PINA

Health ministers and senior officials from countries and areas across the World Health Organisation (WHO) Western Pacific Region are gathering this week to agree on actions to address COVID-19 and other key health issues. The seventy-second session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific is being held as a “hybrid” meeting on 25–29 October, with over 50 senior...

For months, U.S refusal to accept responsibility for a leaking dome of radioactive waste in the Marshall Islands has complicated negotiations with the Marshallese government on an international compact viewed as crucial for blunting Chinese influence in the central Pacific. On Thursday, members of a congressional oversight committee scolded representatives of the Biden administration for not making more progress on...

A deadly bomb blast at LDA area, Upper Betikama in east Honiara in Solomon Islands has killed two people, a father and his son who is a grade five student. The father died during the blast at around 7pm last night and his son two hours later at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara. The wife of the deceased and another...

Last year, heat-trapping greenhouse gases reached a new record, surging above the planet's 2011-2020 average, and has continued in 2021, according to a new report published on Monday by the UN weather agency. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Greenhouse Gas Bulletin contains a “stark, scientific message” for climate change negotiations at the upcoming UN climate conference, known as COP26, in...

Papua New Guinea Pandemic Response Controller David Manning has authorised the mass burial of 200 bodies in the Port Moresby General Hospital mortuary. The mortuary is now filled beyond capacity with more than 300 bodies stacked on top of one another, as more Coronavirus (Covid-19) bodies continue to be brought in from the hospital wards and homes. Hospital chief executive officer...

The International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) calls for concerted international action to support Papua New Guinea (PNG) as a surge in COVID-19 cases overwhelms the country's health system. The latest surge has seen the highest number of daily COVID-19 cases recorded since the beginning of the pandemic. Uvenama Rova, PNG Red Cross Secretary General, said: “Hospitals are full,...

By Sivendra Michael As leaders prepare for the 26th Climate Change Conference in Glasgow next week, tensions mount up on the inadequate representation of Pacific governments and civil society due to travel challenges posed by COVID-19. As part of the Pacific Cooperation Foundation’s Pacific Voices series, Fijian climate activist Sivendra Michael says the Pacific's presence has been crucial at...

Australia needs to be put on notice by Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders for abandoning its commitments under the South Pacific's nuclear free accord, the Treaty of Rarotonga, by signing up to the controversial security pact, AUKUS. The deal by the Australian, the United Kingdom, and the United States Governments is “highly problematic” and “heightens risks for nuclear proliferation” in...

The Vanuatu Government will not be sending delegates to this year’s UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) starting soon in Scotland, due to COVID-19. The National Advisory Board (NAB) on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction has decided that delegates refrain from travel abroad to attend the global climate summit, Acting Manager of the NAB Secretariat, Florence Iautu, said. The Vanuatu Government...

Former Australian prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull, and former foreign affairs minister Bob Carr, have accused the Morrison government of “cynical indifference” and “empty rhetoric” when it comes to climate action, saying the commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 was the “bare minimum” that needed to be done. The broadside came in a letter to Pacific...