DILI, East Timor (AP) — The foreign ministers of Australia and China were both making their final stops Friday on what has become an island-hopping diplomatic duel in the South Pacific.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong arrived in Tonga where she met with Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku and other officials including King Tupou VI.
LONDON (AP) — Tonga’s chief diplomat in the United Kingdom will be thinking about two monarchs this weekend as Britain and the Commonwealth celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee.
There is Elizabeth, of course, who will celebrate 70 years on the throne with four days of parades and pageantry.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Vanuatu on Wednesday for talks as he continued his regional island-hopping tour two days after failing to ink an ambitious deal with 10 South Pacific nations.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Tonga on Tuesday as he continued his regional island-hopping tour a day after failing to ink an ambitious deal with 10 South Pacific nations.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The first match of the season between New Zealand and Australian teams in the Super Rugby Pacific tournament was a convincing win for the Kiwis.
The Chiefs beat the New South Wales Waratahs 51-27 on Friday at Melbourne in the first match of the so-called Super Round when all five matches will be played in the Victorian state capital.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Samantha Moala recalls she was taking a shower at her home in Tonga when she heard what sounded like a gunshot so powerful it hurt her ears.
As she and her family scrambled to their car to drive inland, ash blackened the sky.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Two-time Olympic women’s shot put champion Valerie Adams has announced her retirement at the age of 37.
Adams also won Olympic silver and bronze medals and was a four-time world champion, a four-time world indoor champion and three-time Commonwealth Games champion.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The first two booms from the volcano were scary enough, but the third explosion was immense, sending everyone from the village running from their homes in a reaction that would save all but one of their lives.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Tonga's main internet connection to the rest of the world has finally been restored more than five weeks after a huge volcanic eruption and tsunami severed a crucial undersea cable.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A month after an undersea volcanic eruption and ensuing tsunami lashed Tonga, a U.N. official said Wednesday that 80% of the Pacific island nation’s 105,000 people were affected and the country needs over $90 million to start repairing damage and restoring its key farming and fishing sectors.
BANGKOK (AP) — Coronavirus cases continue to rise rapidly in Tonga, and tests have confirmed that the particularly contagious omicron variant is behind the isolated Pacific island nation's first community outbreak since the start of the pandemic, officials said Thursday.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Entrepreneur Elon Musk is helping reconnect Tonga to the internet after a volcanic eruption and tsunami cut off the South Pacific nation more than three weeks ago, according to officials, while repairs on an undersea cable are proving more difficult than first thought.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Every try scored in the first 10 rounds of Super Rugby Pacific this season will aid Tonga’s recovery from last month’s volcanic eruption and tsunami.
Rugby Australia and Rugby New Zealand on Wednesday announced the “Tries for Tonga” campaign which will see money donated to the Red Cross Pacific Tsunami Appeal every time a try is scored.
BANGKOK (AP) — For more than two years, the isolation of the Pacific archipelago nation of Tonga helped keep COVID-19 at bay.
But last month's volcanic eruption and tsunami brought outside deliveries of desperately needed fresh water and medicine — and the virus.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Tonga will enter a lockdown Wednesday evening after finding coronavirus infections in two port workers helping distribute aid arriving in the Pacific nation after a volcanic eruption and tsunami.
LIMA, Peru (AP) — A Peruvian judge on Friday banned Repsol's Peru director and three other executives from leaving the country for 18 months while the government investigates an oil spill at a refinery run by the Spain-based company.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — British and Australian navy ships arrived in Tonga on Wednesday and attempted to deliver aid without making contact with anybody ashore to avoid spreading the coronavirus in a nation which has never had an outbreak.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Nearly two dozen sailors on an Australian military ship going to deliver aid to Tonga have tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said Tuesday, raising fears they could bring COVID-19 to a Pacific nation that has so far managed to avoid any outbreaks.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Four Japanese aircraft left Australia on Monday to deliver more vital aid to Tonga as the Pacific nation deals with the aftermath of a volcanic eruption and tsunami.
The two Japanese Lockheed C-130 Hercules and two Kawasaki C-2 left the Royal Australian Air Force Base at Amberley in Queensland state to make the 3,300-kilometer (2,050-mile) journey east to the islands that were devastated by the Jan.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Aid flights from Australia, Japan and New Zealand carrying food, water, medical supplies and telecommunications equipment landed in Tonga over the weekend, as the Pacific nation grapples with the aftermath of an underwater volcanic eruption and tsunami.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The incredible story of a retired carpenter who survived overnight in the ocean after the Tonga tsunami swept him out to sea appeared to fit with events at the time, a New Zealand diplomat said Friday.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The tranquil resort in Tonga sat behind a lagoon and reef break that was perfect for snorkelers and surfers alike. Guests who had never met before would sit together to eat delicious communal meals cooked by owner Moana Paea and her staff, or relax in rustic cabins tucked in the trees.
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru declared an environmental emergency on Thursday after announcing that 21 beaches on the Pacific coast were contaminated by an oil spill at a refinery run by Spain-based Repsol, following surging waves caused by the eruption of an underwater volcano near Tonga.
BANGKOK (AP) — As the massive undersea Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on Saturday, Tongans from around the world gazed on as their relatives livestreamed images of billowing clouds of ash, gas and steam emerging from beneath the depths.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The first flights carrying fresh water and other aid to Tonga finally arrived Thursday after the Pacific nation’s main airport runway was cleared of ash left by a huge volcanic eruption.
SYDNEY (AP) — Three of Tonga's smaller islands suffered serious damage from tsunami waves, officials and the Red Cross said Wednesday, as a wider picture begins to emerge of the destruction caused by the eruption of an undersea volcano near the Pacific archipelago nation.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — People around the world looked on in awe at the spectacular satellite images of an undersea volcano erupting in a giant mushroom cloud in the Pacific.
LIMA, Peru (AP) — An oil spill on the Peruvian coast caused by the waves from an eruption of an undersea volcano in the South Pacific nation of Tonga prompted dozens of fishermen to protest Tuesday outside the South American country’s main oil refinery.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The blast from the volcano could be heard in Alaska, and the waves crossed the ocean to cause an oil spill and two drownings in Peru. The startling satellite images resembled a massive nuclear explosion.
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Unusually high waves attributed to the eruption of an undersea volcano in Tonga caused an oil spill on the Peruvian coast, but authorities said Monday the spill was controlled within hours and there's an ongoing process to clean the area.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand and Australia were able to send military surveillance flights to Tonga on Monday to assess the damage a huge undersea volcanic eruption left in the Pacific island nation.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The tsunami threat around the Pacific from a huge undersea volcanic eruption began to recede Sunday, while the extent of damage to Tonga remained unclear.
Satellite images showed the spectacular eruption that took place Saturday evening, with a plume of ash, steam and gas rising like a mushroom above the blue Pacific waters.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Taniela Moa, a scrumhalf who almost was a New Zealand All Black but went on to play 21 times for Tonga, has died. He was 36.
Moa’s death was confirmed Thursday by the Tonga Rugby Union, which did not specify a cause.
DUBLIN (AP) — World Rugby has relaxed its eligibility rules to allow national team players to switch countries as of January, the governing body announced Wednesday in what it described as a “landmark" change.
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Captain Stuart Hogg became Scotland's sole record try-scorer as Japan was held out 29-20 before a thrilled crowd at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Hogg's 25th career touchdown took him clear of Ian Smith from the 1930s and Tony Stanger from the 1990s in a first half they finished a flattering 19-6 ahead.
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Scotland dropped flanker Hamish Watson in the side facing world champion South Africa on Saturday at Murrayfield after he was the leading player in the stunning win over Australia.
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Scotland defied the odds to upend Australia 15-13 in an edgy rugby test at a packed Murrayfield on Sunday.
The Scots brought back their Six Nations side after the 60-point romp over Tonga last weekend, and were undercooked compared to a Wallabies team on a five-match winning roll out of the Rugby Championship.
LONDON (AP) — England overcame the disruption of captain Owen Farrell's coronavirus infection to put down Tonga 69-3 on Saturday.
Farrell's positive test on Friday — forcing a new round of COVID-19 tests on the squad and his isolation — was confirmed on the morning of the match.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Tonga's main island will go into lockdown for a week after the South Pacific nation reported its first case of the coronavirus, the government said Monday.
The far-flung archipelago identified its first virus case last week, after a traveler arriving from New Zealand tested positive and isolated at a quarantine hotel.
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Winger Kyle Steyn scored four of Scotland's 10 tries in a 60-14 victory over Tonga in their opening autumn rugby test at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Rufus McLean, another winger, crossed for two tries in the opening 15 minutes, while prop Pierre Schoeman also marked his first cap with a first-half try.