Results for Tonga

Government has extended the application due date to May 1 for local registered businesses to apply for assistance, under a COVID-19 Business Economic Emergency Relief Fund.

A 45-year-old man was convicted of stabbing another man three times with a knife during a verbal confrontation at Fatai. He will be sentenced on May 25, at the Supreme Court.

International flights to Tonga have been barred up to 12 June according to a diversion order issued by the Ministry of Health CEO Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola. The order is to prevent the introduction, or spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to Tonga.

Tonga has extended its State of Emergency for another month until May 15, due to the continuous spread of CoViD-19 globally, including Tonga's neighbouring countries the Prime Minister Hon Dr Pohiva Tu’i’onetoa announced this afternoon. Eased national restrictions also come into effect starting at 8:00pm 17 April to 8:00pm 24 April, when they will be reviewed. But the PM also indicated that international airline diversions could last into June.

Tonga's former Prime Minister, Lord Tu’ivakano, will be sentenced on Friday, April 24 following his conviction on four counts, two of which relate to the issuance of Tongan passports to Chinese nationals.

Additional solar generation and battery storage systems are to be designed and delivered to Vava’u and ‘Eua by mid 2021, assuming there are no long term restrictions due to the CoViD-19 pandemic.

The first CoViD-19 PCR testing machine and one x-ray unit arrived in Tonga by container ship on Saturday, 11 April, along with 36 hospital beds donated by a Tongan family, the Ministry of Health confirmed this afternoon. However, the machine cannot be used until testing kits arrive.

Three people were today sentenced to a fine of $1,000 to $150 pa’anga each at Nukunuku Magistrate’s Court for breaching restrictions imposed during the national lockdown.

‘Ata, Tonga’s southernmost island, is a long way away, separated from Tongatapu by 160 km of open ocean. ‘Ata’s place in the history books is well established. It was here, in June 1863, that the whaling ship Grecian under Captain Thomas McGrath anchored off the northeastern shore and only village, Kolomaile. The details of the events that followed are sketchily recorded, but the consequence is notorious. A large number of ‘Ata’s residents were lured on to the ship, captured, and then sold to a Peruvian slaver for transport to Lima. None were to return. In the aftermath of the raid, and under the orders of Tupou I, the remaining ‘Atans were resettled on ‘Eua, in a village they again named Kolomaile. By David V. Burley.