PINA

Policymakers in Fiji are leaving the situation to the health experts to draft the country’s next course of action. This as the new Omicron variant has forced some bigger nations to restrict travel, while global scientists are still trying to understand the variant and its mutations. Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, said Fiji had risk-mitigation measures in place ahead of the re-opening...

By Jo Chandler Public confusion and distrust over vaccination have been fuelled by what experts say are crippling failures in authorities’ response to the pandemic In mid-October Dr Clement Malau, a Harvard-educated public health specialist and former secretary of the Papua New Guinea health department, was alarmed to discover he had gone viral. Only he hadn’t. Someone had posted a 20-minute audio...

The second Emirates Dubai 7s event in succession follows last weekend’s series opener which saw South Africa and Australia win the men’s and women’s titles respectively. Matches in Dubai will be played across two pitches and will get under way at 09:00 local time (GMT+4) on Friday 3 December with France v Great Britain in women’s Pool B. At the end...

Former Fiji rugby union player Sale Sorovaki has been named as the Pacific country's Chef de Mission for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. The 52-year-old made 19 appearances for his country between 1995 and 1998, scoring two tries. He moved into sports governance and was Chef de Mission for Fiji at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat...

Papua Guinea National Capital District(NCD) Governor Powes Parkop has called on the government to revise and adopt a more courageous policy on West Papua. He said this when raising a series of questions to Foreign Affairs Minister Soroi Eoe in recognition of the West Papuan declaration of Independence on 01 December, 1961. “Hiding under a policy of ‘Friends to All, Enemy...

The United Kingdom has re-joined the Pacific Community, 17 years after severing ties with the regional organisation. It was one of the six founding members of the then South Pacific Commission in 1947 - along with Australia, New Zealand, the United States, France and the Netherlands - but pulled out after closing many of its high commissions in the Pacific. In...

By Opinion by Tagaloa Cooper The odds are always stacked against the Pacific region in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process, and at COP26 we faced the additional challenge of Covid-19. The Pacific nations contribute less than 0.06% of the world's total greenhouse gasses, but are amongst the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change....

By Rowena Dickins Morrison, Adrian Muckle & Benoît Trépied With the growing possibility of a pro-independence victory, France is derailing decolonisation in a bid to shore up its position in the Indo-Pacific The French government’s decision to hold New Caledonia’s self-determination referendum on 12 December, despite the resolve of pro-independence parties not to participate, is a reckless political gambit with potentially...

The Pacific Community (SPC) has set its vision for a sustainable, thriving and peaceful Blue Pacific with the endorsement of its new 10-year Strategic Plan 2021+ during the 51st Meeting of the Committee of Representatives of Governments and Administrations (CRGA) in Noumea, New Caledonia. This strategic plan is the first to be co-developed directly with members, staff and stakeholders, including...

Solomon Islands Opposition leader Matthew Wale has rejected the prime minister’s claim that he and other opposition members were behind last week’s rioting in the capital of Honiara. Wale claimed that the false statements were aimed at diverting the public’s attention from Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s “own failures” in dealing with the crisis. Wale said Sogavare “must recognise his role in...