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. One month since cyclone Pam and disaster authorities in Vanuatu are still struggling to deal with first response measures as food from the first round of relief aid runs out.
2. A New Zealand academic [i.e. Damon Salesa] says Fiji is asking some of the big questions about regionalism in the Pacific in its opposition to rejoining the Pacific Islands Forum.
3. A new education policy in Fiji will see more boarding places at urban schools offered to students from remote and rural areas.
4. The Fiji Times has defended its reporting of the opposition comments, saying freedom of the press and the right to impart information is enshrined in the constitution.
5. Pacific leaders have met to ensure the region has a strong voice, and its priorities are reflected, when the United Nations set global development goals later this year.
6. The new police Commissioner in Samoa [i.e. Egon Keil] says he wants to introduce a new level of transparency and accountability to the force.
7. Landowners in Solomon Islands are making an unprecedented bid to buy themselves a gold mine after the national government backed out of a planned purchase last month.
8. A comedy [i.e. the film 'Three Wise Cousins'] about a New Zealand born Samoan who travels to Samoa to learn what it means to become a 'real island guy' is set to be released this year.
9. Tahiti has made it into the Guinness Book of Records with the largest band of Ukulele players [i.e. 4750] in the World.