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New York Times reporting: First the houses and cars vanished. Fences, driveways and the other remaining markers of suburban life followed. Now, only stretches of green remain — an eerie memorial to two earthquakes that leveled Christchurch, New Zealand’s second-largest city, 10 years ago. The undulating expanse, which begins 2 miles from downtown Christchurch, was deemed uninhabitable after the quakes, the second of which killed 185 people on Feb. 22, 2011. The 8,000 properties it encompassed were bought by the government and razed, the remnants swept away.

A recent decision by the Ministry of Education to amend its Tongan language policy for Classes 1 to 3, and to introduce English as a second language at that young level will have a negative impact on the speaking of Tongan language, believes a former Minister of Education, Dr 'Ana Taufe'ulungaki.

An environmental study on seabed mining for “polymetallic nodules” - rocks that contain metals needed to build batteries, is underway in the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) of the Pacific between Hawaii and Mexico. The aim is to use the metals to power electric cars. The study is being undertaken by DeepGreen Metals Inc., a Canadian-based seafloor mining developer, which acquired Tonga Offshore Mining Limited (TOML) last year, and has sponsorship from the Tonga government for seabed exploration. By Eleanor Gee.

East Asia Forum: The United States abandoned economic leadership in Asia four years ago. Rather than promote and strengthen the multilateral institutions and frameworks that underpin Asia’s prosperity, the United States under President Trump began systematically undermining them: from the WTO, WHO and Paris Agreement, to military alliances with Japan and South Korea, bilateral trade ties and cooperation in regional forums. What can Biden do to instil confidence in a region still battered and bruised from four years of the Trump administration waywardness? - By the Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU.

New York Times reporting: Food researchers are debating whether highly processed foods like potato chips and ice cream are addictive, triggering our brains to overeat. Highly processed foods continue to dominate the American diet, despite being linked to obesity, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and other health problems. Recently, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition explored the science behind addictive behaviour toward food.

A hot sunny day did not burn the enthusiasm of Tonga High School students, who started their Inter-House Athletics competition today, singing and dancing to cheer on their houses, at Teufaiva Stadium. The sports were not held last year due to COVID-19 emergency restrictions.

Australia plans to start the roll out of the Pfizer/BioNTech CoViD-19 vaccine next week to the first and most vulnerable Australians from 22 February.

Tonga’s $15.2 million pa'anga loan repayment due to the EXIM Bank of China, during the 2020-21 financial year, has been deferred to 2021-22, the Minister of Finance, Hon. Tevita Lavemaau, confirmed yesterday 16 February.

The trial of former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Sione Vuna Fa’otusia will be held in July on charges, which related to a dispute over a stolen cow in 2019.