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Tongan community leaders in Auckland are organising a Talanoa this Friday to make a public call for peace in relation to the recent spate of gang violence including shootings that have occurred in the city over the last three weeks. It comes ahead of next week's rugby league international between Mate Ma'a Tonga and the Kiwis, with concerns that rival gang members may rub shoulders during Mate Ma'a Tonga festivities. “We must draw the line so our youth know where we stand," said Rev. Ikilifi Pope.

Siosiua ‘Utoikamanu and Dr 'Ana Taufe’ulungaki have been appointed as new members of His Majesty’s Privy Council.

Tongan-Sydney based software engineer, Finau Kaufusi won a prize in the Pacific’s first-ever Hackathon Competiton to find an ICT based solution to 'Amplify Pacific Voices', held last month in Fiji.

King Tupou VI has consented to relocate people from his estates who were affected by the volcanic eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai and tsunamis. Among the worst hit areas in the catastrophe on Jan. 15, were the royal estates of Kanokupolu (Tongatapu) and Mango Island, (Ha’apai).

It was with profound sadness, that we learned of the death in Washington D.C. of the eminent scholar and great friend of Tonga, Adrienne L. Kaeppler (86), this weekend. Vava'u Press Ltd, publishers of Matangi Tonga Online, were privileged to have worked with Adrienne over the last 35 years. An American research anthropologist and writer, known for her books devoted to the culture of Tonga and Hawaii, Adrienne brought to the English-speaking world important insights into Polynesian cultures, especially Tonga, Hawaii and Rapa Nui, and also Asian dance, in a body of scientific work written over five decades. Her insights were also greatly appreciated by the people and cultures she worked with. - MLF.

“The people that can withstand difficulties are those that stand together,” King Tupou VI said in an address to the nation that was recorded over the telephone from hi residence in ‘Eua and broadcasted on local radio at around 6:00pm, Thursday January 20.

The funeral programme for the late Lord Ma’afu, is proceeding in Tonga after an Air New Zealand cargo flight landed at Fua'amotu Airport this afternoon, repatriating his remains from New Zealand. Mourners wearing funeral mats, lined the roadside at the estate of Vaini. Photos by Pesi Fonua and Eleanor Gee.

The funeral cortege of the late Hon. Lord Ma’afu will arrive in Tonga next Tuesday, 28 December, and the funeral ceremony will be held on New Year's Day.

Festive bands played in Nuku'alofa, bringing welcome Christmas cheer to shoppers and holiday makers, despite the heat from the hot sun, today December 22, as Tonga approaches its second Christmas under border restrictions.