Palau

The Visitors Authority says that in 2025, Palau recorded the highest number of American, Australian and European tourists in the nation’s history.

A day before Typhoon Champi put Guam in Condition of Readiness 1, what Jessica Laguaña mistook for a chicken ended up being a rare sighting of an Australasian swamphen.

Palau's president said the nation needs "our ability to feed our people from healthy oceans, power our homes independently from distant fuel markets, and protect our shorelines from rising seas."

A spokesman for Palau’s Ministry of Justice on Tuesday said a 62-year-old Singaporean man and a 43-year-old woman were diving from the M/Y Black Pearl, a luxury liveaboard yacht.

Forum Chair Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. read a statement calling for all nations that conduct ICBM tests to provide 24 hours notice, the international standard "to ensure transparency and reassurance."

Consultants presented a feasibility study for a plan to build a new $398.8 million hospital near the Palau airport.

The governor told the Pacific Islands Forum leadership conference that Guam's political status should not exclude the island from full participation in the group.

Surangel Whipps Jr. noted that large airlines all over the world have created alliances, but Pacific carriers are not part of those partnerships.

The U.S. embassy in Koror said the United States is against any attempts by China to weaponize tourism. China issued a travel advisory warning of crime, a dangerous marine environment and frequent accidents involving tourists in Palau.