PINA

A team from Papua New Guinea will enter the NRL from 2028 after officially being granted a licence by the league. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his PNG counterpart James Marape met in Sydney on Thursday to shake hands over the deal, the culmination of two years of planning. The pair reached an in-principle agreement with the NRL in May, and...

Papua New Guinea's copper- and gold-rich Bougainville region is set to declare independence by 2027, eight years after a landslide vote to secede, its leader said Wednesday. The region -- home to about 300,000 people and a vast, long-shuttered copper and gold mine -- voted 97.7 percent in favour of independence in a 2019 referendum. But some analysts say it is...

The United States will spend more than US$864 million (3.5 billion kina) on infrastructure and military training in Papua New Guinea over 10 years under a defence deal signed between the two nations in 2023, PNG’s foreign minister has said. No figure putting a value on the agreement has previously been publicly released. The size of the package reflects increasing U.S...

The village of Veraibari in Papua New Guinea sits at the mouth of the Kikori River, just before it opens into the Pacific. “Veraibari was so beautiful when I was a child,” remembers Ara Kouwo, 52. “I used to walk down to the beach passing under mango trees.” Kouwo’s testimony was one of many included in written submissions to the international...

The constitutional hearing regarding the case challenging the President of the Republic of Vanuatu over allegations of a conflict of interest in signing the dissolution instrument on 18 November concluded Tuesday after a lengthy nine-hour debate. Chief Justice (CJ) Vincent Lunabek, who presided over the hearing, emphasised at the outset that the case was not urgent but rather a constitutional...

Pacific island nations at the centre of a strategic rivalry between the U.S. and China that brought infrastructure and funding hope President-elect Donald Trump stays engaged in the region but are wary of competition spilling into confrontation, diplomats say. A 2023 defence deal giving the U.S military access to ports and airfields across Papua New Guinea came with a pledge...

By Lopeti Senituli In a highly anticipated session of the Tongan parliament to debate and vote on the second vote of no confidence (VONC) scheduled for Monday 9th December, in Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni Hu’akavameiliku and the Cabinet, Hu’akavameiliku surprised everyone by announcing his resignation even before the actual debate had begun. The session began with the Speaker, Lord...

The Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS) has delivered a sharp critique of historical polluters during the landmark International Court of Justice (ICJ) climate hearings in The Hague, accusing them of shirking legal accountability for the climate crisis. Cristelle Pratt, Assistant Secretary-General for Environment and Climate Action at OACPS, said the testimony from the bloc’s members highlighted grave...

The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga, Lord Fakafanua, has officially invited elected representatives to submit nominations for a Prime Minister designate following the resignation of Siaosi Sovaleni on Monday. Nominations are now open and must be submitted to the Speaker’s Office by 4:30pm on Monday, 23 December 2024. Lord Fakafanua emphasised the importance of compliance with the constitutional requirements,...

A co-ordination and training centre for Pacific Island police has been opened as Australia seeks to counter China's growing security influence in the region. The Pinkenba Hub in Brisbane will act as a central base for deployments of Pacific police when countries request help for major events or crises. More than 200 officers have already passed through the nearby training centre...