State of emergency in Tonga ends
A state of emergency in Tonga has officially ended after more than two and half years.
Borders are now fully reopened with nighttime curfews lifted.
The Kingdom has been in a state of emergency since March 20 in 2020.
Vaccination requirements remain in place with anyone travelling to Tonga required to provide proof of vaccination.
Tonga Health chief executive Siale Akauola, announced the end of the state of emergency in Nukua'lofa.
He said anyone testing positive for COVID-19 is required to self-isolate in their home for five days
Niue to host next PINA summit
Niue has secured the hosting rights for the Pacific Islands News Association's (PINA) 2024 media summit.
The association's president announced his board's decision on Thursday local time in Solomon Islands.
Pacific media practitioners, editors, journalists, and academics have been meeting in the capital Honiara this week as part of the 2022 media summit.
At the closing ceremony for the main meetings and training, the president of the association Kora Nou announced Niue's hosting rights.
Niue newspaper owner and publisher, Michael Jackson, thanked Nou saying he looked forward to welcoming delegates to Niue in 2024.
PNG looks at ways to get more women into politics
A Papua New Guinea official says political parties which endorse female candidates can recoup 10 percent of their costs if the candidate receives 10 percent of the primary votes.
The National reports the acting registrar of the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates Commission, Emmanuel Pok, revealed this during the opening day of a forum on women's participation in the just-completed election.
Addressing female candidates at the three-day workshop in Port Moresby, he said the commission has been pushing for law reforms which will improve the incentives for political parties to run women candidates.
He said the commission team was there to listen, learn and work with the candidates to build a PNG electoral system that is robust, accountable, transparent and fair.
Football workshop for women in Solomon Islands
15 women from across the Solomon Islands were invited to a leadership development workshop to boost women in football.
Photo: Facebook
The three-day inaugural Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Women's Football Capacity Building Workshop took place in Honiara.
The programme aims at building the foundation for women working in or aspiring to work in football.
It also aims at building strong communities and enhancing the quality of life of girls and women throughout the region.
It contributes to the pillars of OFC's Women's Football Strategy 2027, to grow women's football from grassroots to elite level.
The group undertook theoretical sessions indoors and had prominent guest speakers talk about leadership roles.
The next women's football capacity-building workshops in the Solomon Islands will be held between October 10-12 in Honiara and October 25-27 in Gizo, Western Province.
Taumalolo battles to represent Tonga following three-match ban
NRL star Jason Taumalolo is facing a battle to feature in any of his Tongan team's rugby league World Cup group games.
The New Zealand-born forward, who switched allegiance to Tonga after winning 10 Caps for the Kiwis, entered an early guilty plea after being charged with a Grade 2 offence for catching Isaiah Papali'i with a shoulder in the Cowboys' NRL finals loss to Parramatta.
As a result of rugby league's game-wide disciplinary rules on suspensions, the three-match ban handed down to Taumalolo will keep him out of Tonga's group games against Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands and Wales, and he's not taking the implications lightly.
The 29-year-old is demanding the sport changes its rules so that bans picked up for club teams only count domestically, therefore the only way to be banned for your country would be by playing international rugby league, thus keeping the two separate, much like they do in football.
In a statement, Taumalolo pleaded: "This could be my last World Cup for Tonga and I don't want to let my teammates nor our fans down. I don't believe I should miss out on Test matches for Tonga because of something I did playing for the Cowboys.
