Pacific Beat

Australia's Opposition is urging the Government to send vaccines to PNG immediately, so frontline health workers can be immunised, after local authorities confirmed another five COVID-19 deaths and almost 100 new positive cases. Australian officials have told the ABC they're "deeply worried" about the situation and are in talks to confirm what support the government will provide.

Supporters of a man accused of plotting to kill Samoan PM protest moves to extradite him from Australia, PNG's Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare to be laid to rest in East Sepik while NGO Child Fund calls for vaccine patents to be lifted as PNG's COVID-19 infections surge to more than 2,100 cases.

Supporters of a man facing extradition to Samoa over an alleged plot to kill the country's Prime Minister have staged a small demonstration outside the Brisbane magistrates court. They argue that if he is extradited, other overseas Samoans who criticize the government could find themselves in a similar situation.

The task of turning around the fortunes of netball in Fiji has been handed to Queensland Firebirds' former assistant coach, Jenny Brazel. A four-time winner of Netball Queensland's Coach of the Year Award, has just started work after two weeks in quarantine.

Port Moresby residents prepare to farewell PNG's first prime minister Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare with a state funeral at the Hubert Murray Stadium. Artists pay tribute to Sir Michael through their work. PNG hospitals scale back their services as COVID-19 numbers rapidly increase with fears health services may collapse. New research says the toxic exposure from French nuclear testing is far worse than previously thought.

Papua New Guinea's first prime minister, Sir Michael Somare, is being honoured in a state funeral as people across the country produce unique artworks to remember the Grand Chief's life.

A two-year investigation into the impact of nuclear testing in French Polynesia claims 110,000 people were potentially exposed to toxic radiation.

The interim CEO of Fiji's NRL wants to see the creation of a Pacific All-Stars team, but he has stressed that such a side would not replace individual island nations on the international stage.

Four more Filipino sailors have come forward to accuse a Fiji shipping company of abandoning them, and a senior PNG doctor calls for Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare's state funeral to be called off as COVID-19 numbers climb.

The head of UNICEF in the Pacific says Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and other Pacific countries could join Fiji and begin receiving the first of their COVID-19 vaccines in coming weeks, through the global COVAX facility.