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Federal public health emergency declared for Guam, CNMI

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has declared a public health emergency for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, unlocking federal support and allowing flexibility in implementing medical programs as they recover from Typhoon Bavi.

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10 minutes ago

El Niño is underway: A warming Pacific, a shifting storm belt and a region learning to read every cloud as a warning sign

Barely recovering from Supertyphoons Mawar and Sinlaku, island communities across the Marianas and Micronesia are bracing for extreme weather events supercharged by an El Niño predicted to be one of the strongest on record.

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4 days ago

Guam Power Authority urged to pause fuel surcharge hike

Vice Speaker Tony Ada is seeking the suspension of the fuel surcharge increase to ease the financial stress on several Guam households amid the island's recovery from Typhoon Bavi, which hit the Marianas region Monday.

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7 days ago

THE PACIFIC

US proposes first deep-sea mining leases for American Samoa's seafloor

The bureau has marked 33 million acres of seabed near the eastern edge of American Samoa’s exclusive economic zone for the mining of polymetallic nodules, which are critical to the production of clean energy and military technologies.

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6 hours ago

Report: Pacific island countries struggle to meet vaccination targets

Despite their smaller populations, most Pacific countries are struggling to meet the 90-percent goal of vaccinating their children against deadly but preventable diseases, according to a joint World Health Organization-UNICEF report released Wednesday.

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1 day ago

Tonga to merge science and traditional knowledge in weather forecasting

Lineni Latu and Vaiola Vainikolo, weather forecasters, said that by incorporating traditional knowledge indicators into their television weather bulletins, they are connecting science with the knowledge and observations that Tongan communities have used for years.

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1 day ago

INSIGHTS

LIFE & ARTS

Reducing Guam’s business privilege tax

In sum, the difficulty of reducing the BPT is not accidental. It is the predictable outcome of deliberate administrative choices that expanded spending to consume temporary increases, ensuring that returning to 4 percent would be politically costly and structurally disruptive.

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10 hours ago

What my father's clock remembers

For those of us who have never lived under occupation, it is difficult to imagine how quickly freedom can be taken away. My father’s story reminds me that freedom is never guaranteed.

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23 hours ago

The ocean wealth that keeps leaving Micronesia

More than 50 percent of the world’s tuna supply comes from the western and central Pacific Ocean, making it the most important tuna fishery on the planet.

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4 days ago

Community Events: Lib Day fireworks; Meet the candidates; Art sale at ArtSpace

Guam to mark 82nd Liberation Day Guam Visitors Bureau will lead the celebration of Guam's 82nd Liberation during two special Tumon Night Market events featuring outstanding local and international entertainment, community activities, and Liberation Day fireworks. The festivities begin at the regularly scheduled Tumon Night Market on July 19 at Tumon Sands Plaza from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., featuring live performances by The Corporation, Prominence, Guma' Taotao Kinahulo' Atdao Na

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1 day ago

Bookshelf: Son of foreign worker tells the story the CNMI tried to forget

Kelvin Rodeo grew up in the aisles of a small neighborhood store in Dan Dan, Saipan, surrounded by the hum of different languages, the rhythm of island life and the quiet contradictions of being an American citizen born to Filipino parents on Saipan.

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Jun 13

Advertisement: FFA Director: Fisheries Development Division

Employer: World renowned Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Position location: Honiara, Solomon Islands · Retirement of long-term incumbent has led to a director-level leadership opportunity · Competitive salary range from SDR1 72,523 to SDR 102,385 negotiable based on experience (note: currently equivalent to US$99,066 to US$139,858) (Plus Allowances). · Salary is not taxed in the Solomon Islands for international staff · 3-year, full-time contract position bas

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Jun 10

BOEM: Guam, CNMI moratorium won’t stall seabed mining in federal waters

ROV Deep Discoverer images a newly discovered hydrothermal vent field at Chammoro Seamount. Photo courtesy of PINA By Mar-Vic Cagurangan Guam and the Northern Marianas’ call for a moratorium on deep-sea mining will have no bearing on the U.S. plan to lease federal waters for mineral extraction, the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management said, adding that the quantity of public comments will not be a deciding factor either. John Romero, BOEM’s public affairs officer, assured

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Jan 153 min read

Guam receives $10M in federal grants for homeland security and emergency preparedness

The Office of Homeland Security has secured more than $10 million in federal funding for fiscal 2025 to strengthen Guam's public safety, emergency preparedness, and cybersecurity across the island, the governor's office announced today.

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Oct 7, 20252 min read

Senators override governor's veto of Guam's 2026 budget bill

The 38th Guam Legislature on Monday voted 11-4 to override Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero’s veto of the 2026 budget bill, which rolls back the business privilege tax—the main source of disagreement between the Republican-led chamber and the Democratic administration.

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Sep 29, 20253 min read

The MAGA presence in Pacific island region is not about political progress or economic development

For those of us in these islands, which are directly controlled by or heavily influenced by the United States, it is a confusing statement. Are we supposed to look backward to the time when America ran everything in these islands? Are we supposed to be commemorating or nostalgically looking back to the military government?

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Sep 11, 20254 min read

Taiwan and Guam: First lines of defense for each other

When we think of Guam’s place in the Indo-Pacific, the conversation often focuses on our role as “the tip of the spear” for the United States. But in the shifting security landscape of our region, it’s time we also recognize something else: Guam and Taiwan are each other’s first lines of defense.

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Sep 9, 20252 min read

Getting on in years with grace and aches

The red light was blinking. I stared at it. Then I stared at the 5-gallon water bottle. There was a time when I didn’t even have to think about it. I would easily pick the bottle up from the ground and replace the empty one in the dispenser.

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Sep 7, 20253 min read