PINA

Rain pelts down as the monthly city markets opens its doors in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. Market sellers worry about the weather chasing potential shoppers away but organiser, Sylvia Pascoe is unfazed. She gets onto social media to encourage her thousands of followers to stave off the rainy day blues by coming to the markets for...

Household contacts may be able to work in the future by taking daily Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) prior to going to work, says Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown. Prime Minister Brown said he was finding out from Te Marae Ora Ministry of Health (TMO) if it could work. As well as the RAT before work, he said positive cases in...

New Zealand Minister of Defence Peeni Henare will depart Monday for bilateral visits to Fiji and Australia to meet with counterparts to reaffirm our commitment to regional security in the Pacific and discuss ways to strengthen defence cooperation with partners. While in Fiji, Minister Henare will meet with Minister of Defence Inia Seruiratu, in the first face-to-face meeting of this...

The solutions to restore the health of the ocean – which provides us with oxygen, food and livelihoods – are out there, and in 100 days they will be in the spotlight in Lisbon, Portugal, at the second UN Oceans Conference. Billions of humans, animals and plants rely on a healthy ocean, but rising carbon emissions are making it more...

Netball Australia will host the first PacificAus Sports Netball Series in Sydney this month to consolidate international netball relationships. Their ambition is to provide the highest level of competition for the national teams of Netball Australia’s PacificAus Sports partners, including Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga. Singapore has been invited to participate in the series as part of Netball Australia's...

Vanuatu have pulled out of Oceania's qualification tournament for the World Cup finals in Qatar due to a majority of their players and staff testing positive for Covid-19, the country's football federation (VFF) said. In addition, the Cooks Islands' second game has been postponed due to covid positive cases in their squad. Vanuatu's first match of the tournament against Tahiti was...

Fijiana Drua have blitzed their way to a convincing Super W victory over the Western Force, winning 45-17 on Saturday. The Drua scored seven tries in the first half at Leichhardt Oval and were too quick and physical for the Force right from the start. The Force did, however, lift after trailing 45-0 at the interval, scoring the second stanza's only...

When Timor Leste heads to the polls on Saturday to elect its next president, there will be more candidates and more female candidates than ever before. It's been five years since the last presidential election was held in the country. Australian National University scholar Andrea Fahey, who has studied Timor Leste politics for 20 years, said the country had a semi-presidential...

At the sitting of the Fono Ekepule this week, Niue Member of Parliament Terry Coe tabled the notice of intention to move a motion of no confidence against the Cabinet. As stipulated by article six of the Niue Constitution four members of the Legislative Assembly may give notice of their intention to move a vote of no confidence. The four members...

A surreal controversy has erupted in Solomon Islands after the Chinese Embassy allegedly shipped several crates holding replica firearms into the capital Honiara, just months after the city was shaken by violent riots. Last week, local media in Solomon Islands reported that a large shipment of weapons had been secretly brought into Honiara in February on a logging vessel. The prospect...