This member of the welcoming party which perfomed the Sipi Tau for the royal visitors caught the royal photographer’s attention as he bicycled home with his daughter running beside him.Her Majesty Queen Salote welcomes Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth to the Kingdom of Tonga at the start of the British monarch’s 1954 visit.Members of the crews of the S.S.Gothic and H.M.S Black Prince are served by local girls who have borrowed their uniform caps for the occasion.Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh share a banquet with their Tongan hosts. The visitors were waited on by members of the NobilityThese Tongan musicians serenaded the visitors with wooden nose flutes on the Sunday morning of their visit. Later they attended a Wesleyan church service, which was attended by about 2000 people.Queen Elizabeth II accepts a garland off flowers from a child while Queen Salote watchesQueen Salote farewells Queen Elizabeth as she prepares to board the royal barge that will take the royal party to the S.S. Gothic.Queen Salote holds up an umbrella to keep the rain off her royal guest during the drive through Nuku’alofa.Queen Salote leads the royal procession to the mala’e where a banquet a been prepared. Crown Prince Tungi, who was also the Prime Minister, accompanied the Duke.Queen Salote, Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh inspect Tui Malila, the tortoise said to have been presented by Captain Cook in 1777. The tortoise died in 1966.
Following the recent volcanic eruption and tsunami in Tonga, Queen Elizabeth II sent her condolences and best wishes to the kingdom.
“I am shocked and saddened by the impact of the volcanic eruption and tsunami in Tonga,” she said.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Tonga, as you work together to recover from the damage caused.”
Queen Elizabeth has a strong connection with the Island kingdom, having visited there in 1953, 1970 and 1977.
On her first visit in 1953 she was greeted by Queen Salote, who had entranced the British when she visited London for the royal coronation.
Despite preserving its independence, Tonga had strong ties with the United Kingdom. During the Second World War, Queen Salote raised enough money to buy three Spitfires for the RAF.
On December 19 Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh flew to Nuku’aklofa from Fiji in a TEAL Solent Mk IV flying boat, the Aranui II.
Despite only visiting for two days, the royal visitors were given a hearty welcome.
After being greeted at the wharf by Queen Salote, they drove through the rain into the capital where people from all over the kingdom, including its remotest islands, gathered to greet her.
Ex-servicemen marched through the streets and at the mala’e the British visitors were waited on by members of the Nobility as they and 2000 guests tucked into a banquet of pork, chicken crayfish, lobsters, yams and pineapples.
A Sipi Tau was given in honour of the visitors.
That night they slept at the royal palace and were wakened in the morning by being serenaded with nose flutes.
After breakfast they attended service in the Wesleyan church that was full to overflowing.
In her speech, Queen Elizabeth said: “Never was a more appropriate name bestowed on any lands than that which Captain Cook gave to these beautiful islands when he called them The Friendly Islands.’
They left for New Zealand on December 20.
When Prince Harry visited Tonga in 2018 he read a message from his grandmother: “To this day I remember with fondness Queen Salote’s attendance at my own Coronation, while Prince Philip and I have cherished memories from our three wonderful visits to your country in 1953, 1970 and 1977.”
For more information
You can see colour newsreel footage of the 1954 visit shot by Pathe here:
A black and white film made by the New Zealand National Film Unit can be seen here:
A pregnant shop assistant was strangled by her own hair during a job interview after it got tangled in a factory machine which tore her scalp off.
Umida Nazarova, 21, was applying for a new job at the Svarmet factory in Borisov, Belarus, which produces welding wire and electrodes, when senior staff members showed her round the factory.
During the tour her loose hair suddenly got caught in a machine and wrapped around her neck and she became trapped and covered in blood.
Her mother Olga said: ‘Her throat was injured, according to the doctor. Her hair got wrapped around her neck and she was pulled into the mechanism.
‘If her scalp had not been torn off, she would have been strangled there and then by her own hair.
Despite this she still suffered fatal injuries, and never regained consciousness.
Her father Dmitry said safety rules were broken. He said: ‘They took two lives, she was seven weeks pregnant.
‘They saw she had long hair, so why didn’t they give her something to cover it?’
The Belarus Investigative Committee said: ‘An employee, who was showing her how the equipment operates, paused to make a record in a register.
‘When she turned her head, she saw the woman already lying on the floor unconscious, her hair was tangled in the machine.’
The plant paid for the woman’s funeral.
‘She wanted to become a mother,’ said Olga.
‘We wanted to celebrate her wedding, and collect a grandson or granddaughter from the hospital, not this.
‘This is not what I wanted for my child.’
A court has sentenced an unnamed plant head of production for ‘failure to fulfil her official duties due to dishonest and negligent attitude…causing the death of a person’.
Vaccinators around the country are reporting a rush on Covid-19 vaccinations with an additional one million New Zealanders now eligible for a third dose.
About 1.4 million Kiwis have already received a booster, and as of today, more than three million people over 18 are now eligible.
Pharmacies across the country told RNZ they had been swamped this morning with new bookings and walk-ins.
Cook Street Pharmacy owner Anthony Roberts said the Palmerston North business was now weighing up extending hours to meet the demand.
“We were pretty much chock-a-block for bookings even before it was brought back to three months and people were itching to get it even before they met the four-month deadline,” he said.
“We’ve had quite a few people in wanting to make bookings [since the change to three months] and I can see that getting bigger and bigger.”
There was plenty of supply of vaccine and arms willing for the shot, the pressure came on having enough vaccinators available, Robert said.
“The real bottleneck is just having the professional labour to actually deliver the vaccination,” he said.
“That’s where the bottleneck is going to come and every time there’s a change in settings there’s a spike. When Auckland went into their second lockdown our numbers just took off. When Omicron turned up our phones were absolutely running hot with people wanting to book in for boosters, or seconds, or even firsts.”
Anglesea Pharmacy in Hamilton had also seen the rush.
Owner Ian McMichael said those walking in for vaccination would have to expect longer wait times as a result of the demand, but everyone would get their turn.
“Everyone is so conscious about Omicron so they want to be vaccinated and safe and secure,” he said.
They encouraged those seeking a vaccine to be patient with vaccinators and pharmacy staff as everyone was under stress at the moment and doing their best to deliver.
“We’ll get there. It’s stressful for everybody and every vaccinator is trying to do their best, and we’re trying to get this sorted out and done and delivered so we can go back to a new normal,” Roberts said.
“We’ll do everything we can to make sure who needs it the most will get it as soon as possible.”
Minister of Internal Affairs Sangstar Saulala. Photo/Supplied
Tonga’s Minister of Internal Affairs Sangstar Saulala has vowed to investigate an alleged beating of a Tongan Seasonal Programme Work (SPW) employee in Australia.
Hon Saulala said the safety of Tongans was paramount and priority when they were away from their families and working overseas.
“It is very pitiful, and it must be investigated”, the Minister told Kaniva News.
The Minister was responding after we reported photos of injuries and serious bruises consistent with somebody being beaten.
The photos show a man with what appeared to be his hands, wrists and arms bruised, cut and swollen.
Reports said there were serious allegations of threatening and fear of reprisals from the perpetrator—especially if it is the leader of Tongan groups involved.
We have been reliably informed there was a link between the photos and a group of Tongans working in a farm in Perth.
It is understood the alleged beating took place on Tuesday.
The victim was a first-time employee under the Australian SWP.
As we reported this morning, the dramatic photos were uploaded to Facebook, prompting an investigating by the Pacific Islands Council Queensland (PICQ).
The revelations come after a report by a group of researchers revealed that the breakdown of communications early in the aftermath of Tonga’s deadly tsunami meant many seasonal workers in Aotearoa and Australia were “left in the dark, not knowing whether their families were safe or not”, reported RNZ International.
The report was referring to when the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Volcano erupted on 15 January 2022.
The eruption triggered a tsunami that destroyed villages, resorts and infrastructure. It also knocked out communications for the South Pacific nation of about 105,000 people.
Ninety-percent of Māori will have received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by the end of the day.
Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Ministry of Health said as of 11am today, vaccinators were just 142 doses away from reaching the milestone.
There are 209 community cases reported today, in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Lakes, Tairāwhiti, Hawke’s Bay, MidCentral and Bay of Plenty, where a resident at a rest-home has tested positive.
Three cases in Nelson/Marlborough will be added to the official tally tomorrow.
While overall, Māori are expected to reach the 90 percent milestone today, rates differ for each DHB.
Ninety-five percent of Māori aged 12 and over at Canterbury and Capital and Coast DHBs are already partially vaccinated,
Northland and Whangarei have the lowest rates for Māori aged 12 and over, with 86 percent in their areas partially vaccinated.
In total, 513,799 Māori aged 12 and over and 115,562 tamariki aged between 5 and 11 are partially vaccinated, according to the ministry’s latest vaccination data.
“There’s an impression that Omicron causes milder disease and that’s true but the scale of cases is so large that even a small percentage of severe illnesses is quite a serious situation.”
Taonui said the ministry’s data showed 18 percent of tamariki Māori nationwide had their first vaccination compared to 33 percent for all ethnicities. But the gap was much wider due to an undercount of more than 12,000 in the index the ministry used to count vaccinations and the estimated number of tamariki Māori, he said.
“That gap is closer to 25 or 26 percent. A more accurate calculation of the tamariki vaccination is 16.1 percent for Māori compared to 40.9 percent for non-Māori/Pacific.”
Taonui was calling on the government to cut the wait time between first and second child vaccinations from eight weeks to three, and to prioritise the tamariki Māori vaccination rollout to avoid repeating the inequities of the national vaccination programme to date.
“This includes targeting low-decile schools with large Māori enrolments,” Taonui said.
“At the moment Māori cases are very low. But at some point there’s going to be a vector by which Omicron begins to make its way into our community and that is likely to come when our children go back to school and begin mixing with kids from other communities and take the virus home.”
The ministry had to release tamariki Māori data to the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency and other Māori health providers to help them quickly locate children who had yet to be vaccinated, he said.
By Kelvin Anthony of RNZ.co.nz and is republished with permission
A pro-democracy activist in Fiji is calling for the government to provide regular updates about the health of Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama to cancel out rumours and fake news.
Fijian social media has been buzzing with rumours that Bainimarama’s health has deteriorated after undergoing heart surgery at a Melbourne hospital last month.
Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama. Photo: Facebook/Fiji govt
But democracy advocate Pita Waqavonovono said Fijian citizens deserved to know the health status of the leader of the country.
He said the government’s decision to remain silent did not help quell such rumours.
“So, the problem here is that all this energy placed on trying to portray positivity, distract and shape opinions is actually met with a question – update us. Is he alive? How can we help? Nothing is coming to us through the traditional forms so social media has taken over that void.”
RNZ Pacific has contacted Fiji’s information department for comment.
The government announced last month that the prime minister was recovering from cardiovascular surgery in Melbourne, Australia.
At a media conference on 15 January, acting prime minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said Bainimarama was not expected to return to work until the end of February.
Fiji’s acting prime minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum Photo: Facebook/Fiji govt
Sayed-Khaiyum said Bainimarama was in high spirits and had spoken with his family.
“Per the doctor’s orders, this type of surgery takes weeks, at a minimum, to recover from. So, we expect to have our prime minister back at the helm of the nation, fitter than ever, by the end of the next month [February],” he said.
Sayed-Khaiyum said he was in Singapore for a medical check-up late last year.
There are 209 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today, with another 14 cases reported at the border.
File photo. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
In a statement, the Health Ministry said there were nine people in hospital with Covid-19, with one in intensive care. There are two in Rotorua, one in Hawkes Bay and one in Christchurch ,with the rest in Auckland hospitals.
Today’s new community cases were in Northland (21), Auckland (99), Waikato (51), Rotorua (15), Bay of Plenty (15), Hawke’s Bay (3), Tairāwhiti (4), MidCentral (1).
Of the 51 cases in the Waikato today, less than half have been linked to previously reported cases.
Eighteen of these cases are based in Hamilton, one is in Matamata and the others are still under investigation, the Ministry said.
The 15 cases in the Bay of Plenty include six in Tauranga and nine in the Western Bay of Plenty.
The Ministry said there had also been a case in a resident at Radius Lexham Park aged residential care facility in Katikati.
The case is linked to a previous case in a staff member at the facility who tested positive late last month. All residents have been self-isolating and daily Rapid Antigen Tests are being carried out for all staff and residents.
The 21 Northland cases include 12 cases in Kerikeri, five in Hokianga and four in Whangārei. Thirteen of the 15 cases in Rotorua have been linked to previous cases.
There were also three cases in the Marlborough region – all known close contacts of previously reported cases – that will be added to tomorrow’s numbers.
Today’s 64 cases at the border included travellers from Israel, USA, Australia, UK, Pakistan, India, Italy, France, Sri Lanka, Oman, Japan, Egypt, Portugal, the Netherlands and Bangladesh.
There have now been 16,901 cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand since the pandemic began.
The Ministry said Māori across Aotearoa will today reach 90 percent first dosed. There were just 142 doses needed to reach the milestone this morning.
There were 870 first vaccine doses, 1817 second doses, 4501 paediatric doses and 45,931 booster doses.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins today confirmed that self-isolation rules would gradually be phased out in Aotearoa.
And National Covid-19 spokesperson Chris Bishop said the five-step plan to navigate through Omicron was no good for tourists and thereby tourism businesses because of isolation requirements.
Photos of injuries and serious bruises on what appeared to be a Tongan Seasonal worker in Australia have surfaced on social media, prompting an investigating by the Pacific Islands Council Queensland (PICQ).
An investigation is underway in Australia after photos of an alleged beating surfaced. Photos/Supplied
The photos, which were shared on Facebook on Tuesday appeared to show the bruising was consistent with the man being beaten.
The photos were accompanied with a caption alleging that the incident was part of a pattern of violence kept shrouded in secrecy. There was serious allegation of threatenings and fear of reprisals from the perpetrator—especially if it is a leader of the group.
Kaniva News contacted Tongan authorities for comment.
Commenters on Facebook have identified the victim as well as the accused. Kaniva News cannot publish their identities at this stage for legal reasons.
It is understood the PICQ investigators were attempting to talk to some of the Tongan Seasonal workers who knew about the incident.
The PICQ investigators vowed to continue investigations ‘with the aim of bringing those involved to justice’, a reliable source told Kaniva News.
PICQ described itself on its website as “a non-profit community incorporated association, managed by volunteer representatives of member community groups and individuals who believe in the collective voice for the benefit of all Pacific Islanders”.
About 5,000 Tongan workers were employed across Australia and New Zealand under their respective Pacific temporary labour schemes.
Many of these workers have been absent from home for much longer than usual due to COVID-related travel restrictions, with some now in New Zealand and Australia for more than two years.
Afghan women are accusing the Taliban of using a pregnant New Zealand journalist as a publicity tool to show the world they can offer women rights.
New Zealand journalist Charlotte Bellis. Photo: YouTube screenshot
Charlotte Bellis wrote a column on Sunday saying she had been rejected by New Zealand’s strict hotel quarantine system and was living in Afghanistan, where the Taliban had offered her “safe haven”.
Bellis was working in Qatar, where extramarital sex is illegal, when she discovered she was pregnant with her partner and realised she had to leave.
When she was unable to go home to New Zealand, she briefly moved to her partner’s native Belgium, but could not stay long because she was not a resident.
She said the only other place the couple had visas to live was Afghanistan.
“When the Taliban offers you – a pregnant, unmarried woman – safe haven, you know your situation is messed up,” she wrote.
It made international headlines, but the news prompted scepticism in online groups of Afghan women, Kabul resident Sodaba Noorai said.
Noorai said Afghan women “were surprised” when they heard the news that senior Taliban contacts had told the journalist she would be fine if she returned to Afghanistan.
Afghan women march as they chant slogans and hold banners during a women’s rights protest in Kabul on 16 January, 2022. Photo: Wakil Koshar / AFP
“[Afghan women] were surprised the Taliban can treat women in a good manner and know how to respect them,” Noorai said.
“The Taliban is trying to convey the message that they know about human rights, especially women’s rights.
“But in reality their treatment of Afghan women is different to their support and respect for this New Zealand woman.”
Noorai said pregnant Afghan women had been killed by the Taliban for not being married.
Witnesses claim pregnant former Afghan policewoman Banu Negar was shot dead by Taliban militants in September, but the regime has denied the incident.
“This is a double standard where they treat a white, Western woman in a way to show the world that they are behaving like a civilised government,” Pittsburgh University Afghan researcher Dr Omar Sadr said.
“But with respect to the people of Afghanistan and the women of Afghanistan, the Taliban behave totally differently.
“At the moment, Afghan women are degraded as second-class citizens, deprived of fundamental human rights where their protesting is brutally suppressed.
“They are killed, tortured, and in some cases even raped.”
Many women live in fear under Taliban rule
It has been almost six months since the militant group took over Afghanistan, and its treatment of women has become a central point of concern for the international community.
Women say they live in fear, while others have been killed after protesting against the country’s new rulers.
Taliban fighters trying to control women as they chant slogans during a protest demanding for equal rights, along a road in Kabul on 16 December, 2021. Photo: Wakil Koshar / AFP
Afghan activist Rahimi, whose last name has been withheld for security reasons, said she had gone into hiding with her sisters because she was worried she would be arrested and tortured by the Taliban for attending protests over human rights.
“I no longer have a job so I’m in a bad economic situation, I attended many demonstrations for achieving our rights and my life is in danger by the Taliban,” she said.
“We’re afraid of their violence, their rape, their killing and murder, so we’re scared in our house.
“I have a request for the international community – don’t ignore the actions of the Taliban because of this case of this New Zealand journalist.”
Taliban negotiators travelled to Oslo, Norway last week, the regime’s first official overseas delegation since returning to power in August.
US and European diplomats reportedly offered humanitarian aid in exchange for an improvement in human rights.
The Taliban is calling for almost $10 billion in assets frozen by the US and other Western countries to be released, as more than half of Afghans are now facing extreme levels of hunger.
“It is fundamental that we hold the Taliban accountable by their policies and actions on the ground rather than what they do in exceptional cases like Charlotte’s,” Dr Sadr said.
But women like Noorai have urged the international community to stand firm until all women in Afghanistan, not just foreigners, are given basic rights.
“Our message is to not recognise the Taliban until they really change themselves and treat us properly.”
Australian maritime experts claim the final resting place of Captain James Cook’s ship, Endeavour, has been found, in an announcement that has drawn criticism from the principal research team as “premature”.
The wreck of Captain Cook’s Endeavour may have been discovered in Newport Harbour, off Rhode Island. Photo: Australian National Maritime Museum
Endeavour, which was scuttled in the harbour as part of the American War of Independence in 1788, has a prominent place in Australian history.
In 1770 it became the first European vessel to reach the east coast.
At an event in Sydney this morning, the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) announced a wreck in Newport Harbour, off Rhode Island in the United States, had been confirmed as the ship.
But an hour later, the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) stepped in, labelling the revelation a “breach of contract”.
The project’s principal investigator Kathy Abbass said any conclusions would be “driven by proper scientific process and not Australian emotions or politics”.
“What we see on the shipwreck site under study is consistent with what might be expected of the Endeavour, but there has been no indisputable data found to prove the site is that iconic vessel, and there are many unanswered questions that could overturn such an identification,” Dr Abbass said.
“When the study is done, RIMAP will post the legitimate report on its website.”
Kieran Hosty, from the ANMM, claimed Dr Abbass had been sent a report 10 days ago outlining the museum’s findings.
“I can’t answer the question about breach of contract, as far as I’m aware the contract with the Rhode Island project expired in November last year.
“Going onto the actual jumping the gun that we haven’t got enough information, I disagree with that.”
He said the wreck had several points “which correspond to what we know about Endeavour.”
In making the initial announcement, ANMM director and CEO, Kevin Sumption, had a different perspective.
“I am satisfied that this is the final resting place of one of the most important and contentious vessels in Australia’s maritime history,” he said.
Maritime archaeologists have been investigating several 18th century shipwrecks in a 2 square mile (5.2 square kilometres) area, known as RI 2394, since 1999.
“The last pieces of the puzzle had to be confirmed before I felt able to make this call,” Sumption said.
“Based on archival and archaeological evidence, I’m convinced it’s the Endeavour.”
Originally launched in 1764 as the Earl of Pembroke, four years later it was renamed Endeavour by Britain’s Royal Navy.
Over the next three years, the ship voyaged to the South Pacific, firstly on an astronomical mission to record the transit of Venus in Tahiti, before charting Australia’s east coast and the coast of New Zealand in 1770.
The vessel lay forgotten for more than two centuries, after it was sold to private owners and deliberately sunk in 1778 by British forces.
While only 15 percent of the vessel remains, efforts are now focused on how to protect and preserve it.
Researchers say several key markers distinguished Endeavour from four other ships sunk in Newport in August 1778:
historical evidence indicates the ship was sunk just north of Goat Island in Newport Harbour, along with four other British transports
the ship was the largest of the five scuttled transports in that area
archaeological evidence indicates RI 2394 is significantly larger than any other 18th century shipwreck site
the length of the surviving hull is almost exactly the same as that recorded for Endeavour
the structural details and shape of the remains closely match historic plans of Endeavour
diagnostic clues such as the construction of the keel along the bottom of the wreck, the joinery used in its bow at the front and the placement of the vessel’s fore and main mast are identical to those shown on 18th century plans of Endeavour
timber samples strongly suggest a vessel built in Europe, not America.
The research team are finalising their report on the site, which will be peer-reviewed and published in the months ahead.
In making today’s announcement, Sumption acknowledged his American counterparts.
“We pay tribute to the work of Dr Kathy Abbass and her team at the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project for their ongoing commitment to the site and its history,” he said.
“It’s an important historical moment, as this vessel’s role in exploration, astronomy and science applies not just to Australia, but also Aotearoa New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.”
Federal Arts Minister Paul Fletcher also spoke at this morning’s announcement in Sydney.
He also acknowledged his American counterparts.
“We pay tribute to the work of Dr Kathy Abbass and her team at the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project for their ongoing commitment to the site and its history,” he said.
“It’s an important historical moment, as this vessel’s role in exploration, astronomy and science applies not just to Australia, but also Aotearoa New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.”
To mark the occasion, an interactive website has also been launched featuring immersive videos, animation, underwater footage and photogrammetry data sets.
