PINA

Samoa’s Electoral Commissioner, Faimalōmatumua Mathew Lemisio confirmed today that some voters voted twice in last weeks’ elections and they will face legal action. Double voting surfaced during the official count for Sagaga 2 constituency that started yesterday and was put on hold as officials tried to sort out the double voting issue. Faimalōmatumua could not give the actual number of those...

As Samoa awaits the official declaration of its 2021 General Elections, results of special votes are eagerly anticipated by those constituencies for which the preliminary results had the first and second placed candidates in a close race. One such Constituency is Faleata 1 – where the gap between incumbent Member of Parliament and former Associate Minister Salausa Dr. John Ah...

Pacific Games Council has approved the CNMI’s request to include three more sports—tennis, weightlifting, and va’a (outrigger canoe)—to the calendar of events for the 2022 Pacific Mini Games in the CNMI. Andrew Minogue, Pacific Games Council chief executive officer, confirmed the council’s decision to approve the CNMI’s request following the local government’s financial commitment of US$4 million in the staging...

It’s now 101 days to the long-awaited Tokyo Olympics. The uncertainties and delay in staging of the 2020 Games, and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on training, qualification processes and mobility, means that for Pacific islands athletes, just making it to Japan will be a feat in itself. Globally, 61% of the athlete quota places have already been allocated....

In my capacity as Depositary of the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Rarotonga), as Pacific Ocean Commissioner, and on behalf of the Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific: we note, with deep concern, the decision by the Government of Japan to discharge the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) Treated Water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear...

The International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA), said on Tuesday that it will work closely with Japan which is preparing to release a million tonnes of contaminated seawater used to cool the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant. IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said that Japan’s solution was both “technically feasible and in line with international practice” – and that the agency...

A recent report by Pacific Trade Invest (PTI) focusing on the impacts of COVID-19 on Tonga’s private sector has found that less than a quarter of businesses in Tonga were fully operational over 2020, compared to 36% across the Pacific Islands. The Pacific Business Monitor Tonga Focus 2020 Report aggregates results from respondents in Tonga across all the PTI Pacific...

The Cook Islands National Superannuation Fund has adjusted the pension withdrawal limit, which loosens the criteria for those who want to exit the scheme. Under the new rules the withdrawal limit is changing from $15,000(US$10,585 to $45,000(US$31,757) for all new pensioners. This means those who upon retirement have less than $45,000 in contributions will be able to withdraw their balance. The change...

Japan has announced it will release more than 1m tonnes of contaminated water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea, a decision that has angered neighbouring countries, including China, and local fishers. Official confirmation of the move, which came more than a decade after the nuclear disaster, will deal a further blow to the fishing industry in...

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...