PINA

Fiji's parliament has been forced to close as Covid-19 cases surge in the South Pacific country, overwhelming quarantine facilities and prompting calls for a nationwide lockdown. After a staffer was found to be a close contact of a positive case, speaker Epeli Nailatikau said the legislative buildings in the capital Suva were shut. “As a precautionary measure and out of an...

--Vanuatu Prime Minister Bob Loughman has called on the people of Vanuatu to remain calm as relevant agencies deal with the issue had at in the political arena. The PM made the call during a media conference Wednesday after the Supreme Court granted an application to stay the decision of the Speaker, who had announced that 19 Members of Parliament...

Health officials will now question the honesty of health declaration forms from overseas travellers because of the positive historical Covid-19 case, says Prime Minister Mark Brown. The man who has the historical case is a Cook Islander who works for an Australian company based in Egypt. He has been charged with making a false declaration on a Cook Islands travel document...

The Fiji Nursing Association says it is concerned about the welfare of members who are taking care of COVID-19 patients in hospitals. President Alisi Vudiniabola said with the increasing number of cases across the country and the added burden on health resources, she wanted to ensure nurses were well taken care of. “We just want to ensure our members are being...

The Morrison Government and the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) are working in partnership to support over 170 Olympic and Paralympic athletes from eleven Pacific nations to prepare for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Due to the impact of COVID-19, many Pacific athletes face significant challenges in completing final training programs and critical qualifying events. With support from the Australian...

The speaker of the Vanuatu parliament has declared the seats of the Prime Minister, the Deputy prime minister and 16 other government MPs vacant. The government had filed a motion to have the Speaker, Gracia Shadrack, removed; a feud which saw the MPs and prime minister Bob Loughman boycott Parliament for three days last week. This morning, Shadrack said their three...

Last week's launch of a film documentary, Setting the Boundaries - Voices from the Last Frontier is part of a regional series focusing on calls for a halt to deep sea mining. Reporting concerns from Fiji over deep sea mining (DSM) explorations, shared widely across the Pacific, Voices from the Last Frontier calls for a complete halt to DSM in...

Fiji Rugby will have heads turning on and off the field of play this year with the Pacific rugby powerhouse partnering with global sporting giant Nike as its official team and training kit supplier. The four-year deal will see the iconic Nike Swoosh feature on the Men’s and Women’s training and playing kits for both 15’s and 7’s national representative...

By Francisco Blaha If you were to speak about “IUU fishing” 10 or 15 years ago, only a few fish nerds would have known what you were saying. Even today, when there is much more known about it, it is still a complex concept to grasp. Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a broad term that captures a wide...

Over one hundred participants from twenty-two Pacific island countries and territories met this week at the thirteenth SPC Heads of Fisheries meeting, focusing on important topics and fisheries priorities for Pacific people. Enhancing scientific knowledge and technical tools to better serve members are key priorities for the coming years. Heads of Fisheries, senior fisheries managers, field officers, fisheries officers, donors,...