Pacific Beat

The cultural and artistic traditions of Papua New Guinea, Australia and a number of Pacific Island countries are being celebrated in an exhibition at the PNG National Museum and Gallery.

The search for a mising aircraft carrying four prominent French Polynesian politicians north-east of Tahiti has so far turned up nothing.

President Tommy Remengesau says traditional values are more valuable to Palau society than any revenue that may be raised from gambling.

Solomon Islands and Palau have voted against giving indigenous communities in Alaska and Siberia their annual subsistence whale quota.

The University of the South Pacific has forewarned its students they can expect a hike in tuition fees over the next five years.

Plans are underway in the Cook Islands to set up a Land Unit Trust which will buy back land and property belonging to Cook Islanders that have been forcefully sold by Commercial Banks under mortgage sales.

There's been a sharper focus on border protection since the September 11th terror attacks in the United States, and countries in the Pacific region are assessing their vulnerability to people smuggling and illegal immigration.

Radio Australia's Pacific correspondent, Sean Dorney, joins for a roundup of headlines across the Pacific this week.

In the Cook Islands, women's groups and leading NGO groups are spearheading efforts to ensure there is proper maternity protection for all Cook Islands women.

The Cook Islands government is using the island of Rakahanga to trial a method of growing vegetables without soil.

First there was Telek - one of Papua New Guinea's best known talents whose music was showcased and popularised by Australian musician David Bridie in their collaborative album Tabaran.

In Papua New Guinea, security preperations for the country's general election is progressing well, according to the head of the PNG Police Force.

In New Caledonia, two Kanak clans have joined forces with a local businessman to win the lucrative contract to provide tranport to the Inco nickel plant, being built at Goro, in the far south of the main island.

The head of Australia's peak ministerial advisory board on AIDS has wound up a series of meetings on Norfolk Island, amid fears local legislators were planning to introduce discriminatory legislation.

The Solomon Islands Bar Association this week held a one day seminar on the country's law and order crisis.

An expedition organised by America's National Geographic Society is in Solomon Islands, trying to find the wreckage of former US President John F.

Courses at the Fiji School of Medicine cover a wide range of topics, including programs in health management, epidemiology, health promotion, food and nutrition.

The people of Manam Island in Papua New Guinea are on evacuation alert following a volcano eruption two days ago.

The Marshall Islands government is licking its wounds this week, after the country's Supreme Court threw out its multi-billion dollar civil lawsuit against tobacco companies.