A 26-year-old man has been arrested and charged in relation to a stabbing in Auckland’s North Shore suburb of Birkenhead almost three weeks ago.
Armed police block off Birkenhead Ave on Auckland’s North Shore. (Source: Supplied)
Detective Sergeant Matt Bartlett said man was arrested during a search warrant at a Northcote address on Saturday morning and was due to appear in the North Shore District Court on Monday, charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Police said they would be opposing bail.
A man was found with serious injuries on Birkenhead Ave by a member of the public at around 2pm on February 4.
A witness told 1News that they saw a badly injured man lying on the side of the road on his back at around 2pm
“An elderly lady stopped to help him, then a cop car pulled up.”
They said the situation was “scary” and that they had “never seen anything like it”.
“I hope somebody saw it happen or has seen something.”
The victim, who was taken to hospital in a critical condition, was reported to be recovering from his wounds.
North Shore area commander inspector Stefan Sagar earlier said that police did not believe it was a “random incident”.
The brazen stabbing in a busy street shortly before nearby primary and secondary schools let students out for the day — as well as an unrelated armed hold-up of a cash delivery vehicle exactly one week later just metres along the same road — shook the usually quiet village suburb.
Police stepped up patrols in the area to reassure the community and MP Dan Bidois called a public meeting to address concerns about safety and crime.
Following the arrest this morning, Detective Sergeant Bartlett thanked members of the public “for their assistance and information provided that assisted our investigation”.
He also noted police teams worked tirelessly on the case, as part of an ongoing dedication to holding offenders to account.
The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) has this afternoon witnessed live rounds being fired from a Chinese warship in the Tasman Sea.
The People’s Liberation Army-Navy Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang travels in the Torres Strait off Australia’s coast, on February 11. (Source: Associated Press)
Flights had to be diverted yesterday after commercial pilots were warned to avoid airspace between New Zealand and Australia after three Chinese vessels carried out drills in international waters around 340 nautical miles south-east of Sydney.
“We are aware of reporting from the New Zealand Defence Force that the Chinese naval Task Group has advised of a second window for live firing activity, on Saturday afternoon New Zealand time,” the office of Defence Minister Judith Collins confirmed today in a statement.
“We have had confirmation that personnel on Navy frigate HMNZS Te Kaha observed live rounds being fired from the Zunyi’s main gun, as would be expected during the course of such an exercise.
“As happened yesterday, the Chinese Task Group advised via radio channels of its intent to conduct live firing.”
The NZDF is working alongside the NZ Civil Aviation Authority “to ensure all aircraft are notified”.
“The safety of all people, aircraft and vessels in the area remains our paramount concern.
“Our concerns regarding notification times and best practise when undertaking military exercises stand and will be communicated appropriately.”
‘We haven’t been given a reason’ – Luxon
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon earlier today confirmed to reporters that the Chinese government did not inform New Zealand about its movements.
“We haven’t been given a reason as to why they’re here in this configuration with this set of ships, with these different set of capabilities, and we don’t really have a sense of, you know — we haven’t been told where they’re going and why,” he said.
“They are in international waters, they are completely within the balance of international law and the UN Convention on the law on the sea, which is important. It is important that all countries have freedom of navigation. It works for us when we are out and about in the world as well.”
Luxon said the NZDF is “continuously monitoring, tracking and shadowing the movements of this fleet in conjunction with our Australian friends and partners and we will continue to do so”.
A Hawaii man who spent 30 years in prison for a murder he long denied committing declared the day “Freedom Friday” and said he was eager to visit his mother after a judge ordered him released because of new DNA evidence.
Gordon Cordeiro in court on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, in Wailuku, Hawaii. (Source: Hawaii News Now via AP)
There were gasps and cries in the courtroom when Judge Kirstin Hamman said, “And the judgement and sentence is vacated and the defendant is ordered to be released from custody”, before a Zoom feed broadcasting the hearing suddenly turned off.
She ruled that new evidence, including DNA test results, would likely change the outcome of another trial against Gordon Cordeiro.
The case involves the 1994 killing of Timothy Blaisdell during a drug deal robbery on the island of Maui.
Cordeiro’s first trial ended in a hung jury, with only one juror voting to convict him. But he was later found guilty of murder, robbery and attempted murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
The Hawaii Innocence Project took up his case, and during a hearing this week it argued that Cordeiro must be released on the grounds of new evidence proving his innocence, ineffectiveness of his previous attorney and prosecutorial misconduct.
Maui County Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Martin said he was disappointed in the ruling and “none of the judge’s findings exonerate him in any way”.
His office intends to appeal and file a motion seeking to impose bail on Cordeiro’s release, Martin added, saying there is a flight risk because a murder charge is involved.
Kenneth Lawson, co-director of the Hawaii Innocence Project, said it was a very emotional moment.
“He cried, we all cried,” Lawson said. “He believed that he was going to be exonerated … but having gone through two trials, you lose faith in the justice system. To finally hear a judge say, ‘I’m vacating your convictions’, that’s when it hit him.”
Following his release Cordeiro, now 51, stood outside the Maui Community Correctional Centre and talked to reporters, calling it “Freedom Friday”. The Associated Press listened by phone from Honolulu.
He said he felt thankful. He thanked his supporters, the judge and even prosecutors who stipulated to certain facts in the case.
“I’d like to go see my mom,” Cordeiro said. “Would be nice.”
Asked about adjusting to life as a free man after 30 years behind bars, he said, “I got good support.”
According to court documents filed by Cordeiro’s attorneys, he was wrongfully convicted in part because police relied upon four jailhouse informants motivated by promises of reduced sentences and fabricated murder-for-hire plots.
“Unfortunately for Cordeiro, the State’s use of incentivized jailhouse informants and their fabricated evidence and testimony about the murder-for-hire plots, was enough to convince a jury of his guilt in his second trial,” the Hawaii Innocence Project said in a court filing.
Cordeiro had several alibis for the day Blaisdell was killed, his attorneys said: The then-22-year-old was at home with his parents and sisters, spending the day building a shelving unit in his family’s open-air garage and installing a stereo in his sister’s car — nowhere near the so-called Skid Row area in upcountry Maui where the killing happened.
Blaisdell had gone to Skid Row with a man named Michael Freitas and planned to buy a pound of marijuana with US$800 (NZ$1393) in cash, according to court documents. His body was found at the bottom of a ravine.
Freitas kept changing his story, Cordeiro’s attorneys said, and he shifted the blame onto their client, a friend who he falsely believed had “snitched” on him in an unrelated drug case.
After Cordeiro’s conviction, new testing on physical evidence from the scene excluded him as the source of DNA on Blaisdell’s body and other crime scene evidence, the Hawaii Innocence Project said, and a DNA profile of an unidentified person was found on the inside pockets of Blaisdell’s jeans.
The judge agreed that the new DNA evidence and new information about gunshot residue would change the results of a later trial.
Cordeiro’s attorneys believe Freitas, who died in 2020, set Blaisdell up to be robbed and was involved in his killing.
“The police botched this case from the beginning and turned the No. 1 suspect into the state’s star witness, resulting in a 30-plus-year nightmare and miscarriage of justice for Gordon and his family,” Lawson said.
A day after China warned its three military ships would be live weapons testing between New Zealand and Australia, the Cook Islands has today released a controversial agreement indicating Beijing has secured a maritime presence there.
An agreement between Cook Islands and China is signed, in a video snapshot supplied by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. (Source: Reuters)
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Deepening Blue Economy Cooperation shows a raft of partnerships including building ports and ships, many of which will be problematic from New Zealand’s security perspective – especially following the escalation of tension in the last 48 hours.
Yesterday flights had to be diverted when commercial pilots were warned to avoid airspace between Australia and New Zealand after Chinese vessels conducted drills around 340 nautical miles south-east of Sydney in international waters.
Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles told the ABC that planes were “literally flying across the Tasman” as China began its exercises and forced to rapidly divert.
The MoU, signed in Harbin, northern China on February 14, lays out investment cooperation in port wharves, shipbuilding and ship repair, ocean transportation, and deep-sea fishing bases.
Pacific Regional Security hub lead Jose Sousa-Santos said under the agreement, China will increase its strategic reach and presence in the Pacific.
“This could enable China to have a resupply capacity for its navy in the Pacific facilitating its presence and acts of intimidation in the region, as seen by the recent live fire exercises in the Tasman Sea,” he said.
Anna Powles from Massey University’s Centre for Defence and Security Studies said China’s proposed commercial activities in the Cook Islands has successfully secured a long-term maritime presence.
“The proposed infrastructure will support both China’s fishing fleet and potentially China’s coastguard fleet which has expanded its cooperation into the Pacific Ocean… This comes at a time when China has escalated military tensions in the Pacific region,” she said.
Under the MoU, there will be an Investment Cooperation Working group set up between the two governments “to increase policy exchanges, implement the work set out in the Memorandum and promote investment cooperation in the blue economy”.
As a realm country of New Zealand, the Cook Islands’ constitutional agreement is to consult with Aotearoa on anything that impacts on security or defence.
That has not happened.
New Zealand’s intelligence boss Andrew Hampton said he shared with Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown national security advice and intelligence before Brown went to China to sign a number of partnerships.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is currently in Saudi Arabia and will shortly be travelling to China where he will be holding talks with senior Chinese leaders, including his counterpart Wang Yi.
The Memorandum of Understanding:
The Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration of the Government of the Cook Islands (hereinafter referred to as “the Parties”), actively implementing the Global Development Initiative, and jointly building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to form synergy with the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, and jointly building a maritime community with a shared future, carrying out the Cook Islands Te Ara Akapapa’anga Nui National Sustainable Development
Agenda (NSDA) 2020+, and China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic nand Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035, based on the goodwill and needs of businesses of both countries and the practical foundation for strengthening cooperation in the blue economy, hereby agree as follows:
Article 1
The Parties will uphold a mutually-beneficial development partnerships, deepen practical cooperation in the field of blue economy. This includes fostering innovation and sustainable growth drivers, ensuring that all development aligns with principles of conservation sustainability, and ecosystem resilience. High-quality bilateral investment cooperation will accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and promote equitable, greener and healthier global development.
Article 2
The Parties will enhance synergy between blue economy strategies and policies with principles of sustainability, encouraging local governments, industry organisations, research institutes, financial institutions and businesses, to explore the potential of blue economy cooperation through coordinated maritime resource assessments, sustainable development planning and capacity building initiatives to jointly foster a resilient and prosperous blue economy partnership in the future.
Article 3
The Parties will encourage businesses to conduct investment cooperation in the blue economy, including but not limited to the following fields or industries
— Mariculture, distant water fishing, seafood processing, etc
— Port wharves, shipbuilding and ship repair, ocean transportation, etc
— Marine tourism and leisureservices
—- Marine Conservation programs and marine environmental sustainability initiatives
— Photovoltaic, wind power, tidal power and other clean energy transmission networks
— Exploration and development of deep sea mineral resources.
Article 4
The Parties will promote the introduction of more pragmatic and efficient policies and measures, encourage and support businesses to jointly establish marine economic cooperation parks and deep-sea fishing bases, and create better and more attractive investment cooperation platforms for enterprises of the two countries.
Article 5
The Parties will encourage businessesto, in compliance with the requirements of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the carbon-neutral commitment targets, fulfill environmental obligations, promote green design, green procurement, green construction, green production and green operation in the blue economy investment cooperation, and facilitate the coordinated development of the local economy, society, people and the marine ecological environment.
Article 6
The Parties will encourage businesses to accelerate green and low-carbon transformation, increase investment in green technology, jointly promote innovation in marine science and technology, green and low-carbon technology, and promote the application and transformation of science research achievements.
Article 7
The Parties agree to establish an Investment Cooperation Working Group under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration of the Government of the Cook Islands the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China and as the Executing Agencies of this Memorandum, to increase policy exchanges, implement the work set out in this Memorandum and promote investment cooperation in the blue economy in a more pragmatic and efficient manner.
The communication mechanism, which comprises regular communication through the Primary Contact Points, established within the Cook Islands High Commission in Wellington, New Zealand and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Wellington, New Zealand.
Article 8
Any dispute about the interpretation or implementation of this Memorandum will be solved through consultations between the Parties, who will work in good faith to resolve differences by mutual agreement.
Article 9
This Memorandum will come into effect on the date of signature and remain in effect for five (5) years.
Either Party may terminate this Memorandum by providing written notification to the other Party three (3) months in advance. The termination of this Memorandum will not affect the completion of any cooperation activity which has been formalised while it was in force.
This Memorandum may be amended by the mutual agreement of the Parties, formalised by an exchange of written communications, specifying the date of its entry into force of such amendment.
This Memorandum is a statement of the intent of the Parties and is not intended to create rights and obligations under international law. Each Party’s implementation of this Memorandum shall be consistent with its domestic law.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong is set to discuss a controversial Chinese naval exercise off Australia’s east coast when she meets with China’s foreign minister at a G20 meeting in South Africa.
The People’s Liberation Army-Navy Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang travels in the Torres Strait off Australia’s coast, on February 11. (Source: Associated Press)
The Australian Defence Force is monitoring three Chinese warships which were spotted moving down the coast about 280km east of Sydney, in international waters, on Thursday.
The vessels, which sparked an alert for commercial pilots on Australia-New Zealand routes, has renewed concerns about China’s growing military ambitions in the Indo-Pacific.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Wong would meet on the incident with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi “in coming hours” at the G20 meeting in Johannesburg
“At that time, Penny Wong will be making that diplomatic representation on our behalf,” Albanese said late on Friday.
He said it was not clear whether he military drills, which accorded with international law, had involved live fire.
“According to Defence, there has been no imminent risk of danger to any Australian assets or New Zealand assets,” the prime minister told reporters in Wollongong.
Earlier, Airservices Australia said it was aware of reports of live firing in international waters and as a precaution informed airlines with flights planned nearby.
The HMAS Arunta, left, shadows the People’s Liberation Army-Navy Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang and a Fuchi-class replenishment vessel in the Tasman Sea on February 13. (Source: Associated Press)
Wong said it was “normal practice where a task group is engaging in exercises for there to be advice given to vessels and aircraft in the area, and Airservices is doing what it should do, which is to give that advice”.
A Qantas spokesperson said the airline had temporarily adjusted some flights across the Tasman and was working with the federal government and broader industry to monitor the situation.
New Zealand Defence Minister Judith Collins said the drills were worthy of attention, describing the vessels as the “most significant and sophisticated” seen in the region.
“This along with the intercontinental ballistic missile that China shot out in October, is real evidence that our distance means nothing now,” Collins told Radio NZ.
Beijing did not alert New Zealand that it was sailing the warships along the Australian coast, Ms Collins said, adding that New Zealand’s government had been aware for “a few days”.
The New Zealand defence force was assisting Australian surveillance efforts, sending a navy vessel and a P8A Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft to monitor the vessels.
The warships were complying with international law in what appeared to be the Chinese military “showing us that they can do this”, Ms Collins said.
“They’re showing the Australians as well,” she added.
Analysts believe the sailing is an attempt by Beijing to project power and send a message to Canberra about China’s capability.
The sailing follows a run-in with the Chinese military last week, when a fighter jet fired flares in front of an RAAF surveillance aircraft during a patrol over the South China Sea .
The Albanese government lodged a complaint with Beijing over the near-miss, fearing for the lives of the Australian personnel.
A man has been sentenced for his part in a massive 700kg liquid meth importation concealed in beer and kombucha bottles.
A court has been shown video of police carrying out a “squeeze test” on cans of Honey Bear beer, with those found to be soft de-pressurised and likely containing meth.
The man, who has permanent name suppression, will serve 22 years in prison with a minimum period of imprisonment of 10 years.
The case involved the largest importation of meth to make it across the New Zealand border and come before the courts.
The unnamed man’s co-accused Himatjit Kahlon was found guilty last year of the manslaughter of 21-year-old Aiden Sagala, who died after innocently drinking a Honey Bear-branded beer can which instead contained liquid methamphetamine.
Sagala was hospitalised after consuming a single drink – his health deteriorated and he died of multiple organ failure on March 7, with an “off the charts” level of meth in his system.
Kahlon knew the 21-year-old through work, and gave him the beer. His sentencing is later today.
But in the High Court at Auckland today the unnamed businessman, who did not face any charges over the death, sat with his head down for much of the sentencing.
He rented a Manukau warehouse in June 2021. Police raided that commercial property in 2023 and found 700 kgs of methamphetamine as well as 2kgs of cocaine. The meth was hidden in beer and kombucha bottles and was imported from India.
He pleaded guilty on the eve of his trial last year to four drugs charges related to ephedrine, methamphetamine and cocaine.
Justice Kiri Tahana asked lawyer Pip McNabb why the Crown did not think life imprisonment for the man with name suppression was appropriate given that it was New Zealand’s largest importation of methamphetamine.
McNabb said the Crown had thought about it carefully but concluded that there were higher people up the supply chain.
Justice Tahana also pressed Ron Mansfield KC, who is representing the man, on the issue of whether it was an aggravating feature of offending that the meth was hidden in food items, citing a number of meth lollies which were found in Auckland last year.
Mansfield said generally there was no risk to the general public as the meth was usually too valuable.
He said that his client was “recruited” and provided “the perfect front” for the importation. He was doing well in business and intelligent but was made to feel vulnerable because of a debt to another party.
Justice Tahana said that debt story was “implausible”.
She told the man his method of concealment was an aggravating feature of his offending, and she had considered a starting point of 32 years.
“Had it been distributed the consequences for the community would’ve been devastating. You were motivated by financial gains.”
US President Donald Trump this week falsely blamed Ukraine for starting the war that has cost tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives, causing outrage and alarm in a country that has spent nearly three years fighting back a much larger Russian military.
President Donald Trump meets with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower (Source: Associated Press)
Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “a dictator without elections” and claimed his support among voters was near rock-bottom.
Zelensky said Wednesday (local time) that the disinformation is coming from Russia, and some of what Trump has said does echo Russia’s own narrative of the conflict
Mahi for Ukraine founder Kate Turska says Donald Trump is treating Ukrainians as an asset to be traded in his foreign policy. (Source: 1News)
Here’s a look at some of Trump’s statements:
Ukraine ‘should have never started it’
WHAT TRUMP SAID: “You’ve been there for three years. You should have ended it … You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”
THE FACTS: Russia’s army crossed the border on February 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by falsely saying it was needed to protect Russian-speaking civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO.
But Russia’s aggression against Ukraine didn’t start then. In 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin saw signs that Ukraine was pulling away from Russia’s sphere of influence, seeking alliances with western European nations.
Putin illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula and started an armed aggression in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas that grew into a long-running conflict that left thousands dead.
That conflict simmered until 2022, when Putin ordered what he called military exercises along Ukraine’s borders. He told the world that the roughly 150,000 soldiers that he had amassed would not be used to invade Ukraine. But in the early hours of February 24, Russia launched widespread airstrikes and soldiers began pouring over the border.
Russian servicemen attend a combat training for assault units in an undisclosed location on January 4. (Source: Associated Press)
Ukraine should hold elections
WHAT TRUMP SAID: “We have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law,” Trump said in Mar-a-Lago, adding on Wednesday (local time) in a post on social media: “A Dictator without Elections, Zelensky better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.”
THE FACTS: Zelensky was elected to a five-year term in 2019, and the next presidential elections had been scheduled for spring 2024. But Ukrainian law prohibits parliamentary or presidential elections during a state of martial law, so Zelensky has remained in office. He has said he believes elections will be held in Ukraine after martial law is lifted. The country would need to amend the law if it decided to hold a vote.
There are numerous factors that, according to Ukraine’s government, “would render it literally impossible to ensure a fair electoral process in the circumstances of a total war”.
According to the United Nations’ refugee agency, some 6.9 million Ukrainian refugees have been registered worldwide since February 2022. Of those, millions remain outside the country due to the war. It would be nearly impossible for all of those who have been displaced to participate in an election, potentially robbing millions of their right to vote.
Furthermore, around 800,000 soldiers are currently serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces as they struggle to contain Russian advances. An election would necessitate pulling soldiers off the front lines to vote, weakening Ukraine’s military position. Additionally, those fighting would be unable to run for office, a right that is guaranteed to them by Ukrainian law.
Many Ukrainians are living in areas under Russian occupation, essentially precluding their participation in any electoral process. And since Russia continues to regularly strike both military and civilian targets across the country, packing millions of citizens into crowded polling places could create additional danger.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky gives a press conference in Kyiv. (Source: Associated Press)
Zelensky’s support at rock bottom?
WHAT TRUMP SAID: “The leader in Ukraine, I mean, I hate to say it, but he’s down at 4% approval rating.”
THE FACTS: Zelensky “retains a fairly high level of public trust” — about 57% – according to a report released by the Kyiv International Institution of Sociology, whose executive director is Anton Hrushetskyi.
Speaking in Kyiv on Wednesday (local time), Zelensky said the number given by Trump, for which the president cited no sources, was “disinformation” that originated in Russia, and that the president “unfortunately lives in this disinformation space”.
Zelensky said he will ask pollsters in the coming weeks to conduct surveys on the public’s trust in him and share the results with the Trump administration.
In this photo provided by Ukraine’s 24th Mechanised Brigade press service, Ukrainian servicemen fire an MRLS BM-21 ‘Grad’ towards Russian army positions near Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, Ukraine (Source: Associated Press)
Millions of deaths
WHAT TRUMP SAID: “When you see what’s taken place in Ukraine with millions of people killed, including the soldiers, millions of people killed, a big percentage of their cities knocked down to the ground, I don’t know how anybody even lives there.”
THE FACTS: No estimates by any reputable analysis place deaths near the millions.
While exact figures of the number of deaths are unknown, Zelensky said earlier this month that over 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since the start of the full-scale war in February 2022. He has also said that “tens of thousands of civilians” had been killed in occupied areas of Ukraine, but that no exact figures would be available until the war was over. The most recent data from the Russian Defence Ministry, published in January 2023, pointed to just over 6,000 military deaths, although reports from US and UK officials put that number significantly higher.
The family of a Fijian fisherman currently fighting for his life at Vaiola Hospital in Tonga have shared their devastation at his tragic experience.
Tongan Ambulance. Photo/Kalino Latu
Tabweranibwe Tarawa, 38, of Fiji, had been allegedly attacked while having a rest aboard the boat “Winning 6” apparently in Tongan waters on Saturday 15, the family claimed.
The details of the incident are still unknown. Tonga Police have yet to comment.
A Fiji Times report said, “Tarawa, was allegedly attacked with an axe while sleeping aboard a fishing vessel in Tonga last Saturday”.
In a fundraising appeal to raise AU$5,500, a relative wrote, “This situation has left his family devastated, grappling with overwhelming challenges during this heartbreaking time.”
The funds will cover his medical expenses and help his family visit him in Tonga.
“To make matters worse, the company involved has provided no assistance, forcing them to confront the burden of mounting medical expenses and urgent needs that remain unmet,” the message on the GoFundMe website said.
“In light of this tragic incident, we are seeking justice and compassion for my beloved nephew.
“Any support you can offer would mean the world to us.
“If you are in Tonga, visiting him would bring much comfort during this difficult time.
“Moreover, any information you could provide to the Tonga Police regarding the circumstances of this incident would be invaluable as his family seeks answers.
“They are actively engaging with relevant authorities here in Fiji, holding onto the hope of being reunited with him when he returns home.
“Your generous donations will go directly towards covering his medical bills, the return air tickets for two passengers from Suva to Tonga, and food expenses.
We are only hopeful that good Samaritans like you will help us achieve our goal of paying off his medical bills and for families to visit him”.
Tonga Police have issued a warning to the community to remain vigilant following the arrest of drug traffickers near a school.
Tonga Police. Photo/Kalino Lātū
The police also seized cannabis plants, ammunition, and drug-related utensils following an investigation into reports of the illegal acitivities.
Police said a 43-year-old and a 16-year-old male suspects have been arrested and charged with possession of illicit drugs.
The 16-year-old was involved in distributing cannabis leaves around the school area.
As the investigations continued, a residence in Ha’ateiho was identified.
Acting swiftly on this intelligence, Tonga Police successfully seized three cannabis plants weighing a total of 2,300 grams, four ammunition bullets, and drug-related utensils.
Police investigations remain ongoing.
“Tonga Police urges the public to remain alert and report any suspicious activity especially where drugs and minors are involved.
Drug-related crimes are an ongoing significant threat to the safety and well-being of our communities”.
New Zealand is aware of a Chinese naval task group sailing in international waters off Australia and is monitoring it, says Defence Minister Judith Collins.
People’s Liberation Army-Navy Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang. (Source: Australian Defence Force)
The Australian Defence Department said the Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang, the Renhai-class Cruiser named Zunyi and the Fuchi-class replenishment vessel Weishanhu have continued sailing down the coast after being spotted to the north east of the country last week, the ABC reported.
British newspaper the Financial Times reported around 12 hours ago the ships were around 150 nautical miles (277km) east of Sydney.
Collins said the New Zealand Defence Force is monitoring the group, in coordination with Australia.
“We have not been informed by the Chinese Government why this task group has been deployed into our region, and we have not been informed what its future plans are.
“We will continue to monitor these vessels.”
Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles told Sky News the ships were “not doing anything contrary to international law”. It was an unusual event, but not unprecedented, he said.
A spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry said they were unable to answer questions about the ships, saying he was unfamiliar with the situation, the ABC reported.
