court case

Ruben Bong, will appear before the Magistrates Court today, to face charges of cyber stalking.

It will be the first time Vanuatu's new cybercrime laws, which were passed last year, are tested in court.

Witnol Tor, a Facebook group moderator was also taken in by police in April with cyber stalking, cyber libel and cyber slander.

"They accused me of, that it was me who posted those things, I have no idea what they're talking about, about those fake accounts," he said.

. Now, a plea in the city's high court seeks to send him back home.

The petition - filed by 16-year-old Nikita Dhawan, founder of the non-profit Youth For Animals - alleges that Shankar has been living in isolation for years. It demands that he be removed from the zoo and rehabilitated in a wildlife sanctuary that houses other African elephants.

It also accuses zoo authorities of mistreating the animal - the BBC contacted officials but they declined to comment.

The 19 MPs had had their seats declared vacant by the former speaker Gracia Shadrack earlier this year after staging a protest and boycotting three consecutive sitting days.

On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that the 19 MPs would retain their seats bringing an end to months of instability and uncertainty in Vanuatu politics.

According to the national broadcaster VBTC the ruling centred on the vagueness of the word 'absent' as used in the parliamentary standing orders.

It is unclear at this stage whether or not the ruling will be appealed.

The star is accused of racketeering, sexual abuse and bribery; charges which he has repeatedly denied.

Some of the allegations made against the singer - whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly - date back more than 20 years.

If he is convicted on all counts he could be sentenced to several decades in prison.

Opening statements were delivered to a jury of seven men and five women, who will decide the 54-year-old singer's fate.

Mr Kelly faces charges that he was the ringleader of a two-decade scheme where he recruited women and underage girls for sex.

In early June the speaker of parliament at that time, Gracia Shadrack, declared that 19 seats held by Loughman and other government MPs, were vacant, because the MPs had been absent from parliament for three consecutive days.

Vanuatu's Supreme Court subsequently upheld the declaration.

But the government claimed that Supreme Court Judge, Oliver Saksak, erred by dismissing their constitutional application.

The MPs had contended that only the Supreme Court itself could declare seats vacant and had not done so.

Speaker of Parliament, Gracia Shadrack, told Members of Parliament in the Chamber that based on powers given to the Speaker under the Standing Order, he was adjourning the meeting to Wednesday .

The reason behind the adjournment was due to pending cases in Court that are related to the current political impasse that saw the Speaker announcing the seats of 19 MPs being vacant before the Supreme Court issued an Exparte Order for the MPs to return to parliament as the Court deals with their case and other issues at hand.

This after a Supreme Court stay on a ruling by Speaker, Gracia Shadrack, who declared the seats of 19 government MPs, including Prime Minister Bob Loughmann, were vacant.

Shadrack took this action after the government boycotted parliament and missed three consecutive sitting days.

That decision is to be ruled on by the Supreme Court but not before Monday when lawyers from both sides are to hold a conference on the issue.

An agreement has been reached for parliament to resume on Friday.

FBC News reports the students pleaded guilty to charges of failing to comply with the Public Health Protection Notice issued by the Permanent Secretary of Health.

The Court heard they had gathered for a drinking session at a house along Nailuva Road in Suva, and breached social gatherings protocol by doing that.

The students showed remorse in court for breaching the notice which is there to protect people from COVID-19.

The court heard that majority of the students are sponsored by the Vanuatu government.

The Minister of Climate Change, Bruno Leingkon, is facing charges of breaching aviation regulations.

He is alleged to have been drunk on a trip last year.

It's claimed he harassed a female pilot, causing her to return the flight to Santo soon after taking off.

Friday, after his appearance in a preliminary inquiry, Leingkon's associates told journalists they could not take his photo.

When it was pointed out this was not the case, the cabinet minister escaped by using a back door in the courthouse.

The ousted leader appeared to be in "good health" and asked to see her legal team, her lawyers say.

Two new charges were announced against Ms Suu Kyi, who was arrested after the 1 February coup.

Meanwhile, protesters took to the streets again despite Sunday seeing the deadliest day yet with 18 killed.

The deaths came as the military and police ramped up their response to demonstrations across the South East Asian nation over the weekend, firing into the crowds.