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Fiji - drugs
Fiji's Narcotics Bureau has warned the country's battle against drugs could get harder if fentanyl becomes widespread.
FBC reported Jemesa Lave from the Bureau saying this drug is more dangerous than methamphetamine and cocaine.
He said fentanyl has already made its way into nearby countries such as like Australia and New Zealand.
Lave said countries like Fiji are vulnerable to being a transit point for bigger markets.
Vanuatu - tax
An economist says the European Union (EU)'s blacklisting of Vanuatu over tax governance concerns is discriminatory, unjust, and immoral.
Eleven jurisdictions are identified by the EU as failing to meet international tax standards. Six of these are in the Pacific region, with Fiji, Palau and Sāmoa included.
Economist Marla Dukharan told the Vanuatu Daily Post countries that are not predomonantly white, wealthy and globally powerful are being targeted.
According to the EU, jurisdictions are assessed for tax transparency and fair taxation measures.
Regulation aimed at multinational companies trying to exploit international tax loopholes is also a criteria.
However, Durkharan said there is limited awareness of the UN tax convention globally.
She also warned imposing income or corporate tax in Vanuatu's subsistence and agriculture-based economy would create more problems than solutions.
COP - meeting
The presidents of the Marshall Islands and Palau have attended a closed-door virtual session on climate and the just transition.
The leaders' session was convened by UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, which will host the annual UN climate summit this November.
Guterres addressed the media afterwards, saying no region is being spared from the ravages of accelerating climate catastrophes, and the crisis is deepening poverty, displacing communities, and fuelling conflict and instability.
He said he urged leaders to step up efforts to submit the strongest possible national climate plans well ahead of COP30, and to scale-up support for developing countries.
Fiji - trip
Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is cutting short his visits to Singapore and Indonesia to attend a Fijian chief's funeral.
The Fiji Times reported Rabuka will arrive in Nadi on Friday and fly to Savusavu on Saturday for the funeral of Ratu Epeli Mailekutu Wainiu.
The Prime Minister met Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Tuesday.
A statment from the Fiji govenrment said discussions focused on prospects for cooperation in capacity building, governance, trade and economic cooperation.
Niue - Anzac
New Zealand's Veterans Minister Chris Penk will attend Anzac Day commemorations in Alofi, Niue.
Anzac Day, which honours and remembers Australian and New Zealand servicemen and women, is this Friday.
Penk said around 150 Niuean men volunteered for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in World War I, and in the Second World War, Niueans served as coast watchers.
Penk is also planning to meet with Niue prime minister Dalton Tagelagi.
Guam - sihek
Sihek birds have laid eggs at their new home of Palmyra Atoll - reportedly the first wild eggs for the species in almost 40 years.
Nature Conservancy reports nine young sihek - also known as Guam kingfishers - were released at the organisation's Palmyra Atoll Preserve in September 2024 by the Sihek Recovery Program.
Palmyra Atoll was selected because it is largely predator-free and fully protected.
Bird conservation scientist with the Nature Conservancy's Island Resilience Strategy and the Zoological Society of London, Dr. Caitlin Andrews, said the hope is to reestablish a self-sustaining Sihek population in the wild.
