Cook Islands

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Whales Just Gained Personhood Here
Whales Just Gained
Personhood Here

Whales Just Gained Personhood Here

Polynesian Indigenous groups sign treaty they hope will lead to greater protections

(Newser) - Whales are people, too, according to the Indigenous leaders of New Zealand, Tahiti, and the Cook Islands, who've acted to bestow personhood on whales. New Zealand's Maori and other Indigenous groups from Polynesia signed a treaty that recognizes all whales as legal persons as part of an effort...

Details Given on SD Lawmaker's Death in South Pacific

Rep. Craig Tieszen reportedly became caught in a current

(Newser) - More details have been released surrounding a South Dakota state representative's death in a kayaking accident off the South Pacific island of Rarotonga. Rep. Craig Tieszen, 68, and his brother-in-law, 61-year-old Brent Moline, borrowed hotel kayaks last Wednesday and paddled out around 9am into what is described as having...

Pacific Island Trip Turns Deadly for South Dakota Lawmaker

State Rep. Craig Tieszen, brother-in-law drowned in kayaking accident

(Newser) - A South Dakota state representative and his brother-in-law drowned in an apparent kayaking accident in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific, where they were attending a wedding for the lawmaker's daughter, officials said Thursday. State Rep. Craig Tieszen, 68, a Republican from Rapid City, and his brother-in-law, Brent...

Bank Heist Stuns Pious Island
 Bank Heist Stuns Pious Island 

Bank Heist Stuns Pious Island

Vault may have been secured by a single padlock

(Newser) - The tiny Pacific island getaway of Aitutaki is looking for answers after someone broke into its tiny bank last week and made off with $200,000. The theft has blindsided the nation’s notoriously devout population of about 1,800, which had seen such a thing as unthinkable—the New ...

Post-Quake Tsunami Kills 34 in Samoa
 Post-Quake Tsunami 
 Kills 34 in Samoa 
UPDATED

Post-Quake Tsunami Kills 34 in Samoa

8.3-magnitude temblor rattles American Samoa

(Newser) - An 8.3-magnitude earthquake struck the area around American Samoa today, generating a tsunami that killed as many as 34 in the US territory and adjacent Samoa, an independent state. The waves at Pago Pago were 5.1 feet above normal—smaller than originally feared— but tsunami warnings went up...

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