Pacific Beat

President Barack Obama creates the world's largest ecologically prtoected region in the world, near Hawaii and a former Nauru president prevented from leaving the island nation to seek medical treatment in Australia.

The University of PNG to reopen next week, but some students have been shown the door. Tonga pushes ahead with plans to establish an Anti-Corruption Commission. A sigh of relief for two mariners who were rescued after being stranded on a remote Micronesian Island.

A mere two months from the next cyclone season, and the rebuilding effort in Fiji after Cyclone Winston still has a long way to go and students return to class at PNG's University of Technology.

The fall-out from the hacking of the Fijileaks website has caused a Facebook frenzy, amid accusations that people revealed as corresponding with the site are traitors.A press club address in Canberra earlier this week focused on what growing China-US rivalry in Asia may mean for Australia, in the wake of an international tribunal ruling in July rejecting China's claims over disputed islands in the South China Sea.

Could there be another Olympic medal for the Pacific? Vanuatu has again been listed as one of the most dangerous places to live, topping the list of the World Risk Index.

How long have human beings been contributing to global warming - the latest research suggests their impact goes back a lot further than previously thought.

The PNG Opposition leader, Don Polye, has described the government's decision to increase the cost of election nomination fees as ridiculous and undemocratic. A former Australian foreign minister has given an optimistic view of increasing rivalry between the US and China in Asia.

Oil Search's profits take a dive, but the managing director of PNG's biggest company says it's still in good shape. And, hopes a vaccine that helps prevent one of the most prevalent cancers in the Pacific can be more cheaply and effectively applied.

The Australian government has once again been forced to defend its approach to offshore detention after a former teacher at the Nauru processing centre spoke publicly about assaults she'd witnessed there. Hundreds of millions of dollars of fisheries income is at risk in the face of a growing tussle between the Pacific Island nations and Japan.

Fiji's rugby sevens team has been awarded the nation's highest honour in recognition of their Olympic victory. The full bench of Papua New Guinea's Supreme Court has discharged an inquiry into whether Australia is legally responsible for the detention of asylum-seekers and refugees on Manus Island.