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The article examines a range of directions and current stage of obsidian studies within the Pacifi c basin such as (1) geochemistry, identifi cation of volcanic glass sources used in ancient cultures; (2) technology, obsidian exploration methods, their evolution, as well as experiments, and (3) cultural context, the use of obsidian in ritual practice, in the format of prestigious technologies, and in decorative art. While the geochemical studies have reached signifi cant progress within the Pacifi c basin two other directions obviously require further development. Experimental works, conducted in 2020–2021 in Primorye, allow making useful observations both about the peculiarities of the local raw material base and about the behavioral side of the knapping process (such as the process of teaching and learning of knappers’ competencies). In tu rn, the study of cultural meaning of obsidian includes not only the interpretation of the archaeological artifacts of high quality from the burials and caches (ritual, prestige, nonutilitarian), but also addressing to the ownership of the raw material sources, trade/ exchange mechanism, and the status of the highly - skillful knappers in ancient and traditional societies.

Many legal and business mechanisms were introduced by the government in Wellington in order to enable trade practices of the Chinese partners. Asian immigrants to New Zealand do fill the real gap in the small labour market of Aotearoa by providing highly qualified and hard-working workers. As a consequence, almost every area of New Zealand’s social and economic life is subject to changes. This phenomenon of such new and unexpected demographic situation has been portrayed by coining a new name for the country a few years ago – Niu Chiland. In fact, the only ethnic group in New Zealand that increases every year is the Chinese. Although, according to official data, there are only 5% of Chinese in the society of almost 5 million people, the real data is much larger. In Auckland, the country’s largest city and its business capital, having population of over 1.5 million, every fourth resident is of Chinese origin. The Free Trade Agreement turned out to be a breakthrough, as Wellington was the first capital among developed Western countries that decided to legally bind itself with the People’s Republic of China in 2008. In 2021, China and New Zealand signed the Protocol to amend the New Zealand-China agreement and to add some previously not taken into consideration spheres, such as e-commerce and environment. While New Zealand economy clearly shows benefits of trade with China, and anyhow sees any potential negative effects, like political dependence from this communist state not respecting human rights, between the politicians in Canberra and Beijing there continue to escalate tensions. Australia, contrary to New Zealand, is trying to contain Chinese imperialist’s appetite and stop Beijing before launching own sphere of interest in the Pacific region.

For more than 10 years, there have been no significant improvements in treatment outcomes for patients with inoperable locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer. At the moment, the standard of treatment for this category of patients is concurrent chemoradiation therapy. At the same time, the 5-year overall survival rate varies in the range of 15–25%. This indicator contributes to the modernization of existing approaches, as well as the search for new ways in the treatment of patients with inoperable stage III non-small cell lung cancer.One of the promising areas is the combination of chemoradiation therapy with immunotherapy. Thus, the use of Imfinzi (durvalumab, AstraZeneca) as a consolidation therapy in the Phase III clinical trial PACIFIC demonstrated a reduction in the risk of death by about one third in comparison with the standard approach.We present a clinical case study of a patient with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer who received treatment in the framework of concurrent chemoradiation therapy followed by immunotherapy with durvalumab, continuing until now. The result of the therapy is the complete response to the specific treatment, recorded according to PET-CT.Thus, the use of immunotherapy as consolidation therapy represents a promising strategy for improving outcomes after concurrent chemoradiation therapy in patients with inoperable stage III non-small cell lung cancer

France is present in the Pacific region via its overseas collectivities being French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Wallis & Futuna. This geostrategic region is also called the Blue Pacific bearing in mind its enormous maritime areas in comparison to the land. 93% of French Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) are located in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The area itself is home to 1.5 million French people, as well as 8,000 soldiers stationed in the region. It has also become a strategical and global economy’s centre of gravity, which had shifted from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The maritime trade routes linking Europe and the Persian Gulf, via the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia, to the Pacific Ocean, have become very important. The Pacific’s growing share of world trade and investment means that it is at the forefront of globalization. Therefore further research on this geopolitical region seems to be crucial and requires deeper analysis, also when it comes to the discipline of public international law and international relation. Ocean change is now the biggest threat facing the Pacific islands because of the loss of territory, and thus sovereignty of the submerged states. Another factor is the downsizing of EEZs and possible and already existing political tensions between France and its collectivities and the rest of the countries in the region.

Global climate change scenarios are seen as future concerns, but this is not the case for the Pacific island countries and territories. The natural sciences have already built substantial knowledge about the oceanographic, geological and atmospheric processed associated with global warming and ocean change. Nonetheless, deep views from the social sciences, as well as legal perspective, need to be collected, analysed and executed, in order to know what happens when the climate change effects threaten the viability of sovereign states. Small island developing states contributed the least to global warming, yet they are suffering the most from its effects, while legal consequences of losing the most or all of their territory will lead those nations to the threat of losing sovereign status in the international arena. The Pacific Ocean, being the largest water basin on Earth, remains an isolated region in terms of geopolitics and research. This article is therefore a modest attempt to collect models and scenarios of the future of the Pacific states concerning their full existence as the equal legal entities, but also to present some international law proposals in this matter. Secondly, its goal is to sensitize European readers to certain issues of the geographically remote South Pacific, which might eventually affect all of us.