Stories by Caleb Fotheringham

Money has been set aside in the Cook Islands 2023 budget for caregivers and people on minimum wage to get a pay rise.

Guam is in a recovery phase after being pummelled by typhoon Mawar.

Category four typhoon Mawar is heading directly for Guam with the worst conditions expected around 4pm on Wednesday, the US National Weather Service said.

New Zealand's Pacific package in its annual Budget focuses on strengthening the Pasifika workforce and includes funding for media entities to deliver Pacific language programming.

The Pacific Islands Forum chair has taken aim at global leaders for failing to keep their climate promises.

The Australian government has committed almost three quarters of its $AU1.9 billion Pacific budget-package to enhance "peace and security" in the region. Audio

US President Joe Biden will cut his historic trip to Papua New Guinea to return to complete debt ceiling negotiations in the US, according to a White House statement.

Medicinal cannabis products could be available to some people in the Cook Islands as early as June and will "definitely" be available by the end of the year says the country's secretary of health. Audio

Papua New Guinea's opposition has called on the foreign affairs minister to resign after calling critics of his trip to London for the King Charles' Coronation "primitive animals". Audio

A Fijian British Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq has welcomed the proposal to allow Pacific Islanders to enlist and boost Australia's Defence Force. Audio

The number of confirmed and probable measles cases have remained the same since May 4 in American Samoa, the territory's Department of Health epidemiologist says.

Cars have been swept out to sea and homes damaged after extensive flooding this week in the south Tahiti village of Teahupo'o.

Schools and the community college in American Samoa have reopened but students must be fully vaccinated for measles. Audio

American Samoa has confirmed its second case of measles in a four year old boy and now has 49 probable cases.

The Cook Islands road to decriminalising homosexuality has been a "rollercoaster of emotions" but symbolises the country is maturing, a local LGBTQI+ advocate says. Audio

Critics of a new tax bill in the Cook Islands' say low wage earners will see little benefit from the law change. Audio

The Cook Islands has removed a law from its Crimes Act that could jail men for having sex with men.

The governor of the Papua New Guinea province worst-hit by last week's earthquake feared the death toll was going to be much higher. Audio

A remote coral atoll about 400km away from the Cook Islands capital Rarotonga, with a population of under 50 people, is on a mission to eradicate rats on the island by the end of this year.

Communities in Vanuatu continue to rely on government for basic necessities and still lack access to clean water sources a month after severe tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin made landfall.

New Zealand has made available an additional $NZ1 million to support Vanuatu's post-cyclone recovery efforts.

Pacific leaders are not surprised by the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that says current action and plans are insufficient to keep warming below 1.5 degrees. Audio

Vanuatu's Minister of Climate Change warns "there's going to be a lot of hardship" for people waiting for their crops to grow back as dry rations are distributed to communities.

A Pacific elder and former secretary general of the Pacific Islands Forum says Pacific leaders need to sit up and pay closer attention to AUKUS. Audio

Six Pacific nations pledge to phase out fossil fuels "as soon as possible" but need international partners to finance the transition.