PINA

After five months status quo, the FLNKS candidate Louis Mapou, a member of UNI-Palika has been elected President of the Government of New Caledonia. “It is an honour and a heavy responsibility”, he told local media after his election in Noumea. He was elected as head of the 11-member multi-party government by 6-4 votes, defeating outgoing President Thierry Santa (with one...

The Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) has filed a formal complaint against members of the Samoa Judiciary, calling the Chief Justice ‘incompetent’ in handling cases since the beginning of electoral petitions, saying the Judiciary are on a mission to ‘oust’ HRPP from being in government, and singling out Justice Tuatagaloa for being impartial toward the leader of FAST. The complaint...

The world was not on track to meet the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) before COVID-19 struck, and now the challenge has been magnified many times over, according to a new flagship UN report that indicates countries must take ‘critical’ steps on the road out of the pandemic, during the next 18 months. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2021, launched...

Pacific post COVID-19 recovery and climate change are expected to dominate a series of back-to-back high level Pacific Forum meetings planned for next week. Agenda items, themes, and papers for Forum economic and trade ministerial meetings are being finalised this week by officials across the region. Finance and economic officials hope to complete discussions today aimed at setting the agenda...

Fiji has reported 791 new positive COVID-19 cases and three deaths Wednesday. Ministry of Health and Medical Services permanent secretary Dr James Fong said the first COVID-19 death is a 61-year-old man from Qauia Village, Lami. Dr Fong said the man was brought to the CWMH Emergency Department in severe respiratory distress. “He had been experiencing severe COVID-19 symptoms, including shortness of...

Variants like Delta are “currently winning the race against vaccines” said the World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday, pinning the blame squarely on a lack of equitable vaccine production and distribution. During his biweekly conference in Geneva, he added that passing the four millionth recorded death worldwide from COVID-19 was a “tragic milestone” which “likely underestimates...

The Fiji government's response to the Covid-19 outbreak is an utter failure, but it's not too late to follow New Zealand's lockdown example, the opposition leader says. New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told media her advice was the lockdown strategy had saved lives. Fiji is in the grip of a Covid-19 outbreak that has infected 791 people and left three...

Bougainville has made it clear to the Government that it is ready for independence. In his opening remarks at the joint consultation body meeting at the Enga Teachers College, Wabag, Enga, President Ishmael Toroama told Prime Minister James Marape and the Government team that Bougainville had waited long enough. “Let us remind ourselves that it has taken 32 years since the...

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has called on the media to be sensitive while reporting on the matter of Bouganville's efforts for self-determination. The Prime Minister said sensitivity in disseminating information to the public was paramount as 'Bougainville Independence' not only meant changes to Bouganville's political autonomy but also huge changes that will affect the Constitution of Papua...

The Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI) has formally lodged its intention to become a party to the Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The Director of the Marshall Islands Marine Resource Authority (MIMRA), Glen Joseph, deposited in the FAO repository the country’s National Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported...