A WHO vaccine expert asks Samoans to continue with immunisations for their children despite infant deaths; Aid sent to Vanuatu's Ambae as fresh volcanic activity hits; We look back at one of the Pacific's worst natural disasters that struck 20 years ago; NZ's aid efforts come under scrutiny; Renewed calls for an evacuation of the Nauru and Manus asylum seeker camps; We visit a Sikh Temple in South Auckland that's breaking down cultural barriers; Tonga's shirtless star aims for a third Olympic sport.

Investigations into the deaths of two Samoa infants just hours after they had been immunised for measles, mumps and rubella are continuing ; A security analyst says the recent discovery of significant hauls of cocaine in Fiji and Tonga will have barely dented the supply being smuggled across the Pacific; Vanuatu's ground breaking ban on single-use plastics began this month and environmental campaigners including the government are setting their sights on new targets; Kiribati ancestral artefacts dating back a century are on display as part of language week celebrations in New Zealand; Since the recent launch of a national violence prevention programme in New Zealand, the number of Pasifika people reaching out for help has been on the rise; A kindergarten in Porirua fighting to save Pacific languages has won a prestigious prime minister's award for engagement and service to its community.

A documentary aimed at creating awareness about the effects of climate change on nations has triggered a political debate in Kiribati; Pacific Media Alliance says a ban imposed by Nauru on ABC journalists attending the Forum summit is a worrying development; Three new MPs sworn in, and Cook Islands Party forms a government by the narrowest margin; The world's largest maritime military exercise, RIMPAC, gets underway in the Pacific but without China; Papua New Guinea has seen a dramatic surge in cases of Malaria but a new drug under review could be an ally in the fight against the disease; Refugees exiled to Manus Island and Nauru by Australia have a new champion in the form of a boxer fighting on their behalf; An environmental campaigner in Vanuatu has set her sights on a new target now the once ubiquitous plastic bag is a thing of the past in the country, and; Hundreds of South Auckland youth are uniting in a movement to change negative perceptions about their community.

A Niuean woman from South Auckland says the New Zealand health system disadvantages Pacific people; a phone helpline for women experiencing violence in Papua New Guinea says thousands have used the service but the problem continues to affect nearly every woman in the country at some point during her lifetime; an economist in Fiji says one off grants in the Fiji budget are look good policies which won't address people's concerns about the high cost of living; Samoa will become the latest country to ban all single-use plastics from January; a Samoan artist is creating Polynesian designs and tattoos using just four computer keyboard characters; Pacific Dance Festival in Auckland grows to include new works.

We hear that sugar taxes are starting to work for the Pacific; Political and tribal violence compounds struggles in PNG's quake-hit Highlands; A PNG domestic violence helpline says the issue is widespread; Fears that Nauru's government is lurching towards authoritarianism; The WHO says thousands are affected by dengue outbreaks in Pacific; Rarotonga gets a new mobile health clinic servicing

Papua New Guinea's government has declared a state of emergency in Southern Highlands province after supporters of losing candidates in the regional election went on a rampage in the provincial capital; A look at the impact of 40 years of Fijian participation in the UN's peacekeeping forces and militarism on Fijian society; There are calls for a formal system to help the descendants of blackbirded Pacific Islanders find their relatives; The largest church in Samoa has locked horns with the Prime Minister over a new law that requires church ministers to pay tax; Pacific community reaction subdued to the government's budget at a post budget breakfast in Auckland; One of the most prolific writers in New Zealand has produced an account of the crafty schemers in the early days of European settlement in the region.

Doctors and nurses in Papua New Guinea call for help as hospital stocks run out; Hawaii's Kilauea volcano continues to cause havoc; Cook Islanders vote next week in the general election; RSE workers from Solomon Islands seen as vital for a New Zealand orchard; Fiji's successes at COP23 are tempered by slow pace of talks; Pasifika entrepreneurs in New Zealand are calling for more initiatives to get their people into business; Pitcairners hope for the return of a cannon from HMS Bounty up for auction this weekend.

A charity focused on providing eye care in the Pacific hopes collaboration will help to combat the broader threat of non-communicable diseases in the region; the latest life expectancy world rankings show Fiji has the highest death rate from diabetes in the world with 188 of 100,000 fatalities being attributed to the disease; Pacific Trade and Invest says businesses are often forgotten about when disaster strikes with the focus on families and communities but they are endeavouring to do something about it; maternal mortality rates in Papua New Guinea appear to have worsened over the past five years with the risk of dying during childbirth now estimated at 1 in 120 women; Papua New Guinea's emergency controller says the response to February's Highlands earthquake is mostly shifting from a focus on relief to recovery; one of the experts speaking at this week's New Zealand Emergency Management Conference has had a lot of experience helping Fiji improve its systems to cope with disaster; one of the key aims of Samoan Language week, which is being held in New Zealand, is instilling a sense of identity and pride in young Samoans living there.

The High Court in Fiji has ruled that the Fiji Times newspaper, its publisher, two editors and a letter writer are not guilty of sedition; the Solomon Islands government says its official position on West Papua won't be made until after provincial consultations; it's less that 13 months from a referendum in Bougainville that could see the region voting to leave Papua New Guinea; Vanuatu's National Disaster office says only about ten per cent of the population are expected to take up the government's offer of help to evacuate the volcanic island of Ambae; Work expected to start on huge Chinese fish farm on French Polynesia's Hao atoll; a refugee suicide on Manus Island this week follows a report that claims healthcare services in Australian offshore detention have been reduced; as politicians trade barbs and verbal blows ahead of an election in the Cook Islands, a youth advocacy group says more needs to be done to engage the country's future leaders. renowned Samoa music group wins Lifetime Achievement Award in New Zealand.

New Zealand's associate finance minister, Shane Jones, says closely failed states in the Pacific have become gateways for shipping methamphetamine and other drugs into this country, but his comments have not gone down universally well in Tonga, a country he singled out for the problem; An academic who was part of a Nobel Prize-winning campaign for a treaty against nuclear weapons says more needs to be done to help those dealing with the lingering effects of nuclear weapons testing; Questions are being asked about the level of commitment the New Zealand government is showing to the mental health of its Pasifika community; Fiji's government is seeking expressions of interest from international private hospital operators to help it upgrade and operate the Ba and Lautoka hospitals; Amnesty International says Australia has drastically reduced healthcare for refugees it detains in Papua New Guinea; A Tongan New Zealand member of parliament is vowing to fight on to have MP's oaths of allegiance to the crown recognised in their mother tongues; The New Zealand government has commissioned a feasibility study on establishing a Super Rugby team in the Pacific.