijians Head Coach Vern Cotter has selected his 31-member squad to face Scotland, Ireland, and French Barbarians during their Autumn tour test matches next month. Cotter said the selection was based on the performance of the players during the season for their clubs and during the July international window this year. “We have been watching the Northern Hemisphere players playing...

Dr Robin Mitchell has arrived for the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) General Assembly here, where he is set to be confirmed as the permanent President of the global body. The Fijian official has led ANOC on an interim basis since 2018 and is the only candidate in the Presidential election to succeed Kuwait's Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, who...

With China’s threats being the bedrock of its revitalised interest in the Blue Pacific region, Washington has overlooked climate change as the most troubling concern for island countries, according to the Pacific Elders Voice (PEV). Rendering their verdict on the U.S-Pacific Partnership Declaration recently sealed at the White House, the Pacific Elders were not too keen on its content, While the...

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown will this week welcome Australian Foreign Minister, Penny Wong on her first official visit to the Cook Islands. This week’s visit follows a June visit by Prime Minister Brown to Australia to receive the Te Kukupa II Pacific Guardian Class vessel and meet with then newly elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. During the visit...

Pacific women negotiators at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties (UNFCCC COP) are adamant about what they want to come from COP27 in the city of Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. With the Pacific having already cemented its priority thematic areas ahead of the global conference, women negotiators who attended the Pacific Small Island States (PSIDS)...

The president of the Autonomous Bougainville government (ABG) has accused the Australian deputy prime minister and defence minister of “veiled threats” and “intimidation” over comments made during his visit to Papua New Guinea last week. Richard Marles was asked about Bougainville’s future during a joint press conference with the PNG prime minister, James Marape, at Port Moresby last Thursday. Marles said:...

Talks among Vanuatu political parties have started for the formation of a coalition government following last Thursday's snap election. RNZ Pacific correspondent said the talks have started as it appears that none of the political parties who contested the October 13 snap election won a simple majority in the 52-seat parliament. Sources from former government, and former opposition members have revealed...

A Pacific media expert says Fiji is still not a fully-fledged democracy and is recovering from the impacts of the 2006 coup - the country's fourth since gaining independence 52 years ago. The University of the South Pacific's (USP) head of journalism associate professor Dr Shailendra Singh said Fiji's transition from authoritarianism to greater democracy is an ongoing process. Singh said...

The Pacific region is facing a perfect storm of climate change-induced disasters and debt burdens according to a new report. After the pandemic and international cost of living increasing, the stability of the Pacific is predicted to be catastrophic as climate change burdens economies even further. The Twin Cloud report by Caritas Oceania and Jubilee Australia Research Centre is the first...

An incredible game of rugby that Fiji dominated for long periods was only settled in the dying seconds as Karalaini Naisewa scored under the posts. Fiji’s first-ever Rugby World Cup win had looked in jeopardy when Libbie Janse van Rensburg put South Africa in front for the first time in the match in the 79th minute. But Fiji kept their nerve...