Results for tag

A man was sentenced to 18-months imprisonment for two counts of serious indecent assault of a young girl in Tongatapu. Being the breadwinner for his family did not entitle the accused to a full suspension of an imprisonment sentence because of the seriousness of the sexual offence that he had committed, said the judge.

Tonga has many urgent needs and three major concerns for our new Prime Minister Designate, Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni, are health, illegal drugs and school dropouts. “There's a lot [of concerns] and that is why it's important to have a good team to work with,” he said following his election today. By Pesi Fonua.

Manu Hausia (28) has pleaded guilty to four charges, including attempted murder at the High Court in Christchurch. He is remanded in custody to be sentenced in February 2022. Hausia, in New Zealand on an interim visitor visa, admitted his brutal assault on a solo mum, committed on September 2.

New York Times reporting: An early study of coronavirus test results in South Africa suggests that, so far, patients infected with the omicron variant may be hospitalized less often than patients infected with earlier versions of the virus. The study — which was released Tuesday and is based on only three weeks of data — also shows that vaccines are not as effective against the variant, which poses a higher risk of breakthrough infections. Booster shots increased the Pfizer vaccine’s efficacy against infection.

Around 7,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, donated by the Japanese Government via COVAX, arrived in Tonga this afternoon, Tuesday. “I hope today’s vaccines could help accelerate the on-going inoculation and that we could make the Kingdom well prepared before it comes,” said HE Mr Kensaku Munenaga. However, we cannot, we should not keep closing our border forever, he said. “Only with a change of the policy, Tongans who have been stuck outside of the Kingdom can meet their families here in Tonga.”

A new investment fund to support COVID-19 recovery in the Pacific was announced by the New Zealand government on December 13. New Zealand is committing $17 million to the fund which is expected to attract an additional $40 million in private investment, and will offer both flexible capital and a technical assistance facility to accelerate investments across the Pacific region.

Tonga's critical shortage of sand for construction purposes has motivated a local man to find an alternative source of fine aggregate. Viliami Lolohea is currently building a small house at Fangaloto, trialling bricks made with imported Ferronickel slag. Last Friday, 10 December, King Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipau'u visited the building site to view the foundations of what will be the first house to be constructed locally with cement and slag

New York Times reporting: New Caledonia will not mark the new year by becoming the world’s newest country. In a referendum held Sunday, voters rejected independence overwhelmingly, with 96% electing to stay part of France, according to provisional results released Sunday by the French High Commission in New Caledonia. The vote on the Pacific island territory comes as France’s president has prioritized shoring up the country’s international profile, seeing its military as a bulwark against China. A large portion of the Kanak pro-independence bloc boycotted Sunday’s vote.

COVID-19 is the worst crisis for children worldwide that UNICEF has seen in its 75-year history, according to the agency’s report released on December 9.