By Euan Moyle, an intern with the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Islands Program.
- The clean-up following Cyclone Gita continues in Tonga. With shelter and electricity in short supply, it could be several months before the rebuild is complete. ABC looks at how Tongans are uniting after the cyclone.
- Health authorities in PNG have reportedly stopped the spread of a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis, which experts described as catastrophic in its severity, on Daru Island near the Australian border on PNG’s southern coast. Jo Chandler discusses her time on Daru Island, when she saw impacts of the disease first-hand and contracted a drug-resistant strain of TB herself.
- The Melanesian Spearhead Group Leaders Meeting was held in Port Moresby last week, with a membership application from the United Liberation Movement for West Papua again under consideration. In The Diplomat, Grant Wyeth looks at how the MSG’s members are sharply divided on the issue of independence for West Papua.
- Bloomberg Businessweek looks at the controversial Imperial Pacific casino on Saipan, one of the Marianas Islands, which has been plagued by allegations of poor labour conditions, illegal workers, and political corruption.
- A French parliamentary delegation led by former President Manuel Valls is visiting New Caledonia ahead of its independence referendum later this year. With the referendum’s date and question undecided, Valls claimed there is “confusion” about its implications.
- Photographer Kristina Steiner’s photo project “Sanguma” tells the harrowing stories of victims of sorcery-based violence in the PNG highlands.
