Free Republic

President Ratu Josefa Iloilo used a nationally-broadcast radio address to announce that he had abolished the constitution, assumed all governing power and revoked all judicial appointments. The move will deepen a political crisis gripping the troubled South Pacific nation. Commodore Voreqe 'Frank' Bainimarama has ruled Fiji since a bloodless coup in Dec 2006 It came one day after the country's second-highest court ruled that the military government that took power after a bloodless coup in 2006 was illegal, prompting the country's self-appointed prime minister Commodore Voreqe "Frank" Bainimarama to tell the president he would stand down. The president, who is...

Original Article: Accused Terrorist on Trial in Jordan Attended Classes at Sac State; Initiation to Terrorism May Have Started in Sacramento, According to Published Reports. Layla Bohm State Hornet (Student Newspaper) November 27, 2001 Former Sacramento State student Raed Hijazi at his trial in Jordan Nov. 26. Hijazi pleaded innocent to nine charges stemming from a plot to execute terrorist attacks on America and Israel during Millenium celebrations in December 1999. Courtesy Photo/A He was a typical California student. Born in San Jose Dec. 3, 1968, Raed Hijazi eventually attended Sacramento City College, took a Sacramento State extension course...

Tension is mounting in a village in Macuata Province after more men were taken in for questioning for the alleged gang rape of a 12-year-old last week. Police spokesman Atunaisa Sokomuri confirmed that a team of police officers in Labasa had been mobilised and sent to Lutukina Village in Dreketi to hunt five other men who are believed to be in hiding. Six others are already in custody at the Labasa Police Station. “At this point in time we are trying to look for five other men who we believe also took part in the gang rape,” Sokomuri said. “Tension...

Fiji jewellery box find stuns archeologists 22 APR 2008 Archeologists have discovered a 3000-year-old pot in Fiji containing jewellery believed to have been made by the South Pacific’s original settlers – the Lapita people. The discovery was made by an excavation party from the Fiji-based University of the South Pacific and the Fiji Museum at Bourewa in Natadola on the Coral Coast. The dig at Bourewa, which is the earliest human settlement in Fiji, unearthed the pot and a thick piece of “exquisitely decorated pottery”. The Lapita people were the first colonists of Pacific Island groups, including the eastern Solomon...

The police force is committed to make its presence felt when Fiji observes Earth Hour from 8-9pm tonight. Corporate Communications Officer Ema Mua says the force wants to ensure that no one takes advantage of the Earth Hour Initiative to break the law. Mua says the National Operations Command Centre has designated senior officers to look into areas especially towns where criminal activities are likely to occur. “A big number will be patrolling on foot and those who will be on motor vehicle. “We also have the National Operations Command Centre on high alert for that one hour and all...

The following is a release by the United States Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center: An earthquake occurred 345 km (215 miles) N of Raoul Island, Kermadec Islands; 600 km (370 miles) SSW of NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga; 1395 km (870 miles) NE of Auckland, New Zealand; 1830 km (1130 miles) NNE of WELLINGTON, New Zealand at 12:28 AM MST, Dec 9, 2007 (7:28 PM local time in .). The magnitude and location may be revised when additional data and further analysis results are available. This earthquake is located in a remote area and no damage or casualties are expected.

U.S. to Offer Turkey Help on PKK The U.S. is to offer Turkey a package of measures to dissuade Ankara from mounting a large-scale military incursion into Iraq to attack PKK Kurdish guerrillas, who have killed scores of Turkish soldiers in recent weeks. Ahead of a meeting in Washington on Monday between President George W. Bush and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, U.S. officials said Ankara would have to get concrete American help to combat the PKK, which has bases in northern Iraq from where it frequently launches attacks into Turkey. “Erdogan has to go back with the...

Police in Fiji have arrested 16 people in the past two days, after uncovering an alleged plot against the country's military leader, Frank Bainimarama. Businessmen, politicians and former soldiers were among those detained, and will be charged, police say, on Monday. New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said one of those arrested, a New Zealander, had been badly beaten. Mr Bainimarama came to power after a bloodless coup in December 2006, but has promised elections in early 2009. He has pledged to abide by the results. Fiji has seen four coups in the past two decades. Military help No concrete...

LOS ANGELES — A man accused of stealing three endangered iguanas from a nature preserve in Fiji and smuggling them into the United States in his prosthetic leg has been indicted. Jereme James, 33, of Long Beach, faces a single count of smuggling, according to a federal indictment returned Friday in Los Angeles. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Prosecutors say James stole the Fiji Island banded iguanas while visiting the South Pacific island in September 2002. He then brought the reptiles to the U.S. by hiding them in a special compartment he had constructed...

NRI entrepreneur flays NYT over 'smear campaign Vinod 'Vin' Gupta, 60, the multi-millionaire chairman and CEO of infoUSA and focus of a major article in the New York Times in the Washington Post on May 26 regarding a lawsuit that brands his using the company's private jet to fly former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on personal, business and campaign trips as a 'waste of corporate assets,' has said it's all an effort to embarrass Hillary Clinton's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. infoUSA is one of America's leading marketing information companies that provide electronic, print...

Premiering Thursday, February 8 at 8pm et/pt SURVIVOR PING ! ! ! (Above photo courtesy of Survivor Phoenix) Stranded on the Fiji Islands in the heart of the South Pacific, 19 strangers must live together and compete for the million-dollar prize. Who will outwit, outplay, and outlast all others?

Fiji likely to be suspended from Commonwealth after coup UPDATE (Updates with further details) LONDON (AFX) - The Commonwealth is likely to suspend Fiji's membership later this week after its latest coup, the grouping's secretary general Don McKinnon said, condemning the military takeover. Foreign ministers from nine Commonwealth countries will meet in London on Friday to discuss the situation after Fiji's military commander seized control of the country -- the former British colony's fourth coup in two decades. 'The likelihood of Fiji being suspended is very high,' McKinnon told reporters, adding that the Commonwealth 'unreservedly condemns any military action against...

Friday December 1, 11:29 AM Fiji military chief to watch rugby before coup SUVA (Reuters) - Fiji's military chief maintained his threat on Friday to stage a coup if the government failed to meet his demands, but added he would not act until after the annual military versus police rugby game in Suva later in the day. Military Commander Frank Bainimarama gave Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase a 24-hour ultimatum on Thursday to clean up his government or face a coup, despite winning a series of concessions from the prime minister. "I maintain my demands and the deadline still stands and...

Update 10.40pm: The Fiji Times Limited has suspended publication after the Fiji military ordered the paper not to publish any "propaganda" against the new political leadership. Armed soldiers came to the Victoria Parade officers at 7.30pm, and asked for "assistance". After a brief discussion outside, the soldiers entered the building for a discussion in the papers newsroom. When questioned, spokesperson Sergeant Talei Tora told Managing Director Tony Yianni and Editor Samisoni Kakaivalu they could not publish anything from the "deposed" Qarase Government. She said of particular concern was any material that might incite trouble. Mr Yianni and Mr Kakaivalu...

Army commander Commander Voreqe has taken over as head of state Bainimarama announced a short while ago that he was doing this to end the impasse. Dr Jona Senilagakali will be caretaker Prime Minister until an interim administration is appointed. Bainimarama said he had no intention of arresting the Prime Minister or other ministers. He said the 1997 Constitution was intact except for parts relating to the emergency powers.

WELLINGTON, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Soldiers in Suva have surrounded Monday building of Fiji's police tactical response unit as tension rises in the capital, local television reported. The television report said police had been locked out of their premises but no shots were fired. But Acting Fiji Police Commissioner Moses Driver later denied the police unit had been taken over. Tensions in Fiji have been high since Fiji's military chief, Commander Vorege Bainimarama threatened a month ago to remove Prime Minister Qarase from office. Fiji, a South Pacific nation of about 900,000 people, consists of 800-plus volcanic and coral islands....

SUVA (Reuters) - Fiji's military is likely to force the embattled government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase to step aside on Monday, military chief Commander Frank Bainimarama said. ADVERTISEMENT "Transition is expected to take place tomorrow as a deadline," Bainimarama told Fijian-language television on Sunday.

AUSTRALIA and New Zealand railed against Fiji's military today, denying its claim they had smuggled police into the Pacific country to intervene in its political crisis. Fiji's land forces commander Lieutenant Colonel Pita Driti yesterday said Australian and New Zealand police had been flown into Fiji in what he called a "gross breach of sovereignty". Lt Col. Driti suggested the action was part of an intervention in Fiji's affairs by foreign forces, and suggested a 400kg shipment that arrived with the Australians may be a haul of weapons. "We will not accept any foreign intervention," he said. Australia today said...

THE Australian Government has despatched a second warship to stand by near Fiji in case a mass evacuation is necessary following fears of a coup. Announcing the deployment of amphibious support ship, HMAS Kanimbla, from Townsville, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson tonight would not rule out military assistance from Australia if the Fijian Government asks for help. Australia sent the frigate, HMAS Newcastle, to waters near Fiji yesterday. The Government also revised its travel advisory to Fiji tonight, warning Australians to exercise "a high degree of caution" ... because of increased tensions between the Fiji government and military, and the possibility...

TWO Australian naval ships, with troops and helicopters, are heading to international waters outside Fiji while extra police have been offered to South Pacific island nation as threat of a military coup escalates. The amphibious warship, HMAS Kanimbla, with an undisclosed number of fighters, left port this evening in the wake of the HMAS Newcastle, which left sometime earlier. Defence Minister Brendan Nelson last night said the the Australian Government was very concerned about the event, while Foreign Minister Alexander Downer conceded a coup was a "reasonable chance". Dr Nelson called on the Fijian defence chief Frank Bainimarama to respect...

THE Australian Defence Force (ADF) was making "sensible" preparations to ensure the safety of Australians on Fiji if there was a military coup, defence head Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said today. Air Chief Marshal Houston said the situation remained quiet and there was no suggestion any of the estimated 7000 Australians now in Fiji faced any threat. But, Air Chief Marshal Houston said, the ADF remained concerned about the situation and would play its part if called upon. “Essentially, we are doing sensible contingency planning and we haven't had any requests (to intervene) at this point,” he told a...

PASSENGERS on an international flight have been evacuated from a plane at Sydney Airport after a threat was made against the aircraft. "A Pacific Blue flight from Nadi, Fiji, which landed at approximately 5.45pm (AEST) today has had a threat made against it," Sydney Airport Corporation spokesman Peter Vickary said. "That aircraft has been parked away from the terminal, the passengers have been evacuated and the NSW police are now investigating." The Seven Network says the threat against the 737 aircraft was made from the Philippines .. while the plane was en route from Fiji. The east-west runway at Sydney...

10 minutes ago SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian police said on Thursday they were investigating reports that a suspicious device may have been found on board a flight that landed at Sydney airport from Fiji. A police spokesman said the reports were unconfirmed. Passengers and crew were evacuated from the plane, which has been parked away from the main terminal buildings while it is being searched, the spokesman said. No further details were available.

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Magnitude 8.1 earthquake near Island of Tonga in South Pacific more to follow

The Queen has approved the appointment of Judge Anand Satyanand to succeed Dame Silvia Cartwright as Governor-General of New Zealand. Prime Minister Helen Clark had high praise for the Judge and welcomed his appointment. "Judge Satyanand will bring many personal strengths to the role of Governor-General, including a broad knowledge of the workings of government and the law, as well as a deep appreciation of the different groups and communities which make up contemporary New Zealand. "Judge Satyanand has had a multi-faceted career as a lawyer, a judge, and an ombudsman. Throughout his working life Judge Satyanand has made a...

TOKYO, March 27 (UPI) -- China's insatiable appetite for energy and natural resources, and its desire to secure the sea lanes through which such resources are transported, are propelling the country's outreach to even the smallest of the Pacific Islands, leaders from the island nations heard last week at a convention in Tokyo. China's determination to undermine Taiwan's influence in the South Pacific is prompting generous assistance in infrastructure projects, such as building sports complexes in Fiji and Kiribati, and providing cargo ships to Vanuatu. Representatives from 22 island nations gathered in Tokyo at the Asia-Pacific Island Nations Summit from...

Fiji military chief threatens new coup Fiji is once again on the brink of a military coup after its belligerent armed forces chief threatened to remove the Government, accusing it of imposing racist policies in the ethnically divided country. Commodore Frank Bainimarama issued a statement on Sunday night saying the military was prepared to take power in what would be the Pacific nation's fourth coup in 19 years. He also warned the Government it would be naive to underestimate him. His outburst came in response to a comment by a Fijian official describing as petty the military boss's latest feud...

Magnitude 7.1 - FIJI REGION 2006 January 2 22:13:40 UTC Preliminary Earthquake Report U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information CenterWorld Data Center for Seismology, Denver A major earthquake occurred at 22:13:40 (UTC) on Monday, January 2, 2006. The magnitude 7.1 event has been located in the FIJI REGION. The hypocentral depth was estimated to be 579 km (360 miles). (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.) Magnitude 7.1 Date-Time Monday, January 2, 2006 at 22:13:40 (UTC) = Coordinated Universal Time Tuesday, January 3, 2006 at 10:13:40 AM = local time at epicenter Location 19.878°S, 178.233°W Depth 579.1 km...

Undersea Quake Spawns Tsunami Warning in Fiji Tuesday, December 13, 2005 SUVA, Fiji — A powerful undersea earthquake struck near Fiji on Tuesday, and officials issued a tsunami alert for the local area. The 6.3 magnitude quake occurred at 3:16 p.m. local time about 150 miles northeast of Vanua Levu, the main tourist spot in Fiji's chain of islands. The U.S. Geological Survey said it was 18 miles deep. No damage or injuries were immediately reported. The agency initially reported a second quake nearby, much deeper and with a magnitude of 6.8. But the USGS removed the second quake from...

Fiji' Mineral Resources Department has issued a tsunami warning for coastal areas near Labasa and the north west coast of Viti Levu. Fiji TV reports that this follows an undersea earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale 160km north west of Labasa this afternoon. No reports of damage have been received yet. But a spokesman for the Mineral Resources Department, Lasarusa Vuetibau, says an undersea earthquake of this type which occurred 29km below the sea can generate tsunamis. He says people living along coastal areas should be on alert night and be ready to evacuate.

Three years ago -December 2002 - I was asked to take part in a symposium on Europe and began with the observation: "I find it easier to be optimistic about the futures of Iraq and Pakistan than, say, Holland or Denmark." At the time, this was taken as confirmation of my descent into insanity. I can't see why. Compare, for example, the Iraqi and the European constitutions: which would you say reflected a shrewder grasp of the realities on the ground? Or take last week's attacks in Jordan by a quartet of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's finest suicide bombers. The day...

Tonga’s Surveyor General, Tevita Malolo, has dismissed claims from Fiji of ownership of the Minerva reef. The reef, which is south of both Fiji and Tonga, has been claimed by the people of Ono-i-Lau in Fiji’s Lau Group as the traditional fishing ground of their ancestors for centuries. The islanders now say they may have overlooked Minerva Reef when registering their fishing and land rights and have asked the government to secure it for them, despite it being officially claimed by Tonga. But Mr Malolo says the reef, which the kingdom considers two islands, was proclaimed as Tonga’s by its...

It might sound nuts, but two engineering students in New Zealand claim that coconut oil can be used as an alternative to diesel, providing a possible answer to rising fuel cost woes. Samoan Dominic Schwalger and Penaia Rogoiumari from Fiji, both students at Auckland University in northern New Zealand, demonstrated on Friday how a diesel engine can run on a blend of diesel and coconut oil, or on pure coconut oil alone. "What we have shown is that without any modification to either the pure oil or the engine you can use it as an alternative fuel,'' they said in...

Armed military police are on standby to fly to one of France's most remote colonies as a feud between two tribal leaders threatens to erupt into violence. Wallis and Futuna, one of the world's smallest territories, consists of just two inhabited islands north of Fiji in the South Pacific. Riot squad police from another French colony, New Caledonia, were preparing to descend on the Polynesian island to confront the king's supporters, who blocked roads with cars, trucks and felled coconut trees to prevent the coronation taking place. Its 14,000 people are governed by a French prefect appointed by Paris, with...

AUSTRALIA has moved to head off another military coup in Fiji, warning the chief of the island nation's defence force his threats to overthrow the Government are not "the proper role for the military in a democracy". The Fijian military has threatened "to do its utmost" to prevent passage of a parliamentary bill that would exonerate thugs involved in the 2000 coup, including jailed civilian ringleader George Speight. The Government of Laisena Qarase has put a Reconciliation, Tolerance and Unity bill before parliament, which has bitterly divided Fijians because it seeks amnesties for perpetrators of the 2000 coup. Speight was...

New Lapita find re-dates known Fiji settlers VITAL CLUE: The pottery shard, at least 200 years older than any other piece found in Fiji, is thought to be the work of the Lapita people that originated near Taiwan AFP , AUCKLAND Sunday, Oct 24, 2004 A biological anthropologist excavates a skeleton after archeologists discovered a 3,000-year-old cemetery in Vanuatu in August, holding secrets about the first humans to colonize the South Pacific. A shard of pottery showing a human face, pre-dating any other Lapita pottery in Fiji, has now been found and hailed a s a significant discovery. PHOTO: AFP...

This Sunday, the first indigenous Fijian Bishop in the worldwide Anglican Church will be installed at a service at St Thomas’ Anglican Church in Labassa, Fiji. He is the Right Reverend Apimeleki Nadoki Qiliho, and he becomes the first Anglican Bishop in Vanua Levu and Taveuni. Bishop Qiliho was one of three new Polynesian bishops consecrated at a huge service at Suva's Holy Trinity Cathedral on Sunday, April 10. He was born in 1945, in the village of Rukurukulevu, Tikina o Cuvu, in Nadroga Province. After leaving high school, he worked for a couple of years for CSR, before being...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents brought down a Russian-made helicopter carrying 11 civilians with missile fire north of the capital Thursday and said they captured and shot to death the lone crew member who survived. The dead from the crash included six American bodyguards for U.S. diplomats. The crash site of a commercial helicopter contracted by the U.S. Defense Department which was shot down by missile fire north of the Iraqi capital, Thursday, April 21, 2005, the Bulgarian Defense Ministry said in a statement. The crash killed at least six Americans and three Bulgarians, officials said. The Mi-8 helicopter went down...

Australian jailed over gay sexA FIJI magistrate has sentenced a Victorian tourist and a Fijian man to two years' jail for what the judge called a "shameful" and "disgusting" homosexual act. Gay activists have condemned the decision. Retired university lecturer Thomas Maxwell McCoskar, 55, of Victoria, and Dhirendra Nandan, 23, had pleaded guilty to having sex in Nadi over Easter and asked the court for leniency, the Fiji Times reported. Gay sex is illegal in Fiji and carries a maximum jail term of 14 years. Magistrate Syed Muhktar Shah said in Suva on Tuesday McCoskar and Nandan were guilty of...

SUVA - Villagers in Fiji plan to challenge the sale of an island hideaway to Hollywood star Mel Gibson, claiming their ancestors were cheated out of the land over a century ago and those who refused to leave murdered, a report said. Namalata Development Committee chairman Timoci Waqalevu alleged the villagers were defrauded when the 21 square kilometre (eight square mile) Mago Island in the Lau group was sold by chiefs in the 19th century for 2,000 coconut plants, the Fiji Times said. The island was on the market late last year for $15 million and was reportedly bought by...

Hollywood mega star Mel Gibson is considering buying a Fijian island. The Australian Herald Sun paper reports that the Aussie-raised Gibson had been flown by helicopter to Mago Island which is on the market. The Fiji Times reported first on Gibson's foray into island adventure. No doubt Mel is looking for a place as far away as possible from Hollywood's p.c. crowd. Gibson could not be contacted for comment and was said to be staying with his family on an estate nearby. Mago Island's asking price is $19 million. It was described as having pristine ecology and terrain, rises to...

AUCKLAND -- Fiji's battered military is aiming to find redemption amidst the dust and blood of Iraq, hopefully burying their reputation for violence and instability at home. With Australian Defence Force (ADF) aid, Fiji is to provide a 155-strong military contingent for the United Nations in Iraq ahead of January 30 elections. The ADF has provided training, transport and -- for the first time since Fiji's 2000 coup -- arms and ammunition. The Iraq deployment will be a modest operation measured against past missions for the almost 10,000 strong Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF). It could be a chance...

Free trade leads to loss in earning: PM (Tuesday, September 28, 2004) The European Union and World Trade Organisation's (WTO) insistence on free and open trade would mean massive losses in export earnings for Fiji, said Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase. Mr Qarase, while addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York last week, said this was why Fiji welcomed the staging by the United Nations of a special conference of small Island states next year to review the UN Plan of Action for the African Caribbean Pacific countries. "For sugar open trade means low prices below production costs despite...

WWII U.S. Fighter Wreckage Found in Fiji ASSOCIATED PRESS SUVA, Fiji (AP) - The wreck of a World War II U.S. fighter plane has been found in the wild center of Fiji by a pig hunter, police said Wednesday. The villager from the central highlands of Fiji's main island of Viti Levu was hunting wild pigs when he stumbled across the wreckage, said police spokesman Mesake Koroi. He said the hunter first found an ammunition belt, then other pieces of plane wreckage. Koroi said the wreckage was believed to be from a U.S. fighter that took off from Nadi Airport...

SUVA, Fiji (AP) - Police raided a huge methamphetamine factory in Fiji's capital Wednesday, arresting seven people and seizing enough chemicals to make $540 million worth of the drug. Officers found drugs "bubbling away" in a three-building complex stacked with drums of chemicals and equipment, Fiji police commissioner Andrew Hughes said. They arrested four Asians and three Fijians, Hughes said. The same day, police in Hong Kong arrested a man suspected of laundering proceeds for the drug syndicate that runs the Fijian laboratory. Hong Kong police said the four Asians arrested in the Fiji raid were Hong Kong residents. Police...

CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush (news - web sites) announced agreements with another four countries to exempt Americans from prosecution by the International Criminal Court, which it staunchly opposes. The 1998 Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court has been ratified by 90 countries, but the court faces opposition from the United States. Bush administration officials fear that Americans, particularly soldiers abroad, could fall victim to politically motivated prosecutions. The Bush administration has signed bilateral treaties with more than three dozen countries that have agreed not to hand over American citizens to the court. The latest, according to a statement...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. A small songbird believed to have become extinct more than a century ago has been found alive and well in Fiji. A team from BirdLife International discovered the bird, the long-legged warbler, after hearing its distinctive and haunting call in a mountain valley. BirdLife says the 12 pairs of warblers it has seen are safe for the moment in their remote home in the dense forest. But the birds are at risk from forest clearance elsewhere, and from mongooses introduced to the islands to kill rats. The warbler is known also...

Fiji villagers sorry for cannibalism 136 years ago The Associated Press NABUTAUTAU, Fiji -- Villagers in a remote Fijian community staged an elaborate ceremony of apology Thursday for the relatives of a British missionary killed and eaten here 136 years ago. The Rev. Thomas Baker and eight Fijian followers were killed and devoured by cannibals in 1867 in the village of Nabutautau, high in the hills of the South Pacific island of Viti Levu. Residents say their community has been cursed ever since. In a mixture of ancient pagan and modern Christian rites, the villagers have staged a series of...

<p>BRISBANE, Australia (AP) -- The Australian descendants of a Christian missionary eaten by cannibals 136 years ago will travel to Fiji this week, hoping to help lift a curse on the village where he was killed.</p> <p>Rev. Thomas Baker was murdered in 1867 at Nubutautau, a remote community high in the hills of the South Pacific island of Viti Levu.</p>