Kiribati in the UN spotlight: Kiribati’s Minister for Women, Youth, Sport and Social Affairs Ruth Cross Kwansing has become the first Pacific Islander elected to the UN Commission on the Status of Women (2026–2030), with a clear focus on economic empowerment and protecting women and girls from climate-linked shocks like food and water stress and migration pressures. Climate mobility planning: Pacific governments adopted new regional guidance on planned relocation, stressing it should be a last resort and must protect human rights, Indigenous rights, cultural identity, and local decision-making as sea-level rise and extreme weather push communities to move. Ocean protection vs. extraction: A new look at deep-sea mining highlights how seabed minerals are now tied up with major-power geopolitics, including deals involving Kiribati and the Cook Islands, raising fresh concerns for environmental risk and regional control. EU seafood rules hit Pacific exporters: EU training in Suva for Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu prepares authorities for new freezer-vessel food safety requirements that could affect about 97% of EU-listed Pacific Island-flagged vessels. Water and sanitation risks: Reports of an 8,000-gallon sewage spill into Northeast Creek near Tarawa Boulevard in North Carolina underscore how infrastructure failures can quickly turn into environmental and public health problems. El Niño watch: The WMO says there’s an 80% chance El Niño will emerge before September, with likely impacts across the Pacific including higher heat and shifting rainfall patterns.