French nuclear tests: ‘I bury people nearly every day, what was our sin?’

The day began with a video, showing a disparate collection of arresting images – the drowned Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira, camera in hand and a huge smile on his face. Mugshots of two captured French DGSE

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Yachtie calls on Aust, NZ to set up Blue Lanes

The skipper of a yacht that has just been cleared under Fiji’s ‘Blue Lane’ program says Australia, New Zealand and other Pacific island nations should follow Fiji’s lead and create an easy pathway for yachts to

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New team in Paris faces urgent Pacific crises

Just three months before New Caledonia’s next referendum on self-determination, French President Emmanuel Macron has reshuffled his Cabinet in Paris, appointing a new Prime Minister and ministers responsible for

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French Prosecutor pursues Temaru

In French Polynesia, long-time independence leader Oscar Manutahi Temaru is again locked in battle with the French legal system. Last month, Temaru launched a two-week hunger strike, in protest over the seizure of his

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We Say: The virus is the threat, not people

The UN Human Rights Office has warned of “toxic lockdown culture” in a number of countries, with UN Secretary General António Guterres reminding governments that the threat was the “virus, not people.” States

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Guam reports 4th COVID-19 death, Fiji 5 more cases

An update on COVID-19 related developments in the region today: Guam Guam has suffered its fourth COVID -19 related death.   The Guam Daily Post reports that the a 67-year-old woman, who had recently traveled

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Coronavirus travel restrictions: a Pacific wrap

There have been no cases of coronavirus reported in the Pacific Islands region, although Australia and New Zealand have reported cases, and in the case of Australia, one death. However the Pacific region has responded

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Flosse loses power in French Polynesia

Conviction drives veteran politician out After exhausting all avenues of appeal, President Gaston Flosse of French Polynesia has been removed from office following his conviction for misappropriation of public funds.

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Emotional fall-out overnuclear test memorial

Flosse tries to move shrine from park Even though the last nuclear test in the Pacific was conducted nearly 20 years ago, the commemoration of the atomic era still causes debate in French Polynesia. President Gaston

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France’s nuclear legacy haunts French Polynesia

Last December, the United Nations General Assembly addressed France’s nuclear legacy in French Polynesia in its annual statement on decolonisation. The UN resolution “requests the Secretary-General, in cooperation

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