PINA

Papua New Guinea Minister for Defence Solan Mirisim, Monday announced that the Chief of Defence Force Major General Gilbert Toropo, will no longer serve as the Commander of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF). He made this announcement following a National Executive Council (NEC) decision to revoke the appointment of Major General Toropo upon recommendations from the Defence Council. The...

New Zealand has now given almost 1.2 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to Pacific and Asian nations, with more than half of them going to Indonesia, which has suffered one of the worst outbreaks in the region. The Government is now halfway towards making good on its pledges to help vaccinate poorer countries. A further 1.2 million doses of vaccine will...

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading faster than the Delta variant and is causing infections in people already vaccinated or who have recovered from the COVID-19 disease, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday. WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan added it would be “unwise” to conclude from early evidence that Omicron was a milder...

Wiro Nongganop says he commands a battalion of West Papua independence fighters, but he has no guns, only bows and arrows, and lives in exile in a bark hut, sometimes surviving on potato leaves. Nongganop and a few members of his Muyu tribe fled their homeland in 2019, crossing the poorly marked Indonesian border for the relative safety of remote...

Fiji’s Opposition Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) leader Viliame Gavoka has called on People’s Alliance Party leader and former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka to leave them alone. Gavoka's comment comes after the former Party Leader called on members to play their cards right. In an interview with FijiLive, Gavoka said Rabuka’s comments are becoming tiresome and he should just move on...

Food Standards Australia and New Zealand is coming under increased criticism from the Pacific diaspora over planned changes to kava regulation in Australia. The food and drink regulator is calling for public comment on proposed changes to the food standard regulating kava use which it said would clarify the original intent of the kava standard, and limit its preparation and...

Solomon Islands is slowly returning to normality. And because of that Secretary to Prime Minister (SPM) Dr Jimmie Rodgers has thanked the foreign forces for helping the country to bounce back over the past weeks. Honiara was hit by rioting, looting and burning late last month after a peaceful protest calling for the removal of current Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare turned...

Vanuatu Opposition bloc is appealing to the Prime Minister not to implement the Council of Ministers’ decision to increase housing allowances for government ministers and increase salaries of first political advisers. Leader of Opposition, Ralph Regenvanu said the proposed increase is completely unjustified. “If this decision is implemented it will increase inequality in the country while reducing equity and heightening the...

Only 9.9 percent of elderly people in Solomon Islands are fully vaccinated while only 33.8 percent have had their first dose. This was confirmed by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare in his latest national address delivered on Friday. “We encourage families to help the elderlies including those with terminal illness, disability to reach vaccination centres to get vaccinated because if we have...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of the Marshall Islands (RMI) today signed agreements for a US$7 million grant to support the Marshalls Energy Company (MEC) improve its performance to enhance the disaster resilience of RMI's energy network and to prepare for a shift to renewables. The agreements, part of the RMI Energy Security Project, were signed by...