Pacific Beat

Tourist-reliant businesses and communities in Vanuatu and Fiji look to new social enterprise projects, to help with the pain caused by COVID-19 and Cyclone Harold.

Carvers, weavers and craftspeople are missing out big time as a result of the collapse of the tourism industry during the coronavirus pandemic.

New figures paint a dire picture for Pacific businesses as a result of the coronavirus crisis, with nearly 80 per cent reporting a significant decline in revenue and most don't expect it will return to pre-COVID levels until 2021 at the earliest.

On the program: Pressure is mounting on World Rugby to deliver the findings of an investigation into the disgraced chairman of the Fiji Rugby Union, Francis Kean and Australian pilots are pushing for Pacific countries to be included in the Australian and New Zealand government's push to set up a trans-Tasman travel bubble.

The United Nations has launched an initiative called 'Verified' that allows volunteers to receive UN-verified COVID-19 content in their inbox each day, that they're encouraged to share on their social media platforms.

Three women's-only spaces are set to open in parts of Vanuatu this week, to help women who were affected by the category 5 Cyclone Harold.

Australian pilots are pushing for Pacific countries to be included in Australia and New Zealand's move to set up a trans-Tasman travel bubble.

PNG's coronavirus 2-month State of Emergency expires today but parliament sits today and may extend it, as the country's Prime Minister has confirmed that is the official health advice.

In Papua New Guinea a campaign to stop a proposed gold and copper mine has been boosted with support from chiefs of the famous Haus Tambarans, or spirit houses, of the Sepik River.

A crowd of tens of thousands gathered outside the US Consulate General in Auckland in a show of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.