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June 30, 2026
 

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OCEANIA

Prime Minister of Vanuatu Jotham Napat (left) and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese shake hands after signing the Nakamal agreement during the Australia-Vanuatu Leaders’ Meeting at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 29, 2026
Australia and Vanuatu agree deal after impasse over China ties
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Vanuatu counterpart, Jotham Napat, signed the Nakamal Agreement in Canberra on Monday.
The coastline of Funafuti Atoll in Tuvalu. Gravely threatened by rising seas, the low-lying island nation relies on a $200 million trust fund to help foot the ballooning costs of climate change.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 23, 2026
Australia withholds climate fund reports over risk of diplomatic ‘damage’
Australia is the largest contributor to the Tuvalu Trust Fund, which has been invested on Tuvalu’s behalf in funds exposed to coal mining, gas exploration and a crude oil refinery.
China is Australia's largest trading partner, ​accounting for almost a third of Australia's exports.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 15, 2026
China’s strike capacity over Australia set to expand, think tank says
The report said ​China can already strike ⁠northern Australia with missiles deployed to its South China Sea outposts.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (center) poses for a commemorative photo with leaders attending the Island States Ocean Summit in Tokyo on Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 3, 2026
Takaichi calls for cooperation at meeting with leaders of island nations
The prime minister says daily life in Japan and other island nations are deeply dependent on the marine environment and that collaboration is indispensable.
The coastline of Funafuti Atoll, Tuvalu. A trust fund set up to help a South Pacific nation gravely threatened by climate change has invested in coal mining, gas exploration and the world's largest crude oil refinery.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 28, 2026
Fund for climate-exposed Pacific nation invests in fossil fuels
A trust fund set up to help a South Pacific nation gravely threatened by climate change has invested in coal mining, gas exploration and the world’s largest crude oil refinery.
A Chinese research vessel at Avatiu Harbour in the Avarua district of the Cook Islands last year. New Zealand and the Cook Islands have repaired relations that were strained when the tiny South Pacific nation entered a strategic agreement with China.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 7, 2026
New Zealand signs Cook Islands pact to counter China deal
While the Cook Islands is a self-governing state, it is part of the Realm of New Zealand and has a special constitutional relationship with Wellington.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks during a meeting with defense ministers from Pacific island nations in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 24, 2026
Japan to invite visits by defense officials from Pacific island nations
Given China’s growing presence in the South Pacific, Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has emphasized the need for cooperation with the island nations across a range of fields.
China is turning its homegrown Kunming dog into a symbol and tool of its internal and international security strategy, using the breed to project control and shape security practices and norms in other countries.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2025
Chinese diplomacy goes to the dogs — literally
China is using its homegrown Kunming dog as a symbol to project control and influence security practices at home and abroad.
Surangel Whipps, president of Palau, speaks at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 25.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 25, 2025
Pacific archipelago Palau agrees to take migrants from U.S.
The island nation will let in up to 75 third-country nationals, in a deal worth $7.5 million.
Flags of Solomon Islands and China flutter near the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing in July 2023. A new think-tank report has proposed quasi-allies Japan and Australia divide up efforts to boost ties with Pacific island nations in a bid to maintain critical supply lines and prevent China from gaining a military foothold in the region in the event of a war.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2025
With eye on Beijing, Japan and Australia urged to divvy up Pacific island aid
An Australian think tank says the quasi-allies should work with the region to maintain supply lines and prevent China from gaining a military foothold in any war.
A nuclear bomb test at Bikini Atoll and Enewetak in June 1956. Such tests are best conceptualized as environmental disasters with consequences that are still felt today, particularly in Oceania and Central Asia.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 17, 2025
Nuclear tests and a legacy of harm in the Asia-Pacific
Understanding former nuclear experiments as “tests” is highly misleading, as each atomic explosion has released a tremendous quantity of long-lasting radioactive pollutants.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (center right) and Papua New Guinea leader James Marape pose with officials after the signing of the Pukpuk Treaty at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 6, 2025
With eye on China, Australia and Papua New Guinea ink mutual defense pact
The agreement is mainly intended to offset China’s expanding military clout in the South Pacific and prevent Beijing from projecting power through Australia’s northern approach.
Hisao Ito, a former resident of Tinian in the Mariana Islands, points to himself in a family photo taken when he was a child.
JAPAN / History
Sep 24, 2025
World War II survivor bears witness to family tragedy in Tinian mass suicide
Eighty-one years after the mass suicide, the memory of his father killing two of his sisters remains lodged in the survivor’s mind, yet he holds no grudge against his father.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Papua New Guinea leader James Marape attend a flag-lowering ceremony in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 17, 2025
Australia and Papua New Guinea delay mutual defense pact
The postponement was Canberra’s latest stumble as it seeks to counterbalance Beijing’s expanding presence and clout in the Pacific region.
Artificial intelligence avatar Una will appear at the U.N. pavilion at Osaka Expo later this month as part of initiatives to combat climate change.
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2025
Japan-backed AI avatar to promote climate action at expo
The anime-inspired female character, Una, was developed as part of climate initiatives supported by the Japanese government.
Mitsuko Arakaki talks about life on Tinian Island and the situation after the U.S. military landing, on July 12 in the village of Nakagusuku, Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 15, 2025
‘Why do humans wage war?’: Woman recalls escaping death on Tinian island in WWII
When U.S. air raids began in 1944, life changed overnight for the around 13,000 Japanese civilians living on Tinian.
Flags from the Pacific Islands countries wave on the breeze in Yaren, Nauru, on the last day of the 2018 Pacific Islands Forum.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 12, 2025
China, U.S. pledge funds for Pacific Islands ahead of meet they are barred from
The Solomon Islands, which hosts an annual leaders meeting for the region blocked 21 donor countries from attending after pressure from Beijing to exclude Taiwan.
Emperor Naruhito meets with Micronesian President Wesley Simina at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2025
Emperor meets with Micronesia’s president
Emperor Naruhito thanked Micronesian President Wesley Simina for visiting Fukushima Prefecture in March to observe the reconstruction efforts there.
Marine biologist Teina Rongo on his boat passing the research vessel MV Anuanua Moana in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, on June 12. Mining exploration has left many Cook Islanders such as Rongo fearing deep-sea mining could taint their precious ocean forever.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 23, 2025
The Pacific island nation that wants to mine the ocean floor
Research vessels roam the seas around the Cook Islands in search of deposits of battery metals, rare earths and critical minerals.
Vanuatu's Foreign Minister Ralph Regenvanu (left) welcomes United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the tarmac of Port Vila's international airport, on May 18, 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 23, 2025
Vanuatu calls upcoming ICJ ruling a ‘game-changer’ for climate justice
Vanuatu’s climate change minister says he hopes the International Court of Justice will say it is the “legal obligation of states to address climate change.”
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Chinese and Russian bombers and fighter jets stage joint patrol near Japan
A Chinese Air Force H-6 bomber is seen during a joint patrol with Russian military aircraft on Saturday.
U.S. missile moves in Japan send China clear message: A new era has arrived
Soldiers conduct the first Typhon midrange capability live-fire exercise outside of the continental United States, firing an SM-6 missile in July last year in Australia's Northern Territory during Exercise Talisman Sabre.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
LGBTQ+ families are building lives Japanese lawmakers still struggle to see
Haru Ono founded Nijiiro Kazoku in 2010 after forming a same-sex stepfamily. She said the impetus for founding the organization was that she couldn’t find much reliable information out there for families such as hers in Japan.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.
‘The colors speak for themselves’: How Japan’s chroma bible went global
“A Dictionary of Color Combinations” is meant to function as a quick-reference guide for artists, designers and anyone with a passing interest in aesthetics as a quantifiable pursuit.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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