Pacific Review

The police in Port Moresby are urging more witnesses to come forward after a bus driver was beaten up and later died from his injuries. The taps have run dry in parts of Port Moresby for the second time in a week, after a water main was relocated to make way for the construction of a new road.

Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister wants to take drastic steps to cut PNG's extremely high maternal and infant mortality rates. Fiji's Court of Appeal has ruled that the Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem, must comply with instructions from the Electoral Commission.

Members of the Papua New Guinea Health Support Workers Association have voted to go on strike over pay and working conditions. Papua New Guinea's only cancer treatment machine is back in operation.

The Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has addressed the Fiji Trade and Investment symposium in Australia. One of American Samoa's major private employers has announced the indefinite suspension of its canning operations at Samoa Tuna Processors from December.

Papua New Guinea is keeping one of it's Manus Island asylum seeker facilities open, while closing one of them. A New Zealand opposition spokesman says a proposed state visit to the country by Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama should not go ahead.

The Fiji government has withdrawn a controversial set of restrictions on teachers just after issuing it. A shortage of fuel on the northern Tongan island of Vava'u may last another six weeks.

Australia is watching events in Fiji closely in the wake of the detention and questioning of several opposition and trade union figures. And, Papua New Guinea has a national action plan to combat sorcery related violence, but no money to implement it.

Police have forcibly removed squatters from the village of Tanoliu in north Efate, bulldozing the homes of people who had been living there for years. The Fiji police action in requiring a permit for a dialogue meeting on the country's sugar industry this week is being questioned.

Police in Enga province say they are making efforts to crack down on sorcery related violence, but it's not easy. In Fiji, the lawyer for a man who was allegedly tortured by police says he's not confident with their ability to investigate the incident.

The MP representing Central Bougainville in Papua New Guinea's national parliament says the decision by Prime Minister Peter O'Neill to donate shares in the Panguna copper mine to landowners will strengthen rather than endanger the peace process. In Fiji victims of Cyclone Winston are still struggling to rebuild their lives six months after the category five storm devastated large parts of the country.

The president of Bougainville John Momis is calling for an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Peter O'Neill over PNG government plans to transfer gifted shares in the Panguna copper mine to Bougainville landowners. Four months have passed since the Supreme Court in Port Moresby ruled that the immigration detention centre on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island was both illegal and unconstitutional.

The details of what exactly happened in Papua New Guinea's tourist town of Alotau on Monday are becoming clearer.The introduction of fines for chewing betelnut in Papua New Guinea's capital city Port Moresby has some residents concerned that City Hall is trying to ban the habit all together.