Oceania

Over the past 35 years, tree mortality in northern tropical forests has doubled due to moisture reduction; dead trees have not yet been replaced by equivalent young trees, causing a reduction in biomass

Parliament has passed a Constitutional amendment that reserves membership of Parliament for Nauruans born on or before 30 January 1968 and their descendants

Prime Minister has neither confirmed nor denied the abolition of the 30-day entry permit for Samoan nationals entering American Samoa, which could be beneficial to the country as a source of revenue

A project for a real-time asthma risk prediction tool - which gathers info from the environment and smart devices - to help predict asthma attacks is one of University of Auckland projects awarded a Health Research Council Emerging Researcher First Grant

The President of the Federated States of Micronesia, together with other leaders of the region, has engaged in a high-level political dialogue with the leader of the Pacific Islands Forum on a proposed reform package to strengthen the Forum and the nation

The country has a new mobile service provider to choose from, since Vodafone PNG and SES have partnered to provide high-speed 4G and 5G mobile broadband services

In a bid to strengthen bilateral ties, India offered its support to strengthen Tuvalu's health infrastructure at a meeting between the Indian Health Minister and his counterpart in the Pacific country

Tonga's battle to qualify for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France will continue at Sunshine Coast Stadium, Queensland, next month with the Asia/Pacific play-offs; it will be the first time Tonga will play in Australia in almost 20 years

The government is addressing gender inequality through budget allocations via the Institutional Capacity Building Initiative, calling on Fijians to work together for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls