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Thursday 18 September 2025 7:28pm
Nuku'alofa, Tonga : An inaugural Research Symposium on Loss and Damage in Small Island Developing States was held Savusavu, Fiji, this week, bringing together more than 150 researchers, policymakers and community leaders to strengthen the evidence base for addressing the irreversible impacts of climate change. The findings will inform national systems, strengthen Pacific negotiating positions, and guide the implementation of the Loss and Damage Fund ahead of COP30. -
Thursday 18 September 2025 6:54pm
Nuku'alofa, Tonga : Mr ‘Elisaia Sylvester Ika of Fuaʼamotu, Tongatapu, has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forests (MAFF) for a four-year term. He succeeds Dr. Viliami Toalei Manu, who concluded his contract and retired on 31 July 2025. -
Thursday 18 September 2025 8:42am
Nuku'alofa, Tonga : Penisoni Tu’ifua Angilau (37) is serving 10 years in prison for four charges that included supplying 534.53 grams of methamphetamine to his second cousin to pack the illicit drug at her residence in Lomaiviti, Tongatapu, in March last year. Police seized cash totalling $90,125 and a Ford Ranger Vehicle, which the court forfeited to the Crown. -
Thursday 18 September 2025 8:22am
Nuku'alofa, Tonga : Vili Lausi’i (46) is serving three months in prison for pointing a loaded .22 semi-automatic rifle at a couple who were driving in Lapaha, while he was assisting a community night patrol in December last year. He was sent to jail by the Lord Chief Justice, who was concerned with the increase of the negative use of arms in the society and to deter others from this behaviour. -
Tuesday 16 September 2025 9:36pm
Nuku'alofa, Tonga : In a review of the national education system, announced on Friday, a key component of a new framework will be the teaching of "workplace behaviour" in the classroom. It comes under the Tonga Education Strategic Policy, that has been approved by the Cabinet, said the Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Dr Taniela Fusimalohi. -
Tuesday 16 September 2025 8:11pm
Nuku'alofa, Tonga : The registration of voters for the November General Election will close on Thursday, 18 September. Today, a significant number of young people were registering, the Supervisor of Elections, Pita Vuki told Matangi Tonga. Individuals aged 21 to 35 years make up approximately 25% of the total eligible voters in 2025. -
Tuesday 16 September 2025 8:08pm
Nuku'alofa, Tonga : Tonga will observe a public holiday tomorrow, Wednesday, 17 September for the 40th birthday of Crown Prince Tupoutoʻa ʻUlukalala. -
Tuesday 16 September 2025 5:25pm
Hobart, Australia : In 2022, Tonga’s Hunga Volcano erupted with devastating impact on communities and the surrounding marine environment. The seafloor around this submarine volcano was blanketed with volcanic ash. However, what might look barren is, in fact, slowly coming back to life, an international team of researchers has found, while mapping the volcano and the seafloor this month onboard the RV Investigator. -
Tuesday 16 September 2025 2:23pm
Nuku'alofa, Tonga : 'Eua High School students won the Form 6 and open categories of the 2025 Japanese Speech Contest on Friday, 12 September at Tailulu College Hall, Nuku'alofa. The Form 5 level was won by Mele’unga Lolohea of Tailulu College and Form 4 by Mauiana Lemoto of Tonga High School. -
Tuesday 16 September 2025 2:15pm
Nuku'alofa, Tonga : Tonga will host the next Pacific Community (SPC) Governing Meeting and 14th Ministerial Conference in Nuku’alofa, from 13-17 October. -
Monday 15 September 2025 10:45pm
Nuku'alofa, Tonga : Thirty women from across the country have taken their seats in Tonga’s Legislative Assembly today, 15 September, for a practice parliament for women, who make up half the population, yet remain underrepresented in politics. Despite women gaining the right to vote in 1951, only seven women have ever been elected to Parliament in Tonga.
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga : Fifteen Pacific Islands Forum member countries in Solomon Islands last week co-signed an agreement to establish the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) which will be headquartered in Tonga. Premium content -
Monday 15 September 2025 10:33pm
Nuku'alofa, Tonga : Leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum declared the Blue Pacific Continent as an Ocean of Peace, in a ceremonial side event hosted by the Prime Minister of Fiji, Hon Sitiveni Rabuka on the margin of the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meetings in Honiara. The Ocean of Peace Declaration creates a shared regional vision for a peaceful, secure, and cohesive Blue Pacific. Premium content -
Monday 15 September 2025 9:03am
Nuku'alofa, Tonga : Siaosi Kalonihea (31) is serving two years and two months imprisonment, while his wife Louena 'Akau'ola (29) is serving one year in prison for possession of illicit drugs, after methamphetamine was seized in Lomaiviti last year Premium content -
Friday 12 September 2025 4:22pm
Nuku'alofa, Tonga : Sione Lapu’aho (56) is serving 10 months in prison for possession of 130.35 grams of cannabis at Fatai in February this year. He admitted that he was intending to supply the cannabis to others, when he was questioned by police. Premium content -
Friday 12 September 2025 12:46pm
Nuku'alofa, Tonga : The General Election for representatives of the Nobles and the People to the Legislative Assembly of Tonga will be held on 20 November, 2025, according to the Writ of Election issued by HM King Tupou VI. -
Thursday 11 September 2025 7:32pm
Nuku'alofa, Tonga : Nofo Lata He Lotu Fasi (29) is serving two years and four months imprisonment for three counts of serious housebreaking and theft of over $200,000 cash and loud speakers from a warehouse belonging to Luna'eva & Sons Company Limited in Malapo in February this year. Premium content -
Thursday 11 September 2025 6:58pm
Nuku'alofa, Tonga : To build greater equality and inclusion in local sports, sporting leaders, advocates and community representatives met in Nukuʻalofa last week, from 2-4 September, for a three-day Gender and Disability Inclusion workshop that tackled how stereotypes, unconscious bias and inequalities continue to exclude girls, women and people with disabilities from fully participating in sport. Premium content -
Wednesday 10 September 2025 8:09pm
Nuku'alofa, Tonga : Anita Toutai’olepo (45) was sentenced to life imprisonment for the importation of 81.64 grams of methamphetamine, discovered inside a coffee bottle with a plastic-wrapped package in a drum shipped from her father in the United States in 2024. Premium content -
Wednesday 10 September 2025 7:39pm
New York, USA : Obesity surpassed underweight as the more prevalent form of malnutrition this year, affecting 1 in 10 – or 188 million – school-aged children and adolescents, and placing them at risk of life-threatening disease, UNICEF warned in a new report today. According to the findings, several Pacific Island countries have the highest prevalence of obesity globally, including 38 per cent of 5 to 19-year-olds in Niue, 37 per cent in Cook Islands, and 33 per cent in Nauru. These levels – which have all doubled since 2000 – are largely driven by a shift from traditional diets to cheap, energy-dense, imported foods.
