Sailors from Tahiti edged over Rarotonga, proving to be very competitive taking out first place in both the Lasers and the Optimist classes, winning the 2024 sailing challenge overall trophy.
Former Cook Islands prime minister and secretary-general of the Pacific Islands Forum, Henry Puna, has been confirmed as the first Cook Islander appointed to the East-West Center Board of Governors based in Honolulu, Hawaii.
NIUE – Niuean leaders are calling for locals and Niueans living abroad to fight for the preservation of Niuean language.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – A ban on local media from covering press conferences held by Australia’s prime minister Malcolm Turnbull during his visit to Papua New Guinea has been described as an example of remnant attitudes leftover from colonial times.
FIJI – Six students of a high school in Nadi have been removed from the institution after they were photographed allegedly smoking drugs.
NIUE – Niue’s rugby league coach is hoping that more players with Niuean heritage will be discovered now that an Emerging Nations World Championship has been confirmed.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – The International Labour Organisation says Papua New Guinea’s government is making inroads to the problem of child labour.
GUAM – A chorus of voices on Guam is questioning the governor’s decision to withdraw his support for the military build-up.
VANUATU – Four MPs in Vanuatu have crossed the floor strengthening government numbers but still not by enough to ensure proposed constitutional reforms.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – A veteran journalist says she was told she could not attend press conferences during last week’s visit to Papua New Guinea by Australia’s prime minister.
NEW CALEDONIA – The body of a 73-year-old man has been found a day after he went missing during Cyclone Cook in New Caledonia.
FIJI – New Zealand will send the inshore patrol vessel HMNZS Hawea and a crew of 25 to Fiji for six months from May in a major advance in defence cooperation between the two countries.
PACIFIC – A joint New Zealand Herald and World Vision effort to raise money for those living in the remote Pacific has brought in more than double its initial target.
NEW ZEALAND – Samoan health officials have issued a health alert, warning anyone who has been to Auckland in the past three weeks to get tested for typhoid.
GUAM – The Governor of Guam, Eddie Calvo, has withdrawn his support for the build-up of United States military forces in the US territory.
NEW ZEALAND – Tighter immigration policies have led to significant falls in the number of approved Pacific migrants to New Zealand over the past five years.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – A Papua New Guinea NGO says poverty is a prominent factor in ongoing sorcery-related attacks and killings.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Papua New Guinea’s former prime minister Sir Michael Somare was given a standing ovation this week as he gave his farewell speech to parliament.
VANUATU – A female award-winning travel consultant and journalist was in her hotel room on the outskirts of Port Vila while asleep in the early hours of the morning when an intruder entered her room.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Manus Island refugee says the asylum seeker resisting deportation to Lebanon fears for his life if he’s sent home without money.
AUSTRALIA – A starfish considered a key threat to the Pacific’s coral reefs could be thwarted by harnessing its own sex drive, scientists say.
AUSTRALIA – Billions of dollars’ worth of contracts for offshore processing centres on remote Pacific islands should be made public, Amnesty International says.