World
Oceania
King and Queen gifted a whole pig on state visit to Samoa
Charles and Camilla were offered gifts including hand-woven fabric and a whole pig, wrapped and presented on a pallet carried by four chiefs in a spectacular welcome ceremony.
- by Hannah Furness
Latest
Analysis
China relations
New Zealand’s biggest pivot since the 1980s
A Royal New Zealand Navy transit through the Taiwan Strait underscores a big shift in foreign policy under Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
- by The Economist
Opinion
King Charles III
The King loves Australia but his next stop’s the big one (and China will be watching)
In Samoa, assembled nations will decide the Commonwealth’s next secretary-general. It will be one of three Africans whose countries are beneficiaries of China’s largesse
- by George Brandis
Opinion
Pacific diplomacy
Australia’s arm-wrestle with China is all over the billboards
Anyone who doubts Australia and China are in what Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong called a “permanent contest” in the Pacific needs to think again.
- by Richard McGregor
Female captain of NZ ship that sank subjected to vicious online abuse
The Manawanui sank in Samoan waters after it lost power and hit a reef in rough seas. Other NZ servicewomen have also received “deeply concerning misogynistic narratives”, including from Melbourne.
- by Ben McKay
What fugitive child said to pig hunters as three-year mystery takes dramatic twist
A father and his three children, clad in camouflage and carrying large backpacks, were spotted by a pair of teenage hunters on a remote New Zealand farm before their brief encounter.
- by Riley Walter and Jessica McSweeney
‘They’re all alive’: Fugitive father spotted with kids for first time in three years in New Zealand
Tom Phillips went on the run with his children in 2021. After fruitless police searches and appeals, they’ve been seen together for the first time since.
- by Riley Walter
New Zealand wrests largest haka record back from France
Maori have been trying to reclaim their cultural legacy for 10 years.
- by Lucy Craymer
Kiwi pilot held hostage in West Papua freed after 592 days
Phillip Mark Mehrtens, a pilot from Christchurch who was working for Indonesian aviation company Susi Air, was captured by separatist rebels last year.
- by Niniek Karmini and Charlotte Graham-McLay
Pope arrives in deeply Catholic Timor-Leste where crowds may reach 750,000
His three-day visit will include an open-air celebration of Mass the Vatican says may include more than half the population of 1.3 million.
- by Nicole Winfield