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The Samoan tatau
The traditional Samoan tattoo goes by many names, it’s called the tatau, malofie and known colloquially as the pe’a, while the traditional female tattoo is known as the malu. It holds deep cultural and historical...
Central bank to investigate BSP
The Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) is set to conduct investigations into BSP once its completes the process for its core banking migration. This comes after business houses called for the central bank to investigate BSP’s failure to fix their banking system and services after the ongoing issues with their services following the rollover...
China’s snub of U.S. military leader highlights escalation risk
WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) -Brief smiles and handshakes by U.S. and Chinese military leaders at a luxury hotel in Singapore on Friday belie a deep freeze in communications between the two armed forces that is becoming a growing worry at the Pentagon. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had sought a proper meeting with his Chinese counterpart at...
1st June
New Zealand working to update surrogacy laws to make process easier
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – The New Zealand government will update the country’s surrogacy law to make the process easier and less discriminatory, New Zealand’s Justice Minister Kiri Allan said late on Tuesday. “Surrogacy has become an established method of forming a family for people unable to carry a child themselves. However, the laws that apply to...
Australia’s Indigenous recognition bill passes first hurdle
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Legislation to hold a referendum to recognise Australia’s Indigenous people in the constitution cleared its first parliamentary hurdle on Wednesday as it was passed in the House of Representatives. Australians will be asked to vote in a referendum, likely to be held between October and December, on whether they support altering the...
31st May
In Australian defamation court, a proxy ‘war crimes trial’ nears judgement
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian special forces soldier Ben Roberts-Smith was lauded as a hero and awarded Australia’s highest military honour for “conspicuous gallantry” during a 2010 attack on two Taliban machine-gun posts during his fifth tour of Afghanistan. But according to three newspapers, backed by accounts of other soldiers who said they were there, the...
Delay in security treaty with Australia as PNG consults ‘domestic processes’
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Papua New Guinea said a proposed security treaty with neighbour Australia would be delayed as it consults “domestic processes”, a week after signing a defence agreement with the United States that sparked student protests. Papua New Guinea (PNG), a few kilometres (miles) to Australia’s north, is being courted by China and the...
South Korea hosts its first summit with Pacific island leaders
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hosted the country’s first summit with leaders of Pacific islands on Monday, as Seoul seeks to boost its influence in a region that has become the focus of intense geopolitical rivalry. As the leaders agreed to increase efforts to fight climate change, South Korea will also...
30th May
New Zealand to maintain 15 defence personnel in Solomon Islands through year end
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand’s government on Monday said it will maintain defence personnel in the Solomon Islands at the request of local authorities until at least Dec. 31, 2023, extending a peace-keeping mission by as much as seven months. New Zealand deployed defence force staff to the Pacific country in late 2021 at the...
29th May
Sinking islands | ‘Pacific islanders can become migrants and refugees’
The risk of sinking islands will turn citizens of Pacific nations into climate migrants and refugees. Education International president Susan Hopgood mentioned this to teachers trade unionists at the Educators for Climate Justice and Just Transition Conference in Lautoka last week. “When sea-level rise is coupled with storm surges resulting from more frequent storms and...
Pacific islands, in spotlight, to push climate change in South Korea summit
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Pacific island leaders will meet South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on Monday, their third summit in a week with a large economy as the region seeks stronger action on climate change as it becomes a focus of geopolitical power attention. The Pacific islands span 40 million square kilometres of...
Plastic-spewing artwork unveiled for Paris talks against waste
PARIS (Reuters) – Lobbyists Greenpeace unveiled an artwork in Paris on Saturday in the shape of a machine churning out bottles in front of an oil derrick to coincide with talks on eliminating plastic waste. Canadian artist Benjamin Von Wong said his 5-metre-high work by the River Seine showed the link between fossil fuels and...
