Fiji

The Fiji Met Service says Tropical Cyclone Josie is moving 25 kph East-South East, away from the Fiji group.

It says the category one cyclone is expected to have average winds of up to 75kph with momentary gusts upto to 100 kph.

A gale warning remains in force the Yasawa and Mamanuca group, Viti Levu, Kadavu, Lau and Lomaiviti group, and nearby smaller islands.

A strong wind warning remains in force for the rest of the Fiji.

A heavy rain warning remains in force for the whole of the Fiji group.

Speaking in the Solomons parliament Monday, Manasseh Sogavare said Fiji should apologise for bringing Indonesia into the MSG.  

He said Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama breached MSG procedure by forcing the other four full members to accept Indonesia as part of the sub-regional grouping, whose full members are Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and FLNKS Kanaks movement of New Caledonia.  

Indonesia was admitted to the MSG with observer status in 2011 after Bainimarama assumed the MSG's rotational chairmanship.  

The tender process ended this week and FRU CEO, John O'Connor says the Union complied with the bid requirements and submitted their bid to World Rugby prior to the deadline.

O'Connor said the FRU together with the Fiji Rugby Bid team, led by Brian Thorburn and Greg Peters, were confident they had submitted a credible and strong bid which ticked all the criteria boxes in all the categories as set out by World Rugby.

The FRU will make public the details of its submission at the Fiji Rugby Awards Dinner on March 9.

The plane belonging to Pacific Flying School went missing on Monday afternoon while on a training exercise.

The wreckage and bodies were found Wednesday afternoon in rugged terrain near Delaikoro Mountain not far from Labasa Airport.

Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police, Rusiate Tudravu says the efforts currently being coordinated through the Search and Rescue Command Centre will now focus on securing the crash site for the arrival of the appointed New Zealand‑based Air Accident Investigator.

The Cessna 172 from the Pacific Flying School was carrying a flight instructor and a student pilot when it disappeared.

Lieutenant Sairusi Colati from the Fiji Rescue Co-ordination Centre said the search, which included soldiers and police, was continuing southwest of Labasa.

He said airborne and ground searchers were being used with their attention now focussed by information from villagers near Mt Delaikoro in the middle of Vanua Levu.

Cyclone Gita was earlier upgraded to a category five - the highest possible.

The office's director, Anare Leweniqila, said damage assessments were on-going, but so far there were no reports of casualties or injuries on Ono-i-Lau.

"We have only received reports of three completely destroyed houses and we are just working around trying to ascertain the nature of these structures."

Mr Leweniqila said it was unclear if the homes were Fijian bures, made of corrugated iron or wood.

It's expected to strengthen to a category five today as it moves towards Fiji tonight. The last time a category five cyclone hit the Pacific was in February 2016 when Cyclone Winston killed 44 people in Fiji.

Gita earlier hit the islands of Tongatapu and 'Eua as a category four storm, with winds of up to 230km/h.

A hurricane warning remains in force for Fiji's southern Lau group. Ono-i-Lau and Vatoa are expected to be hit with average wind speeds of up to 195km/h, gusting up to 275km/h, Fiji's Meteorological Service director Ravid Kumar said.

Playing in their first Cup final of the season, the Fijians overcame a yellow card and a 12 point half-time deficit, with Alosio Sovita Naduva bagging a hat-trick in a man of the match performance.

It was Fiji's first World Series win since Hong Kong ten months ago and coach Gareth Baber said the players stepped up when it mattered.

"I think everything is down to them really: their character, their belief, their love for their country and their families back home and their faith in god," he said.

Led by new coach Aaron Mauger, the Dunedin-based side have agreed to stage a home game in Suva on June 30 against the Colin Cooper-coached Chiefs - who have played the Crusaders in Fiji in 2016 and 2017.

Club chief Roger Clark says it is a sound sporting decision.

"We are aware of the large following Super Rugby enjoys in Fiji and we're happy to have the chance to showcase our style of game in the islands," Clark said.

"Fiji has produced so many great players including our own Waisake Naholo - it will be great experience for him and all the players."

Civoniceva, who captained the Bati at the 2013 World Cup, believes his three-year campaign for a Fiji team in the Intrust Super Premiership NSW will finally come to fruition in 2019 after the FNRL wrote to the NSWRL to advise they had formally endorsed the bid at a recent board meeting.

"The endorsement of the FNRL was the missing piece in the jigsaw so now that we have got that it allows us to start to set up for 2019," Civoniceva told NRL.com.