Solar Eclipse 2025 date: When exactly is Surya Grahan on 20th, 21st or 23rd September?

Before the year bids us farewell, the heavens are offering a final treat, a solar eclipse. Once feared as omens, eclipses are now moments when people step outside, tilt their heads back, and marvel at the Sun and Moon crossing paths. The big...

Where will the partial solar eclipse be visible on Sept. 21?

The path of the partial solar eclipse on Sept. 21, 2025. (Image credit: Fred Espenak and Michael Zeiler, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on work at EclipseWise.com and...

Pacific Water and Wastewater Forum and Conference Opens in Honiara

Honiara, Solomon Islands – The 9th Pacific Water and Wastewater Ministers (PWWM) Forum and the 16th Pacific Water and Wastewater Association (PWWA) Conference and Expo (PWWC25) officially opened today in Honiara, bringing together water and...

A New Era of Food Delivery in Rarotonga – Smartie Food

Photo: Smartie / Facebook Smartie, the Cook Islands’ fintech app, has launched Smartie Food, a new mobile-first food delivery and pickup service for locals and tourists across Rarotonga. Available on iOS and Android, Smartie Food lets users order...

Explainer: What is the Pacific Island Forum and why should Māori care?

This week the 54th meeting is being hosted in the Solomon Islands and in two years’ time, Aotearoa will once again play host for the 56th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ meeting in 2027. With deep cultural and ancestral ties to the Pacific, issues...

Australia tops new list of most expensive passports in the world - but here's the list of countries it will get you into without a visa

By NICHOLAS WILSON, NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 09:53 EDT, 24 August 2025 | Updated: 09:53 EDT, 24 August 2025 The Australian passport has been revealed as the most expensive in the world for the second year in a row, but research suggests...

Hanover’s disaster preparedness coordinator to represent Jamaica in Japan

Western Bureau: Annissa Spence, the acting parish disaster coordinator at the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC), has been nominated by the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development to represent Jamaica at an upcoming international...

A return trip to French Polynesia became more than just another trip to paradise

Open this photo in gallery:The m/s Paul Gauguin is a 330-passenger cruise ship, named for the French painter who was inspired by the islands.Tim McKenna/Paul Gauguin Always follow the sound of the drums. That might be the best bit of advice for...

Seabed minerals company opens pathways to further education

Local lawyer Heinz Matysik returned home last month from his intensive three-week course at the Rhodes Academy, where he joined other students from across the globe in deepening their understanding of modern oceans law. CSR/25090114 Seabed...

E Avaiki toku: Knowing our place, shaping our future

Vaine Tutai Richard, General Manager, Cook Islands Development Agency New Zealand (CIDANZ). “E u'u no te akau roa, ka oki rai ki tona akau roa” (the (parrot) fish from the reef, will always return to its home) - Aitutakian proverb. I was born...

Meet the cast of Survivor 49 By Dalton Ross

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to play Survivor. But in the case of Survivor 49, one person actually is. That is just one of the unique professions among the group of contestants set to do battle in Fiji on the next season of the reality...

The Pacific island nation that wants to mine the ocean floor

Marine biologist Teina Rongo passes the research vessel MV Anuanua Moana in Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Photo: William WEST / AFP Source: AFP A 1,000-tonne ship is exploring the far-flung South Pacific for riches buried beneath the waves,...

FEATURE ǀ American Samoa says no to deep-sea mining. The Trump administration might do it anyway.

A view of the harbor at Pago Pago, American Samoa. AP via Grist IN early August, in the village of Utulei on the eastern shore of Tatuila, the largest of seven islands that make up American Samoa, more than two dozen local residents gathered in an...

The Pacific’s united front on climate action is splintering over deep-sea mining

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — In recent years, Pacific island nations have earned global credibility as champions of climate action. Pacific leaders view sea level rise as an existential threat. But this united front is now under strain as some...

Pacific News In Brief For 10 September

Article – RNZ A round-up of news from around the region, including a warning from a lieutenant-colonel that drug cartels will keep targeting Pacific countries which have weaker border controls. Pacific – drugs A lieutenant colonel with decades of...

Pacific News In Brief For 9 September

Article – RNZ A round-up of news from around the region, including a meth seizure at the Samoa border. Samoa – drugs Authorities have seized nearly 2kg of methamphetamine at the border. The drugs were hidden in four bags of rice and picked up by...

Obesity Exceeds Underweight 1st Time for Children Worldwide. UNICEF Report Affirms MAHA Report

Obesity exceeds underweight for the first time among school-age children and adolescents globally – UNICEF One in 10 children worldwide living with obesity. Exposure to the marketing of ultra-processed foods found to be widespread Obesity...

‘Get your hands dirty’: Heather advocates for practical agriculture over imports

Cook Islands United Party leader Teariki Heather, with fellow United Party MPs Robert Heather and Tim Varu in Parliament on June 21, 2025. LOSIRENE LACANIVALU/25062102 It is important that people balance their focus on technology with hands-on...

More of the world’s children are now obese than underweight, UNICEF warns

By Amy Woodyatt, CNN (CNN) — More school-age children and adolescents are now obese than underweight, a new report from the United Nations’ children’s agency, UNICEF, has revealed, with 188 million young people affected. Obesity now exceeds...

More Children Are Obese Than Underweight – Unicef

For the first time, there are more children in the world who are obese than underweight, according to a major study by children’s charity Unicef. Around one in 10 of those aged between five and 19 years old – around 188 million children and young...