Fiji, still reeling from a severe storm that killed seven people last week and left 10 missing, was braced on Monday for strong winds that the meteorology centre warned were on the way. A strengthening high-pressure system was expected to bring heavy ocean swells and strong winds within 24 hours.
Wealthy nations should do more to alleviate global poverty that is being exploited by terrorist groups in poor countries, South African President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday.
An African, Caribbean and Pacific summit on trade and aid was on Friday set to venture into stormy political waters by strongly condemning nuclear waste shipments across the Pacific.
A powerful cyclone packing winds of up to 250km/h pounded some small islands in northern Fiji, but missed heavily populated areas in the South Pacific nation as it swung away to the south-east, officials said on Saturday. Cyclone Daman remained a category-four storm, forecaster Daini Donu said, but it was weakening.
A tropical cyclone bearing down on the South Pacific island nation of Fiji has intensified into a category-four storm, the second most powerful cyclone, with destructive winds up to 200km/h. Cyclone Daman is expected to hit the nation's second largest island Vanua Levu early on Saturday, officials said, as people began moving to higher ground.
Fiji's military chief was sworn in on Friday as the South Pacific nation's interim Prime Minister, cementing the power he seized by force one month ago in an armed coup. Commodore Frank Bainimarama promised to be "a true and faithful prime minister", during a swearing-in ceremony at Government House in Fiji's capital, Suva.
Fiji's military chief said on Tuesday the army had taken over the country, plunging the South Pacific island nation into its fourth coup in 20 years. "As of six o'clock this evening the military has taken over the running of the government and the country," Commander Frank Bainimarama told a news conference in Suva, the capital.
Heavily armed Fijian troops put up roadblocks throughout the capital on Monday night as fears of a fourth coup in 20 years gripped the South Pacific nation. Troops cut off several roads entering Suva and began guarding the president's residence, a Reuters witness said
