Pacific Islands News Roundup – January 15 – 22, 2026 

Political Leadership and Regionalism, Peace and Security

• New Caledonia agreement signed in Paris (Islands Business)
  
• Pro-independence FLNKS ‘unequivocally’ reject latest agreement for New Caledonia (RNZ)
  
• Palau Senate Moves Swiftly to Block U.S. Deportee Transfers Under MOU (Island Times) 
  
• Indonesian VP cancels visit in West Papua after attack (RNZ)
  
• Former Samoan PM calls for action, not church activities (Islands Business)
  
• Tonga Govt denounces foreign vessels claiming to fly its flag (RNZ)
  
• New Zealand and Kiribati sign statement of partnership agreement (RNZ)
  
• War on guns at centre of PNG govt plan to reassert authority (RNZ)
  
• Hawaiʻi’s strict gun law faces U.S. Supreme Court scrutiny in landmark case (HPR)
  
• US warns China targeting Pacific democracies as COFA ties deepen (RNZ)
  
• Sowei Clan files lawsuit challenging sale of Peleliu land for U.S. defense site (Island Times)
  
• Fiji and Tahiti conduct major cocaine seizures on same day (Fiji Times)

People-Centered Development

• Pacific Farmers Organisations Names First Female Chair (Fiji One)
  
• Vanuatu’s new Migration Policy to drive labour, diaspora, and climate opportunities (Vanuatu Daily Post)
  
• In less than 24 hours, Trump admin reverses funding cuts to mental health programs impacting Guam (Guam PDN)
  
• Controversy erupts ahead of Miss Pacific Islands pageant (Islands Business)
  
• Federated States of Micronesia up for its United Nations human rights review (RNZ)
  
• Guam housing authority pauses new Section 8 public housing vouchers, EHV funding coming to an end (Guam Daily Post)
  
• Vanuatu Boosts Cervical Cancer Fight: 90% Vaccinated, 70% Screened, 90% Treated (VBTC)
  
• Tongans still ‘broken’ four years on from Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano eruption (Kaniva Tonga)
  
• Wotje’s ‘farm to fork’ (Marshall Islands Journal)
  
• Fourth China Medical Team Conducts Community Free Clinic at Gilbert Camp (Solomon Star)
  
• Vanuatu hosts consultation on Pacific Women in Maritime strategy (Daily Post Digital)

Climate Change and Disasters, Ocean and Environment

• Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management: Guam, CNMI moratorium won’t stall seabed mining in federal waters (Pacific Island Times)
  
• High Seas Treaty welcome news for SPREP in uncertain times (RNZ)
  
• Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction pact now in force (Islands Business)
  
• We will petition the King – Tonga civil society on seabed mining (RNZ)
  
• Canada funds Pacific women climate resilience (Islands Business)
  
• China supports strengthening climate change resilience and environmental protection in the Pacific (Island Times)
  
• CARE Vanuatu Wins World Habitat Award for Climate-Resilient Housing Initiative (VBTC)
  
• Climate Security in the Pacific: Emerging trends, priorities and solutions (PACNEWS/UNDP)
  
• Mānoa: Study debunks myth of Native Hawaiians causing bird extinctions (Maui Now)
  
• Wild pigs for cooking? Guåhan Sustainable Culture helps train how to hunt, process meat (Guam PDN)
  
• Tonga records 34°C heat as authorities urge public to take precautions (Talanoa ‘O Tonga)
  
• Innovation for resilience: Vanuatu pioneers data-driven disaster response (Pacific Community)

Resources and Economic Development, Technology and Connectivity

• Modern slavery in plain sight: Wealth from PALM labour scheme comes at a cost (Islands Business)
  
• Cable boosts American Samoa’s connectivity (Islands Business)
  
• PNG PM Marape seeks investors at world forum (Islands Business)
  
• Guam economy enters transitional phase amid tourism rebound, defense spending (Marianas Business Journal)
  
• Fiji Agriculture Ministry turns to drones to boost rice production (FBC)
  
• Vanuatu Gov’t condemns AI-generated fake deals (Vanuatu Daily Post)
  
• Canada eyes stronger trade and investment ties with Fiji (FBC)
  
• Japan invests SI$17m in waste management and forestry in Solomon Islands (Island Sun)
  
• PNG PM orders sweeping review of SOEs to tackle blackouts, water failures and inefficiency (PNG Bulletin)
  
• Implementation of rent payment assistance in Tahiti (Tahiti News)
  
• Fiji skills shortage: Govt seeking help from diaspora amid Pacific workforce pressure (PMN)
  
• Papua New Guinea’s Central Bank Seeks Cambodia’s Experience in Banking and Financial Development (Agence Kampuchea Presse)
  
• Nearly $860K available to remove 13 abandoned, sunken vessels from Guam’s waterways (Pacific Daily News)

Disclaimer:

The PIR seeks to include news coverage from news outlets across the Pacific, representing a diversity of coverage in the region. Please note that the inclusion of article links does not represent PIR or PIDP endorsement of the information presented in the articles.

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The Pacific Islands Report (PIR) is a project of the Pacific Islands Development Program (PIDP) at the East-West Center and the Center for Pacific Islands Studies (CPIS) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

This non-exhaustive news roundup, featuring open-access information, is organized with the thematic areas of the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent and its implementation plan.

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