FRANK BAINIMARAMA

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — (AP) — Fiji's former leader Frank Bainimarama was due to appear in court Friday after both he and the nation's suspended police commissioner were arrested the day before and held overnight in jail. Last month, Bainimarama, 68, was suspended from parliament for three years for insulting the president, and this week he resigned from parliament in protest. Bainimarama and Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho each face a single charge of abuse of office. A former military commander, Bainimarama held power in Fiji for 16 years after first seizing the top job by force in a 2006 military coup. He later recast himself as a democratic leader by introducing a new constitution and winning elections in 2014 and 2018.

Fiji’s former leader Frank Bainimarama has been released on bail after pleading not guilty to abusing his power as prime minister by stopping a police investigation.

MELBOURNE, Australia — (AP) — Sitiveni Rabuka was sworn in as Fiji’s prime minister on Saturday more than two decades after the former military commander first held the office in a term lasting nearly seven years. Bainimarama, who served as Fiji’s prime minister for almost 16 years, and Fiji First had refused to concede the election results in the days following the polls. The result indicated that one member of the new ruling coalition was against the change in prime minister. Rabuka, who was also prime minister between 1992 and 1999, instigated two coups in 1987. Bainimarama instigated a coup in 2006 that led to the removal of Laisenia Quarase as prime minister, a role he then assumed until the elevation of Rabuka on Saturday.

MELBOURNE, Australia — (AP) — Sitiveni Rabuka was confirmed as Fiji’s next prime minister on Saturday more than two decades after the former military commander first held the office in a term lasting nearly seven years. But Bainimarama, who had served as Fiji’s prime minister for almost 16 years, and Fiji First refused to concede the election results in the days following the polls. The result indicated that one member of the new ruling coalition was against the change in prime minister. Rabuka, who was also prime minister between 1992 and 1999, instigated two coups in 1987. Bainimarama instigated a coup in 2006 that led to the removal of Laisenia Quarase as prime minister, a role he then assumed until the elevation of Rabuka on Saturday.

Sitiveni Rabuka has been sworn in as Fiji’s prime minister more than two decades after the former military commander first held the office in a term lasting nearly seven years.

The call to the military to help maintain security after a close election is an alarming development in a Pacific nation where democracy remains fragile and has experienced multiple military coups.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — (AP) — Fijian police on Thursday said they were calling in the military to help maintain security following a close election last week that is now being disputed. The two main contenders for prime minister this year were former coup leaders themselves. But New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern took a more cautious approach, saying she was waiting until the dust settled. Rabuka’s People’s Alliance Party won 21 seats and the affiliated National Federation Party won five seats, while Bainimarama’s Fiji First party secured 26 seats. The party decided Tuesday in a close 16-14 internal vote to go with Rabuka — a vote that Fiji First is now questioning.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — (AP) — Fijian police on Thursday said they were calling in the military to help maintain security following a close election last week that is now being disputed. The two main contenders for prime minister this year were former coup leaders themselves. But New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern took a more cautious approach, saying she was waiting until the dust settled. Rabuka’s People’s Alliance Party won 21 seats and the affiliated National Federation Party won five seats, while Bainimarama’s Fiji First party secured 26 seats. The party decided Tuesday in a close 16-14 internal vote to go with Rabuka — a vote that Fiji First is now questioning.

Fijian police say they are calling in the military to help maintain security following a close election last week that is now being disputed.

The group's comments came after five of the political parties that contested the election said they were launching a nationwide petition because they had no faith in the integrity of election officials. “The MOG did not observe any significant irregularities or issues during pre-polling, postal voting or election-day voting," Sharkie said. Rabuka said they were launching the petition because election officials had declined their earlier request to halt vote-counting until a forensic audit of the election system was conducted. Election officials said they'd found an anomaly in the system and needed to reload the results. Election officials later stopped their provisional count and switched to a final count.

An international group that monitored Fiji’s general election this week says it didn’t observe any voting irregularities and the process was transparent and credible.

This election has pitted two former coup leaders against each other. At around midnight, election officials announced they had found an anomaly in the app system used by the public to follow the election. When the next batch of results was posted on the app, Bainimarama's Fiji First party was solidly in the lead. Rabuka said he didn't have faith in the vote count after the glitch, and that results from party observers at polling stations didn't match those provided by election officials. Fiji is known abroad as a tourist paradise that is dotted with pristine beaches and filled with friendly, relaxed people.

The leaders of four political parties contesting Fiji’s general election called for an immediate halt to vote-counting after the online results app experienced a glitch and then the next batch of results swung in favor of the incumbent prime minister.

The United Nations chief is warning that “humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation.”.

A major U.N. meeting on the landmark Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty is about to begin after a long delay due to the coronavirus pandemic.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris assured Pacific island leaders of more U.S. engagement after acknowledging the United States may not have previously provided the diplomatic attention the region deserved.

Australia and New Zealand’s prime ministers have agreed that security concerns regarding China’s expanding influence must be discussed at a meeting of western Pacific leaders.

Australia and China are continuing their tit-for-tat diplomatic rivalry in the Pacific as the foreign ministers from each country pay separate visits to island nations.

Beijing's hopes to developing a marine plan for fisheries holding police training fell short over some countries' concerns over increasing geopolitical tensions and threatening regional stability.

Pacific Islands China China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, left, appears on stage at the Pacific Islands Foreign Ministers' meeting with Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, Monday, May 30, 2022, in Suva, Fiji. But there have been plenty of smaller wins for China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi as he continues an island-hopping tour of the region. Wang was in Fiji to co-host a key meeting with the foreign ministers from the 10 island nations. China also mentions the possibility of setting up a free trade area with the Pacific nations. The aim of Blinken's speech was to "contain and suppress China's development and uphold U.S. hegemony," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.

China has fallen short on its bold plan for 10 Pacific nations to endorse a sweeping agreement covering everything from security to fisheries.

Only four heads of state from Pacific island nations can attend the climate summit.

Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, which begins on Sunday. Small island nations were crucial in ensuring that the 1.5-degree Celsius (2.7-degree Fahrenheit) warming threshold was adopted in the 2015 Paris climate accord. Those living in the Pacific islands face unique challenges just in traveling to Glasgow. With borders shut, COVID-19 cases have remained low across the Pacific island region. For some countries the 1.5-degree threshold marked an ambition, but for the Pacific islands it was a “compromise” since they were already facing severe impacts from climate change.

COVID-19 travel restrictions will cut the representatives of Pacific island nations attending U.N. climate talks that begin this weekend in Scotland.

Fiji has also reported a further 101 deaths of COVID-19-positive patients that it’s not classifying as coronavirus deaths because the patients had underlying conditions. Before the April outbreak, Fiji had recorded just two COVID-19 deaths. The virus circulating in the city has been identified as the delta variant, according to local officials. Australia’s most populous city is where the delta outbreak began in mid-June when a limousine driver was infected while transporting a U.S. air crew from the airport. Experts are warning that Turkey could face another peak with the highly contagious delta variant and vaccination rates are not sufficient.

South Korea is reporting a new daily high for coronavirus cases a day after authorities enforced stringent restrictions in areas outside the Seoul capital region seeking to slow a nationwide spread of infections.

Hawaii officials are moving forward with a plan to allow people who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus to skip pre-travel testing and quarantine requirements for flights between islands.

In this photo provided by Sandy Price, Price and her husband, Pal Ahluwalia, pose for a photo in Brisbane, Australia, Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. Ahluwalia, the leader of the University of the South Pacific, and his wife were asleep Wednesday at their Fiji home when a ruckus outside awoke them near midnight. (Sandy Price via AP)WELLINGTON – The leader of the University of the South Pacific and his wife were asleep at their Fiji home when a ruckus awoke them around midnight. Now, he's at the center of a bitter dispute threatening to tear apart South Pacific regional relationships. By shaking up the university, Ahluwalia found himself in conflict with other administrators, some of whom have deep ties with Fiji's government.

In a year of cataclysm, some world leaders at September 2020's annual United Nations meeting are taking the long view, warning: If COVID-19 doesn't kill us, climate change will. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)JOHANNESBURG – In a year of cataclysm, some world leaders at this week’s annual United Nations meeting are taking the long view, warning: If COVID-19 doesn't kill us, climate change will. Meanwhile, the U.N. global climate summit has been postponed to late 2021. That hasn’t stopped countries, from slowly sinking island nations to parched African ones, from speaking out. World powers cannot shirk their financial commitments to fighting climate change during the pandemic, Remengesau said, even as economies are battered.

South Africa is struggling to balance its fight against the coronavirus with its dire need to resume economic activity. The country with the Africas most developed economy also has its highest number of infections more than 19,000. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, file)TANZANIA The U.N. chief on Thursday warned the largest gathering of world leaders since the coronavirus pandemic began that it will cause unimaginable devastation and suffering around the world, with historic levels of hunger and famine and up to 1.6 billion people unable to earn a living unless action is taken now. Nearly 50 world leaders spoke by video at the event along with economic experts, including the heads of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. African leaders also support Gutteres' call for economic relief worth at least 10% of global GDP, which would mean over $200 billion in additional support for Africa.