PINA

UK Government to support UNDP project to prevent and fight corruption in the Pacific region. The UK is providing £364,000 (US$503,000) in funding to UNDP as part of the UK’s Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) Pacific programme, which will provide £2 million (US$2.7 million) in funding support across the Pacific in 2021-22. Corruption costs the global economy approximately US$2.6 trillion,...

Solomon Islands government says the ongoing rumours of an armed group seeking to remove Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare is not in the best interest of peace and stability, particularly at a time when COVID-19 poses a greater threat to the country. The government said in a statement that the ongoing media speculations pushed by journalist Alfred Sasako are nothing but...

Hawaii faces a range of environmental problems caused by global warming, impacts worsened by practices that critics say have ignored the local ecology. They say reviving traditional values can reduce the damage by limiting coastal erosion, reversing the rising acidity of coastal waters and lessening flooding from intense storms. Coastal hotels and homes already are seeing the effect of rising sea...

The Ambassador of the European Union in the Pacific, Sujiro Seam, has called on major emitters to be more ambitious in their reduction of carbon emissions. In a video posted on Twitter, Seam highlighted the findings of the recently issued Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which found that there is a slim chance that the world could stop temperatures...

Fiji has recorded 350 new cases of COVID 19 and 23 new deaths Monday, increasing the total number of cases to 40,517 and 392 deaths since the outbreak in the Pacific nation in April. Permanent secretary for Health, Dr James Fong said 242 cases are from the Western division and 108 cases are from the Central division in Vitilevu, Fiji’s...

Vaccination reduces community transmission of the delta variant by seventy percent says Fijian Health Minister Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete. Speaking in Parliament Monday, Dr Waqainabete said recent studies have shown that vaccination helps in reducing community transmission and this is the reason why the Ministry is encouraging the public to get vaccinated. “Research to date has revealed that the delta variant of...

The head of Vanuatu's Citizenship Commission says a Syrian national had his approval for citizenship revoked, and others are being investigated over concerns that international criminals are buying Vanuatu passports. It comes after The Guardian revealed last month the identities of some of the people who've gained Vanuatu citizenship through the controversial program including fugitives, politicians, disgraced business people from...

The awarding of one of Indonesia’s highest honours to a former militia leader indicted for crimes against humanity has been labelled an insult to both East Timor and Australia. David Savage, an Australian former United Nations peacekeeper and war crimes investigator in East Timor, slammed the presentation of Eurico Guterres with the Star of Service medal by Indonesia President Joko...

Kina Securities has made commitments to expand Westpac’s operations in Papua New Guinea if it is allowed to buy them, including creating new jobs, spending millions of dollars on technology and allowing smaller banks to access its infrastructure, as PNG’s competition regulator considers whether to approve the $420 million(US$30 million) deal. ASX-listed Kina, which owns PNG’s second-largest retail bank, Kina...

The runway of the capital city’s airport jostles for space among the homes crammed around it, which themselves make way for two of the largest buildings – the nation’s parliament and the Princess Margaret Hospital – both with water views. In fact, everyone has ocean views in Funafuti, the capital of Tuvalu. The entire country is built on three impossibly...