Pacific Beat

Tonga has escaped the full force of Cyclone Ami which ravaged Fiji at the beginning of the week.

Teachers in Papua New Guinea are threatening to go on a three day strike and disrupt the start of the school year, which begins on 27 January, over a pay dispute.

The Tongan government insists it has done all it can to disassociate itself from terrorism, following a report in the Washington Post newspaper quoting US intelligence officials as saying a fleet of 15 ships owned by the terrorist group Al Qaeda have been flying the Tongan flag.

More than a thousand Australian cattle were off loaded recently in the Samoan Capital, Apia.

Kiribati President Teburoro Tito is being accused of using the police to harrass his political opponents.

An official in the President's office has denied allegations of political motivation in a police search for drugs at the home of an advisor to a prominent opposition figure.

The Governor of Central Bank of Solomon Islands, Ric Hou, has advised the cash strapped government not to accept a huge grant of $350 million US dollars from a questionable organisation.

In Fiji, two children are feared dead after a powerful cyclone swept through the country last night.

A fast money scheme that was shut-down in Papua New Guinea after thousands of people lost their savings now appears to be operating in Solomon Islands.

This week's scheduled departure of 65 people from Nauru and 85 from Manus Island in PNG will reduce the numbers of asylum seekers detained in the Pacific.

Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority has warned Papua New Guinea air travel between the two countries will be suspended at the end of the month if international air safety standards are not met.

The University of the South Pacific's deadline for Solomon Islands to pay a debt of $US2.

Preparations have begun in Fiji for a cyclone which is expected to hit the country later tonight.

Now that relief efforts are underway to help the cyclone-affected residents of Tikopia and Anuta in Solomon islands, officials and politicians are talking about what lessons have been learned from the experience.

In Vanuatu, recently passed legislation to stop all mixed race and naturalised citizens from farming kava is causing anger in some sections of the community.

Nauru remains a nation in waiting as the power struggle over the presidency continues.

Tension is growing between Papua New Guinea and Indonesian authorities over reports of cross border clashes between Indonesian troops and Papuan independence supporters or the OPM - the Free Papua Movement.

We return to our discussion with Lance Polu, editor and publisher of "Le Samoa" newspaper about the signficant contributions two of the country's high profile leaders have made to Samoa.

All flights in and out of Solomon Islands have been cancelled due to an industrial strike by civil aviation, weather, immigration and weather officers which began at midnight.