A photo
shared on Facebook this morning shows a mini-car has crashed into a power pole.
A report by radio Broadcomfm Broadcasting FM 87.5 on Facebook said, Hahake, a large area of Tongatapu is without electricity after a car struck a rural power pole.
Authorities could not be reached for comment.
Complainants have shared their concerns on Facebook after the incident.
A Vaini commentatorsaid she was halfway through doing his washing when the power went off.
One commentator wanted to know whether the driver was intoxicated.
Another online writer said she hope the driver did not fall asleep behind the wheel.
A morbidly obese Indonesian woman has undergone life-saving weight loss surgery after begging the government for help.
Titi Wati, 37, from Palangka Raya City in Central Kalimantan, weighed an astounding 220kilograms and was unable to move, sit or stand on her own.
She had been spending her days lying on her stomach on the floor, but on Tuesday she underwent a medical procedure – funded by the government – to put her on the path to a healthier future.
The operation took place at Palangkaraya Regional Hospital and lead surgeon Dr Gede Eke Rusdi Antara told local reporters Ms Wati’s stomach had shrunk by up to 60 per cent following the surgery.
‘Titi Wati has now come to and is in the Intensive Care Unit for close monitoring for the next 24 hours,’ Hospital Director Yayuk Indriarti told local news outlet Antara.
‘We pray that her condition improves and stabilises after undergoing bariatric surgery.’
Ms Wati had been living off a diet of Indonesian gorengan – a range of different sweet and savoury foods being coated in batter and fried – as well as fizzy drinks and other unhealthy snacks.
Mr Indriarti said Ms Wati’s diet would be controlled post-surgery until she was stable and safe.
If the 37-year-old follows the advice of doctors, she is expected to lose 15-25kg per month.
Ms Wati said she wasn’t always this size, noting that she ‘was slim and had long hair’.
‘But for more than six years, I have only been able to lie on my stomach,’ she said.
‘Whenever I try to get up, I feel cramp-like pain in my legs, then I feel pain all over my body.’
Ms Wati is looked after at her home by her only daughter Herlina, 19, who feeds and bathes her, while her husband Edi works as a carpenter.
Over the years, Ms Wati had tried other methods of losing weight, including consuming herbal drinks which did have an effect.
However, these drinks were expensive and with her husband’s income alone paying for their rented accommodation and daughter’s studies, they were unable to afford them long-term.
When they first approached the government for help, the main issue they faced was how to get Ms Wati to hospital as she could not walk.
The head of Palangkaraya’s Health Agency, Dr Suyuti Syamsul, said they had considered using a forklift to carry her.
‘We need to disassemble the house door, or we can get her out through a window, as long as her family allows it,’ he said.
A visitor to a location in which Police were currently conducting an investigation of illicit drugs had been arrested.
Police also arrested two other men aged 31 and 32 while they were searching a location at Hauloto on Sunday morning.
Police seized 446 grams of cannabis, 7.97 grams of meth packed ready for distribution and cash.
The visitor was arrested with one pack of methamphetamine on his person, Police said.
The three suspects were in police custody and were expected to appear at the Magistrate Court on Monday 14 .
“Tonga Police are committed to disrupt and detect the supply of drugs where thereby preventing the harm this illegal activity causes. Since the launch of the Drugs Enforcement Taskforce in April 2018 a total of 114 people have been arrested,” said Deputy Commissioner Pelenatita Fe’ao Vaisuai.
“Police will continue to work with the community to prevent the harm illicit drugs cause and the ongoing criminal activity associated with their use.
“We encourage anyone who may have information about drug related offending to contact their nearest Police station, or ring 23417 or 922.”
A nephew of a Tongan former Prime Minister Lord Sevele ‘O Vailahi has denied allegations made against him following a brawl in south Auckland yesterday.
The allegations against Taniela Sevele by a former Tongan Police officer and undercover Kelekōlio Tapueluelu were made in videos shared on Facebook Sunday 14.
According to the videos,
Tapueluelu alleged he had been assaulted
during a party in Papatoetoe.
He alleged that he had been attacked after Taniela appeared to have indirectly forced a friend to drink.
Tapueluelu, who appeared in bloodied clothes and hands in the videos, said he wanted to help the friend but another person in the party confronted him.
In one of the videos, Tapueluelu, who has become a strong critic of Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pōhiva, appeared to be heavily intoxicated and has threatened the Sevele family while sitting in a passenger seat of a car.
In another video, Tapueluelu said Sione Sevele, the eldest brother of Taniela, invited him with his wife Elisapesi to the party.
He blamed the Seveles for the incident.
“Mou tali hena ‘api
‘o Sione te u ha’u taa’i moutolu ke fa homou t ..” he said in Tongan in one of
the videos.
This translates into English as: “You wait here at Sione’s home I will return and beat you until your s…t comes out.”
“I will look for you starting today. You are now my enemy,”
he said.
“Stop doing that to me. I will from now on beat you day
after day.”
Response from Sevele
Taniela has deniedTapueluelu’s allegations to Kaniva news.
He alleged Tapueluelu started a fight with another man during the party after the man asked him to stop swearing.
Taniela said he was trying to intervene and break up the altercation but Tapueluelu allegedly punched him in his face.
He claimed that he acted in self-defence and allegedly knocked Tapueluelu down.
He claimed no one else in the party joined the fight.
Taniela also claimed Tapueluelu left the scene and returned with his son and another fight ensued.
He said Police were called.
Tapueluelu apologises
Tapueluelu however told Kaniva news this evening he was intoxicated and as far as he remembered some one threw a bottle at him during the party and it hit his left eyebrow.
He said he was disappointed after he has learned Sione did not help stop those in the party who allegedly assaulted him.
“I have talked to Sione and apologised to him,” he
said.
“I was wrong because I went to a party to which I was not invited.”
He said he returned to the scene with his son to look for his house keys as he believed he dropped them there during the incident.
He said the Seveles were his friends but this was not the first time he got into trouble with them
He said he helped their uncle Lord Sevele in his attempt to bring back the 2019 Pacific Games to Tonga after the Pōhiva government announced it has cancelled it.
Tapueluelu injured in Tonga
As Kaniva News reported in 2017, Tapueluelu was in Tonga in a campaign to push for the government to bring back the Pacific Games 2019 to the kingdom.
He told Prime Minister ʻAkilisi Pōhiva during a press conference he would continue to disturb (“fakahohaʻasi”) him until his decision to withdraw Tonga from hosting the Games be reverted.
Shortly after his comment he was attacked outside a restaurant in Nuku’alofa by a supporter of the Prime Minister.
Three men were arrested by Police and charged after the assault.
The charges were later dropped after Tapueluelu failed to show up in court.
Tapueluelu told us this evening he was in Tonga to support Lord Sevele.
He said after he was attacked in Tonga he had never heard from Lord Sevele again.
You can follow this link to watch Tapueluelu with what he has alleged about the incident.
TULOU ATU MO E 'AHOTAPU.*Mei NZ hoko 'a e kafo kia Kolio Tapueluelu.Hou'eiki mo e kainga ko kimotolu kotoa 'oku mou si'i laau'ilo ki he Kenolo kuo tukuange mai he 'aho tapú ni 'a 'ene polokalama angamahení 'oku 'iai 'a e palopalema 'oku hoko kiai mo'ene kau muimui pē hili ia hono fakafiefia'i hono birthday 'i he 'ahó ni pea 'oku hoko 'ene birthday koha 'aho ia ke kafo ai mo lotomamahi 'i hono lavaki'i pe he'ene kau poupou pea 'oku kole atu aipe ho'omou tokoni mo ho'omou lotu kemou hufia atu 'a e tangata'eikí ni 'oua toe sio ki ha tafa'aki kapau 'okú ke 'ita ki he sinó ni pea fakamolemole 'alā ko e 'aonga ia 'etau lotu ketau hufia mo lotua hotau ngaahi fili. Ofa atu.
Teenagers in the kingdom have been praised for performing well in their national exams 2018.
The Ministry of Education Assessment unit said this year’s results were the highest since the new examination assessment system was adopted in 2015, Kele’a newspaper has reported.
380 students out of 489 have passed the Tonga National Form 7 exam last year.
That number is an equivalent of 78 percent which is an increase by 19 percent from 59 in 2017. In 2016 only 24 percent of the students passed the examination.
In 2017 only 256 students out of 435 have passed the exam while in 2016, a total of 646 students sat and only 158 students passed.
The Prime Minister’s son Siaosi Pōhiva has attributed the success and improvement to the new raw marks assessment system.
Siaosi was head of the
Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Assessment Unit of the Education
Quality and Assessment Programme.
He was instrumental in supporting
Tonga’s move away from standardised marking.
Siaosi, the editor and publisher of Kele’a newspaper said the improvement in the 2018 results was an indicator predicted by the Ministry of Education since the new system came into force.
These included foreseeing that the passing and overall score rates could be improved year after year. And that the gab between the lowest and highest scores will be reduced.
Siaosi claimed the new system was introduced after principals in Tonga complaint that the passing rate of national exams results were too low.
As Kaniva reported
last year, Siaosi said Fiji and Samoa in the Pacific had already changed from
standardisation system and used a modern raw marks system.
He said the benefit of having the new assessment system was that it provided a “fixed standard” measure for form 5, 6 and 7.
This gave examination analysts an opportunity to determine what they can do to improve the examination results in many areas including creation and setting up of the exam papers, the Kele’a has reported in Tongan.
It said in the previous assessment system examination analysts found it difficult to report on what to be improved in the examination process because the “standard was not fixed.”
Siaosi recommended government using the
new system to all school levels in Tonga including primary schools.
Critics
Last year’s results came after the marking system has been controversial since its introduction.
When Hon. ‘Akilisi Pohiva decided for Tonga to revert back to the Raw Marks System, it caused an uproar among educators and scholars within the Ministry of Education.
There were protest marches and letters of petition were submitted to the KIng in Privy Council and to Parliament.
Siaosi said the criticisms were invalid and did not provide any sound basis.
Tonga football is expected to join the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Champions League Qualifiers from January 26 to February 1 at the CIFA complex in Matavera, Cook Islands.
It will join the top clubs from American Samoa: Pago Youth FC, Samoa – Kiwi FC, who will travel to the Cook Islands to play the champion club Tupapa Mararenga FC, Cook Island news has reported.
Tupapa Maraerenga
qualified for the prestigious tournament by winning the Vans Premiership. The
premiership is the Round Cup competition that was played from August 17 through
to November 24 last year. In this competition, local clubs play each other
three times, and the team that finishes first on the competition table is
declared the winner.
CIFA competition and
club licensing manager Pauline Dean said the OFC Champions League would be held
over three match days – January 26, January 29 and February 1.
Each day would
feature two matches, she added.
“The first match
kicks off at 2.30pm with the second match at 5.30pm and Tupapa Maraerenga FC
has been scheduled to kick-off at 5.30pm on all three match days so our
supporters will have time from work to attend the games,” Dean said.
Tupapa Maraerenga FC
will play Samoa’s champion club Kiwi FC in their opening match followed by
Tonga’s champion Lotoha’apai. In their last match, the side will take on
American Samoa’s Pago Youth FC.
Dean said the home
side had been training non-stop throughout the festive season and no doubt
would be out to finish on top.
“I have not received
any news on the arrivals of the teams, however from past experience teams
usually arrive two to three days before the kick-off of the first match,” she
said.
Meanwhile CIFA
officials have been preparing the pitches, the playing and training pitches, as
well as the other facilities at the CIFA complex.
“We are looking
forward to hosting this tournament and would like to wish all teams the best of
luck. Of course, we would like all our local supporters to come out to the CIFA
complex to cheer and support the local teams and I am pretty sure the Tonga and
Samoa families living on Rarotonga will be out to cheer on our visiting teams,”
Dean said.
“As hosts we would
love to have the support of our friends, families and fans to come out and
support this tournament and our local team.”
The winner of the
qualifiers will play in the OFC Champions League which will feature the top
clubs from around the region, including New Zealand.
Twenty
one people died on Tonga roads in 2018 making it the highest number it has been
in 10 years.
Acting Police Chief Superintendent Tēvita Vailea said the number of deaths which occurred on our roads last year “could have been avoided”, according to a Tonga Broadcasting Commission report.
Six people died on the roads in 2017, the lowest in 12 years.
In 2016, there were 18 deaths on Tongan roads.
Alcohol was blamed for more than 80 percent of fatal crashes in 2018.
Mr Vailea said Police believed illicit drugs were also a contributing factor but that cannot be verified due to lack of resources.
Mr Vailea warned that police would continue to be out in force focusing on excessive speeding, drink driving, and license checks during the year.
He has asked
parents to sit down with their kids who travelled by vehicles on their own and
have a conversation around road safety rules.
