Stories by Lydia Lewis

Papua New Guinea is celebrating almost half a century of independence from Australia with the 16th of September 2024 marking its 49th anniversary. The journey was not easy, and the...

Baron Waqa has confirmed the Forum suffered a cyber-attack and says the threat has been isolated but his team does not yet know who was behind it.

A few months before his death, the Māori King stood with indigenous Pacific leaders, signing the He Whakaputanga Moana declaration, for whales to be given personhood. Audio

Emergency shelters have been set up in Guam as Tropical Depression 14W intensifies.

Kiribati's education minister has fired back at claims that parliament's decision to remove High Court Judge David Lambourne was politically motivated.

The Pacific Islands Forum caves to Beijing's demand at Tonga leaders' summit. Audio

The Australia-funded initiative - backed by Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police and the Australian Federal Police - is earmarked to reshape the way policing is conducted across the region.

Beijing's Special Envoy is furious about the mention of Taiwan in the final communique of the meeting - which appears to have been taken down by the Forum Secretariat without any explanation.

Deep sea mining involves extracting potato size rocks called nodules - which are packed full of valuable metals - from the seafloor many kilometres deep. Audio

Nauru leader David Adeang is pleased that the Pacific Islands Forum is united despite there being differences of opinion on "some issues".

"I think the whole of the Pacific will mourn his passing," Pacific Islands Forum secretary-general, Baron Waqa, said.

The Papua New Guinea Prime Minister is feeling "confident" heading into a likely vote of no confidence next week.

Details have emerged at the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Tonga that the US may be staying out of policing support and development in the Pacific for Australia to take the lead.

澳总理与美国副国务卿对话曝光，专家称这是一种大国在面对国际事务时帝国主义式的俯视思维。

The United States has "listened carefully" to Pacific Island nations in its efforts to boost its diplomatic footprint in the region, the deputy secretary of State, Kurt Campbell, says.

The local people have been up until the early hours of the morning brushing and sweeping the streets and painting fences ahead of the leaders' arrivals.

The Solomon Islands foreign affairs permanent secretary says associate and full membership status of the largest regional body was originally set up for independent countries only.

"The welfare of the interests of our Melanesians in West Papua and the other Papuan Provinces in Indonesia is an ongoing concern," the Melanesian Spearhead Group said on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister says the agreement commits Australia to help Tuvalu with climate adaptation, and he's also had conversation with Fiji PM to develop a similar bilateral agreement.

Papua New Guineans need to ask, "where is the Christian solidarity", ULMWP leader says, after the PNG leader said it's Indonesia's responsibility to address independence demands.

The 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting is off to a start with pouring rain and an earthquake as the backdrop, with the New Caledonia and the climate crisis as hot button issues.

Kiribati's head of delegation at Tonga leaders' summit says "our constitutional task" is to prioritise the elections process and diplomatic visits will resume once new government is formed.

But for locals, Tonga hosting the summit means it offers a much-needed cash injection to the nation, which is still recovering from the Hunga-Tonga Hunga Ha'apai eruption and tsunami. Audio

Veronique Roger-Lacan said the argument of New Caledonia Congress President Roch Wamytan "does not fly" and Paris has a "totally impartial" stance" on the decolonisation process. Audio

The New Caledonia Congress President has doubled down on Kanaks' aspirations to seek self-determination and lambasted France for "demeaning" Pacific leaders' mission.