Pacific Beat

It's already been dubbed the "X-L Class".

Australia heads into tonight's World Cup Qualifying match against Iraq at Sydney Olympic Stadium needing a win to guarantee their passage to Brazil 2014.

A new technical expert group has been established by SPC to make sure its health programs remain relevant to the region.

More than 30 physicians and nurses, coaches and former NFL players have arrived in American Samoa as part of the June Jones Foundation's goodwill mission.

A new iTaukei language teaching manual on the church and violence against women will be launched and trialed .

A new computer model has been developed which could help Tonga to forecast how a earthquake generated tsunamie could impact on Tongatapu.

The South Pacific Regional Environment Program, SPREP, is hosting a meeting in Nadi that'll focus on the role meteorological services play in managing disaster risks and climate change.

The group which works to ensure the crop diversity and seeds around the world has raised concerns about the state of some of the food crops which are staple of many Pacific diets.

The President of Papua New Guinea's Autonomous Region of Bougainville, John Momis, says his government is working on introducing a new foreign investment code.

The six crew members of a landing craft which sank in Solomon Islands a week ago have been rescued last night just as a rescue operation was being called off.

If a tsunami ever hits the Tongan capital, Nukualofa, one of the safest people in town will be the New Zealand High Commissioner.

Australia's peak science body, the CSIRO is asking what the Great Barrier Reef means to Australians.

Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill says he wants his country to win more medals, while it's hosting the 15th Pacific Games in 2015.

Fiji and Samoa have failed to qualify for the IRB Junior World Championship semi finals in France.

Tim Gavel with an update on Rugby, Rugby League and Cricket.

A shortage of water in the Cook Island is putting a growing strain on the government's water tank subsidy scheme.

A major donor-supported effort to relieve drought in the Marshall Islands continues with teams of relief workers installing water-making units on remote outer islands.

What were once considered risks are now a reality.

Rural to urban drift has seen an increase in the number of informal settlements in a number of Pacific Island Nations.