Wellington - Fiji's military strongman Voreqe Bainimarama, who took control in a coup 29 months ago, was given one of the Pacific island nation's highest awards on Friday for service to humanity, according to reports from the capital Suva.

Bainimarama was honoured by President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, who reappointed him as prime minister two weeks ago, after sacking judges of the Court of Appeal who had declared the post-coup government illegal.

Wellington  - The last prisoner on remote Pitcairn Island - where descendants of the famous mutiny on the Bounty were convicted of historic sex charges - has been released from the jail he helped to build, a newspaper reported Thursday.

Brian Young, 54, received the longest sentence of any of the 10 men convicted on charges of rape, incest and assaults against women and girls, committed over three decades on the British island in the Pacific.

Wellington, Apr 22 : Heart transplants may soon be history following the creation of a device that helps the heart pump blood more effectively.

William Peters, 43, calls the C-Pulse heart assist system a "turbo-booster" for people who have severe problems with their ticker.

"It''s for people whose pacemakers have failed them but they still have symptoms of heart failure," he told NZPA.

The heart surgeon started designing the device about 10-years ago, tinkering with a prototype in his garage.

Wellington - Fiji military strongman Voreqe Bainimarama's declaration that his country does not need free and open discussion about current issues placed his government "outside the community of civilized peoples," New Zealand's Society of Authors said on Wednesday.

The society, which includes the writers' organization PEN New Zealand, issued a statement saying its members joined a wide range of other freedom of speech advocates throughout the world in deploring the "vicious repression of media" by Fiji's military government.

Wellington  - Nearly 250 flight attendants employed by an Air New Zealand subsidiary will go on strike for four days on May 7 after what their union says is a seven-month fight for equal pay with the airline's other cabin crew.

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union said all Air New Zealand flights to Australia and Pacific island destinations serviced by the airline's Airbus A320 fleet would be affected.