PINA

By Ofani Eremae When Malaysian logger Richard Kong Sing Ngea pleaded guilty in December 2020 to the illegal harvesting of Tubi trees in Solomons’ Isabel Province, tribal leader Wilson Tohidi was thrilled. Ngea’s admittance of guilt, Tohidi believes, should prompt the Solomon Islands Government to seize the illegally felled logs and return them to landowners. His tribe, Tohidi insists, is the rightful...

Despite the annihilation of two major Japanese cities in 1945, atomic bombs have not been relegated to the pages of history books, but continue to be developed today – with increasingly more power to destroy than they had when unleashed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki back in 1945. Those first nuclear weapons deployed by the United States, indiscriminately killed tens of...

Attention turns to Spain where Malaga and Seville will host the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series for the first time. 16 men's and 12 women's teams will compete over three days of non-stop action. New Zealand's men's and women's teams are unable to travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are replaced by Germany and Belgium, respectively. Taking place on 21-23 January,...

Moana Pasifika has secured Southland Head Coach Dale MacLeod, and specialist prop Pauliasi Manu to their 2022 Super Rugby Pacific coaching team. Dale MacLeod, who takes on responsibility for Moana’s Defence strategy, coached the Southland Stags in 2020 and 2021, has also coached the Blues A, and Highlanders Bravehearts teams. Pauliasi Manu, 34, made his debut in 2011 for the...

While military presence will be scaled down in Honiara, Solomon Islands, contingents from the Fijian, Australian and New Zealand armed forces will remain on standby to ensure stability in the island nation. This, according to Chief of the Australian Defense Force, General Angus Campbell. He said the police-led effort of restoring stability in the Solomon Islands would continue. General Campbell commended the...

“I am not resigning,” CNMI Governor Ralph Torres said on Tuesday. “The issue between former Governor Fitial and myself is totally different,” he added during a media briefing on KKMP radio. In February 2013, Fitial became the CNMI’s first governor to be impeached by the House of Representatives. He resigned before the Senate could hold a trial. Torres acknowledged that his...

Tongan Prime Minister-designate Siaosi Sovaleni has urged Tongan parents to embrace the COVID-19 vaccination for young children, as the latest official data shows a low percent rate of vaccinations for this age group. Sovaleni has urged parents on Facebook to take their children for their second jabs. He said the vaccination rate for children aged 12 – 17 was still low. His...

A New Caledonian government minister Vaimua Muliava has written to the French president, saying the French government has made a mess out of New Caledonia's referendum process. Amid a boycott by the indigenous Kanaks, fewer than two percent of eligible voters supported independence in the last plebiscite, which concluded a formal 30-year decolonisation process. Vaimua Muliava is from the ethnic Wallisian...

French Polynesia's health minister says there are now 20 Covid-19 cases of the Omicron variant. Jacques Raynal says practically all cases are tourists who are in Tahiti and Bora Bora. The minister said people are encouraged to get vaccinate and to wear masks. Covid-19 has infected almost 47,000 people and claimed more than 630 lives. SOURCE: RNZ PACIFIC/PACNEWS

The Pacific Collective on Nuclear Issues (the Collective) representing Pacific civil society organisations (CSOs) strongly opposes the plans of the Japanese Government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. (TEPCO) to discharge 1.28 million tonnes of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean from 2023. The collective refutes the veracity of a number of premises advanced by the Radiological Impact...