PINA

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...

As a large gaseous cloud continues to rise to 18km altitude and drift over all islands, all Tongan residents were advised by geologists to protect their water tanks from possible acidic rainfall, until the volcanic eruption ceases. Hunga Ha'apai is located 65km NNW of Nuku'alofa, from where the bright white gas cloud can be seen on the horizon. Bursts of lightning...

Palau's President Surangel Whipps Jr. urged senators to reconsider the passage of the proposed Digital Residency Identification bill, which earlier failed to get a majority of the votes in the Senate. In his letter to Senate President Hokkons Baules, Whipps vowed to engage with the Olbiil Era Kelulau to consider amendments to the bill. “I write to urge your consideration and...

The Solomon Islands court has granted bail to one of the instigators of the recent rioting and looting in Honiara. Simon Mannie was arrested and charged by police with one count of unauthorised public assembly and public procession contrary to regulation 14(1) and (3)(a) of the Emergency Powers (COVID-19) (No.3) 2021; Regulation 4 of the Emergency Powers (Covid-10) (declaration of...

Fiji's Ministry of Health and Medical Services has rolled out the COVID-19 booster dose for a specific target population in the country. According to the Government, the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine has been authorised for use as the booster dose by stringent regulatory authorities with more than 30 countries (U.S, UK, Israel, Singapore and France) administering the dose. “A booster dose will...