Tagata o te Moana. 2014-10-18. 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. The MPs and officials in Fiji's new parliament have been settling in to their roles this week, making their first speeches, and getting to grips with procedure.

2. Niue achieved independence in free association with New Zealand 40 years ago this month.

3. The new police commissioner of the Solomon Islands [i.e. Frank Prendergast] says the force needs new leadership and he will be advertising positions soon.

4. Calls continue for Papua New Guinea police working for logging companies to be removed amid unresolved claims of police brutality against landowner communities opposed to logging.

5. Tonga's Minister of Justice [i.e. Clive Edwards] says the judicial system needs reforming but he is not sure that the King and his Law Lords will accept it.

6. The 8 Tuna rich countries that make up the Parties to the Nauru Agreement say they are not surprised by Kiribati's decision to withhold fishing days from a new deal with the United States.

7. Plans for a food processing plant that promises about 700 jobs in American Samoa have been met with cautious optimism.

8. 100 sheep cross-bred in Fiji for Pacific conditions have been exported to Samoa to assist with food security and develop its agricultural sector