Tonga's US$119 million loan from China has been sitting on the Tongan government's books for almost 15 years and now a deadline is looming.

Up to 3000 men, women and children living in a settlement outside the Papua New Guinea capital Port Moresby, will soon be displaced after losing a long legal battle to stay on the land where they've built their homes.

Pro-independence groups have issued a call out to Kanak voters to head to the ballot boxes this weekend in the second round of the French national elections.

Violence has flared up in New Caledonia after pro-independence activists charged with organising last month's deadly protests were sent to France to face trial there.

The Australian Opposition's nuclear policy is causing concern in the Pacific, a region that has been a nuclear-free zone for decades.

A multi-million dollar patrol boat donated by Australia has run aground on its very first mission in Fiji. 

One of Australia's biggest diplomatic efforts to forge closer relations with the Pacific has started with a new engagement visa offering permanent residency to 3000 Pacific Islanders per year.

Papua New Guinea counts the cost of a devastating landslide in Enga Province, as humanitarian partners rush aid into the area.

French President Emmanuel Macron has met with New Caledonia's leaders in a bid to restore law and order and end rioting in the territory. 

Up to a thousand French security personnel have been deployed to New Caledonia as the territory is placed under a state of emergency following days of rioting and looting.