SUVA, (XINHUA) — South Pacific island nations such as Fiji are far away from Russia and Ukraine, yet they have been significantly affected by the conflict between the two countries with the hikes in food and fuel prices. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has warned recently that the Russia-Ukraine conflict…
RNZI: Covid-19 numbers are climbing quickly in Samoa. Health officials have now indentified 45 cases of community transmission of coronavirus. The National Emergency Operations Committee said 34 new positive cases were confirmed last night after the announcement by Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa of 11 cases and the upgrading of the alert level to level…
By Pita Ligaiula When Timor Leste heads to the polls on Saturday to elect its next president, there will be more candidates and more female candidates than ever before. It’s been five years since the last presidential election was held in the country. Australian National University scholar Andrea Fahey, who has studied Timor Leste politics for…
Pacific Island Forum Fisheries is building on its high tech response to illegal and unreported fishing with new tools being trialled to complement its existing suite of monitoring, control and surveillance tools. Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Director, Dr Manu Tupou Roosen said that as FFA’s collaborative surveillance Operation Rai Balang came to a…
SYDNEY, 18 MARCH 2022 (RENEWABLE ECONOMY) — Australia has the potential to drive significant emissions reductions across the Asia Pacific region – by as much as four times its own emissions – by decarbonising Australia’s major export industries, new research has found. The research, undertaken by academics at the Australian National University’s Crawford School, has…
A former Australian high commissioner to Solomon Islands says the involvement of Chinese officials in training local police is setting off alarm bells in Canberra. The move from Beijing follows last year’s violent riots which targeted Chinese-owned businesses in the capital, Honiara. James Batley, who led the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) and…
PORT VILA, VANUATU (22 February 2022): After a lengthy process, the MSG Secretariat has a new Director General, he is Mr. Leonard Louma OBE from Papua New Guinea. This follows an announcement by the Chairman of the MSG and Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Honourable James Marape in an Official Statement issued on the…
RNZI: Seventeen people have been recognised in the New Year’s honours for their services to Pacific communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. Faumuina Professor Fa’afetai Sopoaga leads the New Year’s Honours list for Pacific recipients. She was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to Pacific health and tertiary education.…
MAKING sure the tuna fisheries of the Western and Central Pacific remain sustainable is one of the driving aims of Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) members heading into WCPFC18 this week. “As FFA members have continued to highlight throughout this year, Pacific Island people are dependent on the tuna fishery, therefore management action to…
CANBERRA, (ABC) –— The Australian government is reviewing a recent campaign aimed at stopping Pacific seasonal workers from absconding from their jobs. Around 12,000 seasonal workers have come into Australia over the past year from Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga and Solomon Islands but of those, more than 1000 have absconded. However, the government’s campaign, which featured…