PINA

Seabed mining can affect fisheries and the flow-on social equity issues need to be addressed. By Aline Jaeckel, Quentin Hanich, Harriet Harden-Davies, Judith van Leeuwen, Holly Niner, Katherine L. Seto and Michelle Voyer What is currently hundreds of metres down below the ocean floor could soon be found in our electronics and on construction sites. The desire to explore the...

Fiji’s first professional rugby team is targeting an ambitious top eight finish in the inaugural season of Super Rugby Pacific this year. The Drua have had three months together at Lennox Head on the NSW north coast and will play just one trial game, against the Rebels next week, before they open their season against the Waratahs on 18 February Made...

International powerhouse and Wallaby Test centurion Sekope Kepu will Captain Moana Pasifika for their debut season in Super Rugby Pacific. Kepu’s duty gets under way with this Friday’s pre-season game against the Gallagher Chiefs at Mt Smart Stadium. With 110 Test caps and three Rugby World Cup campaigns to his name, Sydney-born Kepu has been a natural choice for the Moana...

Kiribati Ministry of Health and Medical Services has confirmed the Omicron variant is now spreading in the community after the results were confirmed by the Melbourne-based MDU PHL Doherty Institute. A statement from the ministry said 39 samples were sent to Australia on 25 January for testing. 17 samples were collected from passengers from Fiji and 13 from community transmission...

Solomon Islands Ministry of Health and Medical services has closed all vaccination sites in Honiara today. The Health Ministry said they have had to close off the sites to prevent the spread of the virus to the public and health workers. There were chaotic scenes at the vaccination sites in Honiara, hundreds packed the area, with no control over the flow...

The Pacific Business Monitor 2021 Report released by the Pacific Trade Invest (PTI) Network today revealed that while COVID-19 adversely impacted the Pacific business community throughout much of 2021, positive sentiments among Pacific business owners and leaders increased towards the end of the year. The report indicates that the severity of negative impacts on Pacific businesses, business revenue, and business...

The volcanic eruption in Tonga last month unleashed an atmospheric shockwave that radiated out at close to the speed of sound, pushing large waves across the Pacific to the shores of Japan and Peru, thousands of kilometers away. Forecasting models and warning systems, designed primarily to assess earthquake-triggered waves, did not account for the boosting effects of the shockwave. It...

Kiribati has recorded its highest daily increase in new Covid-19 infections on Tuesday, bringing the total number of positive cases to 629. The Health Ministry said that there were 169 Covid-19 cases - 155 of them from South Tarawa, Betio and Buota and 14 in Butaritari. Health Minister Tinte Itinteang has warned that the positive Covid-19 cases recorded in the country...

As Tonga struggles to recover from a volcanic eruption and tsunami, two community cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed on Tuesday night. In a press conference, Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni confirmed the cases had been found at the wharf after 50 people were tested and the two men are currently in isolation at Taliai Camp. The Kingdom is to go into...

Since the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’Apai volcano and subsequent tsunami, communications remain disrupted across Tonga. Many loved ones living abroad have been fearing for the welfare of their relatives. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is supporting the Tongan Red Cross Society (TRCS) in reconnecting families after this devastating natural disaster. Since Thursday 20 January, over 140...