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Guam calls for moratorium on seabed mining, sees growing opposition against seabed raid

An aerial view of Guam. Photo by Mar-Vic Cagurangan/Pacific Island Times By Jayvee Vallejera Any adverse impacts from leasing the Northern Mariana Islands' outer continental shelf for seabed mining will likely affect a wider area, including Guam, according to the Bureau of Statistics and Plans. Lola Leon Guerrero, the bureau's director, noted that the proposed mining site, as outlined by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, is only about 128

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13 hours ago

Federal probe links Saipan to alleged Chinese military smuggling scheme

Saipan--Federal investigators have linked Saipan to an international smuggling operation involving military-grade satellite modems and other sensitive equipment allegedly destined for China, according to a recent unsealed criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for Utah.

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19 hours ago

Gold rush in the deep or a looming catastrophe?

The surging demand for critical minerals—driven primarily by the global energy transition and digital technology—has fueled President Donald Trump’s ambition to outpace China in this emerging trillion-dollar industry.

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2 days ago

THE PACIFIC

Cautious criticism and silence: the Indo-Pacific react to Maduro’s capture

On Jan. 2, the U.S. led a covert mission to capture and arrest Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. After weeks of sabre-rattling and military buildups in the Caribbean, elite U.S military personnel carried out a secret operation that was months in the making.

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3 days ago

Lessons from the Uyghurs experience

A combination of anxiety and anticipation gripped Palau following a Christmas Eve bombshell that the deal had been sealed: President Surangel Whipps Jr. had agreed to host up to 75 third-country nationals who would be deported from the U.S.

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3 days ago

Why snail mail moves at a snail's pace in freely associated states

Majuro—If you want to understand what “connectivity” really means in the freely associated states, don’t start with a glossy brochure about current internet services. Go stand in line at the post office in Majuro, Kolonia or Koror, and listen.

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4 days ago

INSIGHTS

LIFE & ARTS

Letter to the Editor: Disciplined execution consistent with the One Guam framework

By Rory Respicio As the Port of Guam enters 2026, the focus is on continuity through execution. This will not be a year of reset or redirection. It will be a year centered on delivering commitments already made, protecting the systems built over time and ensuring the port continues to perform reliably as modernization advances. This message is a clear case for continuity of management and leadership principles under shared governance. The progress outlined here did not occur

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20 hours ago

If Taiwan is the spark, Micronesia is the tinder

Two smart analyses. Two different readings of what’s at stake. Yet both share the same omission: neither spends any time on the places that would feel the first shockwaves—Guam, the freely associated states and their Pacific neighbors.

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1 day ago

In the CNMI, economic and fiscal sanity may finally be in vogue

In fiscal 2025, the CNMI’s only industry, tourism, brought in only about 160,000 visitors—roughly 67 percent fewer than in pre-pandemic 2019. The tourism industry needs at least 500,000 annual visitors just to stay afloat.

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2 days ago

Bookshelf: The golden age of Oceania writing: Linking Indigenous literatures to modernism

In the 1960s and 1970s, the University of Papua New Guinea and the University of the South Pacific redesigned and decolonized their curriculum. They replaced the established British colonial model with Pacific oratory and a growing body of Oceanian writing at the center of the syllabus.

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6 days ago

Where the CHamoru culture was born

Litekyan, an archeological site at the northern point of Guam, is the birthplace of pre-Spanish CHamoru civilization before it later became a front of the natives’ resistance against the European colonizers. These days, the ancient CHamoru village site embodies the conflict between the growing military presence on Guam and the effort to preserve the island’s culture.

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Dec 29, 2025

Gi Matan Guma’ calls creatives to apply for paid, weeklong artist residency

Led by the organization’s original MALI’E’ cohort, participants will explore ancestral spirituality through tending to sacred sites, movement, chant and material cultural practices from Dec. 29 to Jan. 4.

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Dec 12, 2025

What lies beneath: The wealth beneath the Marianas waves

Seamount crusts/Photo courtesy of NOAA According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the following minerals are likely present in the CNMI waters: Cobalt-rich iron-manganese crusts occur on the seamounts located east of the Mariana Trench. Data for crusts from nearby seamounts indicate that crusts on seamounts within that sector of the CNMI EEZ have an excellent potential to be thick and have high contents of cobalt, nickel, and platinum. It is recommended that these seamoun

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2 days ago2 min read