Russia planned to seize Ukraine within ten days and kill its leaders, according to new documents apparently signed off by Vladimir Putin.
The leaked plans, revealed by the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (Rusi), show that Russia aimed to have annexed the country by August.
Russia intended to capture Ukraine’s airfields, water supplies, central bank and parliament as Ukrainian officials either fled or were captured “as a result of the speed of the invasion”.
The Kremlin created a “kill list” of Ukrainians that should be killed or suppressed.
According to Rusi, the plan was known to few in Russia’s military and unit commanders did not receive orders to invade until hours before.
Critical infrastructure including railways and power stations would not be targeted as these were imperative for seizing full control of the country.
Russia also planned to use Belarusian airborne units to help in the capture of the Rivne and Khmelnytsky nuclear power plants, Ukraine’s intelligence community believes.
Officials planned to register the entire population by going door to door, noting if they should be eliminated or whether they were likely to collaborate.
They would divide them into four categories: Those who should be killed; those in need of suppression and intimidation; those considered neutral who should be encouraged to collaborate and those prepared to collaborate.
People would be processed through filtration camps.
Russia also intended to coerce the cooperation of local authorities and regional governors, with the Federal Security Service directed to capture local officials.
As time progressed, plans were proposed to “re-educate” Ukrainians by importing teachers and other officials from Russia.
Questions have been asked in the Tonga Legislature about the lack of progress in relocating and rehousing the hundreds of people made homeless by the January eruption and tsunami.
The Tonga Government had committed to building more than 300 houses, creating new villages, rebuilding roads, not only for the most recent victims but the people still suffering in the wake of devastating cyclones in 2014 and 2018.
Photo: Twitter / Dr Faka’iloatonga Taumoefolau
Our correspondent in Tonga, Kalafi Moala, says the government had planned to relocate four entire villages wiped out by the tsunami, but the work to house thousands of victims from Cyclones Ian in 2014 and Gita in 2018 are incomplete.
“There are people, since January of this year, that have been living in temporary quarters, whether it’s in the hallway of a church or in tents. they are living there with their families, their children, having been promised that they will be relocated, that here will be new homes built for them. And that hasn’t happened.”
The worst hit area has been Ha’apai, which bore the brunt of Ian in 2014, was smashed by Gita in 2018 and was the epicentre of the eruption and tsunami.
“So they have been deeply affected by those two cyclones before as well as the eruption and tsunami. The question is some of the reconstruction that has started for restoring damages from Cyclone Ian – they haven’t been finished and even from Cyclone Gita and now there is a third disaster that has happened.”
Moala said there have been accusations of corruption with a number of the companies that lined up for the funding provided for the reconstruction work, having folded.
The head of Tonga’s delegation to the Pacific Tuna Commission meeting underway in Vietnam is calling for more unity and cooperation as delegates haggle over the management measures for the multi-billion dollar fishery.
The chief executive officer of the Tonga Ministry of Fisheries, Tu’ikolongahau Halafihi, is attending this year’s meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) – the regional fisheries management organisation responsible for tuna – in Da Nang, Vietnam.
There are 26 countries and participating territories in the commission comprised of the resource owning island countries and the foreign fishing nations whose fleets travel thousands of kilometres to fish in the tuna-rich waters of the Pacific.
And they do not always see eye-to-eye.
Dr Halafihi said his country’s tuna fishery, though small compared to other Pacific nations, is crucial to the livelihoods of Tongan people and government revenue.
“This is very important for us, it is the main fisheries for us in terms of volume and value. Tuna fisheries supports food security and also supports the economy of Tonga,” he said.
Annually, on average, Tonga’s tuna fishery brings in $10 million pa’anga – about $US4.2 million.
Tu’ikolongahau Halafihi said this is based on Fresh-On-Board prices which is a lower value as the buyer has to bear all costs and risks of the goods from the port of shipments.
“FOB value, let’s say that is the local value for that, but the exact value for tuna for the exporting of tuna is much, much higher but that is the value we use for calculate the exports,” said Dr Halafihi.
Longline is the main method of fishing in the country – and while there are two local companies, most of the vessels operating in Tongan waters are Chinese and Taiwanese boats registered and working out of Fiji with locals often employed as crew.
The commercial species mostly targeted is the South Pacific albacore one of the more at-risk tuna species in the region.
According to a WCPFC report on the status of the stock in February this year there has been no stock assessment of South Pacific albacore since 2015.
The commission’s Scientific Committee report reiterated the great concern for the stock expressed in earlier reports if recent catch effort levels are maintained.
Its projections indicated the risk of South Pacific albacore stock falling to an undesirable level is more than 20 percent under a business as usual scenario.
Dr Tu’ikolongahau Halafihi – chief executive officer for the Tonga Ministry of Fisheries at the 2023 WCPFC meeting in Da Nang, Vietnam. 28 November 2022 Photo: RNZ Pacific/Koroi Hawkins
‘Main message is solidarity and cooperation’
Tu’ikolongahau Halafihi said Tonga and other Pacific Islands need to work together with the countries who come to fish in their waters to protect the resource for future generations.
“I think the main message from here is solidarity and cooperation, working together because we can’t manage the resources by ourselves, we have to work together.
“National, regional and also international we have to work together, some kind of collective effort in order for us to manage the resources” Dr Halafihi said.
The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries meeting resumes today with some of the measures before the commission including tuna harvest strategies, addressing some of the atrocious labour conditions in the fishery and sharply-contested shark conservation measures.
This regional fisheries management organisation, also known as the Pacific Tuna Commission, has a unique consensus approach to most if not all of its decision-making.
The approach is a double-edged sword as it promotes universal compliance at the expense of stronger conservation measures.
It is also expected today that the commission will officially announce its first-ever woman Executive Director in former commission chair, Rhea Moss-Christian, of the Marshall Islands who will take over from long-serving Tuvaluan executive Feleti Teo next year.
The other candidate who contested the role was Cook Islands Lara Manarangi-Trott, also a highly experienced fisheries expert and compliance manager for the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.
All of the Pacific Tuna Commission meetings and deliberations are closed to mainstream media.
RNZ Pacific senior journalist Koroi Hawkins is in Vietnam covering the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission meeting. His trip was made possible by the Forum Fisheries Agency.
Some marriages in Tonga are lasting only two weeks.
The revelation that some couples only stay together for a fortnight came from the Minister of Justice, Samiu Kuita Vaipulu, who told Parliament recently that the number of divorces had risen.
Wedding rings
The news came as Tonga’s wedding season approaches.
Many families plan throughout the year for a wedding in the weeks leading up to Christmas and relatives and friends fly in from overseas for the celebration.
Tonga has also been a popular wedding destination for some overseas visitors.
However, the statistics show that all is not well with Tonga’s newly married couples.
Hon. Vaipulu told Parliament that court figures showed that some Tongans re-married after seven years together.
However, instead of waiting for seven years before looking for a new spouse, some couples waited only weeks.
According to the statistics some couples split less than 28 days of the marriage. This included marriages which had been registered with the government, but were waiting for letters of confirmation from Church ministers who conducted the weddings. This meant some couples divorced before the letters confirming their marriage arrived.
The Minister told Parliament that when he was working as a lawyer he increased his legal fees for divorce applications from TP$300 to TP$1000, but people still paid his fees.
Hon. Vaipulu told the House the statistics for 2020/2021 showed the number of divorces by couples aged between 20 and 30 rose from 205 in the previous year to 245.
MPs expressed their concern at the figures, with one saying he had thought that Christianity and better education should help decrease the rate.
Child marriage concern
The number of underage or child marriages, with 68 weddings in 2020/21, also caused concern.
The phenomenon of underage marriages in Tonga has been a major concern for several years. While parents can give their consent for the marriages to make them legal, the widespread view is that young people should finish school and not marry until they are of legal age.
In 2017 women’s advocate Vanessa Heleta told RNZ there were 56 child marriages in 2015 and 51 in 2016.
“It’s really saddened my heart. I don’t think it’s right. This day and age we should not encourage child marriages,” she said.
Pregnancies led to such marriages, and young girls were even pressured to get married if they were simply seen or perceived to be with boys, she said.
In 2016 Kaniva News reported Deputy Speaker of Tonga’s Parliament, Lord Tuʻiʻāfitu as saying that he was shocked by child marriage in the Kingdom. He said that in the previous three years 183 child marriages had been recorded in Tonga.
He said the Parent Consent Act 1926, which gave parents power to allow their children to marry, was “embarrassing.”
UNICEF has condemned the practise of child marriages, saying they interfered with a girl’s development with early pregnancy and social isolation, interrupting her schooling, limiting her opportunities for career and vocational advancement and placing her at increased risk of domestic violence.
Authorities said Mosese Taunaholo walked into the laundromat and brandished a handgun at the first victim. Taunaholo directed the man to go outside, but he raised his hands in the air and refused Taunaholo’s demand, authorities said.
Hours after the incident, San Mateo police learned that the first victim’s stolen vehicle was at Southland Mall. Hayward police officers observed Mosese Taunaholo entering a bathroom and subsequently going into a bathroom stall. Shortly after, he was detained by Hayward police.
Officers located three wallets and a replica handgun inside the bathroom stall where Taunaholo was hiding.
He was booked into San Mateo County Jail on charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon with great bodily injury, kidnapping, possession of a stolen vehicle, vehicle theft, committing a felony while on release, and conspiracy.
Upon further investigation, officers identified two additional suspects in the cases, Philimon Lauaki and Tevita Taunaholo.
Lauaki was arrested in Oakland, while Tevita Taunaholo remains at large.
The Democrats (PTOA) are in the process of taking legal action against the former government of Pohiva Tu’i’onetoa after they accused it of misusing taxpayer’s money.
Dr Pōhiva Tu’i’onetoa. Photo/Kalino Lātū
MP Mateni Tapueluelu told Kaniva News the PTOA Party was in the process of investigating and collecting information before approaching its lawyer.
The former Prime Minister was accused of lying to the public after he appeared to intentionally misread Clause 51 of the Constitution, which many believe could have been used to dismiss former Cabinet Minister Akosita Lavulavu who had been accused of fraud.
The Democrats alleged that the former Prime Minister appeared to have breached the Cabinet Manual’s conflict of interest clause by allowing Cabinet Ministers’ spouses to be paid from taxpayers’ money for travelling to the outer islands to conduct its controversial national fasting programming.
The Democrats have previously said they wondered why King Tupou VI did not use his power to set up a royal commission to investigate the Tu’i’onetoa government.
His Majesty berated the Tu’iu’onetoa government amid allegations of corruption and malpractice arising over the tendering process for the former government’s controversial roading project.
The project was stopped at the end of 2021 after Tu’i’onetoa was ousted from power after losing the premiership election.
MP Māteni Tapueluelu
The Tu’i’onetoa government was accused of designing the tendering process so the contracts would be given to its friends, including Cabinet Ministers’ family members.
The Democrats said they were also concerned since the king had ordered a commission to investigate the late ‘Akilisi Pohiva’s government about the Popua Park re-development project, but the results had never been released.
Last September former Prime Minister Pōhiva Tu’i’onetoa denied claims the Royal Commission report on Popua Park probe had been submitted to him, but disappeared from his desk.
An independent investigation found that the government had actually saved money on the project to redevelop a former landfill area. The report by the Pacific Engineering Consultant Group (PECG) showed the government had spent only TP$648,000 on the project.
While the findings of the royal commission have not been made public, it has been unofficially reported that the Commission did not find any misuse of public funds.
The pyramid scheme case continues to grow, with victim Tionly Fatukala considering an attempt to recover more money from Mele Hea.
Hea, meanwhile has vowed that she will never pay back the $10,000 the Disputes Tribunal has ordered her to hand over to Fatukala, even if she had a $1 million.
After swearing on our Facebook account this morning , Hea said she and her family were under stress because of the publicity of her fraud.
She accused Kaniva News of malice and claimed Fatukala voluntarily deposited the money in her scam. Kaniva has seen a screenshot of a text message screenshot that was submitted to the Tribunal which shows Mele Hea texted Fatukala and asked her to deposit $8000, to which Fatukala agreed.
This was not, however, the main point of the Tribunal’s ruling, which was that Hea had been running a pyramid scheme, which is illegal under New Zealand law.
She accused Kaniva of using her photo with her daughter in an aeroplane without permission. The photograph was originally posted by Hea on her Facebook page and so has been placed in the public domain. She then accused Kaniva of failing to remove her daughter from the photo. In fact her daughter’s image was blurred by Kaniva News before it was published.
Tionly Fatukala said she and her husband were working with their lawyer to file a new lawsuit against Mele Hea to pay back another $10,000 which was paid to her under the name of Fatukala’s husband Josh. The Disputes Tribunal did not accept this claim at the original hearing.
The Tongan online community has criticised Mele Hea for running the pyramid scheme at a time when the community had been warned of the danger of such operations.
Some people criticised the victims and asked when they were going to learn not to spend such large amount of money on pyramid scheme. Some however, supported Mele Hea, saying she had used some of the money to pay some of her clients who were fortunate to profit from the operation. They criticised people who received large lump payments, but did not help the new customers.
Editor’s note
Kaniva News’ role is to educate, inform and act as a watch dog for the community, guided by the law, ethics and skills of journalism. There has been no malice or malevolence in our reporting. Our stories are not, as Hea has claimed, intended to stir up ill-feeling towards her or her family. We have simply covered a story that is of major concern to our community. The Disputes Tribunal found against Mele Hea and ordered her to pay back a sum of money to Fatukala. These are matters of public record, as is the fact that both sides have launched or are considering launching appeals that will continue the dispute into the New Year. Kaniva News will continue to cover the case as it develops.
The pyramid scheme dispute continues to grow, with Mele Hea declaring on her Facebook page this morning that she will never pay back the $10,000 the Disputes Tribunal says she owes Tionly Fatukala.
Mele Hea posted photos saying “Bye bye New Zealand say hallow to Melbourne Australia”.
Fatukala has hit out at Hea, saying that it was unfair of Hea to go on holiday when she had not repaid her.
This morning Hea posted photos of what appeared to be her family inside an aeroplane, with a caption saying “Bye bye New Zealand say hallow (sic) to Melbourne Australia.”
On Sunday when she first denied Kaniva’s story, she said she had just returned from a holiday in Tonga. She also posted photos of her and others in what appeared to be a hotel room.
Hea said she and her husband appealed the Tribunal Ruling on May 24 after complaining that Fatukala harassed and threatened her. Documents obtained by Kaniva News show that Mele Hea also appealed on the grounds that the referee was unfair.
Hea vowed that she would never pay back Fatukala’s money no matter what. However, she admitted that she made a mistake by running the pyramid scheme and said she had learned from it.
Fatukala said she and her lawyer applied to enforce the Dispute Tribunal’s decision for Hea to pay back her money, but since Hea had appealed the Tribunal’s decision, and the appeal would not be heard until next year in February 2, the court had stayed Fatukala’s enforcement application.
Fatukala told Kaniva News she would submit to court Hea’s statement on Facebook this morning saying that she would never ever pay back Fatukala’s money no matter what.
Fatukala claimed that Hea told the Tribunal she had no money and that she had lost her job after Fatukala complained to her employer. Kaniva News has seen a letter dated July 26 about this issue.
Correction
On Kaniva News’ Facebook page this morning we said, based on information supplied, that it was Fatukala who applied for the appeal which is being heard next year on February 2. This was incorrect and it was Hea who made the appeal. Kaniva News is happy to make this correction.
Deputy Director-General of the Public Health Agency Dr Andrew Old said current modelling indicated cases could rise to a peak similar to that seen in July – between 10,000 and 11,000 cases per day.
He encouraged people to ensure they were up to date with their vaccinations, stay home if they were symptomatic, test if unwell and to open doors and windows as much as possible if they were entertaining over the summer months.
Old said there was also “good evidence that mask use reduces transmission”.
The ministry would be publishing a “summer checklist” to help people prepare, he said.
New Zealand remained in a “strong position” to manage the ongoing Covid-19 cases but Old cautioned: “We’re not out of the Covid woods yet”.
There are 27,076 new cases of Covid-19 this week, the Ministry of Health says.
There were also 58 deaths of people with Covid-19 and 328 people with the virus were hospitalised – 10 in ICU.
The Ministry of Health released an update on the state of the country’s Covid-19 outbreak from 1pm
Of the 58 deaths being reported today, three were from Northland, 19 were from the Auckland region, six were from Waikato, two were from Bay of Plenty, one was from Lakes, one was from Tairawhiti, one was from Hawke’s Bay, two were from MidCentral, one was from Whanganui, five were from Wellington region, one was from Nelson Marlborough, nine were from Canterbury, two were from South Canterbury and four were from Southern.
One was in their 20s, two were in their 30s, two were in their 40s, two were in their 50s, eight were in their 60s, 18 were in their 70s, 16 were in their 80s and nine were aged over 90.
The seven-day rolling average of community cases is 3863 – last Monday it was 3434. Of the new cases, 6547 are reinfections.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 3383 deaths have been attributed to Covid-19.
Earlier this month, health officials warned that hospitalisations of people with the virus were increasing and New Zealand could see daily cases peak at around 11,000 a day over the summer, driven by the mix of variants currently circulating.
He told RNZ that while socialising was important over the Christmas and New Year period, people should ensure they were taking adequate precautions to reduce the likelihood of them contracting Covid-19.
Baker said holding functions in well-ventilated venues was a good idea, and those eligible for boosters who had not yet had them should make that a priority.
“Get any booster you can that you’re eligible for, it will give you a lot of protection. Vaccination decreases all of those risks, including long-Covid,” he said.
Wearing a mask while in crowded areas was also something he recommended.
“I would certainly consider using a mask in a very tightly packed, poorly ventilated shopping situation.”
