Fiji

RNZ reports a flood alert is in force for Rakiraki town and downstream of Rakiraki station and flood alerts are in place for low lying areas near major rivers around the country.

The Fiji Met Service said the tropical disturbance bringing the rain remained slow moving.

The storm, known as TD09F, was about 290 kilometres south of Suva at midnight Fiji time.

More bad weather is approaching Fiji from the far west bringing more rain and thunderstorms for the country from Friday.

The Blitz Boks have won three of the four tournaments this season, opening up a 17 point lead over the English, who leapfrogged Fiji into second place in the overall standings

South Africa coach Neil Powell said it was especially satisfying after losing to England in pool play a day earlier.

"For the guys to come out and beating them in this way was great," he said.

Loghman Sawari, who is 21, fled to Fiji from Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.

He and his lawyer were on their way to meet with Immigration in Suva on Friday to seek asylum when he was stopped by police and put on a plane back to PNG.

Amnesty's Pacific Researcher, Kate Schuetze, said Fiji had failed an important test at a time when it's making a bid for a seat on the UN's Human Rights Council.

"The Fijian authorities gave assurances that he would not be arrested before he had that interview."

They avoided the waiting media for the last five hours after the Air Niugini aircraft he was on landed at 12:10pm.

Five hours later immigration and police officers whisked him out of the international terminal even before the waiting media could take pictures and do an interview.

The Land Cruiser registration number BEW 987 was believed to be from the Immigration Department.

The question which remains to be answered is why did Immigration officials whisk the refugee away without talking to the waiting media regarding this national issue.

Loghman Sawari was taken to the Nadi International Airport Departures Area after police and immigration intercepted the vehicle he was in with his lawyer, Aman Ravindra-Singh, this morning.

The pair were to meet with the Immigration Director Nemani Vuniwaqa.

Mr Sawari was taken into immigration custody just after 7.30am local time.

Fiji Village reports Mr Sawari came to Fiji on a PNG passport and his Immigration Arrival Card had misleading information.

He is a declared refugee in PNG.

Photo: Loghman Sawari in Fiji

New Zealand Rugby has two years to run on its contract with World Rugby, but it struggled to get 10,000 people each day into Westpac Stadium.

After 18 years of Wellington playing host, there's fresh calls to take the tournament to Fiji, the home of the Rugby Sevens Olympic champions.

The NZR General Manager of Relationships, Planning and Operations Nigel Cass says the tournament has been arguably the world's most successful but it's not as fresh as it once was.

The Fijiana finished fifth at the opening leg in Dubai in December and head coach Iliesa Tanivula said their goal remains to become a semifinal regular.

"We just didn't take our chances in the quarter final against England - we thought we gave it away," he said.

"We put a lot of pressure on ourselves and made a couple of silly mistakes but it's something that we've spoken about as a squad.

"We've really worked hard and the girls have really really bought into it so just looking forward to this weekend."

"This is the end for me," said Loghman Sawari, whose time in PNG he claims has been punctuated by beatings, bullying, imprisonment, illness, suicide attempts and living on the street in Lae, one of the country's most dangerous cities.

The 21-year-old Ahwazi Arab managed to board a plane under a false name after he said he was threatened by a PNG immigration official and lost hope of being resettled in the United States under President Donald Trump.

The Suva Sevens has a nice ring to it.

Former New Zealand sevens coach Gordon Tietjens, now in charge of the Samoan sevens team, has suggested taking the Wellington Sevens to the islands following their dire crowd numbers this past weekend.

He told 1News that a country like Samoa or Fiji would love to host a tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series.

Just 18,000 out of a possible 70,000 are believed to have attended the annual Wellington event.

It was reported by Fiji Times that President Taneti Mamau visited the village of Naviavia, which is next to the purchased land, to reassure it that development of the land would be mutually beneficial.

Mr Mamau said yaqona or kava and vegetables were the major commercial crops he envisioned being grown on the land.

He reassured the Naviavia villagers that there would be no drastic measures taken over ownership of the land but said he hoped that they could be good neighbours looking out for each other’s needs.