Results for tag

The ITUC has condemned the decision to exclude chrysotile asbestos and the pesticide endosulfan from the list of dangerous products under the Rotterdam Convention, the international agreement which regulates exports of hazardous chemicals.

New Zealand's next Parliament will be the most ethnically diverse in its history - with MPs from communities which have never had representation in Parliament, including a television journalist from Korea and a former Fiji citizen. By Lincoln Tan

In handing down a five years imprisonment sentence on a man who indecently assaulted an 11-year-old girl, Chief Justice Anthony Ford pointed out that it might be timely for Parliament to review the maximum seven years imprisonment penalty for indecent assault in Tonga.

The newly appointed General Manager of Digicel, Tonga Crystal Middleton-Lunn, has launched a huge marketing campaign, giving away large cash prizes and this month offering a NZD$60,000 vehicle as a prize a to win customers over to the growing cell phone network.

After reading letters from the village idiot, but more especially reading in the paper about his fellows is getting quite monotonous and actually I am beginning to believe - that it really causes physical brain drain (ie. the actually lowering of a person's Intelligence Quotient; I am not referring to the phenomenon of aggregate skills and knowledge leaving a country but an actual chemical change in the human brain!). I do not know why they complain, they chose those people to represent them in the last elections. - Daniel K. Fale

Maile Mataele (17) passed away at 11am today - the fifth victim of a road accident that claimed the lives of four other Liahona High School boys on the school's gradation day a week ago.

A golden opportunity seems to be intentionally flushed down the drain. As our Parliament closed for the year, it is sickening to read about the charges and counter charges by both sides of the aisle. Of all the issues that are crucial to the kingdom, personal vendetta seems more important than setting the foundation for the Year 2010 political change. If there is corruption in Parliament, it is the corruption of broken promises during the election campaign; the corruption of leading the public to believe they have a plan regarding transition to democracy, yet they have none; the corruption of giving themselves a huge pay increase without blinking an eye and still call it pitiful compensation. - Tama Foa

The 2008 session of the Tongan parliament was officially closed this morning by the Princess Regent, HRH Princess Pilolevu Tuita. Photos by Linny Folau and Pesi Fonua

Maile Mataele, the 17 year old survivor of the tragic accident that took the lives of four Liahona High School boys on October 31, fights on at Vaiola Hospital despite being on life support and in a coma.