Regional
Auckland, NEW ZEALAND — More than 160 languages are spoken in New Zealand.
Week-long events celebrate the unique languages heard across the country, and this week the focus is on the Rotuman language.
According to UNESCO, the Rotuman language is listed as endangered along with four other Pacific...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Congregational Christian Church Samoa (CCCS) district in America has officially christened its new home in Malua at a value of more than WST$570,000, weeks before the CCCS annual conference kicks off.
The building will shelter members of the district who travel over...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will attend the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum leader's meeting in August, Tonga's prime minister says.
Matangi Tonga reported Hu'akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni met Guterres during a bilateral meeting in New York last September.
Hu'...
La'ie, HAWAII — The World Fireknife Championships held at the Polynesian Cultural Center opened last week Wednesday night with 32 contestants.
Concluding its 31st year, the World Fireknife Championship was established by the Polynesian Cultural Center in 1993 to showcase this proud Sāmoan tradition...
Los Angeles, CA — The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival is shining a spotlight on Asian and Pacific creatives in the US.
The Festival is the largest festival of its kind in Southern California, and since 1983, has been the premier showcase for the best and brightest of Asian Pacific cinema....
Auckland, NEW ZEALAND — Leroy Roberts is on a mission to put Māori art on the map, one tattoo at a time.
Roberts, who hails from Ngāti Kahungunu and Falealili, is the founder of Maia Ink, a Papakura-based tattoo studio offering tā moko and kirituhi among a range of other traditional and...
Apia, SAMOA — Samoa's Ministry of Health has announced 61 new cases of dengue-like illness in its latest figures.
The figures are for the week of 22 to 28 April.
In its surveillance report, the ministry said the dengue-like illness count remains high; this follows the declaration of a dengue...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Samoa has been excluded from the list of countries that can apply under a new visa category in Australia that allows skilled workers and their families to apply for permanent residence, according to a report in the Samoa Observer.
Samoa and Kiribati are the only Pacific...
WASHINGTON — The US Department of Justice is being urged to condemn and cease its reliance on the Insular Cases - a series of US Supreme Court opinions on US territories, which have been labelled racist.
Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Durbin called them "a stain on the history of our...
Honolulu, HAWAII — The Hawaii Tourism Authority board has a new leader. On Tuesday, the state senate voted to approve former Honolulu mayor Mufi Hannemann as HTA’s board chair.
He’ll now lead the 12-member board as they oversee how the agency spends its budget.
The Senate also confirmed Blaine...