Author: TMC Palau

Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says he is waiting to hear from one of his most senior cabinet ministers concerning an explicit video that ended up on his Facebook before taking any action.On Friday, a one-minute clip, described by local media as a “sex clip”, appeared on the country’s chief legal advisor Siromi Turaga’s Facebook profile before it was taken down.It is the second time a private recording of a Fiji government minister has found its way online under Rabuka’s administration.An intimate video involving a female cabinet minister, Lynda Tabuya, was leaked online and went viral in 2024. She was…

The Kumul 23 police unit is believed to be responsible for the deaths of eight people and numerous house burnings in Porgera, near the Porgera Gold Mine.Among the dead was a 16-year-old boy, Richard Yope, whose father says he was caught in the crossfire.The district administrator says the mine owner and the state are seeking to crack down on illegal mining, but efforts to resettle local villagers are problematic.Eight dead in September massacre at PNG’s troubled PorgeraDetails are emerging of a late September massacre at Porgera Valley in Papua New Guinea’s Enga Province, where eight people were allegedly killed by…

Papua New Guinea, the largest Pacific Island country, celebrated 50 years of national independence on 16 September 2025. There is much to celebrate. PNG’s peaceful transition to independence and its democratic record are real achievements: governments have changed through elections and parliamentary processes rather than military coups, and hundreds of distinct communities, languages and cultures have been held together within a single constitutional state. An anniversary is also a time for honest reflection. PNG continues to face political instability and weak accountability, law and order problems, gaps in health and education, gender inequality and violence against women. Fifty years should…

The man behind the Pacific’s first independent fact-checking website says the unchecked spread of misinformation and disinformation in the region is why he started it.Rashneel Madhur, who is the editor of the Cook Islands News, launched the CheckPacific.com at the Pacific Islands News Association media summit in Savusavu, Fiji, last month.False and misleading information was named the world’s second-greatest challenge in the World Economic Forum’s 2026 Global Risks Report. A United Nations ranking by experts from 136 countries named disinformation one of the greatest global threats.Disinformation is false or modified information knowingly and deliberately shared to cause harm or achieve…

With 12 points and 4-for-6 shooting from three against Barcelona, Grigonis gave Zalgiris a timely boost while taking an important step towards rediscovering his role in the EuroLeague. Zalgiris were trailing by 10 points at the end of the third quarter at the Palau Blaugrana, but they left Barcelona with a memorable victory. They came from behind to secure an impressive 88-81 win, with Marius Grigonis among the key figures in their comeback. The former Panathinaikos player finished the game with 12 points, four rebounds and 4-for-6 shooting from beyond the arc. His late three-pointer to put Zalgiris up 80-76…

Premier Cho Jung-tai, front, third left, joins Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han, front, second right, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee, front, second left, and members of a Taiwan delegation in a celebratory chant at the awards ceremony for the 48th WorldSkills Competition in Taipei yesterday. Fifty-three Taiwanese competitors took part in 47 skill categories in the competition in Shanghai last month, winning three gold, three silver and seven bronze medals, along with 30 Medallions for Excellence, placing third overall among the 68 participating countries and regions. Photo: CNA Source link

Niue is under a yellow alert for an imminent threat of drought.Niue’s disaster management ffice says wildfires have already happened in several areas – Tualihega, Kavata, Paluki, Tumau-Alofi, Liku and Hakupu.The government said water infrastructure and plantations have been damaged.”The decision follows a series of fire incidents that have resulted in damage to critical water infrastructure and plantations, while also placing homes, property, and essential services at significant risk.”The National Disaster Council has assessed that the threat has moved beyond a potential hazard and now requires immediate protective action, including a total burn ban.It said there was an “extremely high”…

The Fijian government has found itself caught up in another scandal after an explicit video involving one of its cabinet ministers ended up in the public domain on the eve of Fiji Day.According to local media reports over the weekend, the one-minute clip appeared on a prominent male minister’s Facebook profile on Friday night before it was taken down.”The Minister concerned has not made any comments since yesterday, and has also not said whether his account was hacked or whether it was accidentally put up,” a report on fijivillage.com on Saturday said.”He has also not confirmed if the Online Safety…

Captains of the men’s teams (from L-R) Fiji’s Kurt Donoghoe, France’s Benjamin Garcia, England’s Ben Currie, Samoa’s Junior Paulo, Australia’s Sam Walker, New Zealand’s James Fisher-Harris, Tonga’s Addin Fonua-Blake,Papua New Guinea’s Jack de Belin, Lebanon’s Jason Saab, and Cook Islands’s KL Iro pose for a photo during the captains’ run at the Rugby League World Cup launch at Allianz Stadium in Sydney on 10 October 2026.Izhar Khan / AFP Source link

Amelia Earhart expedition heads to Pacific atoll hoping to find her planeMulti-branched object in lagoon first seen in satellite imageryWreckage of Lockheed Electra would confirm castaway hypothesisLeading Earhart expert-author doubts plane wreckage still existsA US-based team of marine archaeologists has set sail for a tiny island in the far western Pacific seeking to examine the latest tantalizing clue to one of the 20th century’s great unsolved mysteries: the 1937 disappearance of famed aviator Amelia Earhart.Backed by Purdue University, an institution long affiliated with Earhart and her legacy, the group aims to learn whether a submerged object detected by satellite imagery…