It was an unusual year for all of us with the lurking threat of Covid-19. But for our team at Tagata Pasifika, the show went on. We look back at some of the highs and lows of 2020.

New Zealand is preparing to support its Pacific neighbours to access safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines at the earliest opportunity, Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Associate Foreign Affairs Minister Aupito William Sio say. “Pacific countries have worked hard to keep COVID-19 out, or to stamp it out, and New Zealand has been committed to […]

Source: RNZ Pacific Two separate cyclones developing in the Pacific are threatening to impact several countries later this week, with Fiji in particular being warned to be alert. Cyclones Yasa and Zazu were both named by authorities on Monday, the first in the South Pacific for this summer’s cyclone season. Yasa, which had intensified into […]

The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Mark Brown, have agreed an ‘Arrangement to Facilitate Quarantine-Free Travel between the Cook Islands and New Zealand’. Both Prime Ministers and their Cabinets have instructed officials to continue working together to put in place all measures required to safely […]

Four fishermen who had been reported missing from Kiribati have been found in the Pacific Ocean by New Zealand’s Air Force. Crew on a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) Orion found the four men 140 nautical miles west of Tarawa this morning (Tuesday, 8 December). Earlier, Fiji and New Zealand’s Rescue Coordination Centres requested […]

Afamasaga Jackie Curry has been appointed as a Management Consultant to lead the Pacific Cooperation Foundaton (PCF), in a role set for the next eight months. She takes over from Fiso John Fiso, who is stepping down from his roles as chair and acting chief executive (CE). “I feel the job I had been put […]

In 2017 Māori journalist Renee Kahukura Iosefa and her Samoan husband, Walker Iosefa, made the decision to move to Samoa to provide an opportunity for their three children to learn their Samoan language and cultural heritage. Now, three years on, they've made the decision to return to Aotearoa. The Iosefa family share their journey of discovery by celebrating the importance of living the language.

Samoa has recorded its first positive test for Covid-19. Prime Minister Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi made the announcement in a live address to the nation this morning. He confirmed one patient in a quarantine facility tested positive to the coronavirus on Wednesday night. However Tuila’epa said a second confirmatory test came back negative when conducted this […]

A further five people have died in French Polynesia to Covid-19, raising the death toll to 61. 98 people are in hospital, including 27 in intensive care. The number of cases has increased by 241 overnight, raising the tally to 12,362. The coronavirus is concentrated on Tahiti but has spread across all archipelagos. It has […]