Results for Pacific Islands

The Fijian Ministry for Foreign Affairs may invite Tongan counterparts to have talks over a long standing territorial dispute over the Tele ki Tonga and Tele ki Tokelau Reefs, also known as Minerva Reef. Tonga says it is a “misunderstanding”.

Air New Zealand stated today that it will be reducing capacity on its Shanghai route throughout April, and Hong Kong route throughout April and May as a result of the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on customer demand.

People first arrived in Vava‘u between 850 and 810 BC, establishing themselves on the south central islands offshore of ‘Uta Vava’u. The earliest sites at Ofu, Pangaimotu and Otea are all but identical in their age, and they are coincidental with the oldest sites in Ha’apai. Bird remains aside, excavations of other types of food remains at these sites have an unexpected story to tell: one of scarcity. Fish remains were shockingly limited! Shellfish counts and species diversity are similarly impoverished, illustrating limited productivity, or at least limited sustainability, for reef foraging efforts. By David V. Burley.

The United Kingdom has appointed Miss Thorhilda Abbott-Watt OBE to be the new British High Commissioner to Tonga. She will arrive to uptake her residence in February. It marks the return of the British High Commission in Tonga since its departure in 2006.

As a permanent member of the UN security council, “China speaks for Tonga and other developing countries with a view to safeguarding our common interests,” HE Cao Xiaolin, the new Chinese Ambassador to Tonga, said in his speech at a reception to mark the Spring Festival, at the Chinese Embassy in Nuku'alofa on 16 January.

We can confidently position first settlement in Ha’apai between 825 and 810 BC, only three generations (75 years) after the first Lapita canoes arrived at Fanga ‘Uta Lagoon on Tongatapu. The dates for individual Lapita sites are informative. They not only answer the question of when, but they reflect upon the process by which the expansion was undertaken. Within Ha‘apai, simultaneous settlement, widely dispersed hamlets on different islands, and small groups of people clearly speak to a planned and organized strategy. In its creation of a settlement network northward from Tongatapu, it brilliantly laid title to these islands. By David Burley.

Massey University in New Zealand, has appointed distinguished scientist and professor Dr. Palatasa Havea ONZM to be the new Dean of the University’s “Office of Pasifika Student Success”.

An Otago University study is proposing that malaria in the past may have shaped the genome of Pacific people today, resulting in a genetic predisposition to Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes and gout. The elevated levels of uric acids, which can strengthen the immune response to the mosquito-borne disease are also what causes the inflammatory reactions in gout. “Pacific people have their own genetic variants,” says Dr Ana Gosling.

Fine Tu’itupou-Arnold, has become the first person of Pacific Island descent to be elected as a member of the Standing Commission of the Red Cross and Red Crescent during an international conference last month in Geneva, Switzerland.