Home Blog Page 284

Tongan family killed in California vehicle accident

By
Kaniva Staff
-

By freshnobee.com

A Tongan family from Washington was identified Thursday as the four killed and three injured in a crash on Interstate 5 the previous day, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The family was riding in a Chrysler Aspen minivan about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday headed south on I-5 north of Derrick Avenue before for unknown reasons the van struck a parked big rig, according to officer Rory Marks. Those killed were passenger 43-year-old Lute Katalina Fekitoa, 25-year-old Naomi Cook, and two children — 13-year-old Keola James (KJ) Cook and 9-year-old Adimada Fekitoa.

Injured were 52-year-old Maikolo Fekitoa, who was driving; 37-year-old Henry Cook; and an 11-year-old girl, CHP said.

The Fekitoas are from Auburn and the rest are from Edmonds, both cities in Washington, CHP said.

The big rig was unoccupied and officers are still investigating why it was parked on the right shoulder of I-5, CHP said.

The van drifted from the roadway and into the left rear end of the trailer.

The van sustained major structural damage and much of the right side of the van was sheered off, Marks said.

“It pretty much opened up the passenger compartment and the vehicle spun around,” he said. Four of the passengers were ejected, CHP said.

One of the surviving passengers was flown by helicopter to Community Regional Medical Center. Two others were taken there by ambulance.

All of their injuries are considered major, according to CHP. The southbound side of the highway was shutdown for about six hours, CHP said.

A Caltrans camera screengrab of Interstate 5 near Derrick Avenue where a crash that killed four has shutdown the southbound side, California Highway Patrol said Wednesday, March 2, 2022.

Bennett flies to Moscow, is holding talks with Putin on Ukraine war

By
Kaniva Staff
-

.

JERUSALEM, March 5 (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Saturday to discuss the Ukraine crisis, his spokesperson said.

illustrative: Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (left) meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia, on October 22, 2021. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)ראש הממשלה נפתלי בנט נפגש עם נשיא רוסיה ולדימיר פוטין בסוצ’י, רוסיהPhoto by Kobi Gideon / GPO

Israel, home to a substantial population of Russian immigrants, has offered to mediate in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, though officials have previously played down expectations of a breakthrough.

While Israel, a close ally of the United States, has condemned the Russian invasion, voiced solidarity with Kyiv and sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, it has said it will maintain communications with Moscow in the hope of helping to ease the crisis.

Israel is also mindful of Moscow’s military support for President Bashar al-Assad in next-door Syria, where Israel regularly attacks Iranian and Hezbollah military targets. Contacts with Moscow prevent Russian and Israeli forces trading fire by accident. read more

Bennett, a religious Jew, took a flight in violation of Sabbath law because Judaism permits this when the aim is to preserve human life, his spokesperson said.

RSE scheme cap increased to 16,000

By
Kaniva Staff
-

By RNZ.co.nz and is republished with permission.

The government has increased the cap on workers from the Pacific under the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme to 16,000 workers.Pacific Islander diong seasonal work under the RSE scheme in Hawke's Bay.

Pacific Islander diong seasonal work under the RSE scheme in Hawke’s Bay. Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades

RSE scheme is a standalone employer-assisted visa category that enables employers in the horticulture and winegrowing sector to recruit an annually capped number of seasonal workers.

The cap for the scheme was initially set at 5000 workers in 2007 but has more than doubled since then due to growing employer demand for labour.

Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said it had raised the cap from 14,400 to 16,000 so employers could access more labour to help with planting, maintenance, harvesting, packing and winter pruning.

Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi said the phased reopening of the Working Holiday Schemes from 13 March will also provide orchardists and winegrowers with access to more workers to help close out the season.

“While we are announcing an increase to the cap for this season, it is important to note the ability to access the full cap may be impacted by pressures faced by labour-sending countries, such as localised Covid-19 outbreaks and the recent volcanic eruption in Tonga,” Kris Faafoi said.

Damien O’Connor said before Covid-19, the government set out clear conditions the sector needed to meet before it would consider an increase to the Scheme’s cap.

This included making jobs more attractive and accessible to New Zealanders by improving wages and working conditions as well as reducing pressure on existing housing stock in some areas, by providing purpose-built accommodation.

“The sector has made good progress in these areas with wages having increased relative to the minimum wage and a significant increase in the number of purpose-built beds for workers,” O’Connor said.

Growers welcome the increased cap.

Industry group Horticulture New Zealand welcomed the news that the government has increased the cap on workers from the Pacific under the RSE scheme.

Chief executive Nadine Tunley said growers were under significant stress at the moment due to the severe shortage of labour that Covid-19 related border restrictions have created.

Some growers were saying they only had 50 percent of the workers they need to get fruit picked, packed and to market, she said.

“While the increase won’t benefit the apple and kiwifruit harvests that are currently underway, it is good news for the horticulture industry, long term.”

Central Otago viticultralist James Dicey said any extra RSE staff would be well utilised by winegrowers during winter pruning.

“That key time for the vineyard industry, at the New Zealand Inc level, is actually during the winter. There were vines that weren’t fully pruned last year in Marlborough…. because there wasn’t enough labour force to get the job done in time.”

Dicey said with the low level of unemployment in New Zealand at the moment, finding staff was very challenging.

‘It’s pretty hard when you spend all this money growing these fantastic grapes to be able to unable to harvest them, it’s tragic and it’s just a real missed opportunity for for the whole of New Zealand really because it’s a great export earner.”

Cable connecting Tongan islands could take year to fix

By
Kaniva Staff
-

By RNZ.co.nz and is republished with permission.

Tonga Cable Ltd says the country’s domestic telecommunications cable may take up to a year to fix.

The cable was ripped apart by January’s devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami.Underwater communications cable

Photo: 123RF

Tonga Cable chief executive James Panuve says up to 110km of a special cable may have to be manufactured in France, if it can’t source a spare cable of the same type elsewhere.

The cable ship Reliance departed the cable site on Monday after successfully recovering both ends of the domestic cable.

The Southern Cross Cable, connecting Tonga to the world, was repaired just over a week ago.

Panuve said the south end of the broken cable was found 31km from Tongatapu and the north end was located about 136km from Tongatapu. There is gap of around 110km between the two broken ends.

“It has attempted to recover the middle section but it appears that the cable has been deeply buried under debris from the volcano eruption of 15 January. Without proper survey equipment it is hard to tell what has happened to the cable system. Water depth in this area is between 1.6 to 1.8km,” he said.

Panuve said the ship will provide Tonga Cable with a more detailed report on their findings, “but we estimate that we are looking at needing up to 110km of this submarine cable before we can repair the damage to the domestic system.

“The other problem is that this cable type is not easily sourced and none of our neighbouring cable operators have any of this cable type. We are looking worldwide for anyone with spare cable of this type, failing which, we will need to order it from Alcatel in France, which could take 6-9 months to manufacture and deliver.

“But as with most things, I think it would be safe to bet on a year,” he told Matangi Tonga.

Seabed research needed

The seabed around the Hunga Tonga – Hunga Ha’apai volcano changed dramatically during the eruptions, and the domestic cable was laid close to it. Tonga might have to rethink whether it’s safe to lay a new cable in the same place. James hopes some proposed research of the seabed will go ahead.

“We have been contacted by a group known as the International Cable Protection Committee who are interested in sending a research vessel to do a survey of the area and our cable system to see what the seabed looks like after the devastating volcano eruption of January 15.

“This may be of great assistance for Tonga Cable in understanding what happened to our two cable systems and possibly whether it is safe to relay our domestic cable on its original path. If successful, the research vessel may be visiting our waters in March or April of this year.”

James also expressed his gratitude to the neighbouring cable operators in the region who helped Tonga repair the break in its international cable between Fiji and Tonga.

“Although the repair time was a bit longer than what we had originally anticipated, considering the amount of damage caused to our international cable we are lucky to have had it repaired by February 22.

“Some cable operators reached out to us to offer their assistance and we also had to ask some of them to lend us some of their spares, which were stored on the cable repair ship, Reliance.”

Covid-19 Omicron Tonga update: 342 active cases while number of people recovered stands at 303

By
Kaniva Staff
-

There are 342 active cases of Covid in Tonga today, says the Minister of Health.

Health Minister Saia Piukala

Hon Piukala said 303 cases had been recovered since the outbreak.

The Minister would not say how many new cases in the community and how many cases in the MIQs.

“This morning there are 645 cases in total since the outbreak,” Hon Piukala said. He said the 645 cases included the first positive case detected in October last year.

He said of the 645 cases, 637 were on Tongatapu, seven on Vava’u and the case from last year.

In the Vava’u cases, six had been recovered and one was still in isolation, the Minister said.

He said there were 26 new cases on Friday last week, 20 on Saturday, 59 on Sunday, 57 on Monday, 100 on Tuesday which included 83 cases at the Hu’atolitoli prison and 17 in the community. On Wednesday there 28 cases included 10 new cases at the Hu’atolitoli prison.

Hon Piukala said Haapai, ‘Eua and the Niuas were still Covid free.

More repatriation flights expected

The Minister said the 174 repatriates from Fiji, Australia and New Zealand at the MIQs had been released and allowed to go home on Tuesday.

He said seven people were still at the Taliai MIQ including five who tested positive and two were negative but because they were family members isolating together they have to remain at the MIQ. Hon Piukala would not confirm whether these seven cases were repatriates or locals.

The next repatriation flights will be from New Zealand and Australia on Tuesday next week, he said.

Another flights on Thursday are expected  to bring back the remaining stranded Tongans in Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu.

Tonga scraps quarantine requirement for outer islands’ shipments following damages to ‘Eua cargo

By
Kaniva Staff
-

All shipments from Tongatapu to outer islands will no longer need to be quarantined upon arrival, the government said this afternoon Wednesday 2.

Ha’apai residents receiving their shipments from New Zealand. Photo/ Pita Taufatofua

The decision came after Kaniva News reported Tuesday that ’Eua residents had complained after heavy rain damaged goods sent by their families in New Zealand following the January volcano eruption and tsunami.

The goods had been stored in the open at Nāfanua wharf which was completely wiped out by the tsunami.

The Minister of Internal Affairs Sangstar Saulala said in announcing the Cabinet decision the ‘Eua shipments were being quarantined for 72 hours when the incident happened.

Hon Saulala said the Cabinet agreed to remove the 72- hour quarantine requirement after it received recommendations from the Ministry of Health and the National Emergency Management Office.

“The Cabinet does not want to see any further damages to donations from our kāinga overseas to our people which were affected by the disasters”, Saulala said in Tongan.   

The Minister thanked overseas kāinga and said the government appreciated their donations.

As we reported yesterday, many ‘Eua residents were concerned and asked why the government did not set up a temporary shelter to protect their cargos.

The damage to the shipments had been described as “huge”.

The government decision came after a boat with shipments got in trouble and ran aground near Tonga’s  Nomuka island in the Ha’apai group last week.

The 14 meter long boat was on its way from Pangai with quarantined shipments.

The cargo was shipped from Nuku’alofa to Pangai, Ha’apai so that they could be quarantined there for 72 hours before sending them to Nomuka.

The boat was overloaded and an attempt to speed up the process of bailing seawater failed, the government said at the time.

Volcanic eruption and tsunami

The disaster killed four people and caused US$90.4m (TOP 208M) in damages to Tonga, according to the World Bank, equivalent to 18.5 percent of Tonga’s GDP.

Immediately after the eruption and the fatal tsunami, a relief committee known as Aotearoa Tongan Relief Committee (ATRC) was set up in Auckland to help ship people’s donation to the kingdom.

Reports by the ATRC said it filled more than 70 shipping containers full of drums of  food and non-perishable items. More than  50 of them had already been shipped to Tonga.

Covid-19 update: 22,152 new community cases, 405 people in hospital

By
Kaniva Staff
-

By RNZ.co.nz and is republished with permission.

There have been 22,152 new community cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand today, with 405 people in hospital, including 10 in intensive care.01 February 2022, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Greifswald: Medical technical assistant Denise Dittmar pipettes swab samples from test centers and prepares them for further examination in the automated machine in the PCR laboratory

Photo: AFP

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has been giving a daily briefing this afternoon.

Hipkins says there are now more than 120,000 active Covid-19 cases across the country.

However, he says the key metric now is those requiring hospitalisation: “New Zealand at this point continues to experience fewer people in hospital than we’ve seen internationally and one of the key drivers of that is the millions of Kiwis who have been vaccinated and who have had booster doses.”

Hipkins says 86 percent of the eligible population aged 5+ has now received at least one dose, with 80 percent fully vaccinated. As of midnight, 2,390,659 had received a booster – about 79 percent of the eligible population.

Some 243,244 children have received a paediatric dose – about 51 percent.

Hipkins says the high rates are making a difference, and urges people who are eligible but have not yet had a dose to take up the opportunity.

He says we have 80.8 percent of ICU or high-dependency unit beds in use, 64.5 percent of ward beds occupied, and 13.9 percent of ventilators in use.

“Covid-19 only makes up a very small fraction of those numbers and so there is still capacity there to respond to increasing case numbers,” he says.

Hipkins also says there has also been an increase in demand for ambulance and healthline services from people who have relatively mild symptoms. He asks people whose symptoms are mild to just stay home and get better.

However, people who find their symptoms are getting worse should ask for help, and in a medical emergency should call 111.

Earlier this morning, data modeller Michael Plank said hospitalisations from Covid-19 were expected to top 800 within a week, if numbers kept rising at the rate they have.

Community case numbers yesterday [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/covid-19/462513/covid-19-update-nearly-20-000-community-cases-373-in-hospital-9-in-icu neared the 20,000 mark.

Director-General of Health Dr Bloomfield also made an apology over delays to people receiving PCR test results in the past week, with a backlog from last Wednesday only beginning to clear in the past couple of days.

Opposition parties criticised Bloomfield, saying he misled the public over testing capacity, and the ACT Party calling for him to be removed.

60 arrests made as NZ police say some Parliament protesters have weapons

By
Kaniva Staff
-

By RNZ.co.nz and is republished with permission.

Police have made 60 arrests today as part of a pre-planned operation to remove anti-covid public health protesters from New Zealand’s Parliament grounds.

Anti-covid public health protesters clash with police today at the Parliament grounds occupation camp in Wellington. Image: RNZ

Police have been descending on Parliament from early this morning on day 23 of the occupation and have also begun towing larger vehicles, including campervans and trucks.

They say they have gained significant ground this morning across the occupation.

  • Police have asked the public and commuters to avoid the area near Parliament and say they will continue to help those who want to leave the grounds to do so safely.

Hill Street is closed, and many surrounding streets to the protest have been blocked.

Protesters have reacted by throwing cones at police.

Police staff in and around the protest area have sighted protesters in possession of various weapons. These include homemade plywood shields and pitchforks.

One man told RNZ he wanted to move his car because it was all he owned.

There were reports of forklifts on the move, and police were also taking down more tents.

One of the RNZ reporters on the scene said they were being abused by protesters and told to leave.

A police statement said weapons deployed among protesters included the use of fire extinguishers, a cord set up as a trip wire, paint-filled projectiles, homemade plywood shields and pitchforks.

At least three police staff have been injured in the clashes.

Protesters have repeatedly been reminded that Parliament grounds are closed, and that remaining there means they are trespassing.

The Kīngitanga is calling for a peaceful resolution to the occupation at Parliament and other sites across the country.

In a statement, a spokesperson said the Kīngitanga had not given its support to any occupation and claims to the contrary were untrue.

They said Kiingi Tuheitia had been a strong advocate for the covid public health response, while acknowledging the impact on people and their families.

The Kīngitanga said its priority was to get through omicron and start preparing for a life after covid.

The Kīngitanga said it was calling for a peaceful resolution to the occupation at Parliament and other protest sites across the country.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

‘Eua residents complain after shipments from NZ damaged by rain after being left in open at wharf

By
Kalino Latu
-

’Eua residents complained this morning after heavy rain damaged goods sent by their families in New Zealand following the January volcano eruption and tsunami.

This photo purported to show cargos stored in the open on the wharf. (Inset : a screenshot taken from a video clip of ‘Eua residents attempting to remove their cargos while it was raining). Photo/Supplied

Many accused authorities of storing their goods in the open and not setting up a temporary shelter after the tsunami wiped out Nāfanua wharf.

The government appeared to have been dragged into the people’s disappointment after what is thought to be its decision to quarantine the cargo before releasing it to the owners. 

The details of the damage were unclear, but some Tongans in New Zealand sent boxes of dairy milk and bags of groceries. They appear to have become wet after the incident, making them inedible if not used immediately.

It appeared some drums and parcels were opened at the border in Nuku’alofa for screening and were not re-sealed tightly so the rain got in and damaged their contents this morning.

Some complainants asked why the government did not unload the cargo and store it in the nearby packing house.

Photos and video clips taken at the scene this morning provided to Kaniva News showed what appeared to be people standing in the rain near an open platform by the sea.

An eyewitness who goes by the Facebook name Niah Takai said the people were negotiating what happened to their cargo after they became aware of the situation when the rain was falling.

“Lahi e uta oku maumau,” Takai told Kaniva News in Tongan. Her remark is translated into English as  “A huge number of cargos are damaged,”

The government has been contacted for comment.

We have asked the Minister of Disaster and his CEO to comment on the residents’ complaints.

We also asked why there was not any makeshift shelter installed at the bare wharf to protect the cargo.

The complaints came after we recently reported that shipments from New Zealand following the disaster had been allegedly stolen at the Kuini Sālote Wharf in Tongatapu.

The government said at the time it had received no complaints about the allegations, but said it welcomed any complaints from the public.

Volcanic eruption and tsunami

The disaster killed four people and caused US$90.4m (TOP 208M) in damages to Tonga, according to the World Bank, equivalent to 18.5 percent of Tonga’s GDP.

Immediately after the eruption and the fatal tsunami, a relief committee known as Aotearoa Tongan Relief Committee (ATRC) was set up in Auckland to help ship people’s donation to the kingdom.

Reports by the ATRC said it filled more than 70 shipping containers full of drums of  food and non-perishable items. More than  50 of them had already been shipped to Tonga.

Covid-19 update: Nearly 20,000 community cases, 373 in hospital, 9 in ICU

By
Kaniva Staff
-

There are 19,566 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today, the Ministry of Health has reported.

It said there were also 373 cases in hospital and nine in ICU.

The new community cases today were in Northland (329), Auckland (12,530), Waikato (1812), Bay of Plenty (1185), Lakes (376), Hawke’s Bay (168), MidCentral (260), Whanganui (45), Taranaki (165), Tairāwhiti (88), Wairarapa (42), Capital and Coast (691), Hutt Valley (355), Nelson Marlborough (196), Canterbury (740), South Canterbury (37), Southern (529), West Coast (17) and one case is unknown.

There were 22 cases identified at the border.

During the 1pm Covid-19 update, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said there were just under 100,000 active cases across the motu.

“I know that such a high daily case number can be concerning for people to hear, and many of us will now have whānau members who now have Covid-19, but it’s important to remember that Covid-19 now is a very different foe to what it was at the beginning of the pandemic.”

He said the high vaccination rate meant for most people it would be a more mild illness and could be managed safely at home.

He said PCR testing had served NZ incredibly well, but with thousands of cases each day NZ did reach the point last week where rapid antigen testing became both useful and appropriate.

He said samples were typically pooled earlier on in the outbreak, but a positive test in a batch means each will need to be retested. Higher test positivity rates now however meant it becomes less feasible.

He said prior to 7 February, none of the labs had ever exceeded 5 percent test positivity, but the swift increase in positive cases had affected that. Labs had also had other difficulties, including vacancies in roles and sickness because some lab workers had contracted the virus.

On vaccinations, the ministry said 388 first doses were given yesterday; 733 second doses; 74 third primary doses; 23,465 booster doses; 1,452 paediatric first doses and 231 paediatric second doses.https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/7324871/embed?auto=1A Flourish data visualization

Yesterday saw 14,633 community cases reported, with 344 people hospitalised across Northland (5), North Shore (53), Middlemore (128), Auckland (100), Tauranga (11), Taranaki (1), Waikato (28), Canterbury (4) Southern (4), Hutt Valley (6) Capital and Coast (3) and Tairawhiti (1).

Five people with Covid-19 were in ICU yesterday.https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/7471487/embed?auto=1A Flourish data visualization

The 1pm media briefings in the Beehive theatrette have been reinstated as New Zealanders prepare for the full impact of the Omicron outbreak.

From today, Bloomfield will front the briefings on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins will appear on Wednesdays.

1...283284285...951Page 284 of 951