Three Tongan men, including a 28-year-old seasonal worker, have undergone cardiac procedures in Fiji after blocked arteries were discovered, highlighting the serious burden of heart disease facing Tonga.
Tongan patients, Manase Likiliki, clockwise from left, Sione Aleamotua and Sio Lino with Dr Annalisa Faanunu, medical officer of Vaiola Hospital, Nuku’alofa at PSH Hospitals in Nadi
The patients — Manase Likiliki, 40, Sione Aleamotua, 28, and Sio Lino, 45 — travelled to Fiji for treatment at Pacific Specialist Healthcare (PSH Hospitals) in Nadi.
The treatment of the relatively young men comes against the backdrop of Tonga’s severe NCD crisis.
Tonga has one of the highest obesity rates in the world, while non-communicable diseases account for about 83 percent of deaths in the Kingdom.
Tonga told the World Health Assembly that cardiovascular disease alone accounts for 29 percent of deaths and that almost half of NCD deaths occur before the age of 70. The country’s 2017 STEPS survey also found that 99.9 percent of Tongans were exposed to behavioural risk factors for developing an NCD.
Global Obesity Observatory figures currently rank Tonga fifth in the world for adult obesity, while Tongan women have the highest estimated obesity prevalence globally.
The trio’s treatment was funded by the Tongan Government after doctors at Vaiola Hospital determined that they required cardiac services unavailable in Tonga.
Aleamotua, who received a stent after doctors discovered a blocked artery, urged Tongans not to delay seeking medical attention when experiencing chest pain.
“If you have chest pain, don’t delay — go to the hospital straight away,” he said.
Likiliki, a construction worker, said he suddenly experienced severe chest pain while working and immediately sought medical attention.
He subsequently underwent angiography and angioplasty and had two stents inserted.
Likiliki thanked the Tongan Government for funding his treatment and praised the care he received from medical staff in Fiji.
Lino, a graphic designer and print-shop operator, had experienced pain for about seven months before travelling to Fiji after being placed on a waiting list.
He also underwent treatment for a blocked artery and received one stent.
The Tongan group is accompanied by Dr Annalisa Faanunu, a Vaiola Hospital medical officer specialising in internal medicine.
Source: Shalendra Prasad / Media Association of Tonga
A former teacher at Kelston Boys’ High School, which has long served a large Tongan and wider Pacific student community in West Auckland, has been convicted of sexually abusing two boys more than three decades ago.
An Auckland District Court jury found Murray Sakey, now in his mid-70s, guilty of seven indecency charges following an eight-day trial.
He was acquitted of one charge of threatening to kill.
Sakey, a former music teacher, had worked at Kelston Boys’ and also held music practices involving children at his West Auckland home.
The two complainants separately came forward decades after the alleged abuse.
Their decision followed publicity surrounding Sakey’s earlier conviction for possessing hundreds of child exploitation images.
In 2024, Sakey was sentenced to five months’ home detention and 15 months’ intensive supervision after pleading guilty to three charges of possessing objectionable publications.
Police had found hundreds of objectionable images on his devices and a USB drive.
During the latest trial, Sakey acknowledged that he found children attractive and admitted sleeping in the same bed as the boys, but denied sexually abusing them.
One complainant described Sakey as having become almost a “father figure” to him before the abuse occurred.
The other had first reported allegations against Sakey to police in 2002, but the case was not progressed at the time.
The jury ultimately rejected Sakey’s denials and convicted him on seven charges.
Sakey was taken into custody following the verdict and has been remanded until sentencing.
By Talaia Mika, RNZ Pacific correspondent, and is republished with permission
Tongan Tala netball team.Photo credit:Tonga Netball
Five strong teams are in Tonga to compete for a spot in the World Cup Qualifiers including Tonga, who finds confidence from their home soil as they prepare to host the tournament next week.
It’s a double celebration for Tonga next week, given it’s their first time playing on their home soil and being able to host the Qualifiers at the same time.
Despite this, Tonga Netball Association chief executive Salote Sisifa said Tonga is confident of securing one of two remaining spots at next year’s Netball World Cup in Sydney when the Pacific qualifier gets underway on home soil next week.
Sisifa, who is also president of Oceania Netball, said the experience has provided valuable lessons for the team heading into the qualifier.
“Tonga came out 9th place out of 12 top teams that were participating. And we take the learnings off that. Tonga was of course the only team from Pacific there.”
The tournament in Tonga will feature five Pacific teams competing for two World Cup places, with Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea and Tonga all taking part.
Tonga enters the tournament after competing at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow six weeks ago, where the side made its debut and finished ninth out of 12 teams.
Tonga Netball Association chief executive Salote SisifaTalaia Mika
Sisifa said Samoa and Fiji are likely to pose the biggest challenges based on world rankings, but she does not believe rankings tell the full story.
“If I have to be honest, in terms of ranking wise, the biggest challenge would be Samoa and then Fiji of course. And they are the next two right after Tonga in terms of ranking.”
“But having said that, I don’t feel at times that these world rankings really do justice in terms, and the score even, in terms of the performances of the teams. Because every team is an underdog.”
She said Tonga will treat every match as a major challenge and will not take any opponent lightly.
“So going into this competition, every team is a high team for Tonga, the way we look at it and the preparations full on from Game 1 to Game 4, not leaving anything behind.”
Tonga is currently ranked seventh in the world and enters the tournament as the highest-ranked team among the five Pacific nations.
Sisifa said the team is determined not only to qualify for Sydney but also to reinforce its position among the world’s top 10.
“We’re at number seven in the world. And, you know, we need to and we have to solidify our place as being in the top ten of world netball coming into this competition.”
She said Tonga has remained in the world’s top 10 for the past three years.
“It’s only right that, yes, backing our team, we have sat at top ten for the last three years and coming in as the highest ranking.”
Despite the confidence, preparing the squad presents its own challenges.
The players and management are spread across three countries and nine different states, with the team often having less than a week together in camp before a major competition.
Sisifa said that means the team relies heavily on the players’ discipline, honesty and commitment to maintaining their fitness when they are apart.
“We highly rely on the honesty of players and their self-discipline to maintain themselves.”
She also credits the coaching staff for keeping in regular contact with players and monitoring their fitness while they are based overseas.
“I have to give it to the players, their honesty, their discipline, looking after each other and themselves when they’re not together and coming together.”
For Sisifa, the make-up of the team also highlights a wider challenge facing netball in Tonga and across Oceania.
No members of the current Team Tonga squad live in Tonga, with the players coming from the Tongan diaspora in New Zealand and Australia.
Sisifa said Oceania Netball and Tonga need to work towards narrowing the gap between local players and the high-performance level required to compete internationally.
“What we’re trying at the moment, and it’s a challenge for Oceania and Tonga included, is trying to bridge the gap between local talent and high performance.”
She said the tournament will also give young people in Tonga the opportunity to see elite netball played at home.
Sisifa is encouraging supporters from Tonga and the wider Pacific diaspora to attend the tournament and get behind their teams.
When asked what the next step would be if Tonga failed to qualify, Sisifa dismissed the possibility saying: “that’s not even a question because we’re going to qualify.”
A massive fire has engulfed a property at Tatakamotonga, Tongatapu, reportedly claiming the life of one person, Kaniva News has learned.
Footage obtained by Kaniva shows an intense blaze tearing through what appears to be a building, with towering flames and thick smoke rising into the night sky.
The fire appears to have consumed a substantial part of the property, with the flames bright enough to illuminate nearby buildings and vegetation.
Kaniva understands that one person has died, although only limited information is available at this stage.
The identity of the victim, the precise location of the property, the circumstances surrounding the fire and its cause have yet to be confirmed.
Kaniva News is seeking further information from Tonga Police and Tonga Fire and Emergency Services.
This is a developing story and will be updated as further confirmed information becomes available.
A Catholic priest who ignored a passenger’s warning to slow down before a crash that killed his close friend has been jailed for one year and 10 months.
Haʻunga Junior Tupou, 41, was sentenced in the Supreme Court after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Salesi Hopo.
The offending followed an afternoon and evening of drinking on January 20, when Tupou, Hopo and others drank kava and wine at Veitongo before continuing at Billfish Bar in Nukuʻalofa.
Around midnight, Tupou drove from the bar with Hopo and another man, ʻAlipate Ngata, as passengers.
Justice Targowski KC said Tupou drove at excessive speed, prompting Ngata to wake and tell him to slow down after the vehicle crossed a speed hump near Lavengamalie College.
Tupou ignored the warning and continued speeding, at one point veering onto the wrong side of the road and later narrowly avoiding a stone wall at Pea.
He then failed to stop at a four-way intersection while heading towards Tokomololo before losing control of the vehicle.
The vehicle struck a residential fence and flipped onto its side.
Tupou left the scene before police arrived, while Hopo suffered a severe head injury and died at Vaiola Hospital at about 7am the following morning.
The judge said the crash was not the result of a momentary error because Tupou had several opportunities to reconsider his driving but continued despite an explicit warning from his passenger.
The court heard Tupou had consumed alcohol for several hours, but no blood-alcohol result was available because he had left the crash scene.
Tupou, who had no previous convictions, was placed on administrative leave from his duties and public ministry by the Catholic Church pending the case.
His sentence was reduced for factors including remorse, cooperation and his early guilty plea, with two years of a three-year-and-10-month sentence suspended.
He was also disqualified from driving or obtaining a licence for four years after his release and ordered to undertake alcohol-awareness, road-safety or other rehabilitation directed by the Probation Office.
The All Blacks meet the Springboks in Baltimore this weekend in a series decider that will settle Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry for 2026, with South Africa leading 2-1 heading into the fourth and final Test.
It’s the first time these two sides have ever played each other on American soil, with M&T Bank Stadium — home of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens — hosting the historic occasion.
Head coach Dave Rennie has named his most experienced side of the tour, bringing back Richie Mo’unga, Beauden Barrett, Anton Lienert-Brown, Rieko Ioane and Patrick Tuipulotu in search of a spark.
“We have everything to play for on Saturday,” Rennie said.
“It is our chance to draw the series and end the tour with a performance to be proud of.”
Mo’unga starts at first-five for the first time since the World Cup final defeat in Paris three years ago, returning from three seasons in Japan. He replaces Ruben Love, who had started all six previous Tests this year.
Patrick Tuipulotu adds size to the second row alongside Sam Darry, while Anton Lienert-Brown steps into the midfield for the injured Quinn Tupaea. Rieko Ioane and Beauden Barrett both come onto the bench for their first game of the tour.
Codie Taylor is back at hooker after being rested last week and will captain the side, with regular skipper Ardie Savea out injured. Ethan de Groot also returns up front following a concussion. Fletcher Newell starts at tighthead, with Tyrel Lomax on the bench.
Team lists
All Blacks
1. Ethan de Groot (44), 2. Codie Taylor (111) – captain, 3. Fletcher Newell (40), 4. Patrick Tuipulotu (58), 5. Sam Darry (11), 6. Tupou Vaa’i (50), 7. Ethan Blackadder (14), 8. Peter Lakai (13), 9. Cam Roigard (23), 10. Richie Mo’unga (56), 11. Josh Moorby (4), 12. Jordie Barrett (84), 13. Anton Lienert-Brown (93), 14. Will Jordan (60), 15. Damian McKenzie (80).
Another serious road crash has been reported in Tonga, with eyewitness footage showing police and bystanders attempting to assist an occupant trapped inside an overturned vehicle while a tractor was used to pull the car back onto its wheels at Halaliku.
A red vehicle is seen against a large tree following a crash in Tonga. Eyewitness footage subsequently obtained by Kaniva News shows the vehicle overturned as a tractor attempts to pull it upright while police and bystanders assist an occupant who appeared to be trapped inside. Photo / Facebook/Supplied.
The incident is the latest in a series of vehicle crashes reported in Tongatapu within days.
A photograph initially obtained by Kaniva News showed a red vehicle against a large tree and surrounded by vegetation, with significant damage visible around its front section.
An eyewitness has since sent Kaniva News video footage from the scene, providing further details about the apparent severity of the crash.
The footage shows a police officer controlling the scene while a tractor attempts to pull the overturned vehicle upright.
A police officer and bystanders can also be seen rushing to assist an occupant who appeared to be trapped inside while the vehicle remained overturned.
The eyewitness, who spoke to Kaniva News on condition of anonymity, alleged that the trapped occupant was seriously injured.
She said other occupants of the vehicle had already been rushed to hospital by the time the footage was taken.
The number of people involved and the nature and extent of their injuries have not yet been officially confirmed.
The precise location and circumstances of the crash also remain unclear, including what caused the vehicle to leave the road and overturn.
The incident follows another crash reported within the previous 24 hours in which a vehicle overturned after damaging a high-voltage power pole, forcing an emergency electricity shutdown affecting parts of Pea and Haʻateiho.
That followed a separate crash only days earlier in which a vehicle struck and broke a power pole at Nukunuku, resulting in a major overnight power outage across several communities in western Tongatapu.
Editorial – For decades, New Zealand politicians and governments have acknowledged the country’s deep historical, cultural and social links with Pacific peoples. At times, that recognition has gone beyond words: overstayers have been offered amnesties, regularisation programmes or other opportunities to legalise their status, with Pacific communities among the major beneficiaries.
But alongside those concessions sits a more troubling history. Pacific peoples have also experienced some of the harshest and most controversial applications of New Zealand’s immigration laws — most notoriously during the Dawn Raids, when Pacific communities were disproportionately targeted despite significant numbers of overstayers coming from outside the Pacific.
That history has continued to fuel calls for another amnesty, particularly for Pacific overstayers. But it has also confronted governments with a difficult question: could an immigration concession specifically for Pacific people be justified when overstayers from many other countries were also living unlawfully in New Zealand?
Previous Fairness Concerns Raised
Tongan lawyers and immigration advisers have told Kaniva News over the years that one government response they encountered to proposals specifically benefiting Pacific overstayers was that such preferential treatment could be considered unfair to people of other nationalities.
That is what makes the wording of New Zealand First’s newly announced immigration policy particularly significant.
NZ First does not avoid that distinction. It makes it explicit — and provides a justification for it.
The party proposes a 24-month clemency period in which Pacific overstayers could apply to remain legally in New Zealand. More importantly, it explains why they should receive that opportunity:
“In recognition of our commitment to our enduring Pacific relations, we will allow for a 24-month clemency period to facilitate any Pacific overstayer to apply to remain in the country legally on a valid visa.”
It then removes any ambiguity:
“This will apply only to overstayers of Pacific origin.”
Those few words could be more significant than the clemency period itself.
Against that longstanding concern that a Pacific-specific immigration concession could be unfair to other nationalities, NZ First appears to offer an answer: New Zealand’s enduring relationship with the Pacific can provide a legitimate basis for Pacific people to receive particular consideration.
That marks an intriguing shift in a decades-long debate: the question is no longer simply whether preferential treatment for Pacific people is unfair to other nationalities, but whether New Zealand’s unique relationship with the region justifies treating them differently.
This is not to suggest that NZ First’s wider immigration package will be welcomed by everyone. It contains a number of tougher measures likely to concern migrants and their advocates.
This editorial, however, focuses specifically on the Pacific overstayer proposal and what it could mean for the more than 2,000 Tongan overstayers believed to be living in New Zealand.
Will Rivals Go Further?
What is even more interesting about NZ First’s move is that, with the election only months away, it could trigger a much larger offer from Labour and the Greens for Pacific overstayers.
Both parties have traditionally been more supportive of opportunities for overstayers, particularly those from Pacific communities. Yet it is NZ First — a party better known for tighter immigration controls — that has moved first with a concrete Pacific-only clemency proposal.
That puts Labour and the Greens in an interesting position. The question may no longer be simply whether they support another amnesty or pathway to legal status, but whether they are prepared to match or surpass NZ First’s 24-month offer to Pacific overstayers.
If either party responds with a more generous proposal, NZ First may have done something unexpected: shifted the election debate from whether Pacific overstayers should receive special consideration to how far that consideration should go.
A new regional assessment has found signs of recovery in literacy and numeracy across Pacific schools, but Tonga’s previous results show the country entered the latest assessment cycle with a particularly serious challenge in Year 6 reading.
The Pacific Islands Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (PILNA) 2025, released this week, assessed more than 41,000 students across 15 Pacific Island countries, including Tonga, in reading, writing and numeracy.
The regional results show modest improvements in reading and numeracy since the pandemic-affected 2021 assessment, although performance has generally not returned to 2018 levels.
For Tonga, however, the latest regional report is significant because its previous country results revealed a striking divide between comparatively strong numeracy performance and weak reading achievement, particularly among Year 6 students.
In PILNA 2021, only 30 percent of Tonga’s Year 6 students met or exceeded the minimum expected reading proficiency level, compared with 53 percent across the Pacific region.
That meant seven out of every 10 Tongan Year 6 students assessed were below the minimum expected reading standard.
The 2021 Tonga assessment also found students generally performed better at locating information directly from a text but struggled when required to interpret what they had read, think critically, form an opinion or provide reasons for an answer.
Those weaknesses have particular relevance to PILNA 2025, which again identified higher-order thinking and the application of knowledge as areas requiring continued attention across the Pacific.
Tonga stronger in numeracy
Tonga performed considerably better in numeracy in the previous assessment.
In 2021, 87 percent of Year 6 students in Tonga met or exceeded the minimum numeracy standard, compared with 72 percent regionally.
At Year 4, 75 percent of Tongan students met the numeracy standard, compared with 67 percent across the Pacific.
However, Tonga’s numeracy results had also declined from 2018. The proportion of Year 6 students meeting the standard fell from 92 percent in 2018 to 87 percent in 2021, while the Year 4 result dropped from 82 percent to 75 percent.
Reading presented a different and more concerning picture.
At Year 4, Tonga performed slightly above the Pacific average in 2021, with 47 percent meeting the minimum reading standard compared with 43 percent regionally.
But by Year 6, Tonga had fallen well behind the region, with only 30 percent reaching the standard.
Girls significantly ahead of boys
The earlier Tonga results also revealed a substantial gender gap.
Among Year 6 students in 2021, about 40 percent of girls met the minimum reading standard, compared with just 21 percent of boys.
Girls also recorded a significantly higher average Year 6 reading score than boys.
At Year 4, 56 percent of girls met the reading standard compared with 38 percent of boys.
The new 2025 regional results show the gender gap remains a Pacific-wide issue, although it has narrowed in reading and numeracy.
Across the region, 44 percent of Year 4 students met the expected reading level in 2025, while 72 percent reached the numeracy standard and 69 percent the writing standard.
At Year 6, 54 percent met the reading standard, 70 percent numeracy and 52 percent writing.
Girls continued to outperform boys across all three subjects.
Tonga-specific 2025 results not yet detailed
The publicly released PILNA 2025 regional findings do not provide the same detailed country-by-country breakdown available in Tonga’s 2021 report.
That means it is not yet possible from the regional report alone to determine whether Tonga has recovered from its particularly weak Year 6 reading performance or whether the gap with the rest of the Pacific remains.
The comparison will be important.
Tonga’s 2021 figures showed that while its students were outperforming the Pacific region in numeracy and Year 4 reading, the country faced a substantial problem by Year 6, where most students were failing to reach the expected reading standard.
The latest regional assessment now shows that Pacific Year 6 reading proficiency has risen to 54 percent, slightly above the 53 percent recorded in 2021.
Whether Tonga has shared in that recovery will therefore be one of the most important indicators of progress when detailed country results become available.
PILNA is administered by the Pacific Community’s Educational Quality and Assessment Programme and measures the performance of students who have completed approximately four and six years of primary education. Australia and New Zealand fund the regional assessment, with the Australian Council for Educational Research providing technical support.
Auckland, NZ – Footage of a church minister apparently reprimanding two camera operators for not wearing taʻovala during a Tongan wedding ceremony in Auckland has sparked debate on social media, with viewers questioning why the minister and several other men appeared not to be wearing taʻovala themselves.
Two camera operators are seen filming inside the Auckland church as the minister (left) speaks with a male churchgoer, apparently seeking information about the operators (right foreground). The minister and several other men taking part in the wedding ceremony also appear not to be wearing taʻovala. Photo/Screenshot: Mai Niu Productions.
The incident occurred during the Mr & Mrs Fakapalea Wedding Ceremony in Auckland on Saturday, September 12. The wedding ceremony was livestreamed and shared on the Mai Niu Productions Facebook page.
In the footage, the cameraman and camerawoman, who appeared to be of Indian descent, seemed unaware that the minister was addressing them or apparently instructing them to leave or move from where they were filming.
Both were dressed in neat casual attire, including long trousers, but were not wearing taʻovala.
However, viewers quickly focused on what they regarded as an apparent contradiction.
The minister himself appeared not to be wearing a taʻovala at the time, while several men standing around him in a circular formation as part of the ceremony also appeared to be without the traditional Tongan waist mat.
The apparent contradiction became a point of discussion as footage from the livestream circulated on Facebook, dividing commenters over the incident.
Others debated whether different cultural or ceremonial rules may have applied to the minister and the men participating in the wedding ceremony, compared with a cameraman working inside the church.
The incident has prompted wider discussion about the application of Tongan dress and cultural protocols at church ceremonies, particularly whether such expectations should apply consistently to everyone present.
Critics argued that churches should focus on people’s spiritual wellbeing rather than material or cultural requirements such as taʻovala.
Others said that if wearing taʻovala was a requirement inside the church, there should have been a clear policy, with church members informing hired photographers and videographers beforehand about the expected dress code and where they were permitted to stand, walk or film inside the building.
