PINA

Democratic systems in Australia's region are at risk of being manipulated, with their leaders controlled and taken advantage of through “largesse”, Australia's overseas intelligence chief said in a rare public appearance on Tuesday. On China, Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) Director-General Paul Symon said he saw signs of growing discontent with a rigid domestic political system, which he suggested could lead...

Chinese Foreign Minister and state councillor Wang Yi is likely to make a surprise visit to Solomon Islands in coming weeks, in another sign Beijing is intent on cementing security and commercial ties with the Pacific island nation while Canberra is consumed by the federal election. A senior Solomon Islands government source told the ABC that preparations had begun for...

When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on 15 January, 2022, it sent atmospheric shock waves, sonic booms, and tsunami waves around the world. Now, scientists are finding the volcano’s effects also reached space. Analysing data from NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, mission and ESA’s (the European Space Agency) Swarm satellites, scientists found that in the hours after the...

Countries across Asia and the Pacific are joining an initiative to promote and showcase the 'best of the best' of their special agricultural products – a move designed to ensure a high level of participation from smallholders to producers to exporters and others all along the value chain. To help build momentum, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United...

It’s the reason the competition has been renamed ‘Super Rugby Pacific’. After decades of lobbying, the Pacific finally has two sides in the world’s best provincial rugby competition – the Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika. And it has taken 13 Rounds in their inaugural season for both sides to go head-to-head. Both teams have already made massive statements this season and...

Nauru Speaker of Parliament and President of the Nauru National Olympic Committee (NNOC) Marcus Stephen and Takitoa Taumoepeau, Secretary-General of the Tongan Association of Sport and National Olympic Committee (TASANOC) are the newest members of the ONOC Executive. Leaving the ONOC Executive Board after exemplary service at global level in the Olympic Movement are John Coates, who recently stepped down...

There is a 50:50 chance of average global temperature reaching 1.5 degrees Celcius above pre-industrial levels in the next five years, and the likelihood is increasing with time, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), published on Tuesday in Geneva. The Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update also reveals a 93 percent likelihood of at least...

China has defended its Solomon Islands security pact in a formal response to a meeting last week with Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, declaring it is a “direct stakeholder” in the security of the South Pacific. China’s Foreign Ministry said an official from its Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs spoke with a DFAT official via video...

OP-ED by Ambassador Peter Thomson, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean With every breath we take, we are connected to the ocean. The ocean gives us oxygen, provides us with food and livelihoods. It stabilises our climate, absorbing most of the heat trapped in the Earth’s system. Billions of humans, animals and plants rely on a healthy ocean. But...

The tuna that 'feeds the world' was acknowledged in a week of activities celebrating the Pacific Tuna which contributes a third of the world's tuna supply. Kicking off on UN World Tuna Day, a joint social media initiative from Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and The Pacific Community (SPC), Teen Tuna Tok, saw the voices of the Pacific's young...