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Cook Islands sporting officials believe concerns about the Zika virus at the Rio Olympics have been blown out of proportion. A number of top athletes have withdrawn from the upcoming global games, including the world's top-ranked golfer, Jason Day, and Fiji's Vijay Singh, while many others have expressed concerns.

The World Health Organisation said last month there was a "very low risk" of further spread of the mosquito-born virus as a result of the Olympics.

The Academic Board of the University of Technology in Papua New Guinea will soon meet to consider the viability and technicality of continuing the 2016 academic year

The death of the student Graham Romanong on Saturday 25 June and the destruction of four university buildings by arson has extended the suspension of teaching, that was initially caused by a class boycott that started at the beginning of May.

On July 2, 1966 the calm of French Polynesia's Mururoa atoll was shattered by an explosion of unbelievable force. Within a second, the azure tropical sky flashed bright orange, and was ruptured by a towering radioactive cloud that mushroomed into the atmosphere; the placid lagoon was stirred into a tempestuous cauldron, while the coconut trees on the white sand islets were bent by the sheer force of the nuclear explosion.

"It's beautiful," said President Charles de Gaulle at the sight of the first of France's 193 nuclear tests in the South Pacific. But for French Polynesia and many of its people, the fallout from decades of nuclear weapons testing is still being dealt with 50 years after the first test.

Papua New Guinea's government has reportedly secured a loan of US$500 million from the multinational financial services agency Credit Suisse.

The newspaper, The National, reports that the loan will help the government to finance some of the deficit in the 2016 national budget. The budget, passed by parliament in November 2015, provides for sovereign financing of approximately US$1billion to be provided by offshore investors.