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An independent view of the world seen from Tokelau

The Independent New York Times

Tokelau, Saturday, July 26, 2008 Weekend Edition, editor Sumpinein - contact sumpinein@gmail.com

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Pacific News
Forthcoming Coronation
Source: eventpolynesia.com
The installation of the noble title Tungi to the Honorable Sitiveni 'Alaivahamama'o Polule'uligana Tanusia ma'a Tonga at the Nukualofa Royal Palace grounds, Fua'amotu Royal Palace grounds and at Navutoka village
The title Tungi was last held by the late King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV before he ascended the throne in 1965.
The occasion also included the installation of Tungi to the princely title by His Majesty King George Tupou V and will now be addressed as His Serene Highness Prince Tungi.
For the forthcoming coronation, Lord Tungi has been appointed Lord Bearer of the Crown.
HSH Prince Tungi is the oldest son of the late Lord Ma'atu, son of the late King His Majesty Taufa'ahau Tupou IV. His mother is Lady 'Ala'ile'ula Tuku'aho, grand-daughter of the late Samoa Head of State, His Highness Malietoa Tanumafili II. The occasion involved a traditional presentation by the Malietoa family to the Tongan Royal family at the Nukualofa Royal Palace on Friday (July 18) as affirmation of the ties between the two families.
The appointment was bestowed on Saturday at the Free Wesleyan Church in Tatakamotonga attended by Queen Mother HM Queen Halaevalu Mata'aho, Crown Prince HRH Prince Tupouto'a Lavaka, HRH Princess Nanasipau'u Tuku'aho, Lady 'Alaileula Tuku'aho and other members of the royal household, Samoan nobility and people of the estate of Tungi.
Celebrations continued with a reception at Fua'amotu Royal Palace - one of the estates held by the Tungi title - and a church service on Sunday at Tatakamotonga - another Tungi estate and continued on Monday at Navutoka - another estate held with the Tungi title.
By popular demand, the Chilli's Amigos band was invited by Her Royal Highness Princess Pilolevu to perform at her residence later in the evening. Mr. Teleiai Su'a Edwin Puni, managing director of Event Polynesia, said "It was an honor for the band to be invited to take part in the installation of HSH Prince Tungi."
"Another highlight of the trip was the request by Lady 'Alaileula Tuku'aho, who is the Chairperson of Tonga Red Cross Society, to perform and entertain thirty disabled children at their head office grounds at Nukualofa," according to Mr. Puni.

Lady 'Alaileula Tuku'aho performing the siva Samoa.

SUMMER READING  John Francis Kinsella's latest novel, Death in Kovalam, takes place in India where  Tom Barton, a City mortgage broker, arrives in Kovalam, Kerala after abandoning his business in the wake of the subprime crisis. In his luxury hotel he meets Emma, the wife of Stephen Parkly, the CEO of a London bank, West Mercian Finance. Stephen Parkly falls gravely ill with a mysterious infection and is hospitalized in a local clinic.
The disease is diagnosed as cholera, panic sets in when tourists start to fall ill with the deadly infection, just as the tourist season is getting into the full swing of the festive season.
Eager fans swarmed sales windows in Beijing on Friday to buy the final batch of tickets for next month's Olympic Games after waiting for up to two days. Scuffles broke out at one ticket site as officials opened additional sales windows at the last minute, causing some fans to stampede ahead of others in a bid to buy some of the 250,000 tickets that went on sale in different parts of the host city.
OBAMA IN PARIS
French President Nicolas Sarkozy greets Barrack Obama on his one day trip to Paris after his Middle East tour.

A price war is raging between a powerful online bookseller and a leading publisher, with authors caught in the crossfire and losing vital royalties. Amazon is in conflict with the Hachette Group, Britain’s largest publisher, over terms and discounts and is refusing to sell its titles. The online bookseller has imposed extraordinary sanctions against the publisher, whose authors include the bestselling writers Stephen King and James Patterson. It is listing Hachette books but preventing the public from purchasing them by removing the “buy new” button from its websites. Titles such as the hardback of King’s Duma Key and Patterson’s The 6th Target have been affected with only “used” copies being offered for sale.
More banks fail
Two weeks after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp seized IndyMac Bancorp Inc, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said it closed First National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank NA of California.
First National had total assets of $3.4 billion and $3 billion in deposits while First Heritage had assets of $254 million and $233 million in deposits, regulators said.
The FDIC said the cost of the transactions to its insurance reserve is estimated to be $862 million, adding that the two failed banks represented just 0.3 percent of the $13.4 trillion in total industry assets at about 8,500 FDIC-insured institutions.
The FDIC said the 28 offices of the two banks will reopen on Monday as Mutual of Omaha Bank. Over the weekend, customers can access their money by writing checks, using automatic teller machines or debit cards.
Top banking regulators have warned of additional insolvencies this year and next, but for now do not expect failures the size of IndyMac, which had $32 billion in assets and $19 billion in total deposits at the end of March.
On the eve of the Olympics China vetoes Zimbabwe sanctions
Russia and China wielded their veto to kill a resolution imposing UN sanctions on President Mugabe and his inner circle in a defining vote in the 15-nation council. Another shameful act of political self interest by so called great powers, in fact totalitarian states.
 

JK Rowling tops Forbes list of world's billionaires

Rowling, authoress of the Harry Potter books, earned more than anyone else on any of Forbes' lists, with a total of 300 million dollars. Her books about the boy wizard have sold 375 million copies worldwide and the final instalment, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, has sold 44 million since it came out last July, according to the Forbes.

CHINESE SPIES “My BlackBerry is missing.”

A top aide to Gordon Brown has been a suspected victim of a “honeytrap” operation by Chinese intelligence agents. The aide, a senior Downing Street adviser who was with the prime minister on a trip to China earlier this year, had his BlackBerry phone stolen after being picked up by a Chinese woman who had approached him in a Shanghai hotel disco. The aide agreed to return to his hotel with the woman. He reported the BlackBerry missing the next morning. The aide, whose identity is known to The Sunday Times, immediately reported the theft to the prime minister’s Special Branch protection team and was informally reprimanded. A senior official said yesterday that the incident had all the hallmarks of a suspected honeytrap by Chinese intelligence. The incident will raise fresh questions about the security of sensitive official information. It follows a spate of high-profile cases where data from government departments have been lost. BlackBerrys are used as mobile telephones and also store data and send and receive e-mails. Downing Street BlackBerrys are password-protected but security officials said most are not encrypted. Experts say that even if the aide’s device did not contain anything top secret, it might enable a hostile intelligence service to hack into the Downing Street server, potentially gaining access to No 10’s e-mail traffic and text messages. The incident highlights the growing threat of Chinese intelligence to Britain and the West. Last December Jonathan Evans, the director-general of MI5, warned that China was carrying out state-sponsored espionage against vital parts of Britain’s economy, including the computer systems of big banks and financial services firms. Sources said that the incident had occurred during Brown’s two-day trip to China in January. The British prime minister had been accompanied by about 20 Downing Street staff, including senior advisers on foreign policy, the environment and trade. The incident occurred in Shanghai on the second day of the tour. That evening, about a dozen members of the Downing Street staff went to a hotel disco where a lively party with several hundred young people was in full swing. “It was apparently a lot of fun, there was quite a bit of dancing with lots of people on a big crowded dance floor,” said one security official. The group stayed at the disco for at least two hours. One senior aide was approached by an attractive Chinese woman. The couple danced and later disappeared together. The security official said: “In these circumstances it was not wise.

ICELAND AND HYDROGEN

First pregnant man gives birth to girl
Thomas Beatie, better known as the world’s first pregnant man, has sold a picture of his baby girl to an American magazine for a rumoured €200,000.

http://freedomains.nytimes.tk

Sylvain Chavanel of France won the 19th stage of the Tour de France on Friday after leading a two-man breakaway, as Spain's Carlos Sastre retained the race leader's yellow jersey ahead of Saturday's crucial 53km time-trial.Chavanel in red celebrates after outsprinting Jeremy Roy to seal victory in the 19th stage of the Tour de France. Cofidis rider Chavanel, 29, won his first Tour stage after edging out compatriot Jeremy Roy of at the end of the mostly flat 165.5km ride from Roanne to Montlucon. Chavanel, who was claiming his seventh win of the year, broke down in tears after crossing the finish line. "My first thought when I crossed the line was for my best friend who committed suicide last year," Chavanel said. "He would have been happy for me. There's a lot of emotion today. I'm the happiest ever." The main race contenders finished in the peloton more than a minute after the leading duo -- and the overall standings remain unchanged before the time- trial that will determine the winner of the three-week race.

BEAR MARKET?
Russia - Bears eat miners
Terrified workers at a mining compound in one of Russia's most isolated regions are refusing to go to work after a pack of giant bears attacked and ate two of their colleagues. At least 30 of the hungry animals have been seen prowling close to the mines in northern Kamchatka in search of food, where the mangled remains of the two workers, both guards, were found last week. A male Kamchatka brown bear can grow to three metres, weigh up to 700kg, and reach a top speed of 30mph
On a latrine wall in a US base in Iraq http://www.warshooter.com

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2008 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Herbert von Karajan Israeli Prime Minister and Syrian Presdent meet in Paris