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Tongan health officials will cautiously assess procedures around the first repatriation flight including quarantine, and ensure issues are addressed before the second repatriation flight arrives in Tonga. By Eleanor Gee.

Uasila’a Halasima was found guilty at the Magistrate’s Court in Nuku'alofa for extorting $200 pa’anga from two men of Chinese origin, at Tanoa Hotel in Nuku’alofa.

Even if one or more vaccines emerge that promise to make people less susceptible to COVID-19, the public-health problem will not be eliminated. But policymakers can avert some foreseeable problems by starting to address key questions about financing and distribution now. The toughest political question of all, though, is likely to concern access. Who should receive the initial doses of any vaccine? Who determines who is allowed into the queue and in what order? By Richard N. Haass

Two urgent bills to amend the Traffic Act and the Roads Act, as well as a Petition alleging unfairness in awarding government roads deals, stirred a few aggressive exchanges in the Tongan parliament on Monday and Tuesday this week. There was an objection that the urgent bills had not gone to the Standing Committee on Legislation before they were tabled.

The Oceania Rugby Men’s XV Championships to be held in August in Papua New Guinea has been cancelled due to CoViD-19. Postponed fixtures include the Oceania Rugby Women’s Repechage qualification between Samoa and Tonga.

As the impact of COVID-19 continues to be felt, 93% of Pacific businesses reported that not knowing how long the crisis will last is their main challenge. In Tonga 47% of businesses surveyed said they were not very confident in business survival after CoViD-19. Another 33% said they were somewhat confident, but only 20% of businesses in Tonga were very confident that their business would survive the CoViD- 19 crisis.

The Matariki Art Trail exhibition featuring work by Tongan and New Zealand artists, including Visesio Siasau and Serene Tay, was launched by New Zealand High Commissioner HE Tiffany Babington last night at the Waterfront Restaurant and Lodge, Ma’ufanga.

A man was found guilty at the Supreme Court on two counts of rape committed on a young girl in Tongatapu. He will be sentenced in August.

Tonga ‘Akau’ola was sentenced at the Supreme Court to eight-years and nine-months imprisonment for the manslaughter death of Paea Lolohea in 2018.