PINA

Eight additional COVID-19 positive infections in Papua New Guinea have been identified as being the highly infectious Delta strain. Police Commissioner and Controller of the PNG COVID-19 National Pandemic Response David Manning made the announcement of the new detections after the first Delta positive case three weeks ago. The Controller highlighted the risk of the onset of a potential third wave...

Fiji will take the role of the Chair of the 51st Pacific Forum Leaders Meeting which convenes Friday to commemorate the historic 50th anniversary of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama will be joined by the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum at the virtual meeting based on the theme, “Security and Prosperity in Unity: 50 Years...

A United States government committee has directed the country's Department of Energy to address safety shortfalls over its handling of nuclear waste stored in the infamous Runit Dome in the Marshall Islands. The dome on Enewetak atoll was used to store radioactive materials left over from US nuclear weapons testing during the 1940s and 1950s. According to the Marshall Islands Nuclear...

A shipment of 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines funded by the New Zealand Government and sourced in cooperation with Spain has arrived in Fiji. While handing over the vaccines to the Minister for Health, High Commissioner Jonathan Curr reaffirmed New Zealand’s commitment to support our Fijian whanau to access safe and effective vaccines and help protect against COVID-19. “AstraZeneca is Fiji’s...

By Nic Maclellan A virtual summit of the Pacific Islands Forum will be held this Friday 06 August, after the annual face-to-face meeting of presidents and prime ministers was again disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. After the 2020 summit in Vanuatu was cancelled, any hope for a face-to-face meeting this year has been dashed by the current surge of coronavirus...

-Forum Leaders will meet to commence the 51st Pacific Islands Forum and related meetings and commemorate the beginning of the 50th anniversary of the Pacific Islands Forum on Friday 06 August. Fiji will assume the Chair of the Pacific Islands Forum at this 51st session under the theme Security and Prosperity in Unity: 50 Years of the Pacific Islands Forum. The...

COVID-19 infections have continued to rise globally for more than a month now, with over four million cases reported in the past week alone, the UN health agency said on Wednesday. In its latest update, the World Health Organisation (WHO) attributed the uptick to “substantial” caseload increases of 33 percent in the Western Pacific and 37 percent in the Eastern...

By Makereta Komai, PACNEWS Editor in Tokyo Two athletes from Oceania were guests on the BBC World Sport broadcast in a live cross on the Tokyo 2020 Games Wednesday morning. Jonah Harris (Nauru) and Karalo Maibuca (Tuvalu) are national 100m sprinters in their respective countries. They shared with BBC sports presenter, Sarah Mulkerrins their experiences coming from two of the smallest National...

By Makereta Komai, PACNEWS Editor in Tokyo At only 18 years of age, Nancy Abouke of Nauru is now ranked 10th in the women’s 76kg category after her Tokyo 2020 Olympic debut in weightlifting. The young Nauru lifter competed alongside some of the world’s top female lifters in the 76kg body weight category, recording a total lift of 203kg (snatch-90kg and...

A tuna fishing boat based in the Pacific island nation of Fiji that has been accused of essentially enslaving its crew was blocked Wednesday from importing seafood into the United States, part of an increasing effort to keep goods produced with forced labour from entering the country. U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued an order to stop any shipments in...