Tonga News

NUKU'ALOFA, 17th May 2013 - - Today Tonga's National ICT Day showcased the advent of high-speed internet in July, under the first phase of the Pacific Regional Connectivity Project supported by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank .

No one won Wednesday night's Powerball drawing, which is good news for somebody: There will be an even bigger drawing on Saturday night.

"Young people are being removed from school because of diabetes and more than half of the case studies have lost their mothers because of diabetes," he said in launching the 2012-13 Tonga Youth Diabetes Study Report.

A plan to upgrade the Tonga campus of the University of the South Pacific was welcomed by Tonga's Prime Minister Lord Tu'ivakano, when he opened the 76th Meeting of the continues to provide quality education and is continuously meeting the aspirations of Tongan youths and young people in the Pacific region.

Three cars were stolen from the Nuku'alofa area early on Saturday May 11, in separate incidents, and a driver was admitted to hospital with serious injuries after one of the stolen vehicles crashed, Tonga Police reported.

PETER LLOYD: After a decade long focus on security and counter-terrorism in Afghanistan and the Iraq War, the Government is on a well publicised campaign to step-up engagement in the near neighbourhood.

The 76th University of the South Pacific Council meeting to discuss the affairs of the region's university will be held in Nuku'alofa on May 15-16. The council, the highest governing body of the university which normally meets twice a year, held an induction session for new council members and a briefing on its finance this afternoon.

Consultations on Tonga's Employment Relations Bill 2013 have been extended to 31 May 2013, and a revised bill is expected to go to parliament in August.

A record number of graduates received diplomas and certificates from North Central Missouri College during commencement exercises Saturday morning at the Ketcham Community Center.

A mother of five, Siunipa Nimo , won a business award on May 10 for improving her small homemade baking business using the South Pacific Business Development Microfinance program.

Massive logs flew off a logging truck on the Golden Ears Bridge between Langley and Maple Ridge on Friday, causing traffic to back up on the morning commute.

A 6.5-magnitude earthquake has hit the Pacific island nation of Tonga, but no tsunami warning has been issued.

My dear mother, Ruby Sikahema, passed away peacefully in her sleep last month after a long battle with diabetes.

Zay's island-hopping escapades take him now to the independent Kingdom of Tonga and then on to multi-cultural Fiji, once home to cannibals and Indian plantation workers that were brought to the islands to harvest sugar cane.

Proud new parents Crown Prince Tupouto'a and Princess Sinaitakala are celebrating the birth of their first son, reportedly named Prince Taufa'ahau Manumataongo, who surprised the family with an early arrival today, May 10, in Auckland, New Zealand.

Five newly installed tsunami warning sirens will be tested tomorrow Friday 10 May between 2:00 - 4:00pm around Nuku'alofa and in the Hihifo villages of Afaa and Talafoou.

Tonga's first small wind turbine project on Tongatapu began with a dedication ceremony at Nakolo village on Thursday, May 9, ast the start of the work to erect the wind tower.

Church schools teams, were among 22 teams awarded seed capital for the Youth in Business Challenge.

On World Press Freedom Day May 3, Tonga's Attorney General Neil Adsett told journalists in Nuku'alofa that while Tonga's Constitution guarantees Freedom of Speech and Press Freedom, there remains in the Constitution two other conflicting sub-clauses, inserted by an amendment in 2003, which are partly void and should be changed so that it is not ... (more)

The National Reserve Bank of Tonga is running out of ideas on how to encourage commercial banks to lend more money at a time when the Tongan economy is very weak, the Reserve Bank Governor Siosi Mafi said on Friday May 3 when she presented the Monetary Policy Statement for the end of February.