Pacific Beat

400 years since the first European contact with Tonga. Fiji proposed as the site for a radical new 'fountain of youth' therapy.

A major report from Amnesty International highlights the plight of sex workers in Papua New Guinea. And, a big weekend for cricket in Papua New Guinea as the national team plays its first-ever international.

Weather forecasters say the El Nino weather event that's blighted all Pacific countries over the past year is over and the victorious Fiji Sevens world champions look to the future as they share in the celebrations at Sukuna park in Suva.

PNG students launch legal action to stay on campus. Vanuatu throws its support behind China on the contentious issue of territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

A multi agency group puts pressure on both sides of Australia politics parties to reverse cuts in the foreign aid budget and as the University of PNG in Port Moresby closes its doors to four thousand striking students, authorities at the University of Technology in Lae are taking a different approach.

Former Papua New Guinea opposition leader Don Polye has been reinstated in his seat by the Supreme Court this afternoon. PNG's Minister of Higher Education says students who don't go back to class and finish the semester are risking their future.

The World Bank fully engaged with Fiji again for the first time in more than 23 years. And, concerns that the election of Tonga PM as head of Tongan Rugby Union may be unconstitutional.

The families of university students in Papua New Guinea fear their protests will affect their education and one of Papua New Guinea's biggest ever corporate takeovers - Oil Search's $3 billion offer for to buy out gas producer Inter-Oil.

A focus on tourism could bring in an extra two billion dollars and generate around 130 thousand new jobs in the next 20 years. And, thousands flock to Guam as the 12th Pacific Festival of the Arts gets underway.

Papua New Guinea's most experienced cancer specialist says treatment drugs are in short supply. Vanuatu paves the way for women to have reserved seats in the country's parliament.