Oceania Australia Over AUS$31 million of illegal tobacco has been seized and destroyed after it was grown in fields in regional Victoria; raids at two properties near the border with New South Wales were carried out after an anonymous tip-off, uncovering the illicit haul
Oceania Tonga Crown Prince Tupouto'a 'Ulukalala is visiting Australia as part of the Canberra Fellowships Program
Oceania Papua New Guinea A mission is underway to rescue an Australian professor and three local researchers held hostage by an armed group in Papua New Guinea; he was captured while he was on a field study trip in the remote highlands at an unspecified date
Oceania Fiji Fiji Corrections Service currently has 6 ongoing projects involving civil works: Naboro Road, fencing of the Nasinu Corrections Centre farm, design of new main cell block at Suva Corrections Centre and redevelopment of Suva cemetery
Oceania Tuvalu Project Digital Nation is underway and involves digitising Tuvalu's islets, species, traditional songs, recipes, language and it is thought the government may enter the metaverse and be administered virtually
Oceania Marshall Islands Miss Jaluit Claret Chong Gum of the Rikpikareej clan was crowned the new Miss Marshall Islands by former MMI Billma Peter
Oceania Nauru Digicel Nauru donated a recharge voucher worth $5.000 to the Covid Task Force at its Aiwo headquarters
Oceania Vanuatu Vanuatu chiefs asked the Malvatumauri Chiefs' Council and the Vanuatu government to build a chiefs' Nakamal building
Oceania Palau Palau will be home to the Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner, if the Micronesian group's request to the Pacific Islands Forum is granted
Oceania Micronesia Micronesian bloc of Pacific Islands Forum says it's "ready" and "already working" to attend special meeting of Pacific Islands Forum leaders; President of the country said the sub-region's leaders made "big decisions" at Micronesian Presidents' Summit
Oceania Kiribati The economy continued to expand after the removal of all COVID-19 restrictions in the second half of 2022, reads the concluding statement of the 2023 Article IV Mission published on the IMF website
Oceania Tuvalu Tuvalu's new Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Tapugao Falefou, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres; since 2020 Tapugao Falefou has been Secretary to the Government of Tuvalu