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  • Monday 20 December 2021 7:44pm


    The Hague, Netherlands
    : H.E. Hon. Titilupe Fanetupouvava'u Tu'ivakano joined other ambassadors to present her credentials to HM King Willem Alexander at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, Netherlands on December 16, in the first physical audience granted by the King of the Netherlands, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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  • Monday 20 December 2021 7:28pm
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    Nuku'alofa, Tonga
    : Tonga's 21-month long night time curfew will be eased slightly for New Year's Eve, 31 December, when the curfew will commence from 2:00am to 5:00am instead of starting at midnight. During the National Prayer Week 2022 it will commence from midnight to 3:00am, under Tonga’s Health State of Emergency that has been renewed for another month from today to 17 January 2022.
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  • Saturday 18 December 2021 6:42pm


    Nuku'alofa, Tonga.
    : The funeral cortege of Tonga's Deputy Prime Minister, the late Hon. Lord Ma'afu, will arrive in Tonga on Tuesday 21 December from Auckland. A military funeral with honours will be held the following week on Monday 27 December at Tokomololo, the Prime Minister's Office announced this afternoon. A vigil and prayer service will be held tonight in Auckland. The programme for the funeral activities was released.
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  • Saturday 18 December 2021 4:56pm


    Nuku'alofa, Tonga
    : Corruption is a problem across both the Public and Private Sectors in 10 Pacific Island Countries, according to Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer – Pacific 2021, released in November. Two thirds of respondents (66 per cent) in Tonga think that levels of corruption in their government had increased. While 55 per cent of respondents in Tonga think that corruption in the business sector increased over the 12 months prior to the survey.
  • Friday 17 December 2021 7:53pm


    Nuku'alofa, Tonga
    : Tonga will receive more Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines from Australia in the New Year for booster shots, the Minister for Health, Hon Dr ‘Amelia Tu’ipulotu said today. “We need to speed up the third dose to protect our country from the new Omicron variant,” she said.
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  • Friday 17 December 2021 7:40pm


    Nuku'alofa, Tonga
    : Poni ‘Ahohako (26) was found guilty of serious housebreaking and causing serious bodily harm, when he hit Ramsay Dalgety on the head with a teapot, when he broke into his home on February 8 this year, at Ha'ateiho.
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  • Friday 17 December 2021 7:24pm


    Auckland, New Zealand
    : Tributes are flowing for former ‘Ikale Tahi halfback, Taniela Moa, aged 36, who died suddenly in New Zealand on Thursday.
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  • Thursday 16 December 2021 5:49pm
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    Nuku'alofa, Tonga
    : Eighty-two marriages have been registered this month by the Nuku'alofa Registry, as December remained the most popular month for couples to tie the knot, before government closes for the Christmas holidays on 20 December.
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  • Thursday 16 December 2021 5:40pm


    Nuku'alofa, Tonga
    : Youth from the communities of Nuku’alofa, Hahake, and Hihifo took part in a competition event highlighting climate resilience and social change, under the Agents for Change Project, at the Nuku'alofa waterfront today.
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  • Thursday 16 December 2021 5:34pm


    Nuku'alofa, Tonga
    : A man was sentenced to 18-months imprisonment for two counts of serious indecent assault of a young girl in Tongatapu. Being the breadwinner for his family did not entitle the accused to a full suspension of an imprisonment sentence because of the seriousness of the sexual offence that he had committed, said the judge.
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  • Thursday 16 December 2021 5:26pm


    Nuku'alofa, Tonga
    : A prisoner at Hu'atolitoli Prison was charged with possession of cannabis last week, and another charged with cultivation, while in a separate incident, a man from Matangiake was arrested after Tonga Customs seized a hand gun and ammunition that was imported to Tonga.
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  • Wednesday 15 December 2021 7:40pm
    Sovaleni


    Nuku'alofa, Tonga
    : Tonga has many urgent needs and three major concerns for our new Prime Minister Designate, Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni, are health, illegal drugs and school dropouts. “There's a lot [of concerns] and that is why it's important to have a good team to work with,” he said following his election today. By Pesi Fonua.
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  • Wednesday 15 December 2021 3:17pm
    sovaleni


    Nuku'alofa, Tonga
    : An emotional Siaosi ‘Ofakivahakifolau Sovaleni (51) was elected as Tonga's new Prime Minister Designate just before 3:00pm this afternoon, winning 16 votes in the Legislative Assembly at Nuku'alofa.
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  • Wednesday 15 December 2021 3:08pm


    Christchurch, New Zealand
    : Manu Hausia (28) has pleaded guilty to four charges, including attempted murder at the High Court in Christchurch. He is remanded in custody to be sentenced in February 2022. Hausia, in New Zealand on an interim visitor visa, admitted his brutal assault on a solo mum, committed on September 2.
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  • Wednesday 15 December 2021 11:32am


    Nuku'alofa, Tonga
    : Two nominees for Prime Minister Designate, named as Siaosi ‘Ofakivahafolau Sovaleni and ‘Aisake Valu Eke, have addressed the newly elected Members of the Tonga Legislative Assembly this morning in an ongoing meeting, which started at 10:00am at Parliament House in Nuku'alofa. Other members are now speaking before they take a break to prepare for a secret ballot. By Linny Folau.
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  • Wednesday 15 December 2021 10:11am


    Johannesburg, South Africa
    : New York Times reporting: An early study of coronavirus test results in South Africa suggests that, so far, patients infected with the omicron variant may be hospitalized less often than patients infected with earlier versions of the virus. The study — which was released Tuesday and is based on only three weeks of data — also shows that vaccines are not as effective against the variant, which poses a higher risk of breakthrough infections. Booster shots increased the Pfizer vaccine’s efficacy against infection.
  • Tuesday 14 December 2021 7:17pm
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    Nuku'alofa, Tonga
    : Two People's Representatives have been nominated for Tonga's Prime Minister Designate. Their names will be announced tomorrow during a meeting at 10:00am on Wednesday, December 15, when elected representatives to the Tonga Legislative Assembly will choose one of them as the new leader.
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  • Tuesday 14 December 2021 6:49pm


    Nuku'alofa, Tonga
    : Around 7,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, donated by the Japanese Government via COVAX, arrived in Tonga this afternoon, Tuesday. “I hope today’s vaccines could help accelerate the on-going inoculation and that we could make the Kingdom well prepared before it comes,” said HE Mr Kensaku Munenaga. However, we cannot, we should not keep closing our border forever, he said. “Only with a change of the policy, Tongans who have been stuck outside of the Kingdom can meet their families here in Tonga.”
  • Tuesday 14 December 2021 6:39pm


    Nuku'alofa, Tonga
    : Sorry folks, in Tonga there will be no extra days off this holiday season to commemorate Christmas Day and New Year's Day because the two public holidays fall on weekends, and must be observed on those days.
  • Tuesday 14 December 2021 6:00pm
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    Nuku'alofa, Tonga
    : A new investment fund to support COVID-19 recovery in the Pacific was announced by the New Zealand government on December 13. New Zealand is committing $17 million to the fund which is expected to attract an additional $40 million in private investment, and will offer both flexible capital and a technical assistance facility to accelerate investments across the Pacific region.
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