World

SYDNEY (Reuters) — The Pacific Islands bloc did not overturn a decision to exclude 21 donor countries, including the United States and China, from the region’s top political meeting after a lengthy debate, officials said. Pacific Islands Forum foreign ministers met in Fiji, holding “rob…

An aerial view of a Chinese fighter jet flying close to a Philippine Coast Guard aircraft carrying journalists during a patrol flight, days after two Chinese vessels collided in the area while allegedly trying to block a Philippine supply mission, over the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South Ch…

YAREN/BEIJING (Government of Nauru/Pacnews) — Nauru Minister for Foreign Affairs Lionel Aingimea, and chairman of the China Rural Revitalization and Development Corporation, Zhang Yong signed on Aug. 5 a phase 1 investment project proposal valued at approximately $651 million, further cementing eco…

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The Guam Department of Labor has issued a warning about a scam on Facebook falsely claiming to offer grants. The posts are not affiliated with GDOL or any legitimate government program. GDOL urged residents to exercise caution. “This is a scam. The Guam Departm…

A Guam Department of Labor Pandemic Unemployment Assistance processing center is show in March 2021. HAGÅTÑA  — The U.S. Department of Labor has informed the Guam Department of Labor that it plans to unilaterally extend all active CARES Act grants for states and territories to Dec. 31, 2025. This w…

Jeremiah Manele HONIARA (Reuters) — Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele has said that 21 donor countries, including the United States and China, will not be invited to the region’s top political meeting, a move that follows pressure from Beijing to exclude Taiwan. China’s big…

KOROR (Island Times/Pacnews) —  More than two years after the Palau Goods and Services Tax or PGST took effect, citizens across different sectors are offering mixed reactions, revealing a growing divide between small business owners and retirees over who shoulders the real burden. A young female en…

MAJURO — A National Ocean Symposium opened in the Marshall Islands this week against a backdrop of an innovative fisheries authority that is employing conservation and management tools to break into the tuna value chain in unprecedented ways. Fisheries and marine resources are the driving force beh…

YAREN (Government of Nauru/Pacnews) — Nauru has welcomed its first new citizens under the government’s Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship Program, announced at COP29 late last year. Nauru, ranked the world’s fifth most vulnerable nation under the United Nations’ Multidimensional Vulnerabil…

Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine, flanked by Speaker Brenson Wase, right, and parliament Chaplain Rev. Lawson Matauto, at Monday’s opening session of parliament where she delivered strongly worded remarks supporting Taiwan’s participation as a development partner in the Pacific Is…