Fiji

A man riding his horse in the area Monday morning found the bodies after he saw a toddler crawling on the side of the road close to where the bodies were.

A relative has identified the deceased who include 3 adults and 2 children.

The victims from Nadi are a carpenter and his wife, their 34-year-old daughter and her two daughters.

The toddler is reported to be the child of the 34-year old woman’s sister who lives in Australia.

The child is being kept under observation in hospital.

The family’s car was recovered from a supermarket carpark Monday night.

The decision was made yesterday following 13 days of searching in Natewa Bay in Vanua Levu.

The investigator in charge of the search Andrew McGregor said his team has done everything they can to find the pair and the wreckage of the helicopter, but conditions in Natewa Bay have proved too difficult.

Australian pilot Gilbert Parker was transporting the sick toddler and his mother to a hospital when the incident happened on 2 August.

The mother's body was recovered by villagers from the Natewa Bay shoreline the next day.

Australian pilot Gilbert Parker and a two-year-old boy are still missing.

Mr Parker, of Victoria, was transporting the sick toddler and his mother to a hospital on 2 August when the incident happened.

The mother's body was recovered by villagers from the Natewa Bay shoreline the next day.

Lead investigator Andrew McGregor told FBC News the tail was located to the north of Natewa Bay.

Mr McGregor said the search teams also found bits and pieces of the wreckage in the same area.

He said this indicated how strong the currents have been.

Illicit drug discoveries have increased by 13 percent on the same time last year according to Mr Seruiratu.

The minister told parliament that in the past two years, nearly $US30-million worth of hard drugs had been seized at the border.

Only last week, he said, the navy and police were deployed to an outer island, where they found shipping containers packed with drugs.

That's just the latest in a string of recent finds in Fiji, including a large bust in the hull of yacht, and bricks of cocaine that started washing up on beaches.

Shin Ok-ju was jailed for six years for enslaving hundreds of followers in Fiji, and forcing them to work in cult-run businesses.

In the wake of the sentencing, opposition leader Sitiveni Rabuka called for the permanent secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister, Yogesh Karan, to resign for saying it didn't need to be investigated.

Mr Karan said he stands by his August statement, because none of the cult members in Fiji had breached their visa conditions.

He also accused the government of turning a blind eye to Grace Road to preserve business links.

The injury blow also comes just seven weeks out from the Rugby World Cup.

Samoa were narrowly beaten 13-10 by the USA at ANZ stadium in Suva, the second-ever win for the Eagles, led by fly-half AJ MacGinty, over the Manu.

Samoa's coach Steve Jackson said they went in at half-time with a bit of wind in their sails, but overall struggled to execute their game plan at crucial moments.

However, Manu Samoa remains upbeat and positive ahead of Saturday’s much awaited showdown against a free-flowing Fijian side in Suva.

“Fiji possesses a different challenge this week with the way they play the game. Big fast men running at pace. We know it will be very physical against our Pacific neighbours. It’s an exciting challenge,” said Manu Samoa Defence Coach Tuifaasisina Alistair Rogers.

But it’s a challenge the Samoans can’t wait to take on – after a close run loss against the USA.

The founder of Grace Road Church, Shin Ok-ju, will spend the next six years in prison.

As many as 400 of Shin's followers moved to Fiji, where their passports were seized, and they were forced to endure violent rituals.

The church believes Fiji is the centre of a promised world and will be the one place to escape a looming apocalypse.

But many were forced to work on a plantation or at several church-run businesses, which South Korean prosecutors said were a front for the cult.

The Fijians qualified for the event for the first time after taking out the Pacific title at the International hiphop competition held in Auckland in April.

Director Tevita Tobeyaweni says her 20-member group will compete against 80 other crews from around the world in Arizona.

He said their dance styles consist of what hip-hop means to young Fijians but they also want to stay true to their culture.

The Business Link Pacific Portal is an innovative online platform designed to connect quality business advisors with small and medium-sized growing businesses in the Pacific.  

To mark the launch of the Portal, Business Link Pacific are co-hosting four launch events, one in each country, which are open to small and medium sized businesses and free to attend.