Cuban cigar festival called off as US blockade worsens energy crisis
| | LONDON, UK, 14 February 2026 (BBC) - An annual cigar festival in Cuban capital Havana has become the latest casualty of a fuel shortage caused by a US oil blockade. The organising committee of the Festival del Habano announced on Saturday that this year's event - which was due to take place over five days in late February - would be postponed until further notice. |
Japan explores German silent cargo gliders to resupply remote islands
| | HONG KONG, 14 February 2026 (SCMP) - A German defence company has successfully tested an uncrewed cargo glider designed to support frontline military units, a technology that Tokyo is also exploring as it looks to bolster its capabilities in islands to the far southwest of the Japanese archipelago. |
The secretive islands behind the US-UK row
| | LONDON, UK, 13 February 2026 (BBC) - Chagos is among the most intact reef systems on the planet and has long held a near-mythical reputation among sailors. For decades, self-sufficient voyagers lingered for months, fishing the reef, harvesting coconuts and living slowly. That era ended in the late 1990s, when authorities tightened access. Today, these disputed tropical islands are closed to tourism and the only way for sailors, researchers and authorised visitors to explore the islands is to secure advanced permits, receive a medical evaluation, obtain wreck-removal insurance and then sail to reach this far-flung place. |
Pacific Islands must act now on Fiji's HIV lessons
| | SYDNEY, Australia,13 February 2026 (Interpreter) - Fiji recorded 1,583 new HIV cases in 2024, an incidence of about 158 per 100,000 people. For comparison, Australia, a nation with around 27 times the population of Fiji, had just 757 new cases in 2024 (2.9 per 100,000 people). Even more concerning is the trajectory. Fiji’s new HIV cases have exploded, increasing by 1,219% between 2019–24, showing no signs of slowing down, and contrasting global trends of a steady decline since the mid-1990s. This staggering data awards Fiji the unenviable title of having the fastest-growing HIV epidemic in the world, and yet the figures likely underestimate the extent of Fiji’s HIV crisis due to poor testing rates. |
The US is starving Cuba of fuel
| | COLCHESTER, UK, 12 February 2026 (Conversation) - Cuba has reached a breaking point that even its crisis-hardened leadership cannot ignore. It is running out of fuel amid US pressure, having last received oil on January 9 from Mexico. This has prompted airlines such as Air Canada to cancel all flights to Cuba, hitting the tourism lifeline that accounts for most of the island’s foreign currency. |
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SIDS |
 | | 4th International Conference on Small Island Developing States 27-30 May 2024, Antigua and Barbuda |
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NAF |
| | North Atlantic Forum bi-annual international conference 17-21 June, 2024, Connemara, Ireland, |
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IWRA |
| | 1st Islands Water Congress 4-6 Sept, 2024, Torshavn, Faroe Islands |
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ANATOMY OF ISLANDS |
| | 12th Anatomy of Islands symposium 26-28 Sept, 2024, Jelsa, Hvar Island, Croatia |
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CIS |
| | Critical Island Studies 4th international conference 3-4 Oct, 2024, Manila, Philippines |
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CBD |
| | COP16 21 Oct-1 Nov, 2024, Cali, Colombia |
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UNFCCC |
| | COP29 11-22 November, 2024, Baku, Azerbaijan |
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ISLAND DYNAMICS |
| | DARKNESS II conference, 20-23 January 2025, Nuuk, Greenland |
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JICAS |
| | Islands And Island Studies conference 3-7 June, 2025, Jersey, Channel Islands |
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UNITED NATIONS |
| | UN Ocean Conference 9-13 June, 2025, Nice, France |
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UPEI |
| | 3rd international conference on SIS and SNIJs 16-20 June, 2025, Charlottetown, PEI |
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ISISA |
| | 20th Islands of the World Conference 7-11 July 2026, Shinan County, Jeollanam-do, South Korea |
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