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Phone calls using number with Tonga area code is latest scam

By
Kalino Latu
-

Authorities in Tonga are working to sort out what they believed were suspicious activities conducted using a Tonga Digicel number.

Guam News has reported this morning the number is 676 848 9003.

A spokesperson for the Tonga Communication Corporation said it was a Digicel number.

He said they were working to resolve the problem.

‘’There has been cases in the past but we will look into it properly’’, he said.

‘’If you’re getting calls from Tonga or other unfamiliar locations its probably part of a new scam’’, the Kuam News said.

‘’Many have reported missed calls from this number: 676-848-9003.  Local Telcom companies say to ignore it, and don’t call back. If you do, it may cost you more than a dollar per minute’’, it said.

”Apparently this is similar to a previous scam in Japan called “wangiri.”

”Callers unknowingly connect to an international premium rate service line, and can be charged extra. The scammers may also answer the call and try and trick you into giving out bank details and other personal information”.

The Federal Communications Commission advises against answering or calling back non-domestic numbers you’re unfamiliar with, as it will take a toll on your bill.

The FCC states that these one-ring, wireless phone scams could compel a caller to contact an international hotline that charges an expensive fee. The amount increases the longer the caller stays on the phone.

LDS leader in Tonga unaware of any plan to shut down Liahona high school

By
Kalino Latu
-

A senior leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints in Tonga said he was unaware of any plan to shut down the church’s largest high school in the kingdom this week.

Elder ‘Aisake Tukuafu was responding after the unconfirmed report was uploaded and widely shared on social media today.

It has been claimed the school will be shut down because of its students’ repeated and ongoing involvement in fight with students from other schools.

Takaetali Maka who is understood to be living in the United States and a member of the church has made the claim on a video clip and uploaded to Facebook.

He claimed the LDS church’s First Counsellor President Henry B. Eyring is coming to Tonga on Tuesday 13 June to shut down the school.

He said the school authorities and parents had been warned before of a possible shut down.

He also reminded viewers the church had already closed down its school in Samoa.

Maka was emotional and tearfully ended his video with a message of love to the school and the students.

However LDS church leader in Tonga Elder ‘Aisake Tukuafu told Kaniva News this evening he was unaware of a plan to shut down the school.

In Tongan he said: “Kataki kuo te’eki keu lave’i ‘e au ha fakaha ‘o felave’i mo e me’a ni”.

As Kaniva News reported last year the church’s authorities in Tonga had been warned by the church’s Commissioner of Education the school could be shut down if students will continue their involvement in fighting with students from other schools.

Elder Kim B. Clark has issued the warning while he visited the kingdom to give “advice to Tongan students, teachers and parents”.

He said if “violence and fighting” … “becomes the nature of these schools, then yes, the church will shut it down”

The 5.03 minute clip was posted on Facebook this morning where it has received more than 400 comments and more than 400 reactions.

Some viewers do not believe in Maka and said it was fake news.

One viewer wrote in a comment: “What is your position in the church that allows you to release this big news. Did you attend the meeting where this information was passed or you just heard it from others”?

Another added: “It is sad to hear about what would happen to the school”.

For more information:

Raw: Brawl erupts following school parades in Nukuʻalofa

One less seat at PACER Plus table as Vanuatu pulls out ahead of Tongan  ceremony

By
Philip Cass
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Wednesday’s signing of the PACER Plus agreement in Nuku’alofa will be even smaller than expected, with Vanuatu the latest island nation to back out of the trade treaty.

The two largest Island economies, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, have already walked away from the negotiations.

Vanuatu’s Council of Ministers said it wanted to examine the 1000 PACER Plus page document in more detail before it signed.

Despite the absences, this week’s signing by regional heads of government will be a significant event for the Tongan capital.

Apart from Australia, New Zealand and hosts Tonga,  the countries expected to sign the Pacer Plus agreement are the Cook islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palaua, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.

Negotiations over the trade deal have been going on for nearly a decade.

PACER Plus is meant to open up opportunities for trade in the Pacific.

The PACER Plus document says that it is intended to “avoid unnecessary barriers to trade, facilitate and liberalise trade and thereby promote integration between the economies of the parties.”

However, critics have warned that Australia and New Zealand will continue to dominate the region’s economy and that few ordinary people will receive any direct benefits from the agreement.

New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McLay said earlier this year that under the deal $55 million would be spent helping Pacific economies over the next five years.

New Zealand Green MP Barry Coates told Asia Pacific Report the money was less than one percent of the current level of NZ and Australian aid to the Pacific.

“A far more significant programme of skills training and infrastructure building is required to boost productive capacity in Pacific island countries,” Coates said.

There has been significant opposition to the deal in Vanuatu from NGOs, churches and members of Parliament.

Last month 60 civil society groups and 233 individuals signed an open letter in which they called for an independent study on the likely health and environmental effects of the deal.

However, critics have warned that Australia and New Zealand will continue to dominate the region’s economy.

The main points

  • Wednesday’s signing of the PACER Plus agreement in Nuku’alofa will be even smaller than expected, with Vanuatu the latest island nation top back away from the trade treaty.
  • The two largest Island economies, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, have already walked away.
  • PACER Plus is meant to open up opportunities for trade in the Pacific.

For more information 

Pacer Plus full text

Vanuatu not ready to sign PACER Plus

Trade advisors shocked by Vanuatu action on PACER-plus

Barry Coates: PACER Plus – how the Pacific Way is being undermined

Police release names of men arrested for meth possession

By
Kaniva Staff
-

Tonga police have released the name of the men arrested on May 17 found with multiple packs of meth in their possession.

Tevita Soakai and Maʻati Lino were arrested at a home in Kolomotuʻa with 3.86 grams of methamphetamine also known as ice.

Lino, 45, of Nukunuku, was arrested after he was found with one 40gram pack of methamphetamine.

Soakai, 35, from Kolomotu’a was arrested in possession of  six packs of methamphetamine weighing 3.46 grams.

Police have charged them with possession of the illicit drug.

The duo have been released on bail.

Air New Zealand faces claims of racism, but denies conflict between staff and passengers

By
Philip Cass
-

Over the years Air New Zealand has put passengers off flights to Tonga to save weight and warned its staff that Tongans are heavy drinkers.

Now the airline has had to apologise after a Tongan woman claimed Air New Zealand staff tried to turn her mother away from the Premium Check-in.

The woman alleged that Air New Zealand staff confronted her mother and told them they were in the wrong place.

The woman, who did not reveal her name, claimed in a Facebook post: “She was judged by the way she looked (skin colour and the way she dressed) she didn’t have a suit on or have a briefcase or whatever but we do pay the same amount as those business people to travel and use the premium lounge.”

An airline spokesperson said the A320 service to Tonga did not have a Business Premier cabin, but that the woman held a Works Deluxe ticket which included Premium Check-in.

The daughter said she told the staff her mother was blind in one eye and needed help getting to the aircraft.

Air New Zealand said they had investigated the incident and that there was no evidence of any conflict between staff and the passengers.

It said the airline had contacted the woman’s family.

In May last year Air New Zealand was the subject of complaints after it refused to let a woman board her flight to Tonga because the aircraft had reached its upper weight limit.

Auckland woman Alex Catchpole-Ozpınar complained after she was turned away from an Air New Zealand flight to Tonga.

She was one of several passengers turned away at the Air New Zealand check-in counter.

And in 2010 Air New Zealand was forced to apologise for an old crew manual which described Tongans as “softly spoken, reserved people” but warned many could “drink the bar dry.”

It suggested staff should keep an eye on Tongan passengers who could take advantage of free in-flight alcohol.

Tongan Advisory Council chairman Melino Maka said at the time that it was “extremely hurtful” for the airline to paint Tongans as “uncontrollable alcoholics”.

Air NZ said the manual had since been updated.

The main points

  • Over the years Air New Zealand has put passengers off flights to Tonga to save weight and warned its staff that Tongans are heavy drinkers.
  • Now the airline has had to apologise after a Tongan woman claimed Air New Zealand staff tried to turn her mother away from the Premium Check-in.
  • The woman alleged that Air New Zealand staff confronted her mother and told them they were in the wrong place.
  • An airline spokesperson said the A320 service to Tonga did not have a Business Premier cabin, but that the woman held a Works Deluxe ticket which included Premium Check-in.

For more information

Air NZ accused of racism over questioning of Tongan mum at check-in

Air New Zealand denies woman from boarding heavy Tongan flight

Air NZ sorry over manual’s Tongan drinking claims 

Pacific Games Council are “bad people” trying to scare the government says Minister

By
Kalino Latu
-

The Minister of Justice said the Pacific Games Council were “kakai kovi” (bad people) who thought they could easily bluff the government into changing its decision on the 2019 Games by threatening legal action.

Hon. Vuna Fa’otusia said the government was well prepared to respond to any legal challenge from the PGC.

The Minister said the government had looked at the legality of its decision to pull out and it was confident about its position.

He referred to the president of Pacific Games Council President, Vidhya Lakhan as a “ki’i motu’a ‘Initia” (little old Indian man) who came to Tonga to scare the government.

Lakhan and the Council’s CEO Andrew Minogue met the Minister of Justice, the Prime Minister and Minister of Labour and Commerce  in Tonga last week in an attempt to revert the government’s decision to cancel hosting the Pacific Games 2019.

However, Hon. Pohiva did not change his mind.

As Kaniva News reported this week, Minogue said the PGC would be open to a change of heart by the Tongan government,  but if there was no progress then it would abide by the rules and begin legal proceedings.

The PGC strongly believes the government has money and all the necessary tools to host the Games.

They were unhappy that the Tongan government did not consult the Council about its decision to not host the Games.

It is understood the Council first became aware Tonga had withdrawn from hosting the Games from media reports.

The former government won the right to host the 2019 Pacific Games in 2012 after an aggressive bid against Tahiti.

Hon. Fa’otusia reiterated in a press conference yesterday in Nuku’alofa that the government stood by its decision to cancel hosting the Games.

The Minister was responding to a question by Matangi Tonga editor Pesi Fonua, who said Lakhan and Minogue had told him the Council would seek damages from Tonga for breaching the contract agreement.

Fonua said the Council would seek a large amount of money and he asked whether the government was preparing for it.

In response the Minister said the government was well prepared to respond to any legal challenge from the PGC.

“I told him (Lakhan) look at you tomorrow you may die and someone else would replace you. The “composition” of the committee would then be restructured. And their attitude would change”, The Minister said in Tongan.

“Take notice of these bad people who come to scare the government,” he said.

Hon. Fa’otusia said Lakhan and Minogue told him they would look at the legal side of the issue.

“I responded and said you go and look at the law as we ourselves also are looking at it.”

The Minister claimed that no hosting country had pulled out of the Games before.

“Tonga was the first country intelligent enough to withdraw from hosting the Games,” he said.

“We know we were going to fall into a pit and we moved away from it,” he said in Tongan.

“Do not think the government had not looked at the legal side of this issue.”

“This government would not accept without questioning anything that has been set down by any previous governments.

“Look at the news and see how President Donald Trump rejects policies that were passed by the Obama administration.

“That is how government works.”

The Minister said the government has decided to make a turn as it was heading towards a pit (“afe he ko e fu’u luo ‘ena”).

The main points

  • The Minister of Justice said the Pacific Games Council were “kakai kovi” (bad people) who thought they could easily bluff the government into changing its decision on the 2019 Games by threatening legal action.
  • Lakhan and the Council’s CEO Andrew Minogue met the Minister of Justice, the Prime Minister and Minister of Labour and Commerce in Tonga last week in an attempt to revert the government’s decision to cancel hosting the Pacific Games 2019.
  • However, Hon. Pohiva did not change his mind.
  • The PGC strongly believes the government has money and all the necessary tools to host the Games.

For more information

Future of 2019 Games is in the hands of the people, says Council CEO

Violet Tupou’s death ‘tragic accident’

By
Kaniva Staff
-

Counties Manukau Police believe the death of a 17-year-old in Favona, Mangere on Saturday 3 June, 2017 was the result of a tragic accident.

Violet Tupou, who is believed to have been autistic, died after she went head-first into a drain.

The drain, just metres from her home on Enuamanu Rd was later surrounded by flowers and mementos.

Police have spoken with witnesses who found her and to other local residents who saw her prior to an apparent fall.

The matter has now been referred to the Coroner who will determine the exact cause of death.

Police will be assisting the Coroner with further enquiries.

Police extend their deepest sympathies to her friends and family at this time.

Bobby Tupoumalohi killed in Taylorsville crash in US

By
Kaniva Staff
-

TAYLORSVILLE, Utah – Authorities have identified the person who died after a vehicle clipped another car, struck a pole, and caught on fire in Taylorsville Saturday.

He was 20-year-old Bobby Tupoumalohi of Kearns.

Lt. Brian Lohrke with the Unified Police Department told FOX 13 the crash happened at 3:15 p.m.

He said witnesses informed police they saw a red car traveling eastbound on 5400 South that was swerving and speeding. They said that car ran a red light at the intersection of 5400 South 2700 West.

At the same time, a silver car was driving westbound on 5400 South and was attempting to make a left turn onto 2700 West. Police said this driver, a woman, had the right of way.

The red car, driving through the red light, clipped the silver car, went airborne and then became wrapped around a pole on the southeast corner of the intersection.

Police said the red car burst into flames before bystanders could try to pull the driver from the car. This driver, later identified as Tupoumalohi, died on impact.

Police said the driver of the silver car is expected to be OK.

Streets were closed in the area of the crash for several hours as authorities investigated, but the intersection reopened shortly after 7 p.m.

-Fox13, Salt Lake City

Tonga name squad to take on Fiji, Samoa and Wales

By
Kaniva Staff
-

The ‘Ikale Tahi Head Coach Toutai Kefu has named his squad to face Wales, Fiji and Samoa.

The ‘Ikale Tahi will play against Wales at Eden Park, Auckland on June 16.

The national team will take on the Manu Samoa on 1 July and the Flying Fijians on 8 July at Teufaiva Stadium in Nuku’alofa.

The Ikale Tahi players:

Ben Tameifuna, Racing 92, prop

Latu Talakai, Waikato, prop

Siegfried Fisi’ihoi Waikato, prop

Sila Puafisi, CS Brive, prop

Siua Halanukonuka, Highlanders, prop

Sione Lea, Taranaki, prop/hooker

Paula Ngauamo, Mont De Marsan, hooker

Suliasi Taufalele, Counties Manukau, hooker

Leva Fifita, Waikato, lock

Steve Mafi, Castres, back row

Jack Ram, Doncaster Knights, back row

Michael Faleafa, Northland, back row

Nili Latu, Newcastle Falcons, back row

Sione Tau, Agen, back row

Valentino Mapapalangi, Leicester Tigers, back row

Leon Fukofuka, Crusaders, half back

Sonatane Takulua, Newcastle Falcons, half back

Kali Hala, Counties Manukau, fly half

Latiume Fosita, Auckland, Fly half

Siale Piutau, Bristol, Inside back

Tevita Taufui, Waikato, Inside back

Viliami Tahitua, Yamaha, Inside back

‘Atieli Pakalani, Southern Districts, Inside back

Cooper Vuna, Worcester Warriors, Inside back

David Halaifonua, Gloucester, Inside back

Nafi Tu’itavake Northampton Saints

Kiti Taimani Vaini, Grammar TEC, Inside back

Extended Training Squad:

Sione Lolohea Sila Pelu Ua

Phil Kite Brisbane NRC

Harrison Mataele North Harbour

Otenili Moala Waikato

Vainanuma Manu Marist Apifo’ou

Sefo Ma’ake Havelu Bulldogs

Tuihakavalu Ika Toloa Old Boys

Monument honouring founder of Tonga High School unveiled by King Tupou VI

By
Kalino Latu
-

A monument built in memory of late King Tupou IV who founded Tonga High School in 1947 was unveiled  to mark the 70 year anniversary of the school in Nuku’alofa.

His Majesty King Tupou VI, the youngest son of the late king unveiled the monument on June 5.

The king also launched a new science laboratory for the school.

The ceremony was part of a five-day celebration that had brought together the ex-students, parents and students of the school.

The celebrations, which were attended by ex-students from 1947 included a parade along the Taufa’ahau Road by ex-students and a prayer service at Saione followed by a reception hosted by the THS’s students.

The late king established the school when he was Prince Tungi and became Tonga’s Minister of Education.

THS caters for male and female students aged 11 – 18 years or students at form 1 – 7.

New entrants every year since its establishment was restricted to those achieving the highest marks in national examinations taken by last year pupils at primary schools.

Students from other high schools could apply to continue their studies at THS but they have to sit and pass an examination entrance.

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