Results for Tonga

Landing on Tonga’s newest island at Home Reef is prohibited for public safety, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources said today, in lifting the hazard zones for mariners sailing in the area. There has been no volcanic eruption detected in the last five days.

Assessments have begun for the building of a dialysis centre in Nuku’alofa, with a ground breaking ceremony planned for the end of the year, the Prime Minister, Hon. Hu’akavameiliku, said on 20 October, in Nuku'alofa. It will go hand in hand with education for Tongans on the importance of healthy diets, in an effort to combat the crippling effects of diabetes on the community.

Football coaches and referees in Ha'apai attended an OFC Capacity Building workshop with a focus on Women’s Football, conducted by the Tonga Football Association for its stakeholders on 12-14 October.

A former Senior Customs Officer, Paula Naitoko (68), was sentenced on 21 October to six-years imprisonment for importing a substantial amount of methamphetamine and firearms, concealed in a box from the United States in 2019.

Three asphalt distributor trucks to assist Tonga's road construction works were handed over to the Prime Minister Hon. Hu'akavameiliku from the Government of Japan, today, 20 October.

A prolific offender, ‘Okusitino Langi (49), who is serving a lengthy prison term for drug offences, received additional time for similar offending in prison, totalling nine-years imprisonment, after being sentenced on 14 October. The Lord Chief Justice said the circumstances of this offending were troubling. “For the defendant to have been able to possess and sell drugs in prison suggests real operational deficiencies in security within the prison.”

Fifteen participants from the Tonga Red Cross Society received their recognition as Pacific First Aid Instructors, after completing a training course from 10-18 October in Nuku'alofa.

This week South Pacific Defence Ministers and senior military leaders came together in Tonga for what was a vital meeting. Australia will be there as a partner and a friend, as together we confront common threats to our collective security, including climate change, transnational crime, cyber-attacks and natural disasters. I’ll be working with the Defence Ministers right across the region to boost our defence cooperation, to find more opportunities for our servicemen and women to work alongside each other in a spirit of partnership, so that our forces become more capable and more interoperable. - The Hon Richard Marles MP, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia.

Tonga's Prime Minister Hon. Hu’akavameiliku, this morning welcomed Defence Ministers and senior delegates from the region to discuss Pacific security challenges and build collective Pacific responses, at the seventh South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting, to be held 18-19 October in Nuku'alofa, Tonga.