PINA

The Kiribati border reopening on Monday 01 August 2022 is expected to revive the nation’s tourism sector since its international border closure in March 2020, due to the global outbreak of COVID-19. Tourism Authority of Kiribati (TAK) Deputy CEO, Reeti Onorio says “Kiribati’s international border closure of two years and four months has had devastating impact of tourism operators across...

With hugs and tears families were reunited at Tonga's Fua'amotu International Airport, after arriving on an Air New Zealand, the first flight as Tonga re-opened its international border on Monday 01 August. Most of the Tongan passengers said of their happiness of being able to return home at last, over two-years after Tonga closed its international borders. Joy was in the...

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration secretary Tepaeru Herrmann has welcomed the Pacific Islands Forum Electoral Observer Mission (EOM) to the Cook Islands. The Mission comprising senior officials from the Governments of Fiji and the Solomon Islands, supported by staff of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) arrived into Rarotonga last week to observe the Cook Islands National Parliamentary Elections...

ONOC is delivering this Digest in partnership with The Reporters’ Academy and the Pacific Islands News Association(PINA). OCEANIA’S DAY AT THE GAMES - DAY 3 Monday saw Papua New Guinea win their first medal of these games and a first for the Pacific Islands in Birmingham. As we head into day 3 more of our athletes are performing at their peak,...

The World Rugby Sevens Series is set to include an equal number of men's and women's teams and stop at new locations under plans to “reset” the format of the sport prior to the Paris 2024 Olympics. The vision for sevens was outlined by World Rugby chairman Sir Bill Beaumont and chief executive Alan Gilpin during the Commonwealth Games here. Australia...

The top United States military chief for the Pacific region has visited New Zealand against a backdrop of rising geopolitical tensions with China increasingly asserting its might. Aquilino arrived in Wellington on Saturday after visiting Australia with a much larger contingent, including top general Mark Milley who there warned China was “noticeably and statistically more aggressive” and seeking to “bully...

Cook Islanders go to the polls on 01 August to choose a new 24 member parliament. Voters will have four parties, and a movement calling for a collegial approach to government, to choose from. Cook Islands politics has been dominated for years by the Cook Islands Party led by the current Prime Minister Mark Brown - a man who is very...

Samoa reopen to international tourists again on Monday, 865 days after closing borders due to COVID-19. For Western Australian Tuitaga Nathan Bucknall, the manager of the Taumeasina Island Resort near Apia, it's day that's been a long time coming. “We were the first to close and the last to open,” he told AAP. “But it's here. And we're ready. It's time.” It seems...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved US$13 million to expand lending for businesses in five Pacific countries. The five-year support will help government-owned banks in Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu to increase the number and volume of loans to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). It will also support business development services to help MSMEs become more...

Any extension beyond the fifth anniversary of the date fixed for the return of the writs for the previous general election would be in violation of section 105 of the Papua New Guinea Constitution. A four-man Supreme Court in 2017 (SC1814) recognised this limitation to a certain extent, in that they all unanimously in answering question seven which reads “Whether...