PINA

International travel within OFC’s Member Associations continues to pose significant risks to the health and welfare of the Pacific community. Taking this into consideration, the OFC Executive Committee has agreed to a range of changes to the football calendar, including the cancellation of this year’s OFC Champions League. It will mark the second consecutive year that no winner of the Champions...

The UNCAC Coalition has responded to the very modest advances in the Political Declaration adopted today by world leaders meeting at the first-ever UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the topic of corruption with a call for strong action and leadership by governments truly committed to the fight against corruption. “Diplomatically-worded statements will not help the billions of people...

Fiji Rugby Chief Executive Officer John O’Connor has welcomed the opportunity for our Fijian and Fijiana 7s teams to play important lead up against tough opposition in lead up to the Olympic Games in Japan next month. Both the men and women’s teams will take part in the much-anticipated PacificAus Sports Oceania Rugby Sevens from the 25th to the 27th...

Former international sevens player Gordon Langkilde has been recalled to the Manu Samoa training squad. Lakapi Samoa General Manager, Seumanu Douglas Ngau Chun, confirmed when contacted by the Samoa Observer that Langkilde will join the training squad in New Zealand when his travel documentation is finalised. He said the head coach Vaovasamanaia Seilala Mapusua made the call to get Langkilde to...

Fiji Rugby names men and women squad for PacificAus Sports Oceania Rugby Sevens (Fiji Rugby) Fiji Rugby Chief Executive Officer John O’Connor has welcomed the opportunity for our Fijian and Fijiana 7s teams to play important lead up against tough opposition in lead up to the Olympic Games in Japan next month. He acknowledged and thanked the Almighty for...

Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna has called for more answers and evidence-based science on Japan’s plans to dump more than a million tonnes of treated Fukushima wastewater in the Pacific. In a statement released by the Forum Secretariat, the new Secretary General who has replaced former SG Dame Meg Taylor, told forum member officials it was his first...

An area of land roughly the size of China needs restoring if the planet’s biodiversity and the communities who rely on it are to be protected, UN agencies said on Thursday. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) call to reinstate at least one billion degraded hectares of land by 2030 must also be matched by...

By Samisoni Pareti Ensuring general elections are transparent, free and fair and that the independence of the judiciary are upheld are among key features of the 18-pages political declaration that the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Special Session Against Corruption have passed by affirmation. Called ‘Our common commitment to effectively addressing challenges and implementing measures to prevent and combat corruption...

With factors contributing to transnational corruption becoming increasingly complex, the UN launched an initiative on Thursday to “empower all countries” to find practical solutions and better tools to track, investigate and prosecute the scourge. UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the General Assembly’s first-ever Special Session against corruption via a video message, that before the COVID-19 pandemic, countries all over the world...

Samoa's outgoing prime minister and prime minister-elect met on Thursday afternoon as part of secretly-held negotiations about the transition to a new national government. However, neither leader would be drawn on the substantive details of their discussions. “This is only the beginning,” said the leader of the Fa'atuatua ile Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party, Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, after meeting with...