Star Marianas seeks federal probe into Commonwealth Ports Authority’s ‘coercive’ rules and ‘arbitrary fees

Star Marianas Air on Monday said it would ask the Federal Aviation Authority to launch an investigation into the Commonwealth Ports Authority for allegedly imposing “coercive fee-setting practices” that circumvent

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Palau’s 2024 presidential election: A close contest

Palau’s presidential election is shaping up to be one of the most distinctive in Palau’s recent history. On 05 November, two prominent political figures—who also happen to be brothers-in-law—will face off for

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Kurt Campbell pledges support for Forum, as US mobilises across the north Pacific

“Across the board, if you look at the nature of our step up in every arena, it is unmistakable, it is fulsome, it is deliberate and it will continue.” `-Kurt Campbell As Pacific leaders gather in the Kingdom of

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Forum opens with songs of resilience, followed by earthquake

As delegates gathered in Nuku’alofa for the annual Pacific Islands Forum, the new Indoor Stadium at Tonga High School resonated with song from hundreds of school students, at Monday’s official opening. Soon after

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Forum delays mission to New Caledonia, after diplomatic wrangling 

The Pacific Islands Forum has postponed a planned monitoring mission to New Caledonia.  The delegation, involving three prime ministers, had intended to visit the French Pacific dependency before next week’s

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Briefs

Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands Star Marianas Air, a commuter airline that provides passenger and air cargo service in the Northern Marianas, plans to terminate its air services to these locations effective

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Movers and Shakers

New Zealand’s first female Professor of Law of Pacific origin, and a former Supreme Court Justice from Samoa, Professor Tafaoimalo Tologata Leilani Tuala-Warren, has been appointed to lead the Te Piringa Faculty of

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Opinion: Free(r) movement at the Forum

The annual Pacific Islands Forum Economic Ministers Meeting (FEMM) always has a wide-ranging agenda. This year the FEMM, which was held at the start of August in Suva, endorsed the now-finalised but yet-to-be-released

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Economic diplomacy: Banking on the Pacific

Rebuilding regional banking is unlikely to pay dividends without an underlying business revival. Australia’s oldest bank changed its name from the Bank of New South Wales to Westpac in 1982, reflecting apparent

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Tasi’s love for the water

Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) Olympic swimmer Tasi Limtiaco’s love for the pool is no surprise, given his island upbringing. “Tasi” means ocean or the sea in the indigenous languages of Guam and the

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Opinion: Mixing oil and water

As protests erupt across New Caledonia, a leading Loyalist politician claims indigenous Kanak and the West are like ‘oil and water’  Sonia Backès, the leading conservative anti-independence politician of her

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‘No place for political violence in the U.S.’ 

Guam leaders today joined the nation in condemning the shooting at former president Donald Trump at his rally in Pennsylvania.  “There is no room for violence in politics–no matter where you stand on the

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