Essay: PNG and Fiji were both facing COVID catastrophes. Why has one vaccine rollout surged and the other stalled?
IAN KEMISH, a former Australian High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea and now an adjunct professor at the The University of Queensland, looks – in an article first published on The Conversation – at how two Pacific nations have responded to the coronavirus pandemic…
Settlements locked down as Fiji endures deadly coronavirus wave
Suva, Fiji/Sydney, AustraliaReuters At the Qauia settlement, a community of more than 2,000 near Fiji’s capital of Suva, police stand guard to ensure no one other than health workers comes in – or out – of an area that has become a hotspot of COVID-19 infections. After keeping the coronavirus at bay last year, Fiji, […]
Snapshot: Tokoriki Island, Fiji
See GARY RUNN’s image…
Islands, rocks and tuna: Pacific nations draw new battle lines against rising seas
ALISTER DOYLE, writing for Thomson Reuters Foundation, looks at how Pacific island states are looking to ensure their territories don’t disppear with rising seas…
Fiji wins presidency of UN rights body after vote unblocks leadership impasse
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Fiji, the favourite of Western nations, won the presidency of the UN Human Rights Council on Friday, beating Bahrain and Uzbekistan in a secret ballot that resolved a tense deadlock over the selection. The vote was called after an impasse that meant the council, the only intergovernmental global body to promote and protect […]
Updated: Fiji says two dead as powerful cyclone tears across Pacific nation
Updated 6.45pm (AEDT)Reuters A powerful cyclone pounded Fiji, killing two people, including a three-month old baby, and leaving a trail of destruction across the Pacific Island nation, authorities said on Friday. Cyclone Yasa, a top category five storm, made landfall over Bua province on the northern island of Vanua Levu on Thursday evening, bringing torrential […]
Fiji declares state of natural disaster as powerful cyclone hits
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Fiji ordered its entire population to take shelter on Thursday in the path of what is expected to be the worst storm in its recorded history. Cyclone Yasa, a top category five storm expected to bring winds of up to 250kph and torrential rain, made landfall over Bua province on the northern island […]
Pacific nations stay vigilant against coronavirus in cyclone’s aftermath
Reuters A powerful cyclone that hit the Pacific Island nations this week bringing death, injuries and destruction cannot be allowed to disrupt containment efforts against the spread of the coronavirus, officials in the region said. Cyclone Harold, a Category 5 storm with winds in excess of 251 kph passed through the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji […]
South Pacific cyclone and coronavirus create “perfect storm” of worry
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation As deadly Cyclone Harold churns through the South Pacific, small island nations in its path are struggling to balance responses to the disaster with maintaining efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, officials warned Wednesday. Cyclone Harold ripped through Vanuatu and Fiji as a deadly top-strength storm this week, […]
Cyclone Harold flattens homes, brings injuries in Fiji
Sydney, AustraliaReuters A powerful tropical cyclone battered the South Pacific island nation of Fiji on Wednesday, witnesses said, destroying buildings and causing injuries in Suva, the capital, pressuring a population already bracing for the coronavirus outbreak. Cyclone Harold, its strength ranked in the highest category of five, passed over Fiji’s south at about midday, levelling […]