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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.
Three people in Tonga were killed by the 15 January tsunami, dozens of homes were destroyed and drinking water was tainted.
The fibre-optic cable is now fully operational again after being reconnected on Tuesday, said Samiuela Fonua, the chairperson at Tonga Cable Ltd, the state-owned company that owns the cable.
“It’s a huge relief when you know things have come to the end and are working well,” Fonua told The Associated Press. “It’s one step forward for the country.”
Fonua said the crew aboard a repair ship replaced about 56 miles (90km) of cable that had been damaged by the tsunami. His company did not have enough spare cable, Fonua added, and needed to borrow some from other companies.
Australian Defence Force and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade crisis personnel stand amid the rubble outside a house in Tonga
The fix means Tonga Cable can now focus on repairing a second severed cable that connects some of the outer islands to the main island, Fonua said. That cable runs close to the undersea volcano.
Fonua said that entrepreneur Elon Musk’s SpaceX company had also been helping restore connections through its network of low-orbit satellites called Starlink.
Fonua said his company had been testing the satellite connections this week and they had been working well. He said that now the main cable was restored, he hoped the SpaceX connections could be used for reconnecting people on some of the outer islands.
Officials in neighbouring Fiji said SpaceX had established a station there to help restore connections in Tonga.
Tonga has also been grappling with its first outbreak of coronavirus, which may have been brought in by foreign military crews aboard ships and planes delivering vital aid after the eruption.
The outbreak has grown to more than 250 cases but so far there have been no reported deaths. The country of 105,000 has begun easing some virus restrictions after initially imposing a lockdown.
Tongan health officials say that 90% of people aged 12 and over have had at least two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Seriously, if you can’t even cook a chicken stay out of the kitchen.
We can’t all afford to hire a chef, Glen.
Your cooked chicken pic looks a bit overdone and dry!
It looks white and gold to me
In the UK many supermarkets supply chicken sealed in a roasting bag – so it goes straight into the oven with out the cook having to come into contact with the raw chicken; once cooked it is moist and tender as all the juices are absorbed……………step up to the plate Irish supermarkets please!
Very good.
After reading that it makes the chicken sound more dangerous than a time bomb!
Cooking a chicken in a roasting bag is the only way to do it.
Roasting bag? What about the stuffing and cloves of garlic that flavour the chicken?
And herby salted butter under the skin.
Chicken is easy to cook. Putting it in a bag might make it easier but it also severely limits flavour options. The best roast chicken I’ve had recently was using Jamie Oliver’s Empire Roast Chicken recipe: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/empire-roast-chicken/
Its a must for any curry fans and doesn’t take much effort.
Salt, butter, pepper, Aromat, tin foil, oven, timer done.
I could wash my hands a few times while handling chicken. Be it curry, stir fry, roast, casserole and so on.
Cross contamination – raw chicken juices on hands transfered to handle of frying pan, spatula handle, nob of oven/ hob, cupboard door handle, taps, handle of knife, sideboard, spices jar and other things. Thats just from hands alone. So I often wash my hands while handling chicken.
The French have a penchant for cock. I always wash my hands after handling mine.
Oh van
Cook your chicken , it’s that simple
have your say