Pacific Beat

In New Caledonia, about four hundred people took part in a peaceful anti-war rally on Wednesday afternoon, organised by one of the territory's main workers unions - the USTKE.

Health care providers in Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia are currently undergoing a training program on HIV-AIDS.

More than eight years after the volcanic eruptions that devastated Rabaul, the Papua New Guinea town is about to get a new post office.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Sir Allan Kemakeza has issued a press statement refuting a claim that he supports the coalition strikes on Iraq.

Preparations for the Ninth Pacific Arts Festival are underway in the Republic of Palau.

The Cook Islands government plans to introduce harsher penalties for boats caught fishing illegally in its exclusive economic zone.

The head of the Canadian mining giant INCO is expected in New Caledonia this week.

In Fiji the two men convicted of treason in Fiji last Friday won't know what their sentence is for possible another two and a half months.

In the Cook Islands, a group pushing for political change has strongly urged the government to immediately scrap the positions of undersecretaries of government departments.

A spear, said to be the one used by a Hawaiian to kill Captain James Cook, is to be auctioned in Scotland this month.

Organisers of a march in support of efforts to give Samoans rights to New Zealand citizenship expect 10,000 people to gather in the capital, Wellington on Thursday.

So far, the South Pacific tourism industry seems to be emerging from the concerns about the war in Iraq relatively unscathed.

The coalition of nations supporting the war on Iraq now number over forty.

The war in Iraq continues to draw mix reaction across the world, but how is it affecting people around the Pacific? For some, it's a war being fought by the big guys, and it is a fight that is happening in a place quite a distance away from the region.

They're disliked, mistrusted and attract more public wrath than used-car salesmen: it's no secret that in most English-speaking countries, journalists have long had an image problem.

Museums in England have been criticised for their reluctance to return human remains to Hawaii.

Tonga's pro-democracy movement has appealed to the Commonwealth to support it's call for a national referendum on constitutional change.

The most recent addition to the IT highway in Solomon Islands, is the "Farmer Information Center".

Fiji's Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade, Mr Kaliopate Tavola says while there's a mood of resignation around the country, the government of Fiji remains vigilant about the possible economic fallout from conflict in Iraq.