PINA

The current state of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was one of the items on the agenda for discussion during the 187th session of the Online Climate and Ocean Forum (OCOF) which was convened in Vanuatu. The Bureau of Meteorology confirmed that while they have issued an El Niño Watch, the current ENSO state is still Neutral, meaning it is...

Cook Islands Rugby Union (CIRU) held its annual general meeting last week to discuss its way forward following a challenging 2022 season. Simiona Teiotu was re-elected the president of CIRU for a four-year term at the AGM held on Tuesday at CISNOC House in Nikao. Prime Minister Mark Brown was once again elected patron of the national governing body. CIRU members also...

The New Zealand government has committed N$Z15 million (US$9.28 million) to support Solomon Islands provincial governments to strengthen climate resilience at the grassroots level. Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni, who is on a three-country Pacific tour, made the announcement in Honiara on Monday, with the funding coming out of the NZ$1.3 billion (US$805 million) climate finance commitment for 2022-2025. The money...

By Nic Maclellan Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong is scheduled to travel to New Caledonia this week, to meet with President Louis Mapou, the first Kanak independence leader to head the Government of New Caledonia in forty years. President Mapou said the visit was a welcome opportunity to extend relations with New Caledonia’s closest neighbour, and discuss regional affairs and...

“Australia is the largest island in the Pacific… they have responsibility for the protection of the Pacific,” said Palau President Surangel Whipps Jnr supporting Australia’s participation in the AUKUS, a trilateral relationship between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Under the AUKUS programme, Australia will buy billions of dollars’ worth of nuclear-powered submarines from the United States. Whipps said,...

A massive military operation – described as the “largest ever” in its history – involving some 30,000 military personnel will be hosted across multiple Australian states. Now in its tenth iteration, the biennial Exercise Talisman Sabre will run from 22 July through to 04 August, taking place primarily in Queensland. About 30,000 personnel from the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and U.S...

A huge underwater volcanic event in Tonga last year was of a magnitude comparable with the most powerful nuclear detonation by the U.S, researchers have revealed. Scientists have used eye and earwitnesses accounts, along with data from tide gauges, satellites, evidence of broken windows and other sources, to calculate that the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano, which occurred...

Palau’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations advocated for the moratorium on deep sea mining saying there is “insufficient scientific information’ to ensure protect of the marine environment. Representatives of the UN representative of Palau attended the 28th Session of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in Jamaica where they urged other nations to stop any attempt of deep-sea mining. Charles Reklai...

The Pacific island nation of Nauru and its roughly 11,000 residents are at the centre of the increasingly contentious debate over whether the world's seabeds should be mined for nickel and other green energy transition minerals. The complex fight pits competing visions of how best to protect the environment against each other. Nauru is calling for the rapid electrification of...

Cook Islands Parliament has repealed provisions in its Crimes Act that criminalised homosexuality. The Crimes (Sexual Offences) Amendment Bill 2023 which, among other things, aimed to decriminalise homosexuality was presented to Parliament and went through second and third reading before being passed into law on Friday. This Bill amends the Crimes Act 1969 which states men can be jailed for five...