Author: TMC Palau

The case involving the death of Police Constable Peniasi Racagi has been referred to prosecutors. This matter is now under review by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Fiji Police Force said all evidentiary documents have been submitted to the ODPP. This includes investigation files linked to the alleged involvement of police officers in the matter. Police confirmed the files are now with prosecutors for independent legal assessment. The ODPP has advised that the review will take about three to four weeks.Article continues after advertisement The assessment will guide the next steps in the case. Police said…

Palau Age & Longevity As of 2026, Palau has a median age of 39.9 years, compared to the global average of 31 years. The population is 53.72% male and 46.28% female. Life expectancy in Palau at birth is 69.4 years (67.3 for males, 71.9 for females), lower than the world average of 73.8 years. Palau Ethnicity As of 2026, the largest ethnicity in Palau is Palauan (Micronesian with Malayan and Melanesian admixtures) (73.6%) , followed by Asian (21.7%) . Palau Religion As of 2026, Roman Catholic is the largest religion in Palau, comprising 46.9% of the population. Source link

[Ministry of Agriculture/Facebook] A $1.3 million government investment has been commissioned to upgrade agricultural research facilities at the Koronivia Research Station. The aim is to strengthen scientific support for farmers across Fiji. The newly renovated Fiji Agricultural Chemistry Laboratory and Crop Research Information Centre were officially opened today. Minister for Agriculture Tomasi Tunabuna said the upgraded facilities would  boost the Ministry’s ability to develop practical solutions for farmers. He says the focus is to ensure farmers’ challenges are addressed with clear and workable solutions. “Challenges such as global crisis, climate change, declining soil fertility, increasing agro-input costs, high incidence of…

Palau-flagged vessel Settebello at the centre of the India-US standoff had ignored close to 60 verbal warnings before it came under fire from US forces last week, resulting in the deaths of 3 Indian nationals.According to remarks by a US official, which were reported by AP from Washington, the vessel also did not heed repeated display of force by military aircraft like flares and flyovers meant to warn against violating the American blockade in the Gulf of Oman.External affairs minister S Jaishankar raised the issue with his counterpart Marco Rubio describing as unacceptable use of lethal force against civilian shipping.…

Warrant Officer Class 2 Rob Allen has been awarded the Distinguished Service Decoration for his response to two very different emergencies in Vanuatu. Photo: Supplied / NZDF A New Zealand Army engineer, honoured for his emergency response work in Vanuatu, says the award reflects the efforts of an entire community banding together to save lives. Warrant Officer Class 2 Rob Allen was awarded the New Zealand Distinguished Service Decoration (DSD) in this years King’s Birthday Honours for his leadership during a plane crash and a deadly earthquake in Vanuatu. Allen has been seconded to the Vanuatu Mobile Force Engineer Squadron…

Fiji Police Force noted that five officers from the Navua Police Station, led by its Station Officer, continued the search. [Photo: FILE] Efforts are still underway to find the sixth occupant of a boat that capsized in Beqa last week, which cost the lives of three people in the same incident. In a statement, the Fiji Police Force noted that five officers from the Navua Police Station, led by its Station Officer, continued the search with joint efforts from nearby communities and businesses covering the coastline from Navua to Korovisilou. There has been no progress in the search as of…

[Photo: FILE] The Fiji Sugar Corporation has postponed the start of the 2026 crushing season at its Rarawai and Labasa mills. The decision was made just days before operations were scheduled to begin tomorrow. In a public advisory issued today, FSC states that the commencement of crushing operations at both mills has been deferred until further notice due to insufficient readiness among harvesting gangs. The Corporation says an assessment of current preparations found that the required number of harvesting gangs are not yet ready to support the efficient start of milling operations.Article continues after advertisement The crushing season was originally…

Your first view of the Rock Islands comes from the tender, and on day one, it’s the one that sticks. Hundreds of mushroom-shaped limestone formations, impossibly green, rise from water so clear you’d swear someone forgot to render it. The four-deck Explorer sits anchored in their lee, where the water flattens to glass. Beneath the surface at the nearby Ngerchong Reef – our first dive of the week – the coral is among the best preserved on Earth. This spot is genuinely, incomprehensibly pristine on a global scale. Turtles play in the shallows while lionfish lurk under the coral umbrellas.…

A P-8A Poseidon crew located missing boats in Fijian and Kiribati waters. Photo: Supplied / NZDF The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) has rescued eight people in two missing boats the middle of the Pacific. It said a P-8A Poseidon spotted a wayward boat on its way to Fiji to refuel. On discovering the vessel, it said they were in touch with Fiji’s Navy which staged the rescue of five people, who the RNZAF said are all homeward bound. “The quick response to the diversion request and successful rescue was a credit to the aircraft crew,” the RFNS Savenaca…

The Dormition Cathedral [Source: BBC News] Nine people have been killed and several others injured in a wave of Russian strikes on Ukraine during which a major religious landmark in Kyiv caught fire, reports say. Four people were killed in attacks on Kyiv, while five rescue workers died trying to put out a fire caused by a Russian strike on the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said. The 11th-century Dormition Cathedral was significantly damaged in what Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko called a “brutal assault on our people and our heritage”. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack in the Russian…