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Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mataafa said it was "very significant" for a small island nation to host the event. Photo: Government of Samoa Samoa is days away from hosting 56 country representatives for the 27th Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM) under the theme 'One Resilient Common Future: Transforming our Commonwealth'. It's the first time the biennial event is being hosted by a Pacific island nation and the first time King Charles III will deliver the opening address as Head of the Commonwealth. But what exactly is the Commonwealth and what do its leaders aim to achieve? Samoa was confirmed as CHOGM host during the Leaders Retreat at the previous meeting held in Rwanda in 2022. 11 October 2024 Photo: Facebook / Samoa CHOGM 2024 The Commonwealth Formed in 1949, its ...

By Jon Healy, ABC News Tyler Wright celebrates after winning the world title in 2016. Photo: AFP - Gaizka Iroz The wife of Australian two-time world champion Tyler Wright has blasted the World Surf League's (WSL) decision to add Abu Dhabi to its calendar for 2025 as homosexuality is illegal in the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi was listed as the second stop on the WSL Championship Tour schedule for 2025 when it was released last week. Events will be held at Hudayriyat Island in the UAE capital, in an artificial wave pool created with the Kelly Slater Wave Company. The WSL recently held a Longboard Classic event at the site, which boasts the largest man-made wave in the world. But the addition of a stop in Abu Dhabi to the more high-profile tour for next year raised eyebrows and conc...

By Kang Jin-kyu, AFP New Jeans' Hanni (centre) arrives to testify at the National Assembly in Seoul on 15 October, 2024. Photo: AFP / Kim Min-Hee A member of chart-topping K-pop group NewJeans has tearfully testified to South Korean lawmakers as part of an enquiry into workplace harassment, amid a boardroom drama over her super producer. In recent years, South Korea's K-pop industry has become a global juggernaut powered by the success of groups like BTS, but domestically it is known for imposing strict standards and controls on fledgling stars. Rising K-pop idols are expected to adhere to their powerful agency's behaviour and appearance guidelines, with many stars describing receiving extreme backlash from fans over perceived mistakes in their personal lives, for example dating. Han...

By Jason Morris, Nick Valencia, Devan Cole and Sara Murray, CNN Donald Trump, left, and Kamala Harris, right, during their presidential debate in September. Photo: AFP / SAUL LOEB A record number of early votes have been cast in Georgia as residents head to the polls in a critical battleground state that is grappling with the fallout from Hurricane Helene and controversial election administration changes that spurred a flurry of lawsuits. Roughly 252,000 ballots have been cast Tuesday (local time), Gabe Sterling of the Georgia secretary of state's office said on X. "Spectacular turnout. We are running out of adjectives for this." The previous first day record was 136,000 in 2020, Sterling said. The swing state is one of the most closely watched this election, with former president Do...

By Harry Pearl, BenarNews Satellite photo of the abandoned former Rio Tinto Panguna mine (center) in Bougainville, with the regional capital Arawa (top left) and tailings waste spilling downstream (bottom right), pictured 26 September 2017. Photo: Trevor Hammond / Planet Labs via Reuters An initial hearing of a class action against mining giant Rio Tinto over the toxic legacy of the Panguna copper mine on the autonomous island of Bougainville has been held in Papua New Guinea. The lawsuit against Rio Tinto and its subsidiary Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) is seeking compensation, expected to be in the billions of dollars, for what plaintiffs allege is historic mismanagement of the massive open copper-and-gold mine between 1972 and 1989. More than 5000 claimants backed by anonymous...