Ads by Google Ads by Google

PACIFIC NATIONS

Purse Seiner vessels in Pago harbor
Honolulu, HAWAII — Pacific leaders are developing a new warning system, not against hurricanes, tsunamis or even erupting volcanoes but rather the looming departure of vital tuna from their territorial waters in the years to come. That so-called “advanced warning system” is part of a larger, $70...
Queen Elizabeth II in Tonga
Wellington, NEW ZEALAND — Flags are flying at half mast across the Pacific and leaders are paying tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, who has died at the age of 96. The Queen visited the Pacific multiple times during her reign, with a visit a few months after her coronation to Fiji and Tonga, in...
Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi,Chinese President Xi Jinping
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — China wants 10 small Pacific nations to endorse a sweeping agreement covering everything from security to fisheries in what one leader warns is a “game-changing” bid by Beijing to wrest control of the region. A draft of the agreement obtained by The Associated Press...
A Polynesian container ship at sea
Honolulu, HAWAII — Pacific nations have been joined by their vulnerable Asian counterparts in a call to decarbonize the shipping industry by 2050. Eleven climate-vulnerable Asian nations endorsed the Climate Vulnerable Forum’s call to the International Maritime Organization, which includes a $100...
Antony Blinken
Washington, D.C. — The US Secretary of State has warned Pacific leaders about increasing threats and coercion in the region, in a veiled swipe at China's growing influence. Antony Blinken told a virtual summit of leaders and delegates from 11 Pacific countries that economic coercion across the...
Maluseu Doris Tulifau in American Samoa with ASCC student in 2019
Auckland, NEW ZEALAND — During the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic violence has soared globally, and the Pacific has some of the world's highest rates of violence against women. Five feminists from the Pacific chose to acknowledge International Women's Day this year by sharing their ideas on tackling...
Ruins at Vakaloa Resort in Tonga
PACIFIC ISLANDS — 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...
Guam Governor Lou Leon Guerrero
PACIFIC ISLANDS — More travel restrictions and measures have been imposed around the Pacific as cases in the region continue to increase. People in French Polynesia have been told to stay at home from midnight for at least 15 days as the coronavirus outbreak keeps spreading. At a briefing this...
A residential area of Fiji pictured after Cyclone Winston in 2018
Sydney, AUSTRALIA — While the rest of the world wakes up to the climate emergency, people in Oceania have been living it  "for decades", a new report says.  In low-lying nations such as Tonga, Samoa, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, many have already died from climate-related extremes.  Caritas Oceania...
74-year-old Teaga Esekia,
Vaitupu, TUVALU — For 74-year-old Teaga Esekia, a chief from the Tuvalu island of Vaitupu, the ocean is a lifeblood. "Tuvaluans, they have different types of months, not like January to December," said the elderly but agile man, who still climbs coconut trees every day. "They have their seasons...

Pages