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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.
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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.
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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. |
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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. |
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French
President Nicolas Sarkozy greets Barrack
Obama on his one day trip to Paris after
his Middle East tour. |
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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. |
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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 |
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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. |
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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.
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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.
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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. |
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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. |
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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 |
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