New Caledonia’s Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste #FLNKS will hold an extraordinary Congress next Saturday, 9 August, amid growing opposition to the Bougival agreement. My Pacnews feature looks at decolonisation debates within the independence movement.
pina.com.fj/2025/08/04/f...

Tip of the spear • Nic Maclellan Eighty years on, America prepares for war in the Pacific

In the last days of the Pacific War, US bombers flew from the island of Tinian to drop atomic weapons on #Hiroshima and #Nagasaki. My report for Inside Story shows, on the 80th anniversary of the bombings, that the United States is again readying Tinian for war.
insidestory.org.au/tip-of-the-s...

To unpack New Caledonia’s Bougival Accord, I speak with ‘Pacific Mornings’ in Aotearoa. In the interview, I outline many steps still needed to implement the deal: persuading supporters, legislative change in Paris, and a referendum in New Caledonia next February. www.facebook.com/watch/?v=192...

Devil in the detail of New Caledonia's "historic" agreement Meeting in France, New Caledonian political leaders have signed an agreement on the political and economic future of the French dependency.

With New Caledonia’s new political agreement, the devil’s in the detail. My feature for Islands Business magazine looks at the Bougival Accord, signed on 12 July, and the long (and likely contested) process to implement its provisions.
islandsbusiness.com/news-break/d...

Tjibaou on New Caledonia talks in Paris: “We want to resolve this now” “We want to resolve this now, and that is why I am committed to dialogue.” That's Emmanuel Tjiabaou, President of the Independance Party UC.

Emmanuel Tjibaou, president of New Caledonia’s Union Calédonienne party, says the FLNKS will join political status talks this week in Paris. Before leaving for France, Tjibaou told me that “we want to resolve this now, and that is why I am committed to dialogue.”
islandsbusiness.com/news-break/t...

Turkey tussles with Australia to host 2026 UN climate talks Turkey on Wednesday doubled down on its pitch to host 2026 UN climate talks, defying calls to step aside and let rival candidate Australia stage the high-profile global event.

Australia’s bid to host the 31st UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP31) in 2026 is still not locked in. Türkiye – the other bidder from the Western European and Other States group – has just ramped its campaign to host next year’s climate summit in Antalya.
www.france24.com/en/live-news...

Release of a major report on the consequences of French nuclear testing in Mā’ohi Nui. The parliamentary report (in French) makes 45 recommendations for economic, health, educational and cultural initiatives, to address legacies of 193 French nuclear tests www.assemblee-nationale.fr/dyn/17/rappo...

Frontiers are spaces of exception--places of sacrifice and extraction; sponges for violence that you must control for fear that your enemy will if you don't. And for US strategists, the Pacific itself is a frontier

Flag fall • Inside Story From Australia to New Caledonia, symbols of Indigenous sovereignty are proving divisive in both predictable and unpredictable ways

From Australia to New Caledonia, conservative politicians are arguing about flags, opposing public display of symbols of indigenous sovereignty. My report for Inside Story looks at the fight over flags displayed on the New Caledonia driver’s licence. insidestory.org.au/flag-fall/

1966: 80 Indigenous workers at the Newcastle Waters cattle station in the Northern Territory walk off the job, led by Lupna Giari and supported by Dexter Daniels, demanding immediate pay equity. The campaign spread to Wave Hill station, where a walk-off was led by Vincent Lingiari.
#NRW2025
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Changing legal obligations on climate action Pacific Small Island Developing States and other developing nations are mobilising to call for new international legal norms.

From ITLOS to ICJ, developing states are mobilising to call for new international legal norms, to ensure that industrialised nations meet obligations on climate, development and oceans protection. My report for Islands Business magazine looks at new initiatives.
islandsbusiness.com/news-break/c...

Sad news, with the death of Motarilavoa Hilda Lini, a ni-Vanuatu campaigner for indigenous rights, Melanesian solidarity and a Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific. A warrior to the end, as Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Jotham Napat says: “Rest in Peace soldier, for you have fought a great fight.” Vale.

My report for Islands Business looks at the collapse of negotiations in #NewCaledonia. Anti-independence Loyalist leader Nicolas Metzdorf bluntly states: “We will never accept independence, independence in association, or a trajectory towards independence.”
islandsbusiness.com/news-break/n...

This week, the Pacific Theological College will transition into the new Pasifika Communities University (PCU), transforming its structure and education program. My report for Islands Business looks at the adaptation of the regional ecumenical institution. islandsbusiness.com/news-break/p...

With learning centres in Fiji, Kiribati and Vanuatu - and more nations to come - the PCU's regional program will transform theological studies. They aim to expand community-based learning, engage local communities at home and draw on indigenous philosophy, spirituality, and local knowledge.

On behalf of the new institution, PCU’s Reverend Professor Dr Upolu Luma Vaai signed partnership MOUs with the Fiji Ministry of Education, Fiji Ministry of i-Taukei Affairs, United Nations Development Program and Tetra Tech, to support new rural community learning centres.

Ecumenical service this morning at the Pacific Theological College in Suva, as PTC transforms its structure into the Pasifika Communities University. To be launched this week, PCU will restructure theological education and development through “whole of life” Pasifika philosophy and spirituality.

The Front de Liberation National Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS) will hold a convention this Saturday, 26 April. The gathering of Union Caledonienne and other members of independence coalition will feature report to members and re-set a negotiating mandate for the FLNKS delegation to next week's talks.

However, Union Calédonienne Secretary General Dominique Fochi says: “To build the future, we must not rush to create short-term solutions that will cause problems in the long term. So we mustn’t drag our feet, but we shouldn’t rush into things. We want to create a win-win situation.”

French Overseas Minister Manuel Valls will soon arrive in #NewCaledonia to push forward negotiations, hoping to strike a deal between supporters and opponents of independence: “The objective of this phase will be to reach an overall agreement on the institutional future of New Caledonia.”

New Caledonia talks to resume this month, but differences remain New Caledonian political leaders and the French government are scheduled to resume political status talks on 29 April.

New Caledonian leaders and the French State are scheduled to resume political status talks in Noumea on 29 April. But my report for Islands Business looks at the range of contentious issues that may delay (or derail) a deal to replace the 1998 Noumea Accord.
islandsbusiness.com/news-break/n...

EPA Staff Slashed on the Eve of Earth Day - Eos On 21 April, the Environmental Protection Agency notified hundreds of employees working on diversity, equity, and inclusion and environmental justice issues that they would be fired or reassigned to o...

Hundreds of EPA staff have been notified about their terminations or reassignments. eos.org/research-and...

Stand Up for NOAA Research – The Time to Act is Now The AMS is a global community committed to advancing weather, water, and climate science and service.

The 2026 budget passback plan calls for eliminating NOAA Research, the scientific backbone that keeps weather forecasts, alerts, and warnings accurate and effective. This would have disastrous consequences.

Read the AMS statement, in partnership w/ @nwas.org: bit.ly/4cz2RtC

There's something about holding an actual copy of your book that makes it all feel real. Thanks to everyone who nourished this piece of work and thanks to @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social for making it look lovely. Official publication is in May. You can order a copy here: www.mqup.ca/dangers-of-y... 🗃️

'We are in the s**t': Mine's closure cripples Pacific indigenous community A billion-dollar bet on nickel mining gave many New Caledonians hopes of economic prosperity and political independence. But after the market turned, the mine has left behind a ghost town full of brok...

The 1st of our stories from #NewCaledonia / #kanaky is out on ABC Pacific. Give it a read (and watch on iview).

Some more fascinating stories still to come!

Thanks to the Sean Dorney Grant for #Pacific Journalism through the Walkley's Public Fund.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04...

12. Nuclear Testing in the Pacific: Truth-telling and Collective Memory | Podcast Episode on RSS.com Between 1946 and 1996, the US, Great Britain and France tested over 300 nuclear weapons in the Pacific. The legacies of those nuclear weapons tests continue to affect Pacific Islanders and Islands tod...

In another episode I discuss the role of a new generation of Marshall Islanders who are addressing nuclear legacies and the importance of history, memory and archives (plus Mililani Ganivet and Marie-Hélène Villierme discuss their podcast project Nu/clear Stories from Tahiti)
rss.com/podcasts/oce...

13. Geopolitics in Oceania: Pacific Islands' Security in an Era of Great Power Competition | Podcast Episode on RSS.com After the Cold War, US interest in the Pacific Islands waned. Assistance to Pacific Islands declined, and the US closed its embassies and consular offices in several Pacific Islands. However, China’s ...

On this podcast from the Center of Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, I join Kenneth Gofigan Kuper (University of Guam), to discuss geopolitics in Oceania at a time of US-China strategic competition. rss.com/podcasts/oce...

Thanks to everyone who has signed the petition so far - let's push on to get 2000 names to send Nine Publishing management a clear message that freelancers need fair rates! www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/fr... #MEAAmedia

Like Israel and Ukraine, Saudi Arabia is lobbying for Forum Dialogue Partner status,. At the 2023 Forum in Rarotonga, the Chair of the Saudi Fund for Development, Tourism Minister Ahmed Al Khateeb, announced a US$50 million contribution to the new Pacific Resilience Facility.

Henryk Szadziewski has documented growing Forum ties with UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council states (GCC). Between 2007 and 2018, UAE opened diplomatic relations with 12 of 14 independent Pacific Island states.
openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/items/861b62...