Results for Pacific Islands

Tonga’s High Commissioner to Australia, Princess Angelika Latufuipeka Tuku’aho is looking for creative artwork or photos and stories that symbolise and celebrate Tonga's 50 years relationship with Australia - and three cash prizes are offered for the top submissions.

The village of Felemea, Ha’apai needs clean drinking water, and the challenge to find a solution has been taken up by a group of four student engineers from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, as their team design project. The idea for the project came from Siale Faitotonu a technician at the University.

A fleet of boats have been gifted to the Vava’u Blue Water School in Neiafu, for Tongan youth to learn how to sail. The Vava'u community is fundraising to ship the boats from New Zealand to Vava'u.

Seven countries including Tonga have ratified the PACER-Plus agreement which will come into effect 60 days after the eighth country ratifies it.

It is quite special that this year all the planets are easily visible and also in a configuration which happens infrequently. In December 2020, Jupiter and Saturn will come closer together, until their great conjunction on 22 December 7:37 Tonga time. It will be a spectacular phenomenon, a few days before Christmas. They will do so again in 2080 but then for centuries to come, not any more. A long time ago, in 14AD there was, interestingly, a great conjunction on 25 December. By Firitia Velt.

Several hundred Tongan nationals who are stranded in distant countries, include a small cluster of surgical patients and their carers, who became stuck in India when Tonga's border closed on March 23. The Ministry of Health wants them to be repatriated but CEO Dr Siale 'Akau'ola voiced his extreme frustration today that he can find no viable pathway home for these patients, without stronger collaboration in the region.

Major economic and social impacts of CoViD-19 on the Pacific was the focus of the Pacific Islands Forum Economic Ministers Meeting (FEMM) over the last two days, 11-12 August.

A new tropical cyclone outlook model will generate much earlier predictions for the number of tropical cyclones than current models used in Pacific Island countries, says the University of Newcastle in Australia. According to its current predictions, Tonga should expect one or two cyclones for the upcoming cyclone season (December – April).

The New Zealand Pacific Business Council will hold a free webinar tomorrow, Wednesday 5 August, to hear from a diverse range of speakers who will provide their views on the prioritisation of a Pacific Bubble.