PINA

By Makereta Komai, PACNEWS Editor in Tokyo While Fiji’s gold medallist Olympian sevens team get on the long nine hours’ flight back home, hours after their historic win in Tokyo against rival New Zealand, the international media at Tokyo 2020 are still abuzz with the spectacular finish, the emotion and humility of the players after the final whistle at Tokyo...

Today, the European Union and the Cook Islands agreed to continue their successful fisheries partnership as part of the sustainable fisheries partnership agreement (SFPA), for a duration of three years. The agreement allows EU fishing vessels operating in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean to continue fishing in the Cook Islands fishing grounds. Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries,...

Pacific Foreign Affairs Ministers have concluded their virtual meeting this week reiterating the call that climate change remains the greatest threat facing the region right now. And while urging for global climate action to speed up not delayed as the world prepares for the United Nations COP26 meeting on Climate Change in Scotland later this year, the Forum ministers also...

Cocaine packages with a street value of around $2.3 million pa’anga(US$1 million) have washed up on beaches at Höleva and Ha’alaufuli in Vava’u, triggering a major search for further drugs by Tonga Police and HMAF navy today. Matangi Tonga Online reports the first packages found by locals were handed over to police last weekend Vava'uans are being urged to hand over...

Samoan Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa has announced that there is no rush for Parliament to meet as Cabinet needs more time to screen and review the financial arrangements in place by the caretaker government using an Emergency Budget. Fiame said last Saturday evening that Parliament was to meet in the first opportunity sometime this week to pass a budget. When...

AUSTRALIA)---The fifteenth Pacific Trade Invest (PTI) Pacific Business Monitor reports that sentiments among the Pacific business decision-makers remain critical and expected timelines for economic recovery are shifting back further. COVID-19 impacts on Pacific businesses have remained at severe levels since tracking began in May 2020, with between 79 to 92 percent of respondents consistently reporting a negative impact. The recent...

A hard lockdown for 14 days would cost Fiji $1billion (US$500 million). Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said this is based on an estimated loss of $300 million (US$150 million) in Gross Domestic Product and about $600 million (US$300 million) in income support for Fijians. Sayed-Khaiyum said this is the estimate for the entire country, adding that it does not take...

French President Emmanuel Macron has reasserted his nation's presence in the Pacific on a visit to French Polynesia, a trip aimed at countering growing Chinese dominance in the region. The trip was also designed to underline the French government's support for Polynesians and heal wounds over French nuclear testing on the former colony's atolls, half a planet away from Paris. Macron...

COVID-19 infections rose eight percent last week to more than 3.8 million, the UN health agency reported on Wednesday. Latest data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) showed a “substantial” uptick in the Americas and the Western Pacific, which jumped 30 percent and 25 percent, respectively. This contributed to a sharp rise in the number of coronavirus deaths overall, which climbed...

Fiji has dedicated its Olympic rugby sevens win to the people back home who are struggling amidst the country's Covid-19 health crisis. Fiji defeated New Zealand 27-12 in the men's sevens final in Tokyo to defend the title they won in Rio five years ago. Captain Jerry Tuwai said the win is very special for the team and all of Fiji. “Everything...