Dateline Pacific for 29 November 2019

In Samoa, the death toll from the country's measles epidemic has risen to 39 following six more deaths in the past 24 hours; there's a sense of optimism in Bougainville's future and a focus on nation-building as polling continues in the autonomous Papua New Guinea region's independence referendum: about 200 people had to be evacuated in the Marshall Islands on Wednesday as an ocean swell flooded the capital, Majuro; the Canadian company that had been planning for years to mine the sea floor off the north coast of Papua New Guinea, Nautilus Minerals, was declared bankrupt last week; political leaders from 11 Pacific countries were hosted in New Zealand this week as part of the Pacific Parliamentary Forum.