Tagata o te Moana. 2014-08-30. 17:30-18:00.

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. Rabaul in Papua New Guinea has yet again been blanketed in ash after Mt Tavurvur erupted early on Friday morning.

2. A New Zealand academic [i.e. Yvonne Underhill-Sem] is urging leaders of developing states in the Pacific to use a major United Nations conference in Samoa as an opportunity to address blatant inequalities in the region.

3. One of the quirks about the island of New Guinea's division down its middle at the 141st meridian east is that Papua New Guinea finds itself on the very edge of Asia.

4. A candidate for Fiji's Sodelpa party [i.e. Mick Beddoes] is calling on the Electoral Commission to clarify the rules around campaigning after a pre-polling announcement.

5. A Tongan MP and academic Sitiveni Halapua says it is important parliamentarians do not preclude the possibility of working with others.

6. A United States conservation group [i.e. Conservation International] is partnering with a New Zealand university to boost research into marine conservation in the Pacific.