Fiji

The Samoa Submarine Cable Company said Samoa, Fiji, and Wallis and Futuna are now inter-connected via the undersea optical fibre system which spans more than 1,470 kilometres.

Samoa's Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Afamasaga Rico Tupa'i, said it's a significant milestone for the project to bring high speed broadband to everyone in Samoa.

The new internet connection is expected to be operational next month.

The party, which has no seats in parliament, has 60 days to remedy the breach.

Earlier this month SODELPA, the largest opposition party in Fiji's parliament, announced Tabuya would stand as one of its candidates in the next election which is due next year.

She said it was the most pragmatic way to go given the five percent threshold for parties to gain a seat and she said the PDP had agreed not to put forward any candidates.

The two parties have been given seven days to provide Saneem with copies of the Memorandum of Understanding they signed earlier this month.

The boat went missing on Christmas day while returning to Tovu on Totoya Island, south-east of Fiji.

The New Zealand Defence Force was called on to look for the vessel this morning.

The Defence Force deployed a P-3K2 Orion aircraft from Auckland. A Fijian Navy Patrol Vessel also assisted in the search.

Defence Force spokesperson Darryn Webb said it was luck the boat drifted to Totoya Island, and not further out to sea.

The governments of Fiji and Nauru have signed a memorandum of understanding for the expansion of an existing volunteer scheme.   

At a signing ceremony in Suva today, Fiji’s Roving Ambassador, Litia Mawi said more Fijian volunteers are available for Pacific countries that faced skills shortages.

Ambassador Mawi, signed a memorandum of agreement with the Ambassador of Nauru, Kim Aroi.

The MOU is the third of its kind since 2012.

The Fijians finished fourth in the opening round in Dubai and fifth a week later in Cape Town.

On both occasions their Cup run was ended by South Africa, (12-7) in the semi and (31-26) quarter finals respectively.

"We had a bad loss against Canada in the pool stages in Cape Town which took a bit of a shine off the week but generally we've moved in the right direction," reflected Gareth Baber.

The Minister of Employment, Productivity & Industrial Relations, Jone Usamate made these comments while speaking at the CAFF and NTPC graduation at Novotel Entertainment Centre, Lami.

“I want to see a growth in young graduates taking up trade areas and even exploring youth entrepreneurship,” said Usamate.

“Unemployment is a major challenge of our time. Here in Fiji, unemployment is now down to 5.5 percent, which is the lowest it has been in 15 years. A significant portion of our workforce is engaged in informal work or in subsistence economy.”

The Fijians thrashed Tuvalu 8-0 in Saturday's opening round, while Solomon Islands racked up the same scoreline against Tonga.

Fiji coach Christophe Gamel said despite the lopsided scoreline they made a number of big mistakes, which they couldn't afford to repeat against the Bonitos.

"We know their values, they are technical players. Let's see, it will be interesting for the youth also and for me to compete against this team, it's always interesting," Gamel said.

Solomon Islands coach Felipe Vega-Arango is taking more of a long term approach.

Simeon Stefanov Minchev, Veliko Zhelev Velikov and Plamen Dimitrov Petrov appeared at the Lautoka Magistrates Court Monday.

The alleged incidents occurred at ATM machines between Lautoka to Nadi around the 09 -12 last month.

The first accused Simeon Stefanov Minchev has been further charged with a separate count for the offence of unauthorised access to Restricted Data for using a skimming device at the Bred Bank in Lautoka.

The 22-year-old Penrith powerhouse goes by the nickname “Bill” and Kangaroos forward Reagan Campbell-Gillard knows only too well the devastation he can cause after watching  him “terrorising people” in the Intrust Super Premiership this year.

Kikau stands at 195cm and weighs in at 119kg.

Seven days on from his side's impressive thrashing of South Africa, Ireland coach Joe Schmidt made 13 alterations to his starting XV but initially watched on with comfort as tries from Darren Sweetnam, Dave Kearney and Jack Conan put the hosts in command.

Fiji refused to give in, however, and pulled level when Henry Seniloli's eye-catching score was followed by Timoci Nagusa intercepting a Kearney pass to go over in the 45th minute.