PINA

With over 1,500 essential workers already vaccinated in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea Health Minister Jelta Wong is optimistic that the numbers will continue to increase as the demand around the country grows. The first batch of 132,000 vaccines arrived Tuesday in Port Moresby through the COVAX facility in preparation for the Governments National Vaccine Roll-Out. This vaccine will be...

Fiji is leading the world in COVID-19 containment. Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said all the measures put in to protect Fiji against the pandemic has worked. Speaking to Fiji National University students, Bainimarama highlighted that Fiji is about to mark a year since the last case of community transmission. “I am not speaking to you through a mask and we are not...

By Samisoni Pareti Mountain tribes in Fiji are thwarting plans by the country’s power monopoly to build a multi-million hydro power plant. The people of Nubu and Cawanisa say Energy Fiji Limited (EFL) only has itself to blame for the derailment of its hydro project because of the pitiful rental it has paid them in the past. On hold is the Qaliwana...

Six legal minds have successfully won their bid to become decision makers and legislators following Friday’s Samoa General Election, according to OEC preliminary results. From the eight lawyers who contested the election, only two were unable to win enough votes, including the caretaker Minister of Justice, Fa’aolesa Katopau Ainu’u. The other is Leota Suatele Manusegi who is a Tautua Samoa candidate...

-The Royal Navy’s carrier strike group would be welcome to visit Palau when it deploys to the Indo-Pacific this year, as the island attempts to counter growing Chinese intimidation. In an interview with the Telegraph, Palau's President Surangel Whipps said his country was facing a pressing need to shore up allies, as Beijing steps up its efforts to lay claim...

The COVID-19 pandemic is “a long way from over” but there are many reasons to be optimistic and it’s possible the pandemic can be brought under control “within months”, the head of the UN health agency said on Monday. Although January and February saw six consecutive weeks of plummeting COVID-19 cases, the World Health Organisation (WHO) chief said that had...

Samoa’s cliff-hanger general election is a victory for under-represented women in Pacific island politics, regardless of the final outcome, FAST leader Fiame Naomi Mata’afa said. Her Faatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party is on the cusp of a major upset after Friday’s vote, leaving Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi fighting for his political life after 22...

Across several constituencies, FAST candidates are chipping away at the lead held by Government MPs on their seats, including senior Cabinet Ministers, early figures show. Caretaker Minister of Finance and first term Parliamentarian Sili Epa Tuioti is 43 votes behind FAST hopeful, Matamua Vasati Pulufana in Faasaleleaga No. 1. Matamua’s late husband Tiata Sili Pulufana was the Member of Parliament for...

The Papua New Guinea Opposition faction of the National Alliance Party (NA) has joined the Marape-Basil Government. Party leader, Patrick Pruaitch, in a media conference Thursday said the move is for stability to allow the Marape led Government to complete its term before the 2022 General Elections. The National Alliance party had two factions of its members during last November’s Vote...

Tuvalu is the latest country in the Pacific region to receive 4,800 AstraZeneca COVID19 vaccine doses. “Congratulations to the government and the people of Tuvalu! Tuvalu is the second country in the Pacific region to receive full vaccines to cover 20 percent of the population under the COVAX Facility,” UNICEF Pacific said on twitter. COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility is co-led...