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PAPEETE, French Polynesia (AP) — President Emmanuel Macron is visiting French Polynesia to showcase France’s commitment to the region amid concerns about the impact of climate change on the Pacific island territory, the legacy of French nuclear testing on its atolls — and most of all, growing Chinese dominance in the region.... ...The 4.8 million-square-kilometer (1.85 million-square-mile) Exclusive Economic Zone of French Polynesia has significant fishing and mineral resources, and authorities are seeking U.N. permission to extend the territory’s continental shelf. France is trying to “strike back at obvious Chinese lust” for Pacific resources, said Regnault, who wrote a recent...

If you're new to our channel, we WELCOME you to our crazy sailing adventure where we laugh at ourselves regularly, others occasionally, and try to contribute a bit of humor to an otherwise stiff and overtly PC world. Our videos are basically rated TV-PG and are filmed, edited, and produced exclusively by the six of us on our boat, a Privilege 585 Catamaran. So grab the family and gather ‘round the TV, and spend a half hour laughing and adventuring with the Z-Crew! We complete our time in Fakarava by diving with sharks and then head off on a 40-hour...

A FAMILY OF SIX abandoned the ordinary in search of a SIMPLER LIFE - and look at where they are NOW! After crossing the Panama Canal (dates should say 2019, not 2018...so sorry for the error) they enter into the massive Pacific Ocean and settle in for a month at sea. In the meantime, they must team up with a buddy boat to determine the intentions of a mysterious fishing boat. Watch as they evade pirates, swim in the sea, and embark on the ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME! ***ALL OUR VIDEOS are TV-PG and filmed, edited, and produced exclusively by...

Obama flees the USA to evade “Project Dragnet” lawsuit! Larry Klayman tries to serve Obama with court papers at Obama’s DC mansion – but Obama is hiding in French Polynesia! Busted as America’s STASI Chief running “Project Dragnet” espionage against Trump and millions of citizens, Obama cannot remain in the USA for fear of getting dragged into court. So instead of facing justice for treason, Obama grabs his Fake ID and flees halfway around the world to the remote island of Tahiti.  Like a Nazi hiding in Argentina, Obama won’t return until it’s safe....  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWCEFMDEWvI&feature=youtu.be  

What is Barack Obama Doing Now? Former President in French Polynesia for Month-Long Vacation BY EMMANUELLE ESPIRITU , CHRISTIAN POST CONTRIBUTOR Mar 23, 2017 | 6:43 AM After eight years in office in one of the world's most difficult and demanding jobs, former U.S. President Barack Obama is now taking life in a more relaxed stride. As a private citizen, Obama is now able to just go out there and soak up the sun, and where can he better do that than in the celebrated French Polynesian luxury resort, The Brando. The former POTUS has reportedly flown to Tahiti by...

The plane of Barack Obama just arrives to land, this Wednesday afternoon, at the airport of Tahiti-Faa'a, in the northern zone. An enormous security device had been put in place for the arrival of the 44th president of the United States now retired. Everything had been planned so that the latter were invisible to the image hunters. Barack Obama has just taken the plane of Air Tetiaroa in the wake to join the luxury hotel The Brando. The most famous retiree in the world is also expected to make a small trip to Bora Bora ... He should stay almost...

Papeete (AFP) - Barack Obama arrived in French Polynesia where he will spend a month at a luxury resort frequented by Hollywood stars, according to local TV channel Tahiti Nui TV. The former US president landed on the tourist island Tahiti without his family before going to Marlon Brando's privately owned retreat Tetiaroa atoll, which the Oscar-winning actor bought in the 1960s. Obama has checked into the eco-friendly Brando resort, whose villas boast their own plunge pools and cost between 2,000 euros ($2,150) and 12,300 euros per night.

Obama jets off to paradise: Ex-President travels to Marlon Brando's private Polynesian island to unwind (so is this where he and Michelle will write their $60million memoirs?) Obama jets off to paradise: Ex-President travels to Marlon Brando's private Polynesian island to unwind (so is this where he and Michelle will write their $60million memoirs?) Former President Obama landed on the tourist island of Tahiti Wednesday He'll stay at Marlon Brando's privately owned retreat on Tetiaroa for a month He checked into the Brando resort, whose villas boast their own plunge pools and cost between 2,000 euros ($2,150) and 12,300 euros...

A sensuous Paul Gauguin painting of two Tahitian girls has been sold from a Swiss private collection for close to $300 million, one of the highest prices believed to have been paid for an artwork, according to European and American art world insiders with knowledge of the matter. The sale of the 1892 oil painting, “Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?),” was confirmed by the seller, Rudolf Staechelin, 62, a retired Sotheby’s executive living in Basel, Switzerland, who through a family trust owns more than 20 works in a valuable collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, including the Gauguin,...

Coral off Tahiti has linked the collapse of massive ice sheets 14,600 years ago to a dramatic and rapid rise in global sea-levels of around 14 metres. Previous research could not accurately date the sea-level rise but now an Aix-Marseille University-led team, including Oxford University scientists Alex Thomas and Gideon Henderson, has confirmed that the event occurred 14,650-14,310 years ago at the same time as a period of rapid climate change known as the Bølling warming. The finding will help scientists currently modelling future climate change scenarios to factor in the dynamic behaviour of major ice sheets. A report of...

On an outer Tahitian reef break known as Teahupo’o, Laird Hamilton road a wave so massive, so powerful, it redefined what big wave riders thought was possible. There may be more ways of pronouncing Teahupo’o than there are letters in the English alphabet. Two of the most common are Chee-yow-po and Cho-poo. No matter how it is pronounced, when there’s large surf, Teahupo’o’s reef break is one of the most dangerous that can be surfed. Unlike most of the world’s big wave spots that break as cresting waves in deep water, Teahupo’o is just a huge mass moving forward as...

Previous research could not accurately date the sea-level rise but now an Aix-Marseille University-led team, including Oxford University scientists Alex Thomas and Gideon Henderson, has confirmed that the event occurred 14,650-14,310 years ago at the same time as a period of rapid climate change known as the Bølling warming... During the Bølling warming high latitudes of the Northern hemisphere warmed as much as 15 degrees Celsius in a few tens of decades. The team has used dating evidence from Tahitian corals to constrain the sea level rise to within a period of 350 years, although the actual rise may well...

Kelly Slater this week won a major surf competition in large waves at a notoriously treacherous venue in Tahiti. But the buzz around the Billabong Pro still is mostly about what transpired during an off day in the middle of the event, when more than a dozen tow surfers took over in gargantuan surf and participated in what some observers described as the most incredible and intense big-wave session ever recorded.

Known by the scientific name Vanilla tahitensis, Tahitian vanilla is found to exist only in cultivation; natural, wild populations of the orchid have never been encountered... "All the evidence points in the same direction," Lubinsky said. "Our DNA analysis corroborates what the historical sources say, namely, that vanilla was a trade item brought to Tahiti by French sailors in the mid-19th century. The French Admiral responsible for introducing vanilla to Tahiti, Alphonse Hamelin, used vanilla cuttings from the Philippines. The historical record tells us that vanilla – which isn't native to the Philippines – was previously introduced to the region...

Just received the following message from FReeper Tahiti's wife: Hello, I do not know if I am contacting the appropriate person. However, I wanted to let the people at Freerepublic.com know that my husband, Jack Glennon, was killed in an accident on July 3, 2005. Jack spent many hours of his time daily/weekly at your website and I know he posted often. I just wanted to let you know of his tragic passing. He was a dynamic, wonderful man and a loving and devoted father. Freerepublic was such a big part of his life that I felt I needed to...

French anti-corruption leader views Tahiti as classic case of corruption (Tahitipresse) - As some 110,000 Windward Islands potential voters prepare for Sunday’s by-election, a visiting French anti-corruption leader described Tahiti as a “good example” of political corruption. Tahiti is a good example because even though it is smaller than France, when examined under a magnifying glass, “one encounters all that one finds elsewhere—cronyism, rigged markets, fictitious employment, financial channels and even pressures that one can exert on civil servants or judges,” Eric Halphen said Friday. Halphen, a former powerful and controversial examining judge in France who has turned to politics,...

PAPEETE, Feb 13 (AFP) - The pro-independence party of Oscar Temaru swept to victory in initial by-elections in the French Polynesian islands of Tahiti and Moorea that residents hope will end a 10-month political crisis, officials said Sunday. The vote was called after France's state council - the highest administrative court - last year annulled the results of May 2004 elections in the two islands, citing irregularities in some polling stations. The islands send 37 members to the 57-seat territorial assembly. New elections will be held throughout the sprawling Pacific territory. Temaru's Union for Democracy (UPLD) took 46.94 percent of...

PAPEETE, Tahiti (AP) -- Voters in Tahiti and nearby Moorea cast ballots in a partial election that islanders hope will resolve a months-long political crisis that has broken the calm of French Polynesia and divided politicians all the way to Paris. Political tumult has torn the French territory in the South Pacific since May when conservatives -- in power since 1982 -- suffered an unexpected defeat in legislative elections. The narrow loss gave an extra seat in the Assembly of French Polynesia to the pro-independence party, triggering a bitter political crisis that the 112,000 eligible voters were being asked to...

PAPEETE - After years of battling to gain power in French Polynesia, newly elected Oscar Temaru could not sleep the first night he set foot in the presidential residence. It wasn't because he was overexcited. Temaru was horrified at the grandiose interior of golden curtains and inlaid furniture, crystal chandeliers and yellow walls. "It looked like the city hall in Paris." Temaru had never seen inside the three-year-old $85 million complex before he narrowly won the May election and formed a coalition with a majority of one seat. Now Temaru and his supporters are illegally occupying the presidential buildings and...

The positions over the situation in French Polynesia are becoming increasingly entrenched. Although a strong argument can be made that this is a political crisis rather than a constitutional or legal crisis, if two men claim to be the president of French Polynesia and if the main opposition party refuses to concede that it has lost power then a major constitutional crisis is in the making. Oscar Temaru, the leader of the Union for Democracy (UPLD), appears to have lost most of the legal battles he has waged. He wanted new elections to be held immediately after he lost two...