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    World

    Pacific

    June

    Julian Assange leaves court a free man.

    Assange ‘won’t be silenced’ after guilty plea deal

    Julian Assange is officially a free man, with the WikiLeaks founder now a convicted felon after pleading guilty in a remote US Pacific island courthouse.

    • Updated
    • Andrew Tillett

    New Zealand shakes off recession but no relief yet

    Gross domestic product gained 0.2 per cent from the previous quarter, when it declined 0.1 per cent, Statistics New Zealand said on Thursday.

    • Updated
    • Tracy Withers
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    Agriculture wins carbon price reprieve in New Zealand

    Farmers had protested against previous proposals to impose a regulated price on methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions from late 2025.

    • Tracy Withers

    May

    Nicola Willis delivers her first budget.

    NZ government cuts taxes even as deficit widens

    The tax cuts are almost identical to the pledge Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s National Party campaigned on ahead of the October election.

    • Matthew Brockett
     Villagers search through mud and rubble in Yambali village, in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.

    Fears of second PNG landslide and disease outbreak

    The blanket of debris has become more unstable after rain and streams trapped between the rubble.

    • Rod McGuirk
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    Villagers search through a landslide in Yambali, in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.

    Papua New Guinea landslide toll revised up to 2000

    The unstable terrain, remote location and nearby tribal warfare are hampering relief efforts in PNG.

    • Renju Jose and Lewis Jackson

    PNG landslide death toll estimates raised to 670

    Crews have given up hope of finding survivors buried deep under the soil and rubble after a landslide slammed into a village on the Pacific island.

    • Rod McGuirk
    French President Emmanuel Macron speaks after stepping off his plane in New Caledonia on Thursday.

    Macron urges calm in high-stakes New Caledonia visit

    The French president has met political and business leaders in an attempt to ease tensions following days of deadly unrest over electoral reforms.

    • Claire Rush and John Leicester
    A French military plane arrives at Noumea-Magenta Airport, New Caledonia, on May 16.

    What’s really behind the riots in New Caledonia?

    New Caledonia, one of five island territories spanning the Indo-Pacific held by France, is central to Macron’s plan to increase French influence in the Pacific.

    • Gabriel Stargardter
    Smoke rises during protests in Noumea, New Caledonia.

    Why a small Pacific island territory is upending nickel prices

    New Caledonia possesses an estimated 25 per cent of the world’s nickel resources and accounts for 6 per cent of global production of the metal.

    • Rishi Lyengar
    An RNZAF Hercules C-130 takes off from Whenuapai airbase near Auckland on Tuesday bound for Noumea, New Caledonia, on a mercy mission to rescue stranded New Zealand tourists.

    First Aussies home from riot-hit New Caledonia after RAAF rescue

    French authorities have given permission for evacuation flights to take off and land in Noumea.

    • Andrew Tillett
    A Kanak flag waving next to a burning vehicle at a roadblock at La Tamoa, in the commune of Paita in New Caledonia.

    Airforce on standby to evacuate Australians as French police pour into New Caledonia

    Roads were blocked and the airport remained shut, stranding 3200 people, including 300 Australians, in the Pacific nation after a week of riots.

    • Kirsty Needham
    A Kanak flag waving next to a burning vehicle at a roadblock at La Tamoa, in the commune of Paita in New Caledonia.

    Penny Wong must speak up on New Caledonia

    It’s time for Australia’s foreign minister to act as the honest friend and tell France that they are mishandling their Pacific territory.

    • Hamish McDonald
    A man stands in front a burnt car after unrest in Noumea, New Caledonia this week.

    ‘Massive’ French police force arrives in riot-hit New Caledonia

    Deadly violence has raged across the French Pacific territory this week over electoral reforms pushed in Paris, forcing France to impose a state of emergency.

    • Kirsty Needham and Camille Raynaud