Leon Panetta in Auckland announced that US naval cooperation with New Zealand will be resumed—cut off in 1985, when the Pacific nation declared itself a nuclear-free zone.
This Australia Day—marking the 1788 establishment of the New South Wales colony, derided by Aborigines as “Invasion Day”—saw the establishment of a “Tent Embassy” encampment outside the Old Parliament House in Canberra.
A US appeals court approved a lawsuit by Papua New Guinea citizens against mining giant Rio Tinto on claims of genocide and war crimes. The suit charges the company directed a war of extermination against indigenous people on Bougainville Island.
Oil from a tanker ship stuck on a reef has started to wash up at New Zealand’s popular Mount Maunganui beach. In a race to avert disaster, salvage teams are pumping oil from the leaking ship, ahead of forecast gale-force winds and swells.
Chilean police evicted indigenous Rapa Nui protesters who had occupied the central plaza and a luxury hotel in Hanga Roa, capital of Easter Island, over the new year.
More Chilean troops are being flown to Rapanui (Easter Island) to augment the already in-place armed forces set to remove indigenous Rapanui people from their ancestral lands.
Taiwan's Council of Indigenous Peoples signed an agreement with the Pacific Island state of the Marshall Islands aimed at increasing bilateral exchanges to promote Austronesian culture. The agreement seeks to promote cooperation between Taiwan's indigenous communities and the linguistically related people of the Marshall Islands, particularly in the fields of language and preservation of traditional wisdom. The agreement, signed last month, coincides with the opening of the UN International Year of Indigenous Languages, which acknowledges to the critical state of many indigenous tongues, and seeks to promote their protection and use, both at national and international levels. (Photo of Bunum people via Mata Taiwan)
Guam residents protested against plans to relocate US Marines to the island from Okinawa, as Okinawans continue to press for removing the troops from their own island.
An Australian detainment camp for asylum seekers on remote Christmas Island is being protested as the “new Guantánamo Bay.” A group of Sri Lankan “boat people” are now en route to the camp.
The government of New Zealand agreed to pay $140 million in compensation to eight Maori tribes for illegal land seizures and breaches of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.
Australia claimed a blow against a home-grown terrorist cell, with the sentencing of six Muslim men who reportedly were planning attacks in response to Australia’s military involvement in Iraq.
Seven Maori tribes signed New Zealand's largest-ever settlement on grievances over the loss of lands and fisheries during European settlement in the 19th century. Hundreds of Maori, some wearing traditional feather cloaks, gathered at Wellington to watch the agreement being… Read moreNew Zealand: Maori sign deal on land rights
