Category Archives: Pacific islands

Ocean rower Aurimas Mockus stranded by cyclone off Australia’s east coast safely rescued

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Lithuanian rower’s two-day wait to be rescued off Queensland comes to an end

A Lithuanian rower has been rescued off the Queensland coast after he was caught in a tropical cyclone’s 130km/h winds and monster waves.

Aurimas Mockus ran into trouble about 740km east of Mackay while attempting a 12,000km Pacific Ocean crossing from San Diego to Brisbane in his solo rowing boat.

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Weather tracker: six cyclones swirl simultaneously in southern hemisphere

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Bianca, Garance and Honde churn across Indian Ocean as Alfred, Rae and Seru spin through south-west Pacific

An uncommon meteorological event unfolded on Tuesday when six named tropical cyclones were active simultaneously in the southern hemisphere, several in close proximity to one another.

Three developed in the south-west Pacific. Severe Tropical Cyclone Alfred formed on 20 February in the Coral Sea to the north-east of Australia, reaching an intensity equivalent to a category 4 hurricane on Thursday with sustained winds of 105mph (170km/h) and gusts at about 140mph.

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Cook Islands releases terms of deal with China amid protests about lack of transparency

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Agreement includes sections on deep-sea mining and education, document shows, as opposition accuses PM of risking relationship with New Zealand

A strategic partnership deal between China and the Cook Islands spans areas from deep-sea mining to education scholarships but excludes security ties, a document released by the Pacific island nation’s government showed.

Western nations that traditionally held sway in the region have become increasingly concerned about China’s push for influence in the Pacific, after Beijing signed defence, trade and financial deals with countries in the region over the past three years.

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Cook Islands PM defends signing of wide-ranging deal with China

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Mark Brown says Beijing deal that covers trade, investment, oceans, infrastructure and transport complements ties with New Zealand

The Cook Islands says it has signed a deal to expand relations with China, stressing that the accord does not impinge on ties with former colonial power New Zealand.

Prime minister Mark Brown said he signed an “action plan for the comprehensive strategic partnership” with Chinese premier Li Qiang in the northern city of Harbin during a five-day state visit to China last week.

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Solomon Islands landowners seek compensation over catastrophic oil spill

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Claim over the 2019 Rennell Island disaster, which saw more than 300 tonnes of fuel leak into the water, filed in the Solomons High court

The companies allegedly responsible for the one of the worst environmental disasters in Solomon Islands’ history are being sued over the catastrophic oil spill that caused harm to an ecologically sensitive island.

The claim over the 2019 Rennell Island disaster was filed in the Solomons high court last week, just days before the statute of limitations expired.

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New Zealand raises ‘concern’ as Cook Islands prepares to sign China deal

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Deputy PM says New Zealand hasn’t been adequately consulted on an agreement the Cook Islands leader is expected to sign in Beijing this week

A diplomatic row has erupted between two tight-knit Pacific countries, after New Zealand said the Cook Islands failed to properly consult on its plans to deepen ties with China amid growing concerns over Beijing’s push for influence in the region.

The Cook Islands was a dependent New Zealand colony from 1901-1965 but has since operated as a self-governing nation in “free association” with New Zealand. Its roughly 17,000 citizens hold New Zealand citizenship. There are obligations between the two nations to regularly consult on matters of defence and security.

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Leaders in the Pacific raise alarm over ‘direct impact’ of Trump’s climate retreat and aid freeze

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Samoa’s prime minister says US withdrawal from Paris climate agreement is ‘very disappointing’ and puts the survival of Pacific countries at greater risk

Leaders and environmental advocates in the Pacific have expressed alarm over Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and freeze foreign aid, warning the moves will accelerate the existential threats they face as nations on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

The Paris agreement is the world’s main effort to address the impacts of the climate crisis. Trump has called it “unfair” and a “rip off”.

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‘I felt less human, not human at all’: Australia faces moral crossroads over Nauru

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Who is accountable for what happens in an offshore processing centre? It’s remarkable this is still a question in Australia

Aarash lost his youth to offshore processing. Sixteen when he was sent to Nauru, he says he cannot remember a single birthday in more than a decade.

“When I see younger ones that age, having fun, playing, going to school, it reminds me of everything I lost,” he says. “I felt less human, not human at all.”

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New Caledonia Congress elects pro-France president after political crisis

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New leader Alcide Ponga says people want a ‘signal of hope’ after turmoil in the French Pacific territory

Weeks after its first ever pro-independence government collapsed, New Caledonia has named a French loyalist as its new president as the territory seeks to rebuild from deadly riots and destruction that battered the economy.

Alcide Ponga, from the Le Rassemblement party, was elected president by the newly installed executive in Congress on Wednesday. Ponga’s party is affiliated with French right-wing party LR, Les Républicains. The loyalists are in favour of keeping New Caledonia within France.

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‘Moving to the mountaintops’: rising seas displace tens of thousands in Papua New Guinea

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Gulf province councillor says growing numbers are leaving, in what climate activist describes as a ‘humanitarian crisis’

Two years ago fisher Siri James lived on the southern coast of Papua New Guinea, in a small village near Pariva beach. But as the tides continued to rise, James was forced to move further in from the shore.

“It’s not easy moving inland, I was born and raised by the seas, I am a fisherman. I know the flow of tides and currents, I know when the wind will come strongly and when it will rain – but now I don’t understand why everything is changing,” says James, who is in his early 40s.

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Finnish coastguard boards tanker suspected of causing power and internet cable outages

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Cook Islands-registered Eagle S was carrying Russian oil in the Baltic Sea

Finnish authorities have seized a ship carrying Russian oil in the Baltic Sea on suspicion it caused the outage of an undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia a day earlier, and that it also damaged or broke four internet lines.

A Finnish coastguard crew boarded the Cook Islands-registered ship, named by authorities as the Eagle S, on Thursday. The crew took command and sailed the vessel to Finnish waters, a coastguard official told a press conference.

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Top UN court to begin hearings on landmark climate change case

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ICJ to hear submissions from more than 100 groups in Pacific-led campaign to provide an advisory opinion on states’ obligations for climate harm

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is due to begin hearings in a landmark climate change case on Monday, examining what countries worldwide are legally required to do to combat climate change and help vulnerable nations fight its devastating impact.

After years of lobbying by island nations, the UN General Assembly asked the ICJ last year for an opinion on “the obligations of States in respect of climate change.”

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Taiwan president stops in Hawaii during Pacific tour, drawing ire from China

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Lai Ching-te’s US stopover on trip to Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau – three diplomatic allies of the self-governed island – prompts Beijing’s protests

The Taiwanese president, Lai Ching-te, has begun a two-day US stopover in Hawaii as part of a Pacific tour after declaring his democratically governed island a key force for promoting global peace and stability.

The trip has sparked fury from China, which views Taiwan as its own territory and opposes any foreign interactions or visits by the island’s leaders. China’s foreign ministry said on Sunday it had lodged “serious protests” with the US.

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New Zealand navy ship sank off Samoa because autopilot was left on, inquiry finds

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Interim report into the October disaster blames human error, saying HMNZS Manawanui’s ‘autopilot was not disengaged when it should have been’

A series of human errors caused a New Zealand navy ship to plough into a reef off the coast of Samoa, where it caught fire and sank, according to the preliminary findings of a military court of inquiry into the disaster.

The ship’s crew did not realise the autopilot was engaged, believed something else had gone wrong with the ship, and did not check that the HMNZS Manawanui was under manual control as it maintained course towards land, a summary of the inquiry’s first report published on Friday said. The full report has not been made public.

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‘Resurgence’ in China aid to Pacific amid tussle with US for influence

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Thinktank’s report says Beijing has emerged from Covid-induced lull with a ‘more competitive, politically targeted model’ of engagement in the region

China has renewed efforts to curry favour in Pacific island nations, a new report has found, after charting a “resurgence” in Beijing-backed aid and infrastructure funding.

Over the past decade, China has lavished billions of dollars on Pacific island nations, part of ongoing efforts to build influence in competition with the US and its allies.

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Pacific island governor backs $800m US military upgrade amid China threat

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Northern Mariana Islands governor says ‘the world is changing in the Indo-Pacific’ as work continues in the US territory on defense development

The governor of the Northern Mariana Islands says an $800m US military upgrade plan which includes a new airfield in the Pacific territory “has to happen” amid concern over China’s recent missile tests in the region.

Tinian, home to about 3,500 people, is one of the three main islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, an unincorporated US territory. During the second world war, the US launched a nuclear bomb against Japan from Tinian, and now a major rehabilitation of a deserted airfield and other military upgrades are under way on the island.

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Paris agreement is working, Australian minister tells Cop29, but much deeper cuts needed by 2035

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Chris Bowen also pledges A$50m to a fund to help the world’s most vulnerable people to repair the damage from climate breakdown

The Australian climate change minister, Chris Bowen, has declared the landmark Paris agreement “is working” as it had brought the world back from “the brink of catastrophic 4C warming”, but argued countries must set the most ambitious emissions targets possible for 2035 to limit worsening global heating.

Giving Australia’s national statement on the conference floor at the Cop29 summit in Azerbaijan, he also pledged A$50m (US$32.5m) towards a global loss and damage fund to help the world’s most vulnerable people to repair the damage from climate breakdown. The funding was welcomed by climate campaigners, who said it was “the right thing to do”.

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Palau’s pro-US president wins second term, defeating brother-in-law

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Surangel Whipps Jr retains power in Palau, which is important to the US military amid tensions with China and is among a dozen diplomatic allies of Taiwan

Palau’s incumbent president Surangel Whipps Jr has been returned for a second term after a national election held last week, according to a final tally by the Palau Election Commission.

The results showed Whipps Jr won 5,626 votes, defeating his brother-in-law Tommy Remengesau who received 4,103 votes.

The headline of this story was amended on 14 November, 2024

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Former Labor senator to be Australia’s first anti-slavery commissioner

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With an estimated 41,000 people living in modern slavery in Australia, Chris Evans’ role to address exploitative practices such as forced marriage and deceptive recruiting

The former Labor minister Chris Evans will be Australia’s first anti-slavery commissioner, with the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, announcing that the longtime senator will take up a five-year term in December.

Evans served as immigration and workplace relations minister under the Rudd and Gillard governments, and is a former chief executive of anti-slavery group Walk Free’s faith-based arm Global Freedom Network.

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‘A total waste of time’: why Papua New Guinea pulled out of Cop29 and why climate advocates are worried

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Country’s foreign minister says UN climate summits have produced ‘no results’ as Pacific nation takes the rare step of withdrawing from upcoming Cop29

Papua New Guinea’s decision to pull out of an upcoming UN global climate summit due to frustration over “empty promises and inaction” has prompted concern from climate advocates, who fear the move will isolate the Pacific nation and put vital funding at risk.

Prime minister James Marape announced in August the country would not attend Cop29 in “protest at the big nations” for a lack of “quick support to victims of climate change”. Then last week, foreign affairs minister Justin Tckatchenko, confirmed Papua New Guinea would withdraw from high-level talks at the summit, which begins on 11 November in Baku, Azerbaijan, describing it as “a total waste of time”.

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