With the US-China strategic competition intensifying, New Zealand navigates these tricky geopolitical waters and pursues its ‘independent’ foreign policy even at the risk of offending its Five Eyes partners. ...It also takes into account critical views of its intelligence operations, especially among its close partners in the Pacific. New Zealand with its main signals facility on the South Island, is responsible for gathering information in the South Pacific. By Anne-Marie Schleich (RSIS).
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Results for Pacific Islands
Tuesday 18 May 2021
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Auckland, New Zealand
A two-way, quarantine free, travel bubble between New Zealand and the Cook Islands started today with the first flight to Rarotonga leaving Auckland this morning.
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Tuesday 18 May 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
There will be two lunar eclipses visible in Tonga this year. The first lunar eclipse coming up next week on the night 26-27 May is made for us, because the moon will be almost straight above your head. A full moon in a total eclipse is not pitch dark but usually bright red. By Firitia Velt.
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Friday 14 May 2021
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Suva, Fiji
A woman with COVID-19 died on 12 May in Fiji after she was entered into intensive care when her condition started to deteriorate, according to health officials yesterday. Dr James Fong warned Fiji that if the spark of Covid-19 “isn’t quickly and aggressively extinguished, a tiny ember is all it takes to start a massive, uncontrollable wildfire that claims thousands of Fijian lives.”
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Thursday 6 May 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A patient at Lautoka Hospital who tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday afternoon, died a few hours later at 6:35pm, confirmed Fiji’s Permanent Secretary of Health, Dr James Fong today. Lautoka Hospital is now in lockdown as part of efforts to prevent a wider outbreak. “Fiji, I do not use the word “war” lightly. But, right now, we are in a war with this virus,” he said.
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Thursday 6 May 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
HM King Tupou VI chastised and challenged Parliament, directly questioning members’ honesty, mission and abilities to run the government, in a remarkably frank and hard-hitting speech from the throne, to open the Legislature's 2021-22 session this morning. From the House, By Pesi Fonua
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Thursday 6 May 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Samoa’s Head of State, Tuimaleali’ifano Va’aletoa II on 4 May declared the result of Samoa’s 9 April general election void. The Electoral Commissioner will call a new General Election on 21 May 2021.
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Friday 30 April 2021
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Manila, Philippines
The economies of the Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa, and Tonga will continue to decline in 2021. “The COVID-19 pandemic is the worst economic crisis in the history of these countries,” said economist James Webb. “While lives have been saved, livelihoods have been lost.” Economic recovery in tourism-dependent Polynesian countries will be slow, says a new ADB report.
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Thursday 29 April 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The new British High Commissioner Designate to Tonga, HE Lucy Joyce, congratulated Tonga on its covid-free status this week. The vaccine had arrived before the virus and “not many countries are in such a privileged position,” she said on Tuesday. The High Commission is officially reopening in May after closing for 15 years.
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Thursday 29 April 2021
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Sydney, Australia
The funeral of the late Peter Warner in Ballina, NSW, Australia, yesterday had a special Tongan presence, including two of the original ‘Ata boys – Mano Totau and Tevita Siolala, reports Tonga's Honorary Consul General.
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Wednesday 28 April 2021
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Suva, Fiji
COVID-19 cases in Fiji continue to increase with six new cases confirmed yesterday, 27 April, bringing the total to 42 active cases, according to health officials. Recent cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed to be the B1617 variant that was first detected in India. Dr James Fong has warned Fijians to stay at home because “any person-to-person contact outside your home could get you infected.”
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Saturday 24 April 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A “worse-than-expected outcome” for Tonga's GDP in the fiscal years 2019-20 and 2020-21 was forecast by the National Reserve Bank of Tonga, following its first board meeting for the year. During the COVID-19 international crisis Tonga's annual inflation has increased and agricultural exports have fallen. Bank lending decreased, while deposits increased.
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Wednesday 31 March 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The first batch of the COVID-19 AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines from COVAX arrived in Tonga today, 31 March, on a repatriation flight from Auckland, New Zealand.
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Tuesday 30 March 2021
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Suva, Fiji
Pacific Island countries, including Tonga, are preparing for the new edition of the Harmonized System (HS 2022) used to classify traded goods which will come into force on 1 January 2022.
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Monday 29 March 2021
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Honiara, Solomon Islands
The first coordinated fisheries monitoring, control and surveillance operation for 2021 called Operation Rai Balang was completed last week in eight Pacific nations.
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Thursday 25 March 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga’s Minister of Health said she was shocked by a report on adolescent unplanned pregnancy in Tonga, launched today, “because I did not know that young girls can take their own lives because they find out they are pregnant. ...We cannot continue that into the future!” The country report presented recommendations for long-term changes that need to happen.
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Friday 19 March 2021
Wellington, New Zealand
New Zealand is providing support to Papua New Guinea following a surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths, the New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has announced. A New Zealand Defence Force flight is scheduled to deliver PPE from Auckland to Port Moresby on Saturday. By today, 19 March, PNG has reported 2479 cases with 31 deaths.
Friday 12 March 2021
Nuku'alofa,Tonga
In the Pacific Islands, evidence of climate change is all around us, but when dozens of images showing its impact across the Pacific come together in one room, it is sobering and challenging to the viewer. Photographs submitted by amateur photographers of all ages capture the immediacy of of the harmful effects of climate change, in a competition organised by the UK Government, on display in Nuku'alofa.
Friday 5 March 2021
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
UPDATED: Tonga Met confirmed that a small tsunami wave of of 0.05m (0.2ft) was monitored at a Nuku'alofa tidal gauge at local time 10:29am (UTC 2129). The Niutoputapu tidal gauge also recorded 0.05m at 11:30am, following a series of severe earthquakes in the Kermadec Fault this morning. Waves generated by the earthquakes are being recorded in other Pacific Islands, with over half a metre at Norfolk Island.
Thursday 4 March 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga has a new handbook to guide parliamentary reporters. The 88 pages bilingual Tongan/English, “Tonga Parliamentary Reporters’ Handbook” was launched by the Speaker Lord Fakafanua, at Parliament House, Nuku'alofa, this morning, 4 March 2021. But significantly, the new handbook makes no mention of the role of political parties in Tonga’s parliament.
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