Pacific Beat

A conference looking back at how Australia went about granting Independence to Papua New Guinea has been told that almost thirty years after self government, the country has been left with a lands administration system that's virtually inoperable.

People in Fiji are this week coming to terms with a controversial government decision to increase tax on essential items and food.

A major upgrade to one of New Zealand's busiest stretches of road has been put on hold, after local Maori claimed it would disturb mystical creatures known as taniwha.

Law enforcement authorities in the Cook Island plan to introduce tough new sentencing laws to deal with serious crimes.

Spending money in New Caledonia's capital, Noumea, has never been so easy and so much fun.

The Fiji Military Forces are now trying to rebuild their professionalism, in the wake of last week's guilty verdicts for eight former members of the army's elite Counter-Revolutionary Warfare Unit.

Guam has welcomed the first of the U.

A new pay television service delivered via satellite is now running in the Cook Islands.

Disobedient students, beware! The Fiji Teachers Association has renewed calls for the ban on corporal punishment to be lifted.

Air Pacific, the region's biggest airline, plans to almost double its capacity in the next 5 years.

A power supply crisis on the island of Bougainville is causing serious concerns for hospitals and businesses in the province.

A new report on international mining operations claims mercury pollution has become a serious problem at the Tolukuma gold mine - one hundred kilometres north of Port Moresby in PNG's Central Province.

An barbaric episode from World War Two has been commemorated in Kiribati today.

The Federated States of Micronesia and the US government have agreed on economic provisions for a renewed Compact of Free Association, to go before the US Congress early next year.

The two main political parties in the Cook Islands have come together to form a coalition government.

Cook Islands new sole opposition MP, former cabinet minister Norman George, predicts the new coalition will not last.

Middle income earners in Fiji are facing an increase in tax next year, as the country's government moves to fulfil its promise to alleaviate poverty and assist rural communities.

Papua New Guinea's Muslim community says it's seriously concerned about the future of religious freedom in the country, following an arson attack on a Port Moresby mosque this week.

A gloomy economic outlook is persisting for Papua New Guinea, with almost every measure pointing to more bad news in store and no immediate prospect of improvement.