MANILA (Reuters) — Travelers entering the Philippines will be required to undergo 14 days of quarantine, up from a week previously, as authorities try to contain more infectious coronavirus variants, the presidential spokesman said on Friday.

(Reuters) — India's Covid-19 deaths rose by more than 4,000 for a second consecutive day on Sunday as calls for a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the virus mounted.

MAJURO — A powerful Pacific island fisheries bloc opened a multi-million dollar, four-story headquarters in Majuro Thursday.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that laid the groundwork for territorial-federal relations continues to be criticized as a racist relic of America’s history.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Guam’s 139th Covid-19-related fatality occurred at the Guam Memorial Hospital at 7:08 p.m. on Tuesday, the Joint Information Center confirmed Thursday evening.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Thirty-four pounds of methamphetamine and 7 pounds of marijuana were found during federal search warrants executed on multiple packages mailed to Guam over the past five months.

MANILA (Reuters) — The Philippines has rejected an annual summer fishing ban imposed by China in the disputed South China Sea and encouraged its boats to keep fishing in the country's territorial waters.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Guam’s 138th Covid-19-related fatality occurred at the Guam Regional Medical City at approximately 11:17 a.m., May 5.

KOROR (ABC/Pacnews) — Despite apologies from some Pacific leaders, Palau's President Surangel Whipps Jr. wants to see the Pacific Island’s secretary general replaced with the Micronesian candidate.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised the warning level for Guam to Level 3.

MANILA (Reuters) — The Philippine foreign affairs secretary on Monday demanded in an expletive-laced Twitter message that China's vessels get out of disputed waters, the latest exchange in a war of words with Beijing over the South China Sea.

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) — India postponed exams for trainee doctors and nurses on Monday, freeing them up to fight the world's biggest surge in coronavirus infections, as the health system crumbles under the weight of new cases and hospitals run out of beds and oxygen.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A man indicted on the charge that he falsified records as part of his claim submission for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance will remain out of prison on a personal recognizance bond.

The new Yap Island Market has seen an upsurge in participation with the latest market event held April 30, 2021. As Yap remains Covid-free, and the borders still closed, the Yap Visitors Bureau continues to find ways to enjoy a “normal life.” Previously this kind of market activity occurred …

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Cannabis industry rules and regulations are under review by the attorney general's and the governor's offices.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Local volunteers continue their efforts to keep the island beautiful — one group picking up dozens of bags of trash at Marbo Cave one week after the Guam Earth Month Islandwide Beautification cleanup event where 17.36 tons of trash was picked up.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) — India's new coronavirus cases dipped marginally on Sunday but deaths from Covid-19 jumped by a record 3,689, with one more state going into lockdown as the nation's creaky healthcare system is unable to cope with the massive caseload.

POHNPEI (ABC/Pacnews) —  The president of the Federated States of Micronesia says his country will proceed with a withdrawal from the Pacific Islands Forum but “sincere” apologies from regional leaders have improved strained relations.

BENGALURU (Reuters) — India's total Covid-19 cases passed 18 million on Thursday after another world record daily infection and as the government rejected reports of problems with its vaccine campaign.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Two doctors working at Guam Memorial Hospital tested positive for Covid-19 shortly after arriving from India.

MANILA (Reuters) — China has no business telling the Philippines what it can or cannot do within its waters, Manila's defense department said on Wednesday, rejecting Beijing's opposition to its ongoing coastguard exercises.

LONDON (Reuters) — Covid-19 vaccines deployed in England can cut transmission of the coronavirus by up to a half, data from Public Health England showed on Wednesday, in addition to the protection the shots offer against symptomatic infection.

SUVA (ABC/Pacnews) — A group of Filipino sailors who claim they were left stranded by their employer in Fiji for several months are ecstatic they'll soon be heading home.

PALIKIR, Pohnpei (FSM Information Services) — Citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia who travel to foreign jurisdictions, for any purpose, are advised that they may be subject to mandatory quarantine. Covid-19 testing is required 72 hours prior to travel to the U.S. Some U.S. states …

MAJURO — Marshall Islands hospitality and warmth was on full display Monday during a special recognition ceremony for the United States Army commander of the Kwajalein missile range.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Two men were arrested on suspicion of criminal trespass at Ipan Beach Park this past week, including someone who authorities initially suspected to be homeless.

BENGALURU (Reuters) — India's new coronavirus cases stayed above 300,000 for a sixth consecutive day on Tuesday, while its armed forces pledged urgent medical aid to help battle the staggering spike in infections.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Guam's full vaccination rate has passed the 60,000 mark and is within reach of the governor's Path to Half goal of fully vaccinating at least 50%, or about 62,500 adults, by May 1 to reopen tourism and ease post-travel quarantine.

MANILA (Reuters) —    The Philippines announced on Monday that its Covid-19 cases had exceeded one million, as the country sought to boost healthcare capacity to ease strains on hospitals and medical staff stretched by a second wave of infections.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — “Are we ready to move? Are we ready to get Guam clean? Alright! Let’s go!”

MANILA (Reuters) — The daughter of Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte has topped the latest opinion poll on preferred presidential candidates for an election next year, a contest she insists she has no interest in joining.

GEORGIA/KOROR (Island Times/Pacnews) — Albert Delbelbot, a Palauan man and his wife Ashley Debelbot, have been freed after 12 years of wrongful conviction in the dead of their infant baby, in 2008 in Georgia.

APIA (Samoa Observer/Pacnews) — While Samoa started to roll out its Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine this week, for neighboring island American Samoa, more than half of  the population who are eligible have completed their two-shot regimen. 

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The Department of Public Health and Social Services confirmed Wednesday that most of the recent travel-related Covid-19-positive cases in the government quarantine facility were from the Philippines.

MANILA (Reuters) — The Philippines is beefing up its presence in the South China Sea and deploying more ships and an aircraft to protect its maritime territory and resources, a government task force said on Wednesday.

Yap Visitors Bureau is using its pandemic downtime to improve its historic and cultural sites. With travel to Yap pretty much at a standstill, YVB is utilizing an FSM Congress grant to enhance the cultural and historical sites on island as part of their effort to promote community-based tour…

COLONIA, Yap —  Motions have been filed by the State of Yap, as plaintiff, to delay the trials of the two defendants in the murder of Yap's former acting attorney general, Rachelle Bergeron-Hammerling, until August 2021 after several prior hearing and trial dates were rescheduled or cancelled.

KOROR (Island Times/Pacnews) — Palau is assessing the damage after Typhoon Surigae left a trail of devastation that is estimated to cost $2 million, an amount expected to increase as a comprehensive post-typhoon appraisal continues.

YAREN (Nauru Government/Pacnews) — The heads of the three branches of government say getting vaccinated is important to further protect family and Nauru.

MANILA (Reuters) — Nick Yañez, a 28-year-old ambulance nurse in a satellite city of Manila, says she sometimes spends six to seven hours in her emergency vehicle caring for a Covid-19 patient before a bed can be found in a hospital.

NUKU'ALOFA (RNZ Pacific) — Tonga's Princess Pilolevu Tuita was the first person to receive her first dose of the Covid-19 AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, followed by frontline workers on Tongatapu.

PAGO PAGO (Samoa Observer/Pacnews) — American Samoa has recorded its first case of Covid-19 at the border, in a recently returned citizen currently in quarantine.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Guam moviegoers will again have options for where to watch movies on the big screen by the middle of May.

TOKYO (Reuters) — A recent surge in Covid-19 cases could see major parts of Japan slide back into states of emergency with authorities in Tokyo and Osaka looking at renewed curbs to stop the spread.

SYDNEY (Reuters) — Hundreds of passengers from Australia began arriving in New Zealand airports on Monday after authorities reopened borders, a pandemic milestone that allows quarantine-free travel between the countries for the first time in over a year.

HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The man accused of murdering Joshua Meno claims it was an act of self-defense.

MAJURO — Just days before the U.S. Centers for Disease Control announced a “pause” on the use of the Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine, the Marshall Islands had already extended its aggressive vaccine program to the first remote island using the new one-shot vaccine.

SUVA (FBC News/Pacnews) — Every Fijian who has received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine has their second dose stored away by the Health Ministry.