Dateline Pacific for 12 August 2019

Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono visited the Marshall Islands last week, hard on the heels of visits to the region by the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; a Bougainvillean spreading awareness about the upcoming independence referendum says many people still don't understand the process; Fiji's opposition national federation party is concerned at the rising incidences of drug-related crimes and drugs found across the country; social media and the lack of radio services in some small Pacific Islands nations present challenges for local met services during extreme weather events; nearly a year on from a destructive typhoon many students in the Northern Marianas still face truncated school days or classes in tents.