PINA

A World Bank-led project declined to award a contract to lay sensitive undersea communications cables after Pacific island governments heeded U.S. warnings that participation of a Chinese company posed a security threat, two sources told Reuters. The former Huawei Marine Networks, now called HMN Technologies and majority owned by Shanghai-listed Hengtong Optic-Electric Co Ltd, submitted a bid for the US$72.6...

Papua New Guinea lost US$432 million in just three and half years on a loan arranged by the Sydney office of UBS, far more than earlier estimates, a royal commission into the ill-fated deal heard on Monday. It is the first time the full cost of the 2014 loan has been made public and will add to pressure on UBS...

Several MPs have defected from Vanuatu's embattled government Monday in parliament. The house sat following a Supreme Court ruling which confirmed a declaration of vacancies in most of the government member's seats in parliament. Friday's ruling upheld a decision by the former Speaker of Parliament to expel 19 MPs including Prime Minister Bob Loughman from parliament. A stay order on the court...

Fiji has recorded another three-digit figure of positive COVID-19 cases – a total of 126 and a death of a man Monday. Health Ministry permanent secretary Dr James Fong said the 42-year-old male was admitted to the hospital with leptospirosis. “He also tested positive for COVID-19 during his admission,” Dr Fong said. “His death is being investigated by his doctors to determine...

The Australian High Commissioner to Fiji, John Feakes says his government is not dumping the AstraZeneca vaccine in Fiji. Feakes commented after changes were made in Australia on the age of people receiving AstraZeneca. The High Commissioner said Australia is meeting the requirement based on Fiji’s request as he also said changes in Australia are specific for Australia where there is...

Kenyan President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, who is also the President-in-Office of the Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), will, in the course of a three-day Presidential mission to Brussels, visit the Secretariat of the OACPS to meet with Secretary-General, Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti, and the OACPS Committee...

It's confirmed – the writs for Papua New Guinea 2022 general election will be issued on 24 April, to set the ball rolling for the process of electing the 111 members of the 11th Parliament. And the biggest worry for acting Electoral Commissioner Simon Sinai right now is getting the K463 million(US$131 million) needed to update the common roll and...

Pacific Island teams have fallen short at the Final Olympic Sevens Qualifying Tournament in Monaco, with France, Russia and Ireland securing the final tickets to Tokyo. 2016 repechage runners up Samoa had started with a hiss and a roar on day one of the men's competition, thrashing Mexico 69-5, Tonga 47-5 and Zimbabwe 33-7. But the Manu were beaten 21-7 by...

Kadi Camacho’s sleek and creative design was named the winner of the Pacific Mini Games logo competition. Camacho was honoured by CNMI and sports officials during the launch ceremony of the 2022 Pacific Mini Games at the Oleai Sports Complex on Thursday. In his remarks, he said his logo depicts a latte stone, a mwar and three individuals. The mwar has...

So far, with the help of development partners, in particular Australia and New Zealand, the vaccine rollout in the Pacific islands has exceeded expectations. Fiji (the Pacific islands’most populous country) aims to vaccinate 53% of its adult population (one dose each for about 316,000 people)by the end of June and have all adults fully vaccinated by October 2021. Vanuatu, Samoa,...