PINA

A former Comanchero bikie and a missing property magnate owing hundreds of millions of dollars after his businesses collapsed are among Australians granted citizenship through Vanuatu’s controversial citizenship-by-investment scheme. Marco Francis Coffen and Zhou Xiang Huang, both from Australia, appear on a list of people who purchased citizenship from Vanuatu for US$130,000 last year. A Vanuatu passport allows visa-free travel through...

Vanuatu Council of Ministers (COM) has approved for the President to extend the State of Emergency (SoE) for the current coronavirus pandemic under Disaster Risk Management Act No. 23 of 2019. The extension period will begin from 01 August to 31 December this year and shall be extended, subject to advice from the National Disaster Committee. The extension will be applied...

Niue has become one of just a few countries in the world to reach herd immunity against Covid-19 after it vaccinated almost 100 per cent of its eligible population. The Pacific Island nation, which has a population of nearly 2,000 people, reached the milestone within two months. A national celebration was held on Tuesday to mark the vaccination milestone. With Pfizer vaccines...

A new project, Strengthening Hydro-Meteorological Early Warning Systems in the Pacific, has been launched with funding from the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems Initiative (CREWS). It will enhance the effectiveness and inclusiveness of Regional Early Warning Systems (EWS) for local and vulnerable populations in Pacific Islands, improving early warning capabilities of national and regional hydro-meteorological centers and strengthening existing...

Fiji has recorded 634 new cases of COVID-19 and 10 deaths related to COVID Wednesday. Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary Dr James Fong, said the 10 deaths reported over a six-day period from 09 - 14 July. “The first COVID-19 death to report is a 65 year old woman from Naibitu Village who died at home on 9/7/2021. She received her...

A positive case of COVID-19 has been announced in Solomon Islands’ Western Province following testing of ship crew members. The patient is a crew member on an international cargo ship which has been under quarantine outside Gizo since its arrival in Western Province. The patient registered positive after the third and final testing. Chairperson of the Western Province Response Team, Jeffrey Wickham...

The COVID pandemic has taken four million lives, devastated the global economy, pushed a further 124 million people into extreme poverty and continues to inflict profound suffering – dramatically impacting progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN chief said on Tuesday at a key international forum. “Nearly one person in three around the world could not access adequate food...

One hundred and fifty seasonal workers have landed from Vanuatu, but New Zealand’s horticultural employers would happily take six times as many. The latest group of workers is in managed isolation in Hamilton, and new groups will arrive each fortnight. Auckland used to host the recognised seasonal employer (RSE) workers for isolation but, from now on, they will isolate in Ibis...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration rolled out changes to its immigration policies on Monday and backdated them to 01 July, in a bid to ease labour skills shortages in the Cook Islands. Easing health checks for workers wanting to come in from Australia or New Zealand is among changes made to the country’s immigration policies. Kairangi Samuela, the principal...

The Bank South Pacific Financial Group Ltd (BSP) has always complied with its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) obligations in Papua New Guinea, says chairman Sir Kostas Constantinou. He mentioned this in a market release Wednesday in response to a letter BSP received from the Bank of PNG’s Financial Analysis and Supervision Unit (FASU) concerning anti-money laundering (AML) allegations...