Author: TMC Palau

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Governor David Apatang says protecting Pacific waters and island communities must come first as the United States moves ahead with plans that could eventually open a vast area of seabed around the Mariana Trench to mineral development.The US Marine Minerals Administration, formerly the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, has issued a proposed leasing notice which has triggered a 60-day review by the governor.Apatang said his administration would approach the proposal with “extreme caution”.He said the territory wants safeguards in place before any final leasing decisions were made.Apatang’s administration is seeking independent, peer-reviewed…

Samoa’s main hospital was running low on oxygen supplies earlier this week, which reportedly resulted in the cancellation of surgeries, including those for breast cancer and kidney conditions.According to the Samoa Observer, patients “awaiting critical surgeries” at Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital (also known as Moto’otua Hospital) were demanding answers from health authorities.The newspaper reported that patients it spoke to were alerted by hospital staff just before they were scheduled to undergo their operations that there were insufficient oxygen supplies.However, a staff member from Samoa’s Health Ministry told RNZ Pacific on Thursday that the issue had been resolved after “lots of…

Eleven “safeguarding” cases, ranging from bullying to sexual harrasement, were officially recorded at last year’s Pacific Mini Games in Palau.The cases were reported to the Team Up ‘Safe Games’ team that was despatched to the event before, during and after the Games.This was revealed by Team Up safeguarding advisor Roshika Deo in an interview with RNZ Pacific.Deo said there could have been more cases that were unreported.The eleven cases were part of the 16 initially reported to the Safe Games team on the ground, which was the first time that safeguarding was integrated at a Pacific Games event.”It was systemised…

Tokelau has lost more than 60 percent of its fishing revenue between February and June, according to New Zealand officials, following its expulsion from a key Pacific fisheries agreement.The small self-governing territory was expelled from the Vessel Day Scheme (VDS) of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), which allows Pacific member countries to license fishing time in their waters, but no clear reason for the decision has yet emerged.Correspondence released under the Official Information Act (OIA) revealed that Tokelau had been forced to revise its government budget “following significant loss of revenue” since the expulsion.Offshore fisheries are Tokelau’s only…

Extreme weather patterns continue to hit the Pacific region with some of the highest parts of New Guinea experiencing snow this week.Reports from West Papua say parts of the highlands region have been blanketed by snow and ice in recent days.This includes parts of Lanny Jaya regency – Go, Balum Kuyawage, and West Wano districts. In the case of Kuyawage, the snowfall follows a pattern of drought and frost over recent weeks.Snow is not unusual for West Papua’s Jayawijaya mountains, where the world’s only glacier in a tropical region exists.However, snowfall is rare in other parts of this region and…

The president of the Methodist Church in Fiji wants all lay pastors and ministers to refrain from the over-consumption of kava (yaqona) and stop smoking cigarettes.In Fiji, nearly 70 percent of the population is Christain. The Methodist Church is the largest denomination and is especially dominant among indigenous iTaukei Fijians.The Methodist Church is the largest denomination in Fiji.123RF / Rafael Ben-AriSpeaking at the opening service of the 2026 annual conference in Suva, Reverend Dr Semisi Turagavou said he wants greater discipline among ordained ministers and lay pastors.He spoke candidly about the excessive consumption of yaqona within the ministry, stressing that…

The United Auckland Gospel Choir has cemented its place among the world’s leading choirs after winning gold at the 2026 World Choir Games in Sweden, an event once known as the “Choir Olympics”.”No one can beat us at being us,” Seumanu Seuoti Simon Matāfai JP, who is the choir master and pianist, said.”We are the best at being ourselves, as indigenous, Pasifika, Māori, and Oceania as a region.”United Akld Gospel choir receives gold at world competitionThe 50-strong group, who are predominantly Māori and Pasifika, was the only New Zealand and Pacific team to compete in a competition traditionally dominated by…

Cook Islands youth at this year’s Te Maeva Nui, the Cook Islands’ annual Constitution Day celebration, delivered a strong message that they are determined to keep their culture alive.The week-long cultural celebration, held from 25 July to 4 August, was filled with song and dance, local kai, arts and crafts – which left the air buzzing with excitement and filled with te tangi o te ka’ara, the sound and rhythm of the drums.Organisers said a highlight of this year’s festival, which marked the country’s 61th year of self-governance, was seeing young people step up to lead performing teams.Vaka Takitumu’s Ohiva…

The Pacific has a communications problem that extends well beyond social media. The region covers almost one-third of the Earth’s surface, with small populations scattered across vast distances. Individually, Pacific Island countries have limited global economic and political influence. For these countries, reliable communications are both critical and difficult to control. At both ends of the system through which information travels, Pacific countries are increasingly dependent on infrastructure and technology controlled elsewhere. Under the ocean, submarine cables carry almost all international digital traffic. At the other end, global technology companies increasingly determine what information people see — through social media…

Papua New Guinea’s foreign minister says he expects the issue of West Papua will be discussed at the upcoming Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders meeting in Palau.This comes as the issue of human rights abuses and conflict in Indonesian-ruled Papua region, often known internationally as West Papua, appeared to have slipped off the regional agenda.After the PIF foreign ministers met in Suva earlier this month, there was no mention of West Papua in the meeting’s outcome statement.Most of the talk was about regional security arrangements and the region’s response, or lack thereof, to a recent Chinese nuclear-capable interballistic missile test…