PINA

A festival planner announced Monday that a Pacific country and an island territory of France have withdrawn their participation in the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture. The announcement comes as Hawaii is less than three weeks from hosting the largest celebration of Indigenous Pacific Islanders starting 06 June. The state will host delegates from at least 28 Pacific countries...

Response to the G7 Climate, Energy, and Environment Ministers' Communique PICAN acknowledges the commitments laid out by the G7 nations in their recent communique. While these commitments indicate a recognition of the climate crisis, they lack the urgency and specific actions required to mitigate the immediate and devastating impacts faced by front-line communities, such as those in the Pacific Islands. We...

A global maritime court found on Tuesday that greenhouse gases constitute marine pollution, a major breakthrough for small island states threatened by the rise in sea levels caused by global warming. In its first climate-related judgment, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) said emissions from fossil fuels and other planet-warming gases that are absorbed by the...

Vanuatu has called on France to engage peacefully with the leaders of the indigenous Kanak people of New Caledonia after the French government announced that President Emmanuel Macron will visit the island nation. Protests and rioting erupted in the capital city of Noumea last week after the French government imposed new laws on who is allowed to vote in local...

Vanuatu President Nikenike Vurobaravu has signed the proposed Constitutional amendments (Articles 17A and 17B) for the upcoming national referendum. This was confirmed by the Office of the President after Port Vila Member of Parliament (MP), Justin Ngwele, commented that the signing of these articles implies their immediate enforcement as law. However, according to the Principal Private Secretary to the Head of...

French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to the Pacific island of New Caledonia late on Tuesday, his office said, just over a week after riots erupted in the French overseas territory, killing six. Australia and New Zealand were evacuating tourists from the island as the violence left a trail of destruction with looted shops, torched cars and road barricades restricting...

Samoan Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mataafa described climate change as the biggest threat faced by the region as she gave her keynote address at the 4th Pacific Climate Change Conference on Tuesday. Pacific leaders, organisations and experts from across the Pacific have gathered in Samoa this week to look at ways to overcome climate change. Held at the National University of...

Australia stands ready to help Solomon Islands build a military force, as Defence Minister Richard Marles seized the opportunity to hold talks with the nation's new prime minister. Marles has travelled to Honiara for high-level meetings as the Pacific nation transitions to a new government under the leadership of Jeremiah Manele. The defence minister, who pledged $50 million for border management...

Fiji's Home Affairs Minister, Pio Tikoduadua, says he's interested in re-establishing the country's own dedicated intelligence service to help fight trans-national criminal organisations. Tikoduadua said Fiji should have its own intelligence service to compliment foreign assistance provided by its security partners. Fiji has long been used as a transhipment point for the movement of illicit drugs to Australia and New Zealand....

Fiji's President Ratu Wiliame Maivalili Katonivere has commended the founder of Starlink Elon Musk for creating opportunities for wider bandwidth connectivity and high-speed internet connections in remote and rural areas of Fiji. This achievement is made possible through Starlink’s massive satellite network which now covers 100 countries. In a meeting with Musk at the Saint Regis Resort in Nusa Dusa, Bali,...