Tonga

The programme delivers maritime safety initiatives to seven Pacific Island countries – Cook Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga and Tuvalu.

The funding, from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2026, marks the fourth phase of the programme.

The PMSP is a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade programme, funded through the International Development Cooperation programme and delivered by Maritime NZ.

Six men's and 6 women's teams will participate in the Oceania Rugby Super Sevens, with Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Tonga to be joined by an invitational Oceania side.

That competition will take place between June 24 and 26.

Two weeks later, the annual Oceania Rugby Women's 15s Championship will make a return after three years of cancellations due to the pandemic.

The revised competition format, which was adapted in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce travel requirements on teams, is split into two phases.

Stage one will determine which clubs contest stage two, which will be an eight-team centralised finals tournament scheduled for August this year.

Fiji, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu will stage home and away playoffs – involving the champion and runner up from their respective national league – through June, from which each winner will secure qualification to the finals tournament.

Super typhoons, the withdrawal of government support and Covid-19 have disrupted the event which will now take place from June 17-25. It was originally due to be held in May/June 2021.

The hosts and Fiji lead the delegations with 125 athletes apiece.

Solomon Islands has 117 athletes while New Caledonia has 109. The smallest delegations are Norfolk Island and American Samoa with three each.

The 20 Pacific nations and territories attending and their number of athletes are:

It's Vanuatu's first appearance in the competition since 2010.

In Group A, Tonga have been drawn with the Cook Islands and Samoa.

Hosts Fiji are in Group C where they face New Caledonia and Solomon Islands.

The nine-team competition is being held from July 13-30.

The competition winner then goes into a ten-team inter-continental tournament to find three qualifiers for the Women's World Cup finals being hosted by New Zealand and Australia in 2023.

New Zealand, as co-hosts, are exempt from the qualifying tournament.

Digicel Samoa was designated Fastest Mobile Network and Fastest Internet Provider while Digicel Tonga got the Best Mobile Coverage Ookla Awards, making it the go-to place for a superior data experience.

Ookla, the company behind Speedtest, is the global leader in fixed broadband and mobile network testing applications, data and analysis.

RFMF Commander, Major-General Ro Jone Kalouniwai said the contingent has been divided into two groups.

The first group comprising 32 soldiers were airlifted on a C117 aircraft from Brisbane to Tongatapu.

The soldiers flew to Brisbane last month where they completed quarantine requirements.

Kalouniwai said the other 19 personnel will be maintained as the rear party and will depart on the HMAS Canberra over the next few days to hand over with the HMAS Adelaide that is currently in Tonga.

Digicel Tonga CEO, Anthony Seuseu, said; “We are thrilled to get internet connectivity back up in the Kingdom. Apart from our prepaid customers, we also managed to connect some business customers - ANZ, BSP and the National Reserve Bank of Tonga, Tonga Power, Lulutai Airlines, Air New Zealand and the Western Union.”

ANZ Bank Tonga’s Senior IT Support Officer, Maikolo Pifeleti thanked the Digicel team for their hard work and resilience during this difficult time.

The volcanic eruption and tsunami hit the island nation on Saturday, sweeping Atata local Lisala Folau out to sea.

Mr Folau told the BBC that he held on to a floating log during his 27-hour ordeal at sea, before finally reaching the shore again.

Tonga has confirmed three deaths though the extent of damage is still unknown.

Mr Folau, 57, told the BBC's Newsday programme he was scared when he saw the wave approach, but "I had my faith in God he would save me".

The service was restored following the set-up of a satellite link which had capacity limitations.

Digicel Regional CEO, Shally Jannif, said; “As soon as the link was opened up and international calls got restored last night, we saw an influx of callers as there were up to 200 simultaneous calls. We know that a lot of people tried to call their loved ones in Tonga but were having issues with connection. Today, our technical team did further upgrades on the link and we are pleased to announce that now 400 calls can be done at a time.”