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☆ Hawaiian Airlines just launched its new route to a destination previously hard to reach for American tourists
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Taylor Rains | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Hawaiian Airlines launched its new nonstop route between Honolulu and the Cook Islands on Saturday. American tourists previously could stop in only New Zealand or Tahiti to get to the island. Hawaiian's new route is the only link between the Cook Islands and the US, allowing travelers to more easily reach the isolated nation. In August, the nation's home airline, Air Rarotonga, launched direct flights between Papeete in Tahiti and Rarotonga, reported local publication Enjoy Cook Islands. The service comes after Air Tahiti ended its route between the two nations in 2020 after 13 years.

[1/5] Portuguese surfer Teresa Bonvalot smiles after winning her heat in the Sydney Surf Pro on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, Australia, May 19, 2023. REUTERS/Lincoln FeastMay 22 (Reuters) - When Portugal's Teresa Bonvalot qualified for the Tokyo Games in 2021 as a then 21-year-old, she had barely a month to prepare for surfing's Olympic debut and the biggest event of her life. Now, more than a year out from the Paris Games, Bonvalot has again booked an Olympic ticket and is relishing the extra time to ready her mind, body and equipment. "That was unbelievable to get the news to mark my spot there," Bonvalot said during a competition in Australia last week. A total of 24 women's places are available, with the International Surfing Association's World Surfing Games in El Salvador this month providing the next qualification spots.

☆ US and Papua New Guinea poised to sign defense pact as Washington, Beijing vie for influence in the Pacific
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —The United States and Papua New Guinea are poised to sign a new bilateral defense cooperation agreement – a move that has sparked controversy in the Pacific Island nation and comes as Washington and China jostle for influence in the region. Those concerns were heightened last year after Beijing signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands – and tried, but failed, to win support for a sweeping, regional trade and security communique with Pacific Island nations. “Papua New Guinea does not have enemies but it pays to be prepared. Blinken is expected to meet with leaders of the Pacific Island Forum regional body in Port Moresby on Monday, the forum has said, taking Biden’s place at the gathering. That bid has included opening embassies in the Solomon Islands and Tonga this year, while Biden hosted Pacific Island leaders in Washington for a summit in September and released the first-ever national strategy on engaging the Pacific Islands.

☆ Magnitude 7.7 quake off New Caledonia triggers tsunami warning in South Pacific
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

View of Ouvea Island, one of the Loyalty Islands, in New Caledonia. Tsunami warnings were issued to countries in the South Pacific on Friday after a 7.7 magnitude struck southeast of the Loyalty Islands in the French territory of New Caledonia. Potential tsunami threats were issued for Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said, while Australia's meteorology bureau said there was a threat for Lord Howe Island off its east coast. The United States Geological Survey said the quake hit at a depth of about 38 km (24 miles). New Zealand said it was still assessing if the quake posed any tsunami threats to its coasts.

Hong Kong CNN —A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck the South Pacific on Friday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, triggering a tsunami warning for nearby nations including Vanuatu, Fiji and Kiribati. The US National Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami alert for coasts located within 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) of the epicenter which lay between Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Tsunami waves reaching up to 1 meter are possible along some coasts of Vanuatu, according to the US National Tsunami Warning Center, downgrading an earlier assessment that said waves could be 3 meters high. Smaller waves below 0.3 meters could be expected in Fiji, Kiribati and New Zealand’s remote Kermadec Islands, the warning center added. New Zealand’s National Emergency Management Agency tweeted that it is assessing whether the quake “poses any tsunami threat to New Zealand.”The quake was earlier reported to be at 7.7-magnitude but has since been revised up.

☆ US opens embassy in Tonga amid Chinese increasing influence in the region
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Brad Lendon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The United States opened an embassy in the Pacific island nation of Tonga on Tuesday, Washington’s latest move to broaden its diplomatic footprint in a region where China has been increasing its influence in recent years. “These actions advance the Biden-Harris administration’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the US-Pacific Islands partnership and to support Pacific regionalism,” the White House said in a statement at the time. The embassy in the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa is the second Washington has opened in the Pacific islands this year, following the reopening of one in the Solomon Islands in February. Plans are also underway to open an embassy in Vanuatu, the State Department said in March. Analysts say the Pacific island nations have a strategic military value for the US and its ally Australia.

☆ Exclusive: Biden to sign defence pact in Papua New Guinea, with eyes on China
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Washington is seeking to deter Pacific island nations, which span 40 million kilometres of ocean, from security ties with China, a rising concern amid tensions over Taiwan. Biden will visit PNG capital Port Moresby on May 22 on his way to a summit of the Quad countries - the United States, Japan, India and Australia - in Sydney, the White House has confirmed. There he will meet 18 Pacific island leaders. Biden's meeting in person with Pacific leaders is seen in the region as a major step in restoring trust. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was told by Pacific leaders in Fiji last year: "We have felt at times, to borrow an American term, like a flyover country.

☆ Hurricanes of Data: The Tiny Craft Mapping Superstorms at Sea
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Porter Fox | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +35 min

The Tiny Craft Mapping Superstorms at Sea Shortly after dawn on Sept. 30, 2021, Richard Jenkins watched a Category 4 hurricane overrun his life’s work. That August, a sister ship, SD 1031, successfully entered Tropical Storm Henri, but only in its early stages. Hurricane research, modeling and forecasting requires many terabytes of data for every square mile the storm passes through, including vitally important sea-level data from inside a storm. The next day, the depression was upgraded to a tropical storm and officially given the name Sam. And four months later, Tropical Storm Megi killed more than 150, wiped out several villages with landslides and displaced more than a million people.

☆ How to watch today's hybrid solar eclipse — the rarest type of eclipse — even if you don't live near Australia where it's happening
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Chris Panella | Jessica Orwig | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A rare hybrid solar eclipse will occur over the South Pacific today and won't happen again until 2031. Hybrid solar eclipses are the rarest type of eclipse and look different depending on your location. During a hybrid eclipse observers can see both a total and annular eclipse. kdshutterman / Getty ImagesA hybrid solar eclipse is a rare type of eclipse that changes depending on where you're watching it. The last time a hybrid solar eclipse occured was 2013 over some regions in the northern Atlantic Ocean and Africa.

☆ I work for a nude cruise. It's liberating — but there are rules. Passengers can't get too excited, and clothes must be worn to dinner.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Brooke Morton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

I'm a cruise organizer for Bare Necessities Tour and Travel, a nudist cruise company. I spend all year as part of a team planning our two sailings: a February trip aboard a big cruise ship called our Big Nude Boat, which has 3,000 passengers, and a smaller cruise in summer. Now I'm vice president of sales for the two Bare Necessities cruises. Entertainers and staffers on a Bare Necessities cruise wear clothes. On our Big Nude Boat with a little more than 2,100 passengers, about 70% of guests on board are repeat guests.

☆ United Airlines to increase flights connecting the US to Australia and New Zealand by nearly 40%
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Bianca Giacobone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

United plans to operate 66 flights per week connecting the US and the South Pacific region this winter. That's a 40% increase in United flights to Australia and New Zealand compared to 2022. United Airlines is planning to ramp up its flights connecting the US to Australia and New Zealand by nearly 40%, the carrier announced Tuesday. Additionally, United plans to start offering daily flights between San Francisco and Brisbane, and twice daily flights between San Francisco and Sydney, starting October 28. United currently connects San Francisco to Brisbane three times per week, and San Francisco to Sydney daily.

☆ New Zealand intelligence service says foreign interference attempts 'persistent'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Lucy Craymer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WELLINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) - Attempts by some countries to interfere with New Zealand's democracy, economy and civil society "are persistent", according to New Zealand Security Intelligence Service's (NZSIS) annual report. The report said it had identified increasingly aggressive activity from individuals seen as conducting intelligence and associated with a "small number of foreign states" that it did not name. "These individuals pose an enduring threat to New Zealand's national security," the agency added in the report released this week, which covers the year ended June 2022. "For some states, these activities are enduring and persistent," it said, though it added greater awareness of the issue had made it more challenging for countries to conduct interference activity. The NZSIS report said New Zealand also cannot take regional Pacific security for granted, because it had become an important theatre of geopolitical competition.

☆ Britain to join Indo-Pacific trade bloc in biggest trade deal since Brexit
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Sumathi Bala | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Justin Tallis | AFP | Getty ImagesBritain struck a historic trade deal to join a vast Indo-Pacific trade bloc after nearly two years of intense negotiations. The U.K. said this was the country's largest post-Brexit trade deal and makes it the first European nation to join the CPTPP, since it came into force in 2018. watch nowNatalie Black, the U.K.'s trade commissioner for Asia Pacific, called it a "progressive deal" for Britain. Deborah Elms, executive director of the Asian Trade Centre, said it's very hard to calculate these trade figures, especially based on existing trade flows. watch nowThe trade flows are always "under what you actually are likely to see in the reality as businesses recognize the benefits and start to use a trade agreement like the CPTPP," she added.

☆ Starbuck's ex-CEO started his Congressional testimony with an emotional story about his father. It was used against him.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz told Congress about his father's work injury Wednesday. But Sen. Ed Markey used the anecdote to argue that Starbucks should respect unionizing workers. When Schultz was a child, his father slipped on ice and broke his foot while working as a driver, he said. Markey told the story of his own father, whom he said lost a finger in an accident at work. Starbucks told the Times that the remedies are "inappropriate."

☆ NZ Foreign Minister says encouraged China to support Pacific regional institutions
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Lucy Craymer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WELLINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) - New Zealand's foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta said on Tuesday she had encouraged China to support and strengthen Pacific regional institutions and uphold a 22-year old agreement that sees Pacific countries look after their own security needs. After returning from Beijing, Mahuta told reporters she had encouraged China to support regional Pacific architecture such as the Pacific Islands Forum, the Forum Fisheries Agency and the Biketawa agreement. New Zealand has consistently expressed concerns about the potential militarisation of the Pacific with China's military buildup in the South China Sea. Mahuta met with China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, after he returned from a visit to Russia with President Xi Jinping. "Most of the emphasis from the Chinese side was on their efforts to encourage the peace plan that President Xi had put to President Putin," she said.

☆ Honduras forms diplomatic ties with China after Taiwan break
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The national flags of Honduras and Taiwan are seen at the Republic of China Square in Tegucigalpa on March 15, 2023. Honduras formed diplomatic ties with China on Sunday after breaking off relations with Taiwan, which is increasingly isolated and now recognized by only 13 sovereign states, including Vatican City. Relations between Taiwan and Honduras were once stable, he said, but China had not stopped luring Honduras. "The Castro government dismissed our nation's longstanding assistance and relations and carried out talks to form diplomatic ties with China. The U.S. doesn't have diplomatic relations with Taiwan but has maintained that Taipei is an important partner in the Indo-Pacific.

☆ New Zealand raises concerns with China on South China Sea, Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, March 25 (Reuters) - New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said on Saturday she had expressed concerns over the South China Sea and tensions in the Taiwan Strait during talks with her Chinese counterpart at the end of a visit to Beijing. "Nanaia Mahuta expressed concerns over developments in the South China Sea and increasing tensions in the Taiwan Strait," the foreign minister's statement said. New Zealand has consistently expressed concerns about the potential militarisation of the Pacific, amid China's military buildup in the South China Sea. China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the option of using force to take the island under its control, and claims a large part of the South China Sea. She invited Qin to visit New Zealand, and also flagged a potential visit by New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins to China, perhaps this year.

Putin is just the third head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court while still in power. The ICC accuses Putin of responsibility for the war crime of deporting Ukrainian children - at least hundreds, possibly more - to Russia. TRAVEL ABROADThe ICC's 123 member states are obliged to detain and transfer Putin if he sets foot on their territory. Kenya's President William Ruto and his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta were both charged by the ICC before they were elected. Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, one of Milosevic's adversaries in the 1990s Balkan wars, left office after being indicted for war crimes by the Kosovo war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

☆ Australia PM visits Fiji to discuss nuclear submarines, regional security
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Australia is party to a nuclear-free zone treaty with 12 other South Pacific nations, including Fiji, in a region where sensitivity over nuclear weapons is high because of the effects of nuclear weapons tests by the United States and France. Albanese will meet with Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka on Wednesday to discuss regional security, a day after unveiling details of the AUKUS submarine programme in San Diego with the leaders of United States and Britain. Australia will buy three U.S. Virginia-class submarines early next decade, before shifting to production of a new AUKUS submarine based on a British design from 2040. Australia emphasised on Tuesday the submarines will not carry nuclear weapons. Australia's defence officials have said the nuclear submarine fleet is needed as a deterrent to China's naval build up.

☆ Fiji's former leader Bainimarama bailed after court appearance
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY, March 10 (Reuters) - Fiji's former long-serving prime minister Frank Bainimarama pleaded not guilty in a Suva court on Friday after being charged with abuse of office and held in police custody overnight. Fiji's Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Pryde approved the charges of abuse of office against Bainimarama and suspended police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho. read moreBainimarama, who led the Pacific island nation for 16 years until narrowly losing an election in December, rejected the charge. "I served as Fiji's prime minister with integrity and with the best interest of Fijians at heart," Bainimarama said outside court, according to video taken by Fijian media outlets. Bainimarama resigned from parliament on Wednesday after being suspended last month for sedition and insulting the president.

☆ New Zealand’s Inflation Challenge Worsened by Cyclone Gabrielle
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( David Winning | James Glynn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

New Zealand’s central bank said recent storms are likely to add to inflation and disrupt production in the near term, while boosting activity during the rebuild. New Zealand’s battle with inflation had shown signs of easing before Cyclone Gabrielle wrecked homes, downed power lines and washed away roads after making landfall earlier this month. Now, officials at the South Pacific country’s central bank are assessing how the rebuilding effort could complicate their campaign to bring price pressures under control. New Zealand raised interest rates by half a percentage point to 4.75% on Wednesday and signaled more increases are to come, even as some global central banks say they could soon pause tightening policy to judge how their economies are responding.

☆ Solomon Islands ousts official who is critical of close relations with China
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Daniel Suidani, the premier of Malaita, pictured outside his office in Auki on Oct. 03, 2021. A longtime critic of the country's deepening relations with China, Suidani was removed from office on Feb. 2023 after a no-confidence vote by the provincial legislature. A vocal critic of China and leader of the most populous province in the Solomon Islands has been removed from office after a no-confidence vote by the provincial legislature on Tuesday, Australian state broadcaster ABC reported. Daniel Suidani, premier of the South Pacific nation's Malaita province, is a longtime critic of the country's deepening relations with China, which culminated in a security pact signed last April. Malaita's provincial assembly ousted Suidani in a unanimous vote on Tuesday, said the ABC.

☆ Solomon Islands ousts official critical of close relations with China
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Daniel Suidani, premier of the South Pacific nation's Malaita province, is a longtime critic of the country's deepening relations with China, which culminated in a security pact signed last April. Malaita's provincial assembly ousted Suidani in a unanimous vote on Tuesday, said the ABC. Suidani and his supporters boycotted the vote, ABC said, adding he had not yet spoken to the media about the results. Flights are delayed in Auki, the capital of Malaita, the ABC reported. Residents of Malaita opposed the decision by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare's government in 2019 to formally recognise China instead of Taiwan.

☆ For the 2nd year in a row, Iran is sailing its biggest warship around the world to show off its growing navy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Constantine Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Iranian warships left Iran in September on what one official said was a journey around the world. Visiting far off landsIranian navy Makran near the Strait of Hormuz in May 2021. They have repeatedly seized Iranian arms shipments bound for Yemen and have often had tense encounters with Iranian warships. Iran has also started an indigenous shipbuilding program to grow its navy, which is designed to defend the Persian Gulf. "Yet the focus of Iran will continue to be the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, and the Indian ocean.

Her successor as Labour leader and prime minister faces a stern test in a general election in October, with support for the party falling and the country expected to fall into a recession next quarter. Despite her high global profile, Ardern's Labour Party has slid in the polls, hurt by rising living costs, growing crime and concern about social issues. That meant that even with traditional coalition partner the Green Party, polling at 9%, Labour could not hold a majority. Ardern most likely stepped down to give the Labour Party a chance to refresh and reposition itself ahead of an election in October, experts said. CONSERVATIVES BUOYEDThe conservative National Party may be buoyed by Ardern's resignation.

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