Kiribati

Two new 30-seater buses are set to improve student transportation after Rainbow Company Limited and Lu's Marine Services donated the vehicles to the Ministry of Education in a show of growing private sector support for education

34 new nurses, including eight future outer island doctors, are ready to begin their service in clinics across Kiribati after graduating from the classrooms of Bikenibeu

A blue alert for rotavirus remains in effect, especially in Betio, accounting for the most cases, as well as a blue alert for DENV-1 and DENV-2, with most cases counted in South Tarawa but a transmission rate still contained

NEC's East Micronesia Cable System EMCS now connects Kiribati with FSM and Nauru; the submarine fiber-optic cable has been handed out to state-owned telecommunications company Bwebweriki Net Limited BNL for local operations

Fuel supplies are enough to keep Kiribati going for three to four months more, Minister for Social Affairs said, as stocks were replenished just before the US attacked Iran; attention focuses on how other Pacific island countries are handling the shortage

Amid a shifting balance of influence on Kiribati between Australia and China, international experts say China would be trying to gain more weight but still has to fully consolidate it, a last minute opportunity for Australia to counter it with new ties

Miss Kiribati, Atinterentaai Rinimarawa, joined Pacific queens gather in Fiji for regional pageant; organisers say the focus is shifting beyond crowns and catwalks to climate change, crime, culture, and the role of Pasifika women in regional leadership

Kiribati signed with New Zealand a new partnership agreement, signalling a warming of relations that had cooled last year when New Zealand announced a review of its development program on the Pacific island nation

A team from the Research and Monitoring Unit, Coastal Fisheries Division certified 15 open-water divers for pet fish operators on Kiritimati Island and CFD extension Unit Kiritimati, include Fisheries Assistants from Tabueran and Teraina

Concrete foundation for the Tarawa Kiribati Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was completed before the end of the year, and the work of installing the prefabricated modules is expected to begin in the next few weeks

Tourism is now a frontline response to plastic pollution and climate pressure: a regional workshop in Tarawa highlights how small tourism businesses, circular economy principles and marine protection initiatives are reshaping travel benefiting Kiribati

Former Kiribati president Anote Tong, a leading voice on climate change, says Australia's failure to secure its bid to host the next United Nations climate conference COP31 with Pacific nations is a missed opportunity in several ways