PINA

Deportation of Pacific overstayers is continuing despite the global Covid-19 pandemic putting pressure on island nations. Fiji has been particularly ravaged by the virus of late, with hospitals overrun with infected patients. And yet New Zealand, with its largely successful Covid response, continues to deport members of the Pasifika community – with 17 people sent back to Fiji this year. Members of...

Thirty kilogrammes of methamphetamine, exported from Tonga to New Zealand in a refrigerated food container, was seized in a joint operation by police and customs taskforces. There have been six arrests: one in Tonga and five in New Zealand, Tonga Police announced Wednesday. A 45-year-old man from Nukuhetulu, Tongatapu, was arrested on 09 September and charged relating to the exportation of...

What was the purpose behind the PacificAusSports Olympic and Paralympic Partnership? The purpose of the partnership is about providing elite level pathways to Pacific athletes, both potential Olympic and potential Paralympic athletes. One of the facts about the Pacific is there is extraordinary sporting talent and one of the things that Australia is blessed with is something we've developed...

Samoa Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mataafa and Parliament Speaker, Papalii Lio Taeu Masipau have assured the Head of State, Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi 11 that peace and calm will prevail despite the current political friction between the government and the Human Rights Political Party(HRPP). The Prime Minister and Speaker met with the Head of State and the Member of the Council...

Fiji's Ministry of Economy, through the acting Permanent Secretary, has terminated the contract of the chief executive officer of the Fiji Bureau of Statistics (“Bureau”), Kemueli Naiqama, for failure to comply with section five of the Statistics Act 1961. According to a statement by the Fijian Government, in an unfortunate blow to the Bureau’s credibility, Naiqama endorsed the publication of...

The Asia and Pacific region is home to three-quarters of global coral reefs and more than half of all mangrove areas. The region’s aquaculture production supplies 60 percent of the globe’s total fish consumption. However, the region is also the epicentre of marine plastic pollution. Overharvesting of fish here is also putting global food security and, indeed, the entire seafood...

Pacific Island media CEOs and owners are meeting in the Solomon Islands and online from today to consider how they can better support anti-corruption reporting in their local media. The two-day Reporting on Integrity & Anti-Corruption in the Pacific summit is being presented by the Pacific Anti-Corruption Journalists Network (PACJN), supported by the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) and the...

A senior PNG health official says twelve people have died and more than a hundred are seriously ill after villagers in PNG's Eastern Highlands consumed stolen methanol. CEO of the Kainantu rural hospital Dr Enename Susuke said five drums of methanol were stolen from an agricultural research facility last Thursday. “A few people broke into a storage room and stole five...

A new term has come into play in Papua New Guinea, not vaccine hesitancy, but vaccine apathy, coined by the man leading the country's COVID-19 vaccination taskforce. Api Kassman said the problem his team are wrestling with is that many people don't want be vaccinated, not because they are reluctant or afraid, but because they don't believe it's even necessary. PNG...

Fiji has recorded 131 new cases of COVID-19 and one new death reported Tuesday, increasing the total number of cases to 49,174 and 537 deaths in the island nation since the outbreak that started in April. Permanent secretary for Health, Dr James Fong said 63 cases are from the Western division, 66 cases are from the Central division in Vitilevu,...