PINA

As Pacific communities protest the Japanese government’s plan to dump more than a million tonnes of radioactive waste water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean any day now, Australian anti-nuclear activists have highlighted the complicity of Australian uranium exporting companies. While the Fukushima power-station operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), claims that the water will be treated...

The Co-Presidents of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) is urging the European Union Council to extend the Cotonou Agreement between the EU and the ACP countries. Carlos Zorrinho from Portugal and Ana Rita Sithole from Mozambique, Co-Presidents of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly made the following statement in a response to the EU Council decision to extend the Cotonou...

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown will be launching the inaugural Cook Islands National Security Policy and hosting a two-day regional workshop on National Security Strategies today. “This document, our first National Security Policy, provides an integrated, overarching framework for our national security effort,” Prime Minister Brown said in a statement. “I see it serving as a benchmark for those other...

Israeli Police has detained three Fijian soldiers employed with the United Nations on suspicions of trying to smuggle liquid cocaine into Israel from Jordan, disguised as a perfume-making kits. This has forced the Republic of Fiji Military Forces to issue a statement indicating that all soldiers concerned will be dealt with in accordance with the military law and laws of...

Twenty women from Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga will compete in the Oceania Rugby Women's Combine in Fiji from August 21-26 with a chance of scoring nine scholarships to join Australian Super W clubs during the 2024 season. This is the second year of the Women's Combine, which is being supported by World Rugby and the Department of Foreign...

Fiji Rugby Board of Trustees chair Peter Mazey has confirmed that an investigation committee will be set up at the rugby house to look at issues surrounding the funding, budgeting and approval of allowance for players. Mazey in a press conference Monday expressed his disappointment that funding was not looked after properly. “We want to know the approval of Fijiana allowance...

We do not have the $200,000 (US$100,000) that has to be paid to the Fijiana at the moment. Fiji Rugby Football Union Trust Board Member, Jenny Seeto stated this in a press conference at Rugby House adding they will explain to the Fijiana that they have a debt, they will find the money but it will take some time. Seeto said...

The Pacific Islands Forum remains fully committed to addressing strong concerns for the significance of the potential threat of nuclear contamination to the health and security of the Blue Pacific, its people, and prospects, says Secretary General Henry Puna. Even before Japan announced its decision in April 2021, Pacific states, meeting for the first time in December 2020 as States...

Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna has commended the efforts of Pacific delegations progressing the global climate agenda at this month's meeting in Bonn, Germany. The 2023 Subsidiary Bodies meetings were attended by almost 8,000 participants including national delegations, observer organisations and media. “Our Pacific negotiators are truly holding the line for all people of the Blue continent, and the...

Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) coordinator Maureen Penjueli says the adoption of the high seas treaty last week by UN Member states was important considering the various threats the ocean faced. The agreement was adopted at the UN headquarters and had gathered large support from the Pacific. She said there needed to be a level of consistency to how the high...