Author: TMC Palau

A woman stuck in the Cook Islands for three years is in a situation which may be tricky for Immigration New Zealand and “too hot to handle” for ministers, according to a lawyer.Decision-makers have not allowed her to travel here because they doubt her stated intention to transit straight to her home country, which is reportedly in South Asia.The Cook Islands News said the woman described her forced stay as a psychological nightmare, and she insisted she wanted to return to her family.Australia had reportedly also refused transit visas.An immigration lawyer Richard Small, who is not the woman’s lawyer, had…

The Tonga men’s national rugby league team will go by Tonga Rugby League 13, or ‘Tonga 13’ for short, at the 2026 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC).The team will not be able to use its fan favourite and globally recognised nickname ‘Mate Ma’a Tonga’ (which translates as ‘Die for Tonga’), Tonga 13 chairman Lord Fatafehi Fakafanua, who is also the country’s prime minister, told RNZ Pacific on Wednesday.Lord Fakafanua said this is because the Mate Ma’a Tonga (MMT) name is registered under the Tonga National Rugby League (TNRL).The TNRL was the managing organisation for rugby league in Tonga until they…

Jonatan Proietti, the new director for Latin America of the Luis Palau Association and executive director of the Latin Evangelical Alliance (AEL). Photo: Diario Cristiano The Luis Palau Association has named Jonatan Proietti its director for Latin America, effective January 2027. Levi Park, the association’s global director, announced the appointment during the 13th General Assembly of the Latin Evangelical Alliance, or AEL. Proietti will also continue serving as executive director of the AEL and will devote part of his time to that role with the association’s support, said Juan Cruz Cellammare, a longtime member of the Luis Palau team. His late…

New Zealand is supporting an internal review of Fiji’s national security and intelligence system, amid claims by the United States of Chinese infiltration.The Fijian government announced a six-month partnership with the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) that it said would “assess the existing intelligence structure and develop evidence-based options for reform”.Its focus will be on information-sharing between countries, which, on Fiji’s part, requires a reform programme “to address fragmentation” across government agencies.”The review will examine potential changes to intelligence functions, governance, workforce and operations, including the risks, benefits and requirements for implementing the proposed changes,” the Fiji government said…

The Pacific Engagement Visa (PEV) is now in its third year. With June 2026 data now available, we can assess PEV success over its first two years. To get a PEV visa, applicants and their families have to register for a ballot, be selected through that ballot to apply for a visa, and then meet the visa requirements, including an Australian job offer. In the first two years, 4,006 PEV visas out of an available 6,000 visas were granted. The shortfall reflects a slow start, but the pace has picked up. From January to May 2026, more than 400 PEV…

Pacific travel agents are warning Kiwi travellers to stay alert in the coming months amid warnings of heightened cyclone activity in the region.Earth Sciences New Zealand (ESNZ) said between seven to 11 named cyclones could form in the Southwest Pacific rolling into the “Cyclone Season” from starting on 1 November.Island nations such as Samoa, Tokelau, and parts of Kiribati are expected to face an elevated risk.For Pasifika people in New Zealand looking to make it home for the summer, or for tourists wanting to take advantage of good deals, travel agents told RNZ Pacific that it pays to plan ahead,…

Kiribati’s national men’s football team has made history after winning its first-ever international competition in Fiji over the weekend.Kiribati is an associate member of the Oceania Football Confederation and is not a full member of the sport’s global governing body, FIFA.Te Eitei were one of the invitational teams at the annual Inter-District Championship (IDC) in Suva last week, where they competed in the premier division of the tournament.The side defeated newly promoted Seaqaqa FC 6-1 in the final of the second-tier competition.Seaqaqa secured their place in the Fiji Football Association’s top league for next season to become one of the…

The band features eight musicians—fronted by the magnetic, chameleon-like vocals of Javier Martí—in a sophisticated show that recreates Bowie’s immense legacy. They deliver a sound that remains faithful to the original tracks, accompanied by a stage presentation that spans every era of the British genius’s career. There could be no more magical setting to hear legendary songs like Space Oddity, Starman, Heroes, Rebel Rebel, Ziggy Stardust, China Girl, and Life On Mars? than the stage of the Palau de la Música Catalana—a venue that surely would have delighted Bowie himself.  Blackstars is the premier Spanish tribute band dedicated to David Bowie—one…

The new Flying Fijians head coach Jake White’s focus is to get the players ready to be in the best shape possible for the 2027 Rugby World Cup (RWC) in Australia.White, a Rugby World Cup-winning coach with the Springboks, was unveiled by the Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) as the Fiji men’s XV team’s new mentor in Suva on Tuesday.The master tactician said that to achieve Fiji’s RWC ambitions, he and his team would work through three phases, and that begins now, as the Fijians head into their Test against Japan on 24 October.”When you’re a Test coach, you want to…

October 14, 2026 — 3:51pmSaveYou have reached your maximum number of saved items.Remove items from your saved list to add more.No gift articles leftYou’ve used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.CloseAAAPalau President Surangel Whipps Jr and other Pacific leaders have rejected criticisms that climate talks co-hosted by Australia in the Pacific last week were a failure.“I have just returned from pre-COP in Fiji and Tuvalu, which Australia helped to organise and co-fund, and I have followed the media commentary here about who attended and what the gathering cost,” Whipps said,…