A weekly wrap-up of news, issues and current affairs from the Pacific. The programme is broadcast nationwide every Saturday evening on Radio New Zealand National and is produced by the newsroom of Radio New Zealand International. The following rundown is supplied from the broadcaster’s news system:
1. The Nauru Government may be on the cusp of declaring a state of emergency, as it contemplates a decreasing majority in the House.
2. The lawyer [i.e. Loani Henao] representing Papua New Guinea's opposition leader in his quest to shut down Manus Island's detention centre says his client is over the moon with a Supreme Court decision in his favour.
3. Papua New Guinea's Justice Minister says the government can always readjust its position on the death penalty if it doesn't prove to be effective.
4. An academic [i.e. Steven Ratuva] says Fiji will be hoping to get ideas for a leaner, more efficient public service from New Zealand following the visit of a top regime official to Wellington this week.
5. The Tongan government has approved a cyclone recovery plan to deal with the category five storm which displaced 8,000 people, destroyed buildings and infrastructure and flattened food crops three weeks ago.
6. The rapid growth of Papua New Guinea's population has sparked calls for the government to take action and invest more in crucial social services and law and order.
7. The government in Samoa has made moves to protect and preserve the Samoan language for future generations.
8. Officials from the Federated States of Micronesia are working to move a fishing vessel stranded on a reef off the capital of Pohnpei, after the government declared it a substantial environmental and health risk.
9. The French Polynesian opposition politician, Oscar Temaru, says it is a disgrace that a corruption trial scheduled for this week has not gone ahead.