Pacific Beat

In Nadi where the post-Forum Dialogue Partners meetings are taking place, the British government is highlighting the importance of law and order in it's bilateral talks with various countries.

The 33rd Pacific Islands Forum came to an end in Fiji over the weekend, with 16 Pacific leaders eventually managing to agree on the wording of a final communique.

Meanwhile Solomon Islands Prime Minister, Sir Allan Kemakeza says he appreciates what aid donors and development partners expect of his government as conditions for much needed assistance.

Adoption of children from the Marshall Islands - mostly by Americans - is becoming a growing problem.

For 10 days during August, an Australian Rules Football competiton is being held in Melbourne.

The South Pacific Regional Environment Program has named its new Director - Asterio Takesy from the Federated States of Micronesia.

Health and Education authorities in the Miconesian region have again raised serious concerns over the continuing increase of Teenage pregnancies especially in the Federated States of Micronesia.

The Police authority in Fiji has reported the recovery of four foetuses within four days at the country's largest Treatment Plant in the capital, Suva.

In the Cook Islands, speeding drivers have been put on notice following the announcement by the country's Police department that it will soon receive four new speed radars.

In American Samoa, flags are flying at half mast as a tribute to former Governor and High Chief Lutali Aifili Paulo Lauvao, who died last week at the age of eighty two.

Meanwhile, Australia's campaign to help former diplomat Greg Urwin claim the top job at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat continues to attract criticism in the region.

With the population of some Pacific countries set to double over the next thirty years, population growth is once again on the agenda at this week's Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji.

As the Pacific Islands Forum meeting continues in Fiji, Nadi in the country's West is hosting a Commonwealth Leaders meeting which could well result in a rethink of democracy and it's relevance in the Pacific.

The 33rd Pacific Forum Leaders meeting is in full swing, with leaders spending most of the day in discussions at an informal retreat on the outskirts of Suva.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke announced her new ministry.

The HIV-AIDS pandemic in the Pacific is expected to come up for dicussion in the course of this year's Pacific Islands Forum, currently underway in Fiji.

At the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji, Australia appears to be coming under attack for the rise in sea levels in the Pacific.

In Honiara, public servants are going ahead with their sit-in protest as from tomorrow, because the government has not paid their salaries which are now three pay periods in arrears.

Aid in the Pacific is coming with more strings attached and is not necessarily creating the type of development the region needs.