World

In this file photo from 2023, Bikini islanders demonstrate outside their local government town hall in Majuro calling for investigation into leaders’ spending that has exhausted a trust fund that provided aid to the displaced community for over 40 years. New leaders, elected in November 2023,…

NUKU’ALOFA (TVNZ/ABC Pacific/Pacnews) — As Tonga grapples with its meth crisis the true impact on children and families is becoming evident. It comes as police continue to investigate drug groups on the island, this week revealing 17 arrests including members of the Comanchero gang. Twice a year gr…

Guam police officers and Customs agents frisk suspected illegal aliens apprehended near the Pago Bay Bridge on Oct. 6, 2022. HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Six Chinese nationals are facing federal charges for arriving in Guam by boat from Saipan. On Tuesday in the District Court of Guam, a crimina…

KOROR (Island Times/Pacnews) — Japan’s Ambassador to Palau Orikasa Hiroyuki and the Japanese Fisheries Survey Team met with Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. last week. The fisheries survey team visited Palau from Aug. 13 to 20 as a follow-up to the discussions held between Whipps and Japanese Pr…

Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Aug. 20, 2024. SYDNEY (Reuters) — Geopolitical shocks could disrupt the political and security landscape and strain unity in the Pacific Islands region amid str…

An undated colorized scanning electron micrograph of mpox virus (red) on the surface of infected VERO E6 cells (green), captured at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Integrated Research Facility in Fort Detrick, Maryland. BERLIN (Reuters) — A World Health Organization offic…

An aerial view shows the BRP Sierra Madre on the contested Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin, in the South China Sea, March 9, 2023. BEIJING/MANILA (Reuters) — The Philippines and China accused each other on Monday of ramming vessels and performing dangerous maneuvers in the South China…

KOROR (AP/Pacnews) — Beijing weaponized tourism to the Pacific archipelago of Palau over its allegiance to Taiwan and its accusations that China was behind a major cyberattack there, President Surangel Whipps Jr. told The Associated Press. Palau, along with Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands, is one t…

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, right, and her father Thaksin Shinawatra in Bangkok, Thailand on Aug. 18, 2024. BANGKOK (Reuters) — Paetongtarn Shinawatra was endorsed as prime minister by Thailand’s king on Sunday, two days after parliament elected her, paving the way for her to form a cabinet in th…

Surangel Whipps Jr. KOROR (RNZ Pacific/Pacnews) — Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jr. claims China is “weaponizing tourism” in a bid to get the island nation to sever its ties with Taiwan. Whipps said he has been told by Beijing “the sky is the limit” if they ditch their association with Ta…