Whispers

DJ Albo On his recent trip to the United States, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was hosted at a state dinner in the White House. Some bright spark proposed that the 1970s band, The B-52s, perform at the

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Challenging times for regionalism in Rarotonga

Pacific Islands Forum 2023: Every September, the opening of the United Nations General Assembly provides an opportunity for presidents, prime ministers and heads of states to highlight their views on global challenges.

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Voice. Treaty. Truth

Across Australia this month, voters will decide whether to change the Constitution and create a Voice to Parliament – a body to advise the Australian government on laws and policies that affect Aboriginal and Torres

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Pacific to elevate talks with Japan on nuke waste water discharge

Forum Chair and Cook Islands Prime Minister says the Forum will elevate talks with Japan in regards to its nuclear waste water discharge into the Pacific Ocean. The decision was taken at the one-day Forum Foreign

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Don’t capitulate to foreign interests, Puna tells Foreign Ministers

The Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum has sounded a strongly worded call for greater regionalism in the Pacific by urging Foreign Ministers of the 18-member Forum meeting in Fiji today, not to capitulate to

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September 2023 Vol 49 No. 9

Fiji: Democracy. Abort. Repeat. Embattled Pacific Island States build heft for climate push Fukushima discharge begins USAID: Power in the Pacific Pacific economies: Driven to the brink of change Pacific judiciaries

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China’s Shandong Province expands its footprint to the Pacific

While Japan’s discharge of nuclear-contaminated waters into the Pacific from its Fukushima nuclear plant was drawing flak right across the Pacific, a high-powered delegation of Chinese ocean and marine scientists and

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Despite Pacific territories’ concerns, U.S backs Japan’s nuke water discharge

Pacific island nations and territories must stick together to hold the Japanese government accountable for any consequences that might result from its release of advanced liquid processing system-treated water from the

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It’s not time to panic, it’s time to build regional scientific capacity: SPC

The head of the Pacific Community (SPC) says the region should develop scientific capability “that is owned and trusted” to monitor and advise on radioactive isotopes. Speaking on the eve of the likely first

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Meraia Taufa Vakatale: anti-nuclear activist and feminist trailblazer

Fiji recently lost Dr Meraia Taufa Vakatale, a monumental woman leader who broke many glass ceilings with her numerous firsts. As an educationalist, diplomat and politician, she profoundly impacted the lives of tens of

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Cook Islands PM asks partners to get serious about debt and climate financing as economic ministers meet

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown says if the region’s donor partners are serious about helping Pacific economies grow and recover, they “have to be serious about looking at changing the rules around financing,

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Young right a historical wrong

A 2019 Columbia University study showed that some areas of the Marshall Islands are 10 times more radioactive than Chernobyl and Fukushima despite decades of clean-up efforts by the United States. Yet, few young

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