International media seem to agree the Treaty Principles Bill and national hikoi put New Zealand at a pivotal moment in history. Read...

Non-profit The Pew Charitable Trusts wants to see action on electronic monitoring at Pacific Tuna Commission meeting in Fiji The Pew Charitable Trusts international fisheries project has two key goals... Read...

The wait is over! The highly anticipated Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 officially launches on PC and Xbox Series X/S today, marking the dawn of a new era for the flight sim with many new features and improvements. Itching to jump in and get started? Before you do, here are some crucial details worth knowing about the release of MSFS24. Release time and download size The official release time of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is November 19, 2024 at 11am EST. However, you can start the preload in advance to avoid long waiting times after it releases. You can start the pre-installation if you have either pre-ordered the game or have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, as this includes Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 from day one. To do this, search for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 in the Xbox app on PC or console and select the pre-installation. (The pre-installation doesn’t download the complete game. Depending on your internet connection, it may still take a lot of time to download the remaining files.) Officially, the installation size of MSFS24 is only 50GB, which is relatively small for such a large game. However, it’s quite possible that we’ll see a large day-one patch that makes final tweaks to the game. Secure your pre-order bonuses now Depending on which version of the game you pre-order, you’ll receive unique bonuses and additional content that come with it. Here’s an overview of them all: Standard Edition: De Havilland Canada CL-415 Firefighting Aircraft Deluxe Edition: All bonuses in Standard Edition plus 25 additional aircrafts and 10 additional international airports Aviator Edition: All bonuses in Deluxe Edition plus 30 additional marketplace aircrafts Incidentally, it’s also possible to play Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 via the cloud if your PC doesn’t meet the minimum requirements. You’ll need a current Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription for this. Further reading: The best cloud gaming service for you Read...

Maro Itoje says playing for England is the priority for him and his international team-mates amid reports of a rebel league that would prevent him playing Test rugby if he joined. Read...

`If you want something in life you have to go after it` World Maritime University graduate wants more women in maritime. Read...

England captain Harry Kane says the 2026 Fifa World Cup may not be his last international tournament. Read...

If you’ve built or bought a desktop PC lately, you might’ve noticed that they tend towards two looks. They’re either RGB disco balls that fell out of an alien space ship (an alien ware, if you will), or they’re tiny mid-century refrigerators complete with wood accents. But SilverStone is nostalgic for a time when computers were, well, ugly. If you are, too, you might consider buying its new retro case next year. The SilverStone FLP01 was shown off at a live expo in Japan and thoroughly fondled by ASCII.jp (spotted by Tom’s Hardware). Apparently it started as an April Fools’ joke last year, but the response was so positive that it’s become a real product. Despite its looks and horizontal layout, the case is fully compliant with all the modern ATX standards, meaning you can throw in a regular motherboard and all the trimmings and expect it to work. The only thing that might be tricky is getting a big cooler to fit under the disc drive. Yup, this thing has a disc drive, something that’s become rare even in a roomy desktop chassis. In fact, it’s hiding it behind an even more archaic feature: the two plastic dummy floppy drives on the front, with the top one flipping down to reveal a 5.25-inch standard media drive fit for a DVD burner and the bottom one hiding USB-C, double USB-A, and headphone ports. On the other side, you get a good old-fashioned green LED power light and disk drive activity indicator. The interior can accommodate a full-sized ATX power supply and graphics cards up to 310mm long, with a pair of 80mm fans handling air circulation. And the horizontal layout is strong enough to hold up a monitor… though there’s no word on whether that’s a modern, 5-pound LCD or a chunky CRT that’ll throw your back out. The design is based on the NEC PC-9800, a series with some serious nostalgia power in Japan. SilverStone told expo-goers that it’s bringing the FLP01 to the Japanese market in early 2025 for 19,800 yen (a little under $130 USD). Whether it’ll get an international release is anyone’s guess. While the company has a good selection of cases and power supplies, its availability can be a bit hit-and-miss. If you have your heart set on this retro case, maybe plan a trip to Akihabara for next year. Read...

Dual-screen laptops are something, huh? They seemed to make a splash a couple of years ago with designs from Lenovo and Asus, but then they just kind of… stopped. But according to a credible retailer leak, Asus is prepping an absolute monster of one for an upcoming release. This new design packs double 14-inch OLED screens and an Intel processor so new that it doesn’t officially exist yet… oh yes, and a huge price tag. According to a store listing for United Arab Emirates-based Gear-up.me, which is still live at the time of this writing, the Asus UX8406CA looks like an updated version of the existing Zenbook Duo design. The configuration looks identical, too, possibly even using the same chassis, with 14-inch OLED touchscreens in the usual position and where the keyboard usually rests. You can position the laptop in a conventional mode with a touchscreen keyboard, or prop it up with the integrated kickstand so the screens stack vertically or horizontally. A wireless keyboard/trackpad and stylus are sold separately. The more interesting reveal is that this updated model packs an Intel Core Ultra 9 U9-285H. That’s an Ultra Series 2 Arrow Lake-H processor that hasn’t been officially announced yet, though Intel has set a Q1 2025 date for its 200H family debut. VideoCardz.com thinks that the retailer might have copied the specs wrong and that the chip will actually be labeled a U-285HX. The listing page says it’s using 24 cores (no determination between P and E cores). Gear-up.me Other specs on the retail page include 32GB of RAM, a magnesium alloy body, and 3.6 pounds of weight (about the same as the latest Zenbook Duo). It has an SSD and Intel Arc graphics, presumably integrated, but further details will have to wait. One of the most eye-catching specs, though, is the price: a whopping 1421.90 Bahraini Dinars, or about $3,781 in American dollars. That’s more than double the starting price of the existing model. But if you have your heart set on a dual-screen laptop with the latest Intel iron, don’t panic. Not only is this entire listing unconfirmed at the moment, we often see eye-popping prices come from international storefronts. International supply chains and pricing are complicated, and tech products tend to be considerably cheaper in the US than in most other countries. (Though that might change in the near future.) Assuming that this is an updated version of the Zenbook Duo’s 2024 design, I would be shocked if Asus asked for more than $2,000 for a 32GB, 1TB configuration, even factoring in the latest Intel processor and inflation. We’ll have to wait and see — a CES announcement in early January would be my first guess here. Read...

Fiji`s Sitiveni Rabuka and Vanuatu`s Charlot Salwai have launched their first international blueprints that they hope will elevate the Pacific voice. Read...

Wales sink to an all-time results low in their 143-year international rugby history with a heavy loss to Australia in Cardiff with Warren Gatland under pressure. Read...