PINA

The Forum Foreign Ministers Meeting is scheduled to commence this week in Suva. Key agenda items include the review of the regional architecture and the Forum’s partnership mechanisms, progress of the 2050 Strategy, climate change initiatives, and regional security. PACNEWS understands that the Forum Troika, comprising Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, and incoming Forum Chair...

Five men have been arrested in relation to the series of murders, rapes and property destruction in Angoram, East Sepik in Papua New Guinea. The five young men who have so far been arrested have complied with lawful direction of police and are behind bars,” Police Minister Peter Tsiamalili Jr said. Assistant police commissioner Perou N’dranou confirmed the five arrests. From a...

Tonga has been selected to host the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF), a groundbreaking initiative aimed at enhancing climate and disaster preparedness across the Pacific Islands. The decision was one of the key outcomes from the Forum Economic Ministers Meeting (FEMM), which concluded on Friday. The PRF is a Pacific-led, member-owned financing facility designed to generate investment income for community resilience...

Promises of “accountability and transparency” in deep-sea mining saw nations vote on Friday for a Brazilian scientist as head of an obscure UN organisation that regulates the world’s seabed. Mounting opposition to the International Seabed Authority approving exploitation of the ocean’s minerals by corporations, before its environmental regulations were finalised, fueled the mood for change. The rare vote saw Brazil’s candidate,...

Numerous references to Fiji Attorney-General in the 2013 Constitution are aspects which need to be reviewed. Attorney-General Graham Leung said the person in that position was given too much power, which was dangerous and could lead to abuse in the wrong hands. Speaking on the need to review the Constitution, Leung said Professor Anthony Regan of the Australian National University (ANU)...

The Albanese government is in negotiations with Commonwealth Bank to set up shop in Nauru to help counter China’s growing influence in the South Pacific and among Australia’s closest neighbours. Three sources told The Australian Financial Review the talks were progressing, and it is understood there is debate about how much taxpayer support is warranted to set up a Nauru...

As sea levels rise, the tiny Pacific nation has tussled between leaving for an undeveloped estate in Fiji or scrapping for climate finance to save its land with coastal defences. CNA explores its struggle in the last of a three-part series on how Pacific island-nations are fighting climate change, and the lessons they offer. By Jack Board There is an old...

World champion Noah Lyles roared to victory in 9.79sec to claim gold in a dramatic men's Olympic 100m final in Paris on Sunday. Lyles won in the closest Olympic 100m finish in modern history as just five thousandths of a second separated him from Jamaica's Kishane Thompson. Both were given the rounded-up time of 9.79sec but the American's name carried the...

Saint Lucia celebrated Sunday after sprinter Julien Alfred stormed to victory in the women's 100m in Paris for the tiny Caribbean nation's historic first Olympic medal. Alfred upstaged the much-hyped American world champion Sha'Carri Richardson on Saturday, clinching a stunning win in 10.72sec. In the Saint Lucian capital Castries, the 23-year-old became an instant hero. Cuthbert Modeste, who was Alfred's first coach,...

Former Solomon Islands men’s national football team coach Filipe Vega Aranga has taken over the role of head coach for PNG men’s team after the termination of Warren Moon. This was announced at PNGFA head office in Port Moresby by president John Kapi Natto and general Secretary Gordon Manub. Kapi Natto said then coach Moon’s terminations because he refused to relocate...