SPECIAL REPORT: By Te Aniwaniwa Paterson of Te Ao Māori News Māori and Pasifika leaders are leading climate adaptation, guided by ancestral knowledge and Indigenous principles to build resilience and shape global solutions. Last week, they played a key role in launching a new Indigenous climate adaptation network at a wānanga ahead of Adaptation Futures| Asia Pacific Report
Asia Pacific Report A leading Palestine solidarity and advocacy group in New Zealand has accused an Israeli cabinet minister of “sneaking” into the country this weekend while on a Pacific tour as Israel resumed its genocidal attacks. Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskell visited the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Fiji — where she welcomed a| Asia Pacific Report
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk French national politics have once again cast a shadow on New Caledonia’s issues even though the French Pacific territory is facing a pressing schedule. Debates in the French National Assembly on a New Caledonia-related Bill were once again heated and rocky yesterday, resulting in further delays.| Asia Pacific Report
Returning to Aotearoa after half a year in the occupied West Bank, Cole Martin says a peace deal that fails to address the root causes — and ignores the brutal reality of life for Palestinians — is no peace deal at all. COMMENTARY: By Cole Martin A ceasefire in Gaza last week brought scenes reminiscent| Asia Pacific Report
RNZ News Thousands have marched through major city streets and rallied in small towns across Aotearoa New Zealand as part of today’s “mega strike” of public workers. More than 100,000 workers from several sectors walked off the job in increasingly bitter disputes over pay and conditions. It was billed as possibly the country’s biggest labour| Asia Pacific Report
RNZ News It is being billed as quite possibly New Zealand’s biggest labour action in more than 40 years. It is the latest in a growing series of strikes and walkoffs this year, but the sheer size of it today means much of New Zealand will come to a halt. Several public sector unions say| Asia Pacific Report
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) claims more than a dozen civilians have been killed in the Papuan highlands, including three men who were allegedly tortured and a woman who was allegedly raped. However, the Indonesian government claims the accusations “baseless”. ULMWP president Benny Wenda said 15| Asia Pacific Report
RNZ Pacific Former Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has been given a 12-month suspended prison sentence by the Fiji High Court in Suva, local news media reports say. Bainimarama, 71, was found guilty of “making an unwarranted demand with menace” on October 2. The court found he used his position as Prime Minister in 2021| Asia Pacific Report
This lecture “Requiem for Gaza” was delivered to a sold out audience at the University of South Australia in Adelaide after journalist Chris Hedges’ appearance was cancelled by the Australian National Press Club. EDWARD SAID MEMORIAL LECTURE: By Chris Hedges The Gaza, the one that existed on the morning of October 7 is gone, decimated| Asia Pacific Report
Kia Ora Gaza Fifteen years ago today a contingent of six New Zealanders drove three aid-packed ambulances into Gaza as part of the epic international Viva Palestina 5 solidarity convoy of 145 vehicles — to a rock-star reception from locals. The featured PressTV report includes a short interview with Kia Ora Gaza team volunteer Hone| Asia Pacific Report
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter New Zealand’s opposition parties have promised to repeal the coalition government’s changes to the Marine and Coastal Area Act (MACA) if re-elected in the face of criticism over “mindsets of colonisation”. While the coalition has pitched the changes as restoring the legislation to its original intent, critics argue| Asia Pacific Report
Greenpeace Cook Islanders holding a banner reading “Don’t Mine the Moana” have confronted an exploration vessel as it returned to Rarotonga port today, protesting the emerging threat of seabed mining. Four activists in kayaks paddled alongside the Nautilus, which has spent the last three weeks on a US-funded research expedition surveying mineral nodule fields around| Asia Pacific Report
RNZ Pacific Fiji Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica has stepped down from his position on the eve of his court appearance for corruption-related charges. Kamikamica has been charged by the country’s anti-corruption office with perjury and providing false information in his capacity as a public servant. Kamikamica, who also serves as the Minister for Trade| Asia Pacific Report
COMMENTARY: By Eugene Doyle Israel and the West pretend they want a real peace in Israel-Palestine yet the Israelis have beaten unconscious the man most likely to help realise a sustainable end to the conflict: Marwan Barghouti. The ethnocentrism of Western culture is such that 20 Israeli hostages received vastly more coverage than thousands of| Asia Pacific Report
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor The Solomon Islands government is looking into establishing a defence force which would make it the fourth Pacific nation to have a military. Some parliamentarians support the idea, while others are pointing to the country’s history of violent unrest. National Security Minister Jimson Tanagada said the government was in| Asia Pacific Report
Asia Pacific Report Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed “deep gratitude” for Papua New Guinea’s support to his country over many years and during the Middle East conflict. Prime Minister James Marape was given the message directly yesterday by Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel during a courtesy call at Melanesian House, Waigani. The| Asia Pacific Report
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A Paris appeal court has confirmed that Kanak pro-independence leader Christian Téin is now cleared to return to New Caledonia. In September, a panel of judges had pronounced they were in favour of Téin’s return to New Caledonia, but the Public Prosecution then appealed, suspending his| Asia Pacific Report
Asia Pacific Report New Zealand’s major Palestine advocacy and protest group Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa has condemned Defence Minister Judith Collins for “dog-whistling to her small choir” over Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged Gaza enclave. Claiming that Collins’ open letter attacking teachers at the weekend was an attempt to “drown out Palestine” in discussions| Asia Pacific Report
RNZ Pacific A Fiji deputy prime minister has been charged by the country’s anti-corruption office with perjury and providing false information in his capacity as a public servant, according to local news media reports. Manoa Kamikamica, who also serves as the Minister for Trade and Communications and a key part of Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka’s| Asia Pacific Report
By Teuila Fuatai, RNZ Pacific senior journalist, and Susana Suisuiki, RNZ Pacific Waves host The future of the Manawanui wreckage and potential compensation payments remain a major talking point in Samoa. The Royal New Zealand Navy vessel ran aground on a reef off the south coast of Upolu in October last year and sank. New| Asia Pacific Report
Asia Pacific Report The International Criminal Court has rejected Israel’s bid to appeal against arrest warrants for its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over the Gaza genocide, reports TRT World News. In a ruling that made headlines worldwide, the ICC last November found “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu and Gallant| Asia Pacific Report
Asia Pacific Report A national advocacy and protest group has demanded that Foreign Minister Winston Peters condemn Israeli torture of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti and failure to abide by the Gaza ceasefire. Co-chair John Minto of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) said Barghouti was Palestine’s equivalent to South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, jailed| Asia Pacific Report