Lulutai Airlines has chartered a Saab 340 aircraft from Air Chathams, including its own crew at a fixed price, to operate 12 flights a week between Tongatapu and Vava’u.
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Tuesday 1 April 2025
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Monday 31 March 2025
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A medivac flight on Sunday airlifted a critically ill teenager from Niuatoputapu to Tongatapu for emergency treatment at Vaiola Hospital yesterday, 30 March 2025, after the Niuatoputapu health service was running out of oxygen.

Monday 31 March 2025
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Following this morning's magnitude 7 earthquake, Nomuka Island in Ha'apai experienced a temporary disruption to both electricity and communications. Nomuka Town Officer, 'Elenoa Moala, told to Matangi Tonga that these services were restored within half an hour after the earthquake.

Monday 31 March 2025
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
At least 3000 to 4000 people swiftly evacuated from the Nuku'alofa coastal areas to evacuation centres and inland areas in Tongatapu after the tsunami warning was issued last night, likely influenced by lessons learned from the Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha'apai event, said NDRMO Director, Mr. Mafua Maka. "Many families quickly moved inland, with some parking in safer, higher areas and staying in their vehicles."

Monday 31 March 2025
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The Tonga Legislative Assembly resumed its 2024-2025 session this morning, but before they got down to parliamentary business, exhausted members talked about the strong 7.0 M earthquake that shook Tonga at 1:18am and kept them awake during the night. In an emergency operation, Police had helped to move people away from coastlines in Tongatapu, Vava’u and Ha’apai.

Monday 31 March 2025
Nuku'alofa,
A strong magnitude 7.0 magnitude earthquake was felt in Tonga early this morning at 1:18 am triggering a tsunami warning and evacuation alert for people in coastal areas. In the capital, civil defence sirens woke families. Some people on coastal areas evacuated inland and to higher ground where they stayed during early hours of the morning.
Friday 28 March 2025
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Kisina Neiufi (33) who is already serving four and half years imprisonment for previous drug offences, received an additional 30 months for possession of 13.68 grams of methamphetamine seized last year.

Friday 28 March 2025
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Siosiua Savieti (22) is serving four years six months imprisonment for charges that included 127.07 grams of methamphetamine. While his co-accused Mavae Fonokalafi (19) is serving two years and six months for possession of 24.54 grams seized at a home in Talafo’ou last year.

Friday 28 March 2025
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Forty years ago, in 1985, the people of Rongelap Atoll in the central Pacific were forced to evacuate their radioactive home after enduring years of health impacts from the US nuclear weapons tests in the Marshall Islands. Yesterday, the community came together in Mejatto to light candles, to sing and remember the terrors of the nuclear testing in the Pacific and their displacement from their home.
Thursday 27 March 2025
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) treaty is set for ratification at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders' Meeting in September, it was announced at the conclusion of the Forum Economic Ministers' Meeting (FEMM) in Nuku'alofa this week, from 25-26 March.

Thursday 27 March 2025
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A donation of disability equipment, including wheelchairs, was presented by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to the Vaiola Hospital in Tongatapu yesterday, 26 March 2025. The equipment will help to replace the wheelchairs that have gone missing from the wards at the Hospital, where they are needed for disabled patients. It is the fourth such donation the church has made to the hospital.

Thursday 27 March 2025
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A truck driver was arrested at a traffic checkpoint near near the Tonga National University in Kolofo'ou, after allegedly refusing to follow Police instructions, on Friday morning, 21 March. A Police officer and the driver were involved in an altercation and both required medical attention.

Thursday 27 March 2025
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Australia and Tonga have agreed to an AUD85 million (TOP125 million) budget support program over the next four years to support a stronger economy and national budget. “This is the largest investment in our partnership’s history,” stated a joint announcement yesterday, on the margins of the Special Forum Economic Ministers Meeting (FEMM) in Nuku'alofa.

Wednesday 26 March 2025
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The Forum Secretary General, Baron Waqa called for Pacific unity against external pressures and economic challenges, at the opening of the Special Forum Economic Ministers Meeting (FEMM) today, 26 March, at the Fa'onelua Convention Center in Nuku'alofa. He noted that intensifying geopolitical contest in the blue Pacific “brings promise and peril.”

Wednesday 26 March 2025
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Viliami Makahokovalu Tuputupu, the former captain of Tonga's inter-island domestic ferry, the MV ‘Otuanga’ofa, who is serving two years in prison, had his appeal against his sentence dismissed by a Supreme Court judge, who upheld the original sentence, emphasizing the need for public safety and adherence to regulations.

Tuesday 25 March 2025
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Around 26 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) medics have improved their skills for responding to the range of injuries that might be expected from a destructive weather event striking in the Pacific. The exercise was recently held in Santoft Forest near Whanganui, in New Zealand.

Tuesday 25 March 2025
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Viliami Tino Ma’u (28) is serving 16 months imprisonment for serious housebreaking and theft of goods worth $1,848 from a store in Ma’ufanga last year.

Tuesday 25 March 2025
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A 60-year-old shop owner, Qiwu Huang, will be sentenced next month for receiving stolen property, including iPhones valued up to $14,000 pa‘anga,

Tuesday 25 March 2025
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Kulisitafu Fehoko aka Tafu Fehoko (32) is serving eight months in prison for numerous charges, including possession of 1.28 grams of methamphetamine seized in his vehicle, which was intercepted by Police in Vaololoa.

Tuesday 25 March 2025
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
An initiative to support all people with disabilities to fully participate in the democratic process in Tonga was launched last week by the Tonga Electoral Commission, who will set up a working group to consult with the disabled community on electoral issues. Tonga will hold a general election in November this year.
