Pacific Beat

A key report recommending changes to Fiji's constitution will be handed to Cabinet this week. Not yet public, the report has already raised questions over a Fijian Christian state and the role of chiefs in politics.

Pacific leaders have backed a communique criticising China's recent intercontinental ballistic missile test at their most significant regional meeting.

A major police investigation is underway in Papua New Guinea's capital after a group of armed men held up private security vehicles carrying gold bullion and cash.

The Pacific region has been slightly sidelined in first few days of the Pacific Islands Forum have as tensions bubble between external partners, but priorities are turning back to the region focusing on drug smuggling, international crime and climate change.

Speaking from the PIF Leaders summit in Palau, New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters says he's sceptical about President Taneti Maamau of Kiribati's no show.

Just hours after landing in Palau for this week's Pacific Islands Forum Leaders meeting, Solomon Islands' Prime Minister Matthew Wale was called back due to a no-confidence motion filed against him.

Papua New Guinea’s government has tabled the results of Bougainville’s 2019 independence referendum. It's the beginning of a parliamentary process that will lead to a historic vote on whether or not independence will be officially granted.

A key milestone in Bougainville's path towards independence will be reached today when Papua New Guinea's parliament decides on whether to ratify an independence referendum.

The International Federation of Journalists are calling for defamation charges against a veteran Samoan journalist to be dropped immediately.

The Tongan government is investigating what happened after a boat carrying more than a dozen whale watchers capsized in rough seas.

The Australian judge who oversaw a controversial commission of inquiry in Fiji says he has no regrets about how he conducted himself despite being heavily criticised by the country's High Court.

Airlines flying out of Fiji have been told to bring in their own fuel for the rest of the month, after a batch of aviation fuel stored at Nadi International Airport failed to meet the standard required for use.

Social Media is contributing rise in the number of sorcery accusation related attacks in PNG according to a recent survey.

The US government is moving forward with plans to sell deep-sea mining leases covering about 67 million acres of seabed around the Northern Mariana Islands.

Vanuatu's Prime Minister says his government will set up an advisory committee for the president on his constitutional power of mercy after inmates convicted of sexually abusing children received presidential pardons.

Tonga's Prime Minister celebrates the injection of fresh blood into his cabinet after Sivoki Lavemaau has been appointed Finance Minister, making her one of the youngest ministers in the Kingdom's history.

Vanuatu's president is refusing to bow to public pressure and revoke the pardons he granted to two men convicted of sexually abusing children.

A prolonged drought in Papua New Guinea's Highlands is destroying crops, drying up wells and forcing some schools to close early.

Women's groups in Vanuatu are calling on the government to reform the presidential pardoning process after men convicted of sexually abusing children received pardons.

Bird flu is at the Pacific's doorstep and scientists warn the region isn't ready.

Pacific Islands Forum foreign ministers have failed to agree on a joint statement criticising China's controversial ballistic missile test last month. 

The Pacific Islands Forum Foreign Ministers Meeting commences today in Fiji. Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong is in attendance where she announced close to AUD 15 million in funding to support Fiji's efforts in addressing its HIV Crisis.

President Ishamel Toroama has again lashed out at the PNG government for dragging its feet over Bougainville's pathway to independence, but agreement has finally been reached on tabling the results of the 2019 independence referendum in Papua New Guinea's parliament next month.

New Zealand climbers were airlifted out of a steep ravine on Mount Popomanaseu after being stranded for six days.

Foreigners arrested in Timor-Leste during recent raids on alleged scam centres say they too were scammed into coming to the country with false job offers.

A trial for sixteen people charged with trafficking two-point six tonnes cocaine allegedly bound for Australia, could begin as early as February. Among them are four Ecuadorian men who allegedly sailed the cocaine across the Pacific to Fiji in a narco-submarine.

World Rugby is understood to have given the Government of Samoa an ultimatum: accept a review of its decision to cut funding for Lakapi Samoa, or risk a ban from international competition.

Vanuatu is marking 46 years of independence today with mass celebrations and a speech by the country's Prime Minister.

It's been three days since a landslide occurred at Gold Ridge Mine, 26 kilometres from the Solomon Islands capital, Honiara. One body was recovered yesterday from the landslide, but Acting Police Commissioner James Aitorea says it's too early to know, if more bodies are buried under the rubble.

In the Solomon Islands, there are fears people could be missing after a massive landslide at the country's only large-scale gold mine in Guadalcanal Province.

Fiji's corruption watchdog, FICAC has dropped charges against prominent political commentator Charlie Charters, who says a flawed process is resulting in failed prosecutions.

Vanuatu's House of Chiefs has apologised after a public backlash over its call to revoke the appointment of Dr Anna Naupa as the new Director General of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

The bodies of two women have been recovered from the sinking of a boat off of East New Britain over the weekend. Twenty-five others remain missing at sea.

Twenty people, mostly children, remain missing at sea, four days after two boats sank in rough seas off East New Britain.

Papua New Guinea's former opposition leader says the government's decision to close Taiwan's trade office in Port Moresby was likely not a geopolitical decision but a financial one.

PNG's opposition leader says the government's decision to close Taiwan's trade office was likely not a geopolitical decision but a financial one. Also, There are signs the Catholic Church is being increasingly targeted by separatist groups in Indonesia's Papua region.

A major crackdown on international scam centers in Timor-Leste has resulted in 350 arrests. Police raided multiple heavily secured call centre compounds over the past week in a major crackdown against what experts say is a growing trade in the developing nation.  

Papua New Guinea police are hunting for a group of men who tortured and attacked two elderly women, accused of sorcery in Enga Province. The incident, captured on video and shared widely on social media has helped police identify those behind the attack.

More than 250 people have been apprehended in Timor-Leste following a sweep of raids on alleged scam centers. While details about what the alleged scams are is still unclear, these raids follow on from a major bust last year in the Timorese region of Oe-Cussee where authorities raided a hotel detaining 30 foreign nationals and seizing phones and starlink units.

In Timor-Leste, police have raided suspected scam centres around the capital Dili, with more than 90 foreign nationals arrested.

Australia has offered stronger support for a regional security pact across the Pacific, in the wake of a Chinese ballistic missile test last week.

The President of Palau, Surangel Whipps Jr, has accused Beijing of intimidating Pacific Island nations with this week's test firing of a nuclear-capable ballistic missile into the Pacific.

Tuvalu's leaders say they are gravely concerned about a Chinese missile test that landed in waters near the small Pacific nation. 

Former Kiribati President Anote Tong has condemned the Nuclear Ballistic test by China and says it undermines foreign relations between Beijing and the Pacific region.

A category 5 Super Typhoon Bavi has rocked the island of Rota in the Mariana Islands. The mayor Aubrey Hocog says respondents have reported extensive damage to infrastructure.

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Fiji today, where he's expected to sign a major new security agreement with the Pacific nation. The pact is intended to upgrade the Vuvale Partnership first signed in 2019.

Solomon Islands' new Prime Minister Mathew Wale is in Fiji for a state visit. He says there's a "growing consensus" in the region in support of his idea for a regional security agreement. 

Papua' New Guinea's Enga Province Governor, Sir Peter Ipatas is urgently calling for more Australian police officers to be deployed to his province ahead of the 2027 election. The push comes after violence and killings in Enga overshadowed the last national vote.

It's 80 years to the day since the US nuclear testing program in the Marshall Islands began with Operation Able, when a 23 kiloton atomic bomb was detonated in the atmosphere over Bikini Atoll in July, 1946.

Australia and Vanuatu have signed The Nakamal Agreement. The landmark deal states Vanuatu will consult Australia on proposed third party engagement in Vanuatu's critical infrastructure, and which was must be free from militarisation and foreign influence.