Giff Johnson

Rainbow Warrior warmly welcomed

Rainbow Warrior warmly welcomed

GIFF JOHNSON The Rongelap community, local government leadership, national RMI government leaders, traditional and religious leaders turned out to provide a warm welcome Tuesday at Uliga Dock for the arrival of Greenpeace’s flagship Rainbow Warrior III. The vessel was greeted by three outrigger canoes from Waan Aelon in Majel as it approached Uliga Dock. Then, […]

Boat found, four still missing

Boat found, four still missing

GIFF JOHNSON The hull of the missing sea ambulance washed into the Jitoken area of Jaluit Atoll Tuesday this week, following debris from the boat being spotted Monday at Imiej Island. None of the four men on board the boat had been found as of Wednesday this week, 10 days after they departed Majuro. As […]

RMI signs Rarotonga Treaty

RMI signs Rarotonga Treaty

GIFF JOHNSON The Marshall Islands signed the Treaty of Rarotonga at Monday’s Nuclear Remembrance Day nearly 40 years since the nuclear free zone agreement was initiated. “It was important for us to sign the treaty,” said Acting Foreign Minister and Finance Minister David Paul, who signed the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty Monday with […]

3 island tuna deal signed

3 island tuna deal signed

GIFF JOHNSON For decades, the Marshall Islands and other Pacific Islands struggled with how to generate more revenue from the commercial tuna industry. Now, a three-nation agreement signed Monday in Honiara, Solomon Islands, could be the latest game-changer for Pacific fisheries cooperation. Beginning in the 1980s, island nations for the first time began selling licenses […]

Tobolar’s Valentine’s Day sale

Tobolar’s Valentine’s Day sale

Tobolar Copra Processing Authority promoted its range of beauty products for Valentine’s Day last week. The staff put up a booth next to the processing facility and had varieties of coconut soap and coconut oil on sale. Of note is the improved labeling and packaging of the products that made them perfect as gifts for […]

US deportations worry islands

US deportations worry islands

GIFF JOHNSON The Trump administration’s aggressive action to deport illegal aliens is reverberating around the Pacific, with commentators from Papua New Guinea to Fiji to Tonga to Samoa warning that the arrival of dozens, possibly hundreds, of islanders deported from the US is likely to result in big negative consequences for these small islands. “Quite […]

Tuna transshipments plunge

Tuna transshipments plunge

GIFF JOHNSON Majuro experienced its worst year for tuna transshipment in more than 10 years. Statistics show that there were 160 tuna transshipments in 2024, according to data provided by the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority. This is below even the Covid-slowed year 2020, when only 175 transshipments were conducted in Majuro, largely due to […]

Four lost in Arno boat sinking

Four lost in Arno boat sinking

WILMER JOEL A 20-foot passenger and cargo boat sank in heavy seas near Arno Atoll just before the New Year, with four passengers still missing and presumed lost. Only three of the seven people on the small boat that sank December 30 were able to use ocean currents to swim into Majuro. The three washed […]

Podcast details Rongelap evacuation

Podcast details Rongelap evacuation

GIFF JOHNSON As a prelude to the 40th anniversary of the evacuation of Rongelap Islanders to Mejatto Island in Kwajalein in 1985, Radio New Zealand and ABC Radio Australia have produced a five-part podcast that details the Rongelap story — in the context of “The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior,” the name of the […]

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