Tongatapu police say they have arrested a 30-year-old Pili driver involved in an alleged hit-and-run that left a 40-year-old Ma’ufanga man dead.
Tonga Police. Photo/Kalino Lātū
The fatal collision happened on Tuesday at around 7.20pm on Tupoulahi Road at Fasimoeafi.
The driver had failed to stop and report the accident to police, said Deputy Police Commissioner Tevita Vailea.
Vailea said the victim was rushed to the hospital.
“Medical officials notified Police yesterday, 20th April of the injured victim and the critical condition that he was in, and a Police investigation was launched straightaway.
“Police located the driver responsible and made arrest around 10:40 pm last night.
“Not long after the arrest, at around 11.11pm last night, Police received a report from the Vaiola Hospital that the victim has passed away.
“The deceased’s family was advised immediately.
“This fatal accident is the second road death for this year, 2022. The suspect remains in Police custody for reckless driving causing death and is due to appear in court later this week.
Contact Police on phone 740-1660 or 922 to share any information you may know about this incident or any crime”.
Vladimir Putin sent a chilling warning to the West yesterday by test-launching his fearsome ‘Satan II’ missile.
Vladimir Putin ordered the test firing of his Sarmat RS-28 ‘Satan II’ missile – which is capable of carrying enough nuclear warheads to destroy France in a single strike
Capable of striking a target 11,200 miles away, the nuclear-capable Sarmat RS-28 is said to be the world’s longest-range intercontinental ballistic missile.
Putin described the launch as a ‘big, significant event’ for Russia’s military and claimed the weapon can overcome all modern defence systems.
However the US described the testing as ‘routine’ and dismissed any global threat.
If fully armed, it can deliver a payload big enough to destroy an area the size of France.
In remarks televised around Russia, Putin congratulated the military on the launch, adding: ‘This truly unique weapon will strengthen the combat potential of our armed forces, reliably ensure the security of Russia from external threats and make those who, in the heat of aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country, think twice.’
He added it was ‘capable of overcoming all modern means of anti-missile defence.’ Dmitry Rogozin, director of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said the weapon was a ‘present to Nato and all sponsors of Ukro-Nazism’, a reference to the outlandlish propaganda claims that Kyiv is run by neo-Nazis.
Despite the timing – coming as Western countries pledge further heavy weaponry to aid Ukraine – the Pentagon said it was notified by the Kremlin of its intention to launch the weapon.
Initial tests of the missile took place in 2017 and the first full-scale launch was delayed from December, prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The RS-28 Sarmat is designed to replace the R-36, which had been nicknamed SS-18 Satan by NATO.
Describing the successful launch, a statement from Russia’s defence ministry said: ‘Sarmat is the most powerful missile with the longest range of destruction of targets in the world, which will significantly increase the combat power of our country’s strategic nuclear forces.’
Capable of travelling at up to 16,000mph, it can deploy multiple warheads and other weapons towards targets at hypersonic speeds, making it extremely difficult to bring down.
It will be able to launch the Avangard, Russia’s first hypersonic missile, which can travel at the top of the Earth’s atmosphere at more than ten times the speed of sound.
Putin has previously described the weapon as ‘invincible’. The original Soviet-era Satan missile has been in service since the 1970s, while ‘Satan II’ is said to have been in development since the early 2000s.
The head of Moscow’s strategic missile forces, Colonel-General Sergey Karakayev vowed to keep developing hypersonic weapons.
‘By the time they [the West] find an antidote, we must have found another solution to this. And today we are working on it. There are developments, there is work in progress.
Jack Watling, of the Royal United Services Institute defence think-tank said the timing of yesterday’s test was mere posturing by Putin ahead of Russia’s Victory Day on May 9, where the Kremlin shows off its weapons.
‘The timing of the test reflects the Russians wanting to have something to show as a technological achievement in the lead-up to Victory Day, at a time when a lot of their technology has not delivered the results they would have liked in Ukraine,’ he said.
When Putin invaded Ukraine in February he made a reference to his nation’s nuclear deterrents, warning the West that any major intervention would ‘lead you to such consequences that you have never encountered in your history’.
PTOA supporters have asked why former Prime Minister Lord Sevele ‘O Vailahi has been recommended to become chair of the National Reserve Bank’s Board of Directors.
Lord Sevele ‘O Vailahi (L), Minister of Finance Tatafu Moeaki
A letter of recommendation signed by Minister of Finance Tatafu Moeaki has been shared on social media.
Hon. Moeaki said the appointment had been approved by Cabinet.
He said Lord Sevele would “manage any perceived conflict of interest on his part and any other members of the board.”
Kaniva News has asked Hon. Moeaki for comment.
We asked him to tell us about the basis for the Cabinet’s recommendation of Lord Sevele for the post.
We also asked Moeaki whether there was a conflict of interest over his recommendation of Sevele, given that the former Prime Minister was a voter in his constituency and they went to the same church.
PTOA Party political social media activist Sharon Sēkona said she was baffled by the letter and asked if there was no one else in Tonga who would be a better fit for the post rather than Sevele.
“‘Ikai pe toe ai ha taha ia ‘i Tonga e qualified ki he position eee hoiiii”, she wrote in Tongan.
Controversial
PTOA Party supporters said Lord Sevele had a questionable background.
He has been accused of being involved in the illegal transfer of million of dollars from a Chinese grant to Princess Pilolevu Tuita and Tongasat
The Supreme Court has declared the transfer as illegal.
He was sacked as CEO of the organising committee for the 2019 Pacific Games that were going to be held in Tonga.
In 2017 the then Prime Minister Akilisi Pohiva withdrew the kingdom from hosting the Games. He said he was unhappy with the financial budget organised by the organising committee chaired by Lord Sevele.
Lord Sevele was Prime Minister when the MV Ashika sank in 2009, killing 74 people.
Some people were charged and jailed after the tragedy, including the captain of the vessel Makahokovalu Tuputupu, Acting Director of Marine and Ports Viliami Tu’ipulotu and John Jonesse the Managing Director of the Shipping Corporation of Polynesia Ltd, which owned the vessel.
However, critics said the prosecution should have brought to justice everybody involved, including Lord Sevele, who was accused of being instrumental in bringing the doomed vessel to Tonga.
Chinese loan
Sevele was chair of the Nuku’alofa Development Corporation which administered and spent a TOP$118 million loan from China to reconstruct central Nuku’alofa after it was destroyed in riots on 16 November 2006.
He was accused of making unconstitutional decisions about the loan. Loans of more than TOP$15 million must be approved by a resolution of Parliament.
In 2013 a Parliamentary committee chaired by the late ‘Akilisi Pōhiva found that Sevele wanted to spend some of the reconstruction money on the City Assets Building (Molisi Tonga Ltd), which he owned.
A Fijian court has granted an order to prevent a luxury vessel owned by a Russian oligarch from leaving the country.
Suleiman Kerimov Photo: Wikipedia
The High Court in Suva has allowed an application by the public prosecutor to stop the superyacht Amadea belonging to Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov from leaving its waters.
Kerimov, who was not on board, is facing sanctions from the United States, Britain and the European Union over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Fiji’s Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Pryde filed the application on Tuesday – a week after the yacht moored at the Lautoka Wharf without customs clearance.
Mr Pryde confirmed that the US is seeking to seize the vessel.
In his application, he requested that: “Amadea be restrained from leaving Fijian waters until the finalisation of an application to register a warrant to seize the property and that a US warrant to seize the Amadea be registered.”
The court is yet to hear the application.
FBC reports says a second application for the United States to seize the yacht will be heard on Thursday.
New Zealand High Commissioner to Tonga Tiffany Babington formally handed over 13,5000 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 Paediatric Vaccines to the Tonga Minister of Health Hon Saia Piukala. Photo/ New Zealand High Commission Tonga
Tonga has approved the Pfizer vaccine for children aged five to 11, clearing the way for thousands of young Tongans to get vaccinated.
The decision by Tongan authorities comes before New Zealand High Commissioner to Tonga Tiffany Babington formally handed over 13,5000 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 Paediatric Vaccines to the Tonga Minister of Health Hon Saia Piukala this week.
“The shipment is a part-delivery of 35,000 doses that Aotearoa New Zealand is donating to Tonga through the Polynesian Health Corridors Program”, a statement by the New Zealand High Commission in Tonga said.
“The remaining doses will be delivered in instalment as Tonga needs them. The Ministry of Health is started the program for the COVID-19 vaccination of children aged 5 – 11 years this morning, working together with the Ministry of Education to deliver the program to children through primary school networks.
“Tatou Tatou – all of us together – we can overcome the adverse impacts of COVID-19. Aotearoa New Zealand continues to stand with the Ministry of Health, and its partners, to support the Ministry’s goal of Universal Health Coverage, to leave no one behind, including through COVID-19 vaccination.
“Tonga’s vaccination result for adults target population to date is very good at 98% Dose 1, 90% Dose 2, 55% Booster. On the basis of those results there is a high expectation that the hard working vaccination teams will do the same again with our children, who are our future”.
Police on Tuesday April 12 conducted a search warrant at a Hā’utu residence for stolen property where they arrested a 38-year-old male with drug utensils.
A couple, man, 57 and a woman, 49, were arrested from their residence at Ma’ufanga on Thursday April 14 with nine packs of methamphetamine (0.29 grams), $300 pa’anga, over 300 unused packs and drug utensils.
A 21-year-old Kolonga man and two Lapaha women aged in their 30s were arrested at Lapaha for breaching curfew and for possession of drug utensils on Friday, April 15.
The offenders are due to appear in court at a later date.
Anyone with information on drug related activities to contact Police on 740-1660 or 922.
(The Daily Journal) Two men suspected in the 2020 shooting death of Ueta Savelio Muasika Jr. in front of his San Mateo home that also seriously injured his 2-year-old son were arrested Monday in different states.
John Paasi (L), ‘Isileli Mahe
John Paasi, 29, was arrested at his home in Charlotte, NC and Isileli Mahe, 30 was arrested in Honolulu, Hawaii, according to San Mateo police officials.
Both were arrested on suspicion of homicide and assault with a firearm, police officials said.
The men are suspected of ambushing Muasika Jr. in his driveway on Oct. 30, 2020 on the 1600 block of Eleanor Drive.
Muasika Jr. was shot several times and died at the scene and his two-year-old son was shot in the face but survived, police said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Sgt. Paul Pak at (650) 522-7660 or pak@cityofsanmateo.org.
Anonymous tips can be submitted to http://tinyurl.com/SMPDTips or (650) 522-7676.
To make the arrests, San Mateo police worked with their counterparts at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and the FBI’s Honolulu Division Criminal Enterprise Squad.
However, an updated post on the Givealittle page said the family won’t go ahead with the repatriation plan.
“Sadly we have discovered we will be unable to get Rochelle and Ben home. While this is difficult to accept, the local people have created a beautiful space for them to be at rest,” the post said.
“The families still need help with a memorial for some piece of mind and trying to get their personal effects home. This is still going to be expensive and our hope is that everyone is happy for their donations to go toward this.”
The fundraiser had already amassed more than $6300 in donations at the time of writing.
After January’s volcanic eruption, Tonga is faced with a tidal wave of plastic bottles.
Photo / Global Environment Facility – Small Grants Programme Tonga (Facebook)
In the wake of the disaster there was a desperate need for clean drinking water.
The kingdom was sent 200 shipping containers of aid, including 114,600 litres of water.
The water came in 86,000 1.5 litre bottles. Those bottles are empty and now need to be dealt with.
However, the kingdom’s plastic recycling scheme is not fully resourced, so the only place the bottles can be put is into rubbish bins and then as landfill.
According to a report in the Guardian, the country’s only rubbish tip, which opened at Tapuhia in 2006, has just four cells for storing rubbish. Each cell is meant to be large enough to house at least 20 years’ worth of waste from across the country. The second one is already filling up.
However, the problem is not just plastic bottles.
Last month, volunteers from the No Pelesitiki (plastic) campaign spent two Saturdays collecting plastic waste from more than 1500 households. The rubbish was wrapped into plastic bales and loaded on the HMAS Canberra for disposal in Australia.
The founder of the No Pelesitiki Campaign, Eleni Leveni Tevi, told the Guardian people responded strongly to the collection.
As well as plastic rubbish from relief efforts, the tsunami produced huge quantities of rubbish from household furniture and inorganic waste.
In the worst-affected village of Kanokupolu, located on the west end of Tongatapu, five truckloads of rubbish – including aluminium sheets, wood and drenched suitcases full of clothes – were collected.
No Pelesitiki does not have the means to do regular plastic recycling collection, without the money to pay for labour or a dedicated vehicle.
This discouraged people from separating their plastic from the rest of the rubbish.
“All these plastic wastes end up at Tapuhia landfill,” Tevi told the Guardian.
“We have a plan on how to tackle Tonga’s plastic issue, we have the passion, but we can just do so much. We are all volunteers with full-time jobs or attending schools with only the weekends to attend to No Pelesitiki activities,” he said.
“There’s quite [a lot] of logistics around this work that needs daily commitment.”
Australia has donated two balers for compressing rubbish to Tonga’s Waste Authority. They are based at the Tapuhia recycling centre, which also houses a plastic shredder and two glass crushers.
The Waste Authority said it would be rolling out a new recycling service to collect plastic bottles and glass bottles, as well as training people to use the balers.
By Guyon Espiner, of Rnz.co.nz and is republished with permission.
Māngere Budgeting Service chief executive Darryl Evans has resigned and the board of the high-profile charity has appointed a Queen’s Counsel to oversee an inquiry into allegations former staff have made against him.
On its website, Māngere Budgeting Service describes Darryl Evans as “often the first port of call by mainstream media”. Photo: Scrrenshot/Newshub
Evans’ resignation comes after RNZ put detailed allegations made by six former staff about his management style to him and to the board of the budgeting service, chaired by former lawyer Alistaire Hall.
Evans refused to respond to the allegations but Hall said Evans had now stepped down as chief executive because of poor health.
Hall said the charity had appointed QC Simon Mount to oversee an inquiry into the allegations made by staff.
Evans, who joined the Māngere Budgeting Service in 2004 and spent many of the intervening years as chief executive, is a high-profile advocate for people in poverty and is politically well-connected. The patron of the budgeting service is the former Prime Minister and Labour leader Helen Clark.
One former staff member told RNZ staff had been reluctant to speak out because of Evans’ profile and political connections.
Public Service Association organiser Simon Oosterman said staff had approached the union about pay and conditions at the budgeting service.
Oosterman said Māngere Budgeting Service was a “go to voice in the media for poverty and inequality” but the board itself had not committed to paying all staff at least the living wage.
“That is ironic in the saddest possible way,” he said. “We need those who speak out against inequality to be walking the talk.”
The board did not respond to RNZ questions about staff wages.
On the Māngere Budgeting Service website Evans is described as having “built a strong reputation fighting for people’s rights” and “is often the first port of call by mainstream media”.
It says that in 2020 he received the ASB Good as Gold award for his service to the south Auckland community and was also voted Westfield Manukau ‘Local Hero of The Year’ in 2020.
Māngere Budgeting Service board chairman Alistaire Hall, who has been with the charity since 1994, told RNZ Evans had stepped down for health reasons.
“He has tendered his resignation from the position on health grounds and our board has accepted it.”
The board was looking for a replacement for Evans and the claims against him would be investigated.
“After reviewing the matters you raised and obtaining advice we are initiating the appointment of a suitable person to conduct an independent inquiry into them,” Hall said.
“We do not intend to make any further public statements until it is completed.”
