18th June 2026 🇹🇴 Television Tonga News Tongan & English Language Editions

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[00:25:08]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Good evening and welcome to your English news package with radio and television Tonga News for this Thursday evening, June 18th. Taking a look at tonight's top stories, Prime Minister's office announces a special public holiday to mark 200 years of Christianity in Tonga.

[00:25:58]200,000 Banga allocated in the next financial year to fund vehicles for all members of parliament. And the Cook Islands honors his majesty king [music] the 6 with a traditional welcome as his majesty arrives in the Cook Islands ahead of the USB graduation ceremony.

[00:26:16]We'll have these and more stories coming up later on in this bulletin as well as the latest from the sports scene and the latest weather update [music] to wrap up this hour's news package. Now for the news in detail. I'm Ba Ao.

[00:26:30]Cabinet has approved Friday June 26th as a special public holiday as part of the celebrations marking the bicesentennial anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in Tonga.

[00:26:44]An official announcement from the prime minister's office yesterday confirmed cabinet's approval of the special public holiday for June 26 which is next Friday and is also the main day dedicated to marking the bicesentennial anniversary during the 10day celebrations. According to the Prime Minister's office, the special public holiday represents a significant milestone in the history of Donga and reflects the enduring role of Christianity in shaping the country's national identity, values, and cultural heritage. The special public holiday is a one of holiday only Friday 26th of June 2026 and it will enable more people to participate in the various programs and activities being held to mark the 200th anniversary celebrations of Christianity in Tonga.

[00:27:45][music] >> [music] >> The budget estimate being deliberated on in parliament has a 200,000 panga allocation to fund vehicles for members of parliament both people's and nobles representatives. The prime minister Lord Kofanua who is also the acting finance minister announced that this allocation was made at the request of members of parliament.

[00:28:15]Lord Kafanoa says that the allocation stems from a request by the people's representatives to provide new vehicles for their constituency offices as there is a need to improve the equipment and resources used by these district offices. Loanua says the request was approved. However, approval was not given to purchase vehicles outright.

[00:28:35]Instead, the vehicles will be obtained through a leasing arrangement. He explained that the vehicle leases would run for four years and that more than 10,000 banga per vehicle would need to be paid each financial year for the lease. It is understood that this funding is included under the Ministry of Finance's budget vote, although the government still intends to exercise caution and prudence in how public funds are spent on government expenditures.

[00:29:03]The Minister of Infrastructure, Honorable Semi Sika, this morning announced in Parliament that government has finalized the arrangements for the renovation of the Foot Moto International Airport, awarding the contract to a Japanese construction company. Honorable Semic said the agreement is being signed today in Tokyo, Japan between the ministry and the construction company to carry out the works. The company Kitano Construction has already carried out works in Tonga before having completed Viola Hospital. Sika says that 15.8 million panga has already been allocated in the next financial year budget to fund the first phase of the project with construction expected to begin around September October this year. The total cost of the formoto airport project is estimated at 31 million banga. Half of the funding has been allocated through the next financial year budget while the second half will be funded in the 2027 2028 financial year. Sika also said that 1.5 million banga has been allocated to cover the costs of engineers and consultants who will travel to Tonga to prepare for the airport construction project. The construction is expected to take two years to complete. This project marks the beginning of Tonga's major infrastructure development efforts in preparation for hosting the Pacific Games in 2031. The Japanese company secured the opportunity to build the Formotu International Airport renovations after the project was publicly tended and construction companies invited to submit bids.

[00:30:43]and his majesty kingdo the 6th arrived in the Cook Islands yesterday ahead of the University of the South Pacific's Cook Islands campus graduation ceremony held today. His majesty was officially welcomed at Raotonga International Airport with a traditional welcoming ceremony which included members of the Talin community in the Cook Islands elevating his majesty on a bata as part of the formal welcome.

[00:31:29]His Majesty King Bo 6 was received by the king's representative, Sir Tom Masters, and Lady Twain Masters, alongside traditional leaders, including to Ariki, President of the House of Ariana Ariiki, Vice President.

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[00:32:36]of the House of Aiki Education Minister Vay Makoroa, officials and members of the Tongen community in the Cook Islands. His majesty is in the Cook Islands in his capacity as the chancellor of the University of the South Pacific where he presided over the graduation ceremony today conferring 73 graduates with their certificates. The visit was coordinated by the Cook Islands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration working alongside government agencies, traditional leaders, and the local tongen community.

[00:33:07][music] That's your local news for tonight.

[00:33:23]After this break, sport is up next with Pierre Olier.

[00:33:34]>> Welcome back in sport.

[00:33:36]The Tonga Sports Association and National Olympic Committee has announced that the deemed Tonga for the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasco, Scotland.

[00:33:47]The games will be held from July 23rd to August 22nd. A total of 28 athletes and officials will represent the kingdom across eight sports and 20 medal events.

[00:34:00]A major highlight for team donga is the qualification of two women's team sports net and 3x3 basketball. Desanuk says the achievement reflects the continued trove and competitiveness of tongen sport on the international stage. The eight sports are athletics, boxing, lawn balls, women's 3.3 basketball, judo, netball, swimming and weightlifting.

[00:34:29]Meanwhile, netpool captain Jul has been selected as strong as flank perah for the opening ceremony while swimmer Fina Awafi will serve as strong as peton barra in Glasco. National chief executive officer and secretary general Netina says the athletes have officially secured their places and are preparing to represent the kingdom with pride. She also revealed that only two athletes in the athletics team are currently based and training in Donga Atkamatu Tiva and Benimmani Tailoa. Team Donga will depart in the coming weeks ahead of the games.

[00:35:19]That was the latest sports news. Now taking a look at the latest weather update from the format weather forecasting center with Villiama Anulu.

[00:35:31][music] [music] Hello and welcome to our evening weather forecast from the time service in formu.

[00:35:50]Main headlines for this evening. Some cooler night temperature are likely to expect across the group throughout the weekend and early next week. But before that, we got some showers of rain across some parts of the group including Harai and towards the northern parts of Tonga at the newest and Baba throughout this evening and also for tomorrow as well.

[00:36:12]But after that we'll start to see some progress in the weather across Tonga with some cooler night temperature and also the winds will slightly increase as well reaching up to 25 to 30 knots or 50 to 60 kilometers per hour. But looking from the sky today what we have seen here is just some cloud band sitting over to the areas of Harai Vau and also Dapu and Awa will start to move towards to the northeast and affect the areas of the newest. But here's this area of fine weather to the southwest. We're slowly moving towards to the rest of the group throughout tonight and also the rest of the week. But here's our current warnings at the moment that we got some strong winds. High surf may reach up to 2.53 m wave height with a small crop advisory still remain valid across all of Tonga coastal waters. But looking at the weather across the region throughout the rest of this week up until early next week across Tonga, we got some south winds prevailing across the group and the areas of cloud bands now shifting and move further our way to the east and leaving us with some fine weather across Tonga with some cooler temperature as well prevailing from the south with a with a wind speed may reach up to 25 to 30 knots or 50 to 60 kil.

[00:37:36]winters per hour across Tonga throughout this weekend to early next week. But looking at the weather throughout tonight to early tomorrow morning, be expecting some cloudy conditions with showers of rain with possible heavy falls especially for the areas of Harai, Vava and also to the newest we start to see some progress and fine weather later in around early tomorrow morning for the areas of Harai as well. However, for Tongapo and Awa, we'll be mainly fine, which will leaves us with some cooler temperatures as well for tonight down to 18° for the areas of Tongadapu and with a wind speed of 15 to 20 knots across Tonga. for tomorrow still continue on with these cloudy conditions for the areas of the news and Babao and we'll be start to see improvement for the areas of Wava around in the noon and later in the afternoon for the areas of Vavva which we'll also expect the winds to slightly increase as well in the afternoon reaching up to 25 knots and also the maximum temperature to be recorded in across Tonga to reach up to a maximum of 27 7° especially for the areas of the newest and the prediction for Tonga for for tomorrow. We'll be expecting low tide at quart at 25 minutes to 5 early tomorrow morning while high tide will be around quarter 21 tomorrow morning as well while sunrise will be at 16 minutes past uh past 7 and moonrise will be around 10 minutes to 11 tomorrow morning. And here is the outlook for Nugalofa for the rest of this week up until Wednesday of next week. Generally fine weather, mainly fine weather here in Nugalofa with some cooler temperature as well reaching to a maximum of up to 26° here in Nugalova. And that is our latest weather update from the Tongat. Hope you all enjoy your evening and have a good night.

[00:39:38]>> Thank you to Vami and the team at the Tong Service for that latest weather update. That wraps up this hour's news package. But before we part, here's a final look at tonight's top stories.

[00:39:49]Prime Minister's office announces a special public holiday to mark 200 years of Christianity in Tonga. 200,000 Banga allocated in the next financial year to fund vehicles for all members of parliament. And the Cook Islands honors his majesty King Dubo V 6 with a traditional welcome as his majesty arrives in the Cook Islands ahead of the USB [music] graduation ceremony today.

[00:40:15]That's your news package for this Thursday evening, June 18th. For more on these stories, you can visit our website at www.tbc.to.

[00:40:24]Join us again tomorrow for the latest local and sports news and weather updates. Now for myself and the radio and television Tonga news team. Thank you for joining us. [music] Have a good evening.

[00:40:41]>> [music]