Pacific Beat

On the program: The controversy surrounding the University of the South Pacific has deepened with Fiji police calling in a senior librarian for questioning, and Vanuatu's Opposition to file an urgent Constitutional case after all 22 of its members were suspended from Parliament for two days.

As concern grows over police response to protests in Fiji, a number of human rights groups across the country are now calling for an end to what they allege is "police intimidation" of USP staff and students.

The controversy surrounding the University of the South Pacific continues to deepen with Fiji police questioning a senior staff member over a demonstration at the institution's Suva campus in support of the suspended vice-chancellor.

On the program: Three future scenarios have been put forward to help the Pacific's tourism industry reopen, and recover, and they include a travel bubble possibly starting in August and international travellers using "wellbeing passports", and Papua New Guinean and Australian archaeologists are investigating whether a remote and rugged part of PNG was an important transit point in the migration of people on their way to Australia from South East Asia.

Three future scenarios have been put forward to help the Pacific's tourism industry reopen, and recover; they include a travel bubble possibly starting in August and international travellers using "wellbeing passports".

PRPW poised to ramp up the pressure on World Rugby over the Fiji Rugby Union's controversial chairman, Francis Kean, with some of the top islander names in the game joining the independent association. The list of 11 includes five All Blacks and three Flying Fijians.

Papua New Guinean and Australian archaeologists are investigating whether a remote and rugged part of PNG was an important transit point in the migration of people from South-East Asia to Australia tens of thousands of years ago.

Timor-Leste has no active cases of COVID-19, but its unusually long rainy season this year saw a spike in cases of dengue fever . The potential for twin pandemics has sparked concerns about a potential second wave of COVID-19 in the country.

On the program: While most employers have been rallying around Pacific Islanders who've been left stuck in Australia because of COVID-19, there are questions as to why the Australian government didn't allow them to access 'JobKeeper', and as preparations continue in Solomon Islands for the 2023 Pacific Games, there's one important task that needs to be done before construction work can start: finding and removing World War Two bombs.

While most employers have been rallying around Pacific Islanders who've been left stuck in Australia because of COVID-19, there are questions as to why the Australian government didn't allow them to access 'JobKeeper', the special COVID-19 payment.