PINA

Forum Foreign Affairs Ministers will hear from Secretary General Henry Puna for the first time in their annual ministerial meet, the FFMM. The 2021 FFMM will be chaired by Tuvalu’s Minister of Justice, Communications and Foreign Affairs, Simon Kofe. The agenda will lead with the impact of the COVID -19 pandemic, the Blue Pacific response, and regional recovery including the Pacific...

Papua New Guinea’s competition regulator has rejected Kina Securities’ AUD$420 million (US$308.45 million) proposed stake acquisition in Westpac Banking Corp’s Pacific operations, Australia’s No. 2 lender said on Monday. PNG’s Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) raised concerns that the deal would not result in “benefits that outweigh detriments to public” and would lessen competition in the country’s market, Kina...

Former Samoa Prime Minister and leader of Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP), Tuilaepa Dr Sailele Malielegaoi has conceded defeat and welcomed the Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party led by Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa to take over Government. Holding a press conference at the HRPP headquarter in Petesa Monday, Tuilaepa took a deep breathe, recalling a...

Former Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, has met with the heads of the Samoa Government Ministries and urged them to give the new Fa'atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) administration their full backing, the Samoa Observer can reveal Tuilaepa, on Monday hosted a farewell meeting with all Government Ministry heads, encouraging all to give the new administration their...

Nine prominent opposition politicians – including two former prime ministers – have been arrested in Fiji for voicing concerns about a contentious land bill, leading to fears the Fijian government is using the police as a “political weapon” to intimidate and crack down on dissent. Six members of parliament and three other high-profile politicians were taken into custody by the...

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday backed a bid by the Marquesas Islands to gain UNESCO world heritage status. Macron, the first head of state to visit the remote archipelago in French Polynesia, was greeted by a traditional ceremony of 600 dancers and musicians from its six islands. He was the only person at the gathering wearing a suit -- with...

Fiji has reported 1,285 new cases of COVID-19 Monday. Ministry of Health and Medical Services permanent secretary Dr James Fong also reported nine new COVID-19 deaths for the period of 23 – 26 July, 2021. Dr Fong said the first COVID-19 death was an unvaccinated 82-year-old woman from Tamavua who died at home on July 23, 2021. He said the second COVID-19...

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has slammed the PNG Institute of Medical Research (PNGIMR) for failing to study the Covid-19 pandemic in relation to Papua New Guinean immunology since the outbreak in 2020. Speaking at a National Control Centre (NCC) in Port Moresby last Thursday, Marape told leading health practitioners that he was greatly “discouraged” by the inaction,...

The second day of the men’s sevens tournament at the Tokyo Olympic Games will feature a repeat of the Rio 2016 gold medal match as Fiji and Great Britain go head to head for top spot in Pool B. Fiji famously won that match five years ago 43-7, to ensure the country’s first ever Olympic medal was gold, and will...

By Makereta Komai, PACNEWS Editor in Tokyo Federated States of Micronesia (FSM)’s 100m breaststroke swim queen, Taeyanna Adams broke her national record at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Sunday. Adams shaved off a good 0.37 seconds from her national record, recording a faster time of 1:25.26 and placed fourth in the women’s 100m breast-stroke event. Only the best 16 swimmers from the...