Fiji

The Grace Road Church has extensive business networks in Fiji, but the government said these would not be affected by Shin Ok-joo's arrest.

The police in South Korea said Ms Shin, who was arrested last week, has been charged with slavery and foreign exchange violation.

Her church believes an armageddon is coming, and Fiji is the only place in the world that will escape it.

Up to 400 Korean followers are reported to have worked in Fiji, but South Korean authorities said their passports were confiscated and they're not being allowed to leave.

Forty kilogrammes of cocaine were found earlier this month on the same island.

The defence force said more than 12 kilogrammes of the drug was found on the island in the Lau group last week.

A New Zealand navy ship is helping Fiji patrol its waters and it moved in after a request from Fiji's customs agency.

An earlier 40 kilogramme cocaine haul is estimated to be worth about $US15 million.

An Australian couple have also appeared in court for smuggling 15 kilograms of cocaine and $US10 to 15 million worth of ecstasy into Fiji.

Sitiveni Rabuka was charged in June by the anti-corruption body, FICAC, for providing a false declaration of assets, income and liabilities.

The former prime minister and coup leader has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Mr Rabuka's party, SODELPA, says the unforeseen request from FICAC for a further round of interviews has meant he had to call short his week of meetings in Macuata.

It gave no details about what it is FICAC wanted to talk about.

The operation was initiated when the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) was tipped off that there were bars found on an island in Lau believed to contain illicit drugs.

The information led to a joint operation between FRCS, Police and the Fiji Navy in seizing the bars from the island.

According to a statement from FRCS, the bars weighing 40 kilograms were retrieved and secured and after testing were confirmed to be cocaine.

Customs said a search of the boat led to the seizure of a large quantity of a mix of ammunition.

Revenue and Custom chief executive Visvanath Das said the agency's intelligence and profiling processes were determining high-risk vessels and collaborative efforts with Fiji police and the navy led to the seizure.

He said customs last weekend discovered a massive drug find on an Australian-based yacht and now officers had exposed another smuggling attempt.

The NDMO Director Anare Leweniqila says 804 houses have been damaged, 201 of which were fully destroyed.

Mr Leweniqila said 104 evacuation centers remain active with 803 evacuees.

He said the relief and recovery phase continued in Kadavu with assessment teams to work through the 75 villages in the area by the end of the week.

FBC news reported the collective cost of damage for the Western and Northern Divisions was expected to be finalised by Friday.

Prime minister Frank Bainimarama has announced a new package for people hard hit by recent back to back cyclones and flooding.

He announced the Cyclone Assistance Relief Effort for Fiji package or CARE for Fiji before flying out last night for London.

Mr Bainimarama is on his way to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

Prime Minister Bainimarama said people earning less than FJ$50,000 dollars a year and whose homes were totally destroyed or suffering severe damage qualify for the funds.

One of the owners of the Matavai Resort on Kadavu Luke Kerchevale says the storm seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Quite a large boat is capsized because we couldn't get it to shelter soon enough. We've had a number of huge mango trees come down on a lot of our buildings," said Luke Kerchevale.

The Australian who along with co-owner Mark hails from Canberra and Sydney said thankfully all of their staff and guests were safe but he said they were really worried for people in the nearby villages.

The Fiji Met Service said the cyclone remains a category three storm packing winds of 130 kilometres per hour, gusting up to 185.

However, Keni was forecast to weaken drastically as it continued to move southeast into cooler waters.

The Met Service said within the next 18 hours the system could cease to be a cyclone.

Cyclone Keni wreaked havoc as it passed the southern islands of Fiji overnight bringing destructive winds and downpours causing flooding.

Cyclone Keni is Category 3 storm and is expected to be closest to the islands from midday today.

The Fiji weather office is expecting Keni to pass south of Nadi before making landfall over the southern island of Kadavu.

People are being told to expect destructive winds of up to 170 kilometres an hour.

The government says they need to prepare a three day family disaster kit, strengthen their homes, be ready for power cuts and evacuate if need be.

It's the second cyclone to hit Fiji in just over a week after Cyclone Josie left six people dead over Easter.