First Vanuatu female weightlifter to compete in Olympic Games

21-year-old Ajah Pritchard Lolo will be Vanuatu’s first female weightlifting athlete to compete at the Olympic Games in Paris this month.  Last month was a momentous one for Vanuatu as the nation celebrated World

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Pacific nations stand firm on fisheries and oceans protection

For Pacific Island nations, marine conservation and sustainable fisheries management are crucial because the health of ocean resources deeply influences their economies and livelihoods. In recent times, contrasting

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Tackling the Pacific’s plastics crisis

The Pacific Ocean Litter Project (POLP), an initiative under the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), is fighting the threat of single-use plastics to the Pacific coastal environment. With

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Briefs

American Samoa Three doctors and one dentist have reportedly left American Samoa’s Department of Health and more may be leaving soon, as benefits under their contracts have not been honoured due to lack of funding.

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A Pacific basketball star rises

It was not your everyday greeting, even in the American state that produced Michael Jordan and is home to two of the most dominant schools in college basketball. A 57-year-old man still maintaining an athletic build and

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Movers and Shakers

Former Nauru President, Baron Waqa has begun his term as the new Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). He succeeds Henry Puna. Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN) has appointed Rufino Varea as

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Vanuatu prime minister visits Huawei, views policing technology

Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai visited technology company Huawei in Shenzhen and viewed surveillance technology used to enhance policing and reduce criminal activity, his office said in a statement on Tuesday.

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Filomena Leonisa Iakopo to represent American Samoa in Paris Olympics

Filomena Leonisa Iakopo, who is from the CNMI and American Samoa, left Saipan on Saturday with Paris as her final destination.  She will compete in the 100 meters event of the Olympic Games in the French capital on 02

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Women Promote Resilience in their Communities

Women’s Resilience to Disasters (WRD) is an initiative to strengthen women’s resilience to disasters and threats, which is inclusive of climate change and COVID-19. There are two main objectives for the WRD

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Future of New Zealand’s Nauru resettlement deal unclear

New Zealand is unlikely to resettle its full quota of refugees from Nauru under its 2022 agreement with Australia, and faces choices on the future of the pact. A deal struck by previous governments on both sides of the

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Cyclone risks for Pacific Island hospitals modelled

Cyclone and extreme weather risks for individual hospitals across Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Tonga are being modelled in a study led out of Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.  Climate models with

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Pacific export revenue returns to pre-pandemic levels 

The Pacific island region’s export industry has recovered its pre-pandemic-level performance, posting a 49 percent revenue increase in 2023, which was twice the growth rate recorded in 2022, according to the 2024

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