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This week a WTO General Council meeting is set to endorse a draft decision by the WTO Committee on Subsidies to extend the transition period for the phasing out of export subsidies in a number of developing countries. The decision will make it easier for a range of governments to maintain virtually free licence to exploit their workers and repress trade union rights in Export Processing Zones (EPZs).

Being bombarded with unkind and rude treatment is an inherent part of the responsibilities assumed by public figures and political leaders along with the benefits and honors of the office. So, Mr. Lopeti Senituli will have to encourage the PM to hang in there. His skin will be hardened over the years. - Sione Lousiale Kava

Hundreds of Tonga High School students and ex-students celebrated the 60th anniversary of their school by parading through central Nuku'alofa this morning.

The monthly review of the Tonga Economy released on 25/07/2007 says that the economy is slowly on the mend, but a quick look at the figures tells a different story. Taken from the latest economic indicator - Inflation is running at 5.7%, economic growth for the year is forecast at .6%; trade figures last year: imports cost $236 million but exports only raised $19 million. Unemployment is going up by as much as 20% and the National debt to date is $192 million plus $25 million in ADB Loans that Government has just approved and on top of that another $118 million loan from China. By the end of this financial year, the National debt will be $335 million. - Senolita Swan

Lopeti Senituli's letter is another clear demonstration of his incompetence and it reflects negatively on the Prime Minister's office. It is a blemish they cannot afford at such a sensitive and urgent time in Tonga's political history. Every letter from Mr. Senituli, much like the policies dictated from that office, has been reactive and defensive but never proactive or preventive. - Saani Fifita

The trial of a 75-year-old man charged with sedition is drawing to a close after counsel completed their final submissions at the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court today.

Tonga High School's 60th Anniversary Celebration was kicked off by the Class of 1962 today, with the unveiling of a foundation stone.

I am concerned about the obsessive bitterness that your correspondent, Mele Payne Lynch, seems to harbour towards the Hon. Prime Minister, Dr. Feleti Sevele, which in turn tends to prejudice everything she has to say in her frequent letters to your column. - Lopeti Senituli

The situation in Tonga is precarious. As the Minister of Finance is feverishly trying to bounce the economy back with ambitious policies, the Prime Minister and Parliamentarians look for equilibrium in opposite directions, which explains the same old arguments, same old excuses and lack of domestic achievements. - Mele Payne Lynch