LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Walt Disney’s animated musical “Moana 2” debuted with an estimated $368 million in global ticket sales through Sunday and combined with “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” to deliver the biggest Thanksgiving weekend in U.S. and Canadian box office history. A sequel to the 2016 animated film, “Moana 2” reunites Auli’i Cravalho as the wayfinding title character with demigod Maui, voiced by Dwayne Johnson, on a voyage to break a curse and reunite the people of the ocean. Initially envisioned as a series for the Disney+ streaming service, “Moana 2” racked up a record $221 million from domestic ticket sales over the Thanksgiving period from Wednesday through Sunday. That surpassed “Frozen 2’s” holiday haul of $125 million in 2019. For all movies in theaters this weekend, the domestic total hit $420 million, smashing the 2018 Thanksgiving record of $315.6 million led by “Ralph Breaks the Internet” and “Creed II.”...

The Fiji Airways Fiji 7s team has ended a 22-tournament winless drought on the World SVNS Series. The Osea Kolinisau coached side beat Spain 19-5 to win the Dubai 7s this morning. Filipe Sauturaga, captain Jerry Matana and Ilikimi Vunaki scored in the win. Pol Pla had opened the scoring for Spain before Fiji ran in three unanswered tries. RPT

THE Fiji Airways Fiji men’s 7s side beat France 19-17 to secure a spot in the semi-final of the Dubai 7s a few moments ago. It was a repeat of the Paris 2024 Olympics final and memories of that heartbreaking loss to the French ran afresh as Osea Kolinisau’s brigade took the field in the third quarter-final. Fiji started the match well and camped in the opponent’s half for the first couple of minutes. France stood tall in defence and made some good tackles and were rewarded when Liam Delamare in for the first try as Fiji trailed 0-5 in the fifth minute of play. Fiji replied straight off the restart as Filipe Sauturaga showed his speed to dot down under the posts to give Fiji a 7-5 lead. Sauturaga added his second before the break from a kick and chase effort to increase the lead to 14-5 at halftime....

THERE will be a reshuffle in portfolios within Cabinet. This was confirmed by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka during an interview with this newspaper on Saturday night in Nadi. More on this story in tomorrow’s Fiji Times edition. The post PM to reshuffle Cabinet portfolios appeared first on The Fiji Times. RPT

FIJI Women’s Crisis Centre coordinator Shamima Ali says people cannot be bystanders anymore when witnessing violence against women. Speaking to The Fiji Times this week, Ms Ali said intervention was needed, especially in family households because violence could ruin lives. “We cannot be bystanders anymore,” Ms Ali said. “We must have intervention because this is a crime that is being committed. “So, instead of sharing what you read about somebody on social media that is detrimental to that person, and laughing about it, please let’s be humane. “If you know anyone who’s getting beaten up in your household, please intervene. “You play such an important part in stopping this terrible thing because it ruins lives, it breaks up families, and it’s not good for the nation.” Ms Ali said men were also victims of abuse from women and they’ve contacted the centre for help. “It’s quite minimal, and throughout the...

THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $US199.5million project ($F$452.79m) to finance the replacement of critical bridges on Fiji’s main island. The Critical Bridges Resilience Project to help improve domestic transport connectivity, will be funded by a $US120m ADB concessional loan ($F272.36m) and a $US14.5m grant financed by the Asian Development Fund (ADF), 13 Thematic Pool, under its disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation strategic area, while the Fiji Government will provide $US15m ($F34m) in counterpart financing. “The construction of the four bridges in Lami, Medraukutu, Sabeto and Viseisei will transform domestic connectivity providing better linkages to markets, schools and health services,” said ADB’s Pacific Subregional Office regional director Aaron Batten. ADB in a statement said the ADF, which provides grants to ADB’s poorest and most vulnerable developing member countries, will fund part of the construction cost of the bridges, covering the incremental costs of the resilience of the...

A women’s club in Naitasiri is taking extraordinary step to raise money to buy a new 4-ton carrier that will be used to transport children to school. An accident recently saw the carrier that was being used for transportation badly damaged and now it’s written off. Majority of the students in the area go to Naitasiri Secondary School. The Nakorosule Village Women’s Club has raised $50,000 to help them purchase the new carrier for their children’s school trips. The club’s president Meri Vudi said this initiative was agreed by all after their children got into an accident two weeks ago. They will have another soli after Christmas for this same purpose. They hope to purchase the new vehicle before the school opens in 2025. RPT

Health officials expressed shock at the rise in HIV/AIDS cases in Lautoka, according to an article published in The Fiji Times on December 2, 2004. The report quoted head of the Family Health Clinic Western, Dr Arvin Chaudhry, saying the trend was “shocking” for a city like Lautoka. Since arriving from England, Dr Chaudhry had diagnosed seven new cases, taking the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Lautoka to 22. “But even though I had diagnosed seven new cases with HIV/AIDS, there is a strong chance the figure is higher because most of them did not know where they contracted the disease,” he said. “The figure could be multiplied by at least five to 10 because during counselling and confidential sessions with these patients, they revealed they had slept with numerous partners.” Dr Chaudhry said another major area of concern was all the people diagnosed with the virus were...

NANTUCKET, Massachusetts (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday said he hoped President-elect Donald Trump would rethink his plan to impose tariffs on Mexico and Canada, saying it could “screw up” relationships with close allies. “I hope he rethinks it. I think it’s a counterproductive thing to do,” Biden told reporters in Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he is spending the Thanksgiving Day holiday with his family. “We have a unusual situation in America – we’re surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and two allies: Mexico and Canada. And the last thing we need to do is begin to screw up those relationships.” Trump on Monday said he would impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico until they clamped down on drugs and migrants crossing the border, in a move that would appear to violate the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free-trade deal. Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday she did not specifically...

Grace Road president Daniel Kim will be a free man soon after the Lautoka High Court ruled today that his lawyers are to meet the Permanent Secretary for Immigration next week and reach an amicable settlement for his release. This will also apply to another Grace Road member, Dr. Sung Jin Lee. “Kim and Lee have always represented in Court through their counsel that they are willing to abide by any terms and conditions of their release,” stated Justice Anare Tuilevuka in his ruling. “Accordingly, the Permanent Secretary for Immigration is to release them upon amicable settlement with their counsel of the terms of their release.” “This matter is adjourned for mention in Suva on Monday 02 December 2024 at 2.00 p.m. to see if the parties have settled the terms of release.” “Failing settlement, the Court will set these in Court.” “A production order is issued for Kim and...