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Locals in Tebikenikora, a village in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the area in 2011 to discuss villagers’ concerns about the effects of climate change on their low-lying land. Photo: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe Pacific Islanders hoping to flee the consequences of climate change and migrate to Aotearoa currently need to pay $1385 for the visa application, pass a health test, be under 45, and have a job offer. And they must also be lucky enough to have their name drawn from a ballot. World Vision advocacy and research advisor Dr Olivia Yates says Aotearoa's current immigration settings are not suitable for people migrating for climate-related reasons; termed "climate mobility." "Our immigration is set up to cater more for employment pathways tha...

Firefighters carry an injured migrant on a stretcher after the sinking of a migrant boat attempting to cross the English Channel. Photo: Denis Charlet / AFP By Amina Ismail, Reuters At least 12 migrants died after their boat capsized on its way across the Channel to Britain, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said, adding that rescue operations were underway to find two people still missing. In a sign of the severity of the situation, Darmanin said he would travel to the site, near the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, later in the afternoon. Tackling illegal immigration has been a priority for both the British and French governments. More than 2000 people have arrived in Britain on small boats over the past seven days, according to UK government figures. Last week, French President Emman...

By Jonathan Landay, Reuters Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: ALEXANDER KAZAKOV / AFP Two US researchers say they have identified the probable deployment site in Russia of the 9M370 Burevestnik, a new nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed cruise missile touted by President Vladimir Putin as "invincible". Putin has said the weapon - dubbed the SSC-X-9 Skyfall by NATO - has an almost unlimited range and can evade US missile defences. But some Western experts dispute his claims and the Burevestnik's strategic value, saying it will not add capabilities that Moscow does not already have and risks a radiation-spewing mishap. Using images taken on 26 July by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite firm, the two researchers identified a construction project abutting a nuclear warhead storage fac...

In the Marshall Islands, between 1946 and 1958 the United States detonated 67 nuclear tests and the brutal impacts are being felt today. The radiation spread to the US Pacific territory of Guam and while Washington settled a compensation deal with the Marshallese, Guam survivors have never been acknowledged or compensated. Now the remaining cancer survivors are still pleading that that wrong be made right. Sharing their stories for the first time, they want the world to know how it has devastated their lives and their families. Linda Perez has won the battle against cancer twice. But her family and extended family, did not make it. "My sister passed from ovarian cancer. I was diagnosed with uterine cancer. The last two years I was diagnosed with colon cancer," Linda told RNZ Pacific. "My...

By Sebin Choi and Hyun Young Yi, Reuters Kimchi. Photo: Flickr user Marcus Buchwald / CC BY-SA 2.0 South Korea's famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25C. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. "We hope these predictions don't come to pass," plant pathologist and virolog...