King George Tupou V of Tonga was widely seen as a reformer who gave up most of his powers in order to usher in a more democratic era to the small South Pacific kingdom of 176 islands with a population of just over 105,000. Seen as an eccentric by many, Tupou loved Savile Row suits and military uniforms, and had a penchant for the dress of Lord Chelmsford's army in the Anglo-Zulu campaign, with spats, pith helmet and brass. He commanded the Tongan Defence Services, which saw service in Iraq and are now in Afghanistan.

Tonga's King George Tupou V, who gave up most of his powers to bring a more democratic government to his Pacific island nation, has died at a Hong Kong hospital.

The former St Helens coach Daniel Anderson has ruled himself out of a return to the club and backed the team to turn their season round under Royce Simmons.

I went to a surprise party last weekend. The difference between a surprise party and a normal party is that, while you walk into the latter expecting to be greeted, welcomed and put at ease, at a surprise party, you're instantly chafed into doing some irksome task without anyone even saying hello, and instead of busying themselves pouring you a glass of wine, your host is frantically trying to pin up balloons in a position not immediately visible from the front door.

Kateri Tekakwitha, a 17th-century Mohawk Indian woman who died aged 24, after professing her vows of virginity, is to be the first Native American saint. She is among seven canonisations set for October, the Vatican said yesterday.

Security personnel tend not to challenge the public to sneak unnoticed into buildings they're guarding, preferring to give the impression that the entrances are impregnable and they themselves are invincible. But the "keep out or else" approach doesn't work online, where cyber attacks are rampant and the task of thwarting them is too colossal for stretched IT departments.

The shift to a new time zone means that Samoans will never see Friday, 30 December – and they're not happy about it

While living in Samoa, the 19th-century Scottish novelist experienced a 'double day' when the nation hopped over the date line. Tomorrow, it moves back again. Kathy Marks explores

When police in the small Utah state town of Roosevelt saw a Maori haka being performed after a high school game of American football, they thought a riot was breaking out and used pepper spray and batons on the spectators involved. An investigation by police in Roosevelt, 140 miles east of Salt Lake City, has cleared the officers of wrongdoing "because they feared a riot".

Enlightened, an HBO drama about a midlife crisis, began with the rich but slightly shameful pleasure of someone else's nervous breakdown. Amy, a mid-ranking executive at an American conglomerate, has reacted badly to the discovery that she's been sidelined in a jobs shuffle, her chagrin increased by the fact that she's been having an office affair with the shuffler. We found her first hunched in the lavatory, a mud-slide of mascara running down her face. Things escalated, despite the pleading intervention of her PA. She shrieked at her "back-stabbing" colleagues and ended by prising apart the elevator doors as her lover and boss attempted a getaway with a group of startled-looking clients. Given the mood of the moment, it's hard to believe that her cathartic explosion of rage wouldn't stir a sympathetic echo in quite a few viewers' hearts. She might have burnt her boats but the blaze is spectacular, and she's said nothing that isn't true.

You only have to watch Edison de Paula carve his way across one of the spectacular waves that wallop Oahu's shore to realise surfing isn't a laid-back sport. When the swells hit 30 feet, one wrong move can send you to a watery grave. At Pipeline, a break famous for its perfect "tubes," there have been 70 deaths since the 1960s. At nearby Sunset Beach, a man went missing, presumed dead, only last week.

Tensions between Hawaiian surfers and energetic newcomers from South America have reached boiling point on Oahu's famous beaches

The manager of Samoa's rugby team has reportedly been fined 100 pigs for disgracing his village and discrediting his chiefly title at the World Cup last month.

A small army of British writers has crossed the channel to document colourful quests - finding love, finding themselves or living the good life in bucolic France.