The King sipped a ceremonial drink and was presented with a pig for feasting during a first day of events in Samoa.
The “dressed-down” monarch had a garland of dried fruit placed around his neck and was later honoured with a new title.
Despite the rain, he was in good spirits and clutched a bamboo-handled umbrella as he met locals.
The 75-year-old took part in a traditional ‘ava ceremony, with the drink prepared by the daughter of Samoa‘s head of state.
As is custom, the King poured a few drops away before drinking deeply from a cup made of coconut shell.
He was wearing a short-sleeved white “Royal Navy”-style bush jacket and trousers he designed himself.
The jacket, similar to an elei, a short-sleeved shirt worn by Samoan men, was made by Anderson & Shepperd and featured fabric trim by the Samoan School of Arts.
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The ceremony took place at the Pacific island’s national university in a falesamoa, a large open-air covered hall made from timber.
A garland of dried fruit from the pandanus tree was put around the King’s neck at the end of the ritual, while the Queen was given a floral arrangement.
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They were also given a selection of gifts, including a pig carcass for feasting.
The ceremony was watched by village elders and dignitaries including Samoan Prime Afioga Fiame Naomi Mata’afa and Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
Later, the chief of Moata’a village urged the monarch to “take a small part of Samoa away” as he made him Tui Taumeasina or King of Taumeasina.
“Once he has the title of Tui-Taumeasina we also become part of him and he will be connected to our people and our lands forever,” said Tofaeono Lupati Fuatai.
A day drenched with the best of Samoa
For the King and Queen, it’s been a day of culture, customs and conversations. A big celebration of this small island nation.
Samoa likes to call itself the “Land of Kings” and for a visiting King, they laid on the most revered of rituals, a huge ‘ava ceremony.
With grand ceremony the ground roots of a native plant are ground, prepared and served up to honoured guests. The King took a sip of what is a sacred drink.
This was the biggest ‘ava ceremony they’ve held here for over 30 years. He’d lost the formal suit for the day, wearing a bush jacket trimmed with traditional Samoan print.
In fact, his whole entourage were dressing for the occasion. Palace aides and the royal protection officers usually in suits, all sporting coloured Samoan shirts.
The rain didn’t stop, but this was a day drenched with the best of Samoa.
Hosting the Commonwealth summit has also given the country a platform to highlight the plights of Pacific islands, and to that the King saw restored mangroves. They are a vital habitat, protecting the coastline and coral from pollution and flooding.
The King and Queen have met the people, next it is the turn of the politicians and the opening of CHOGM.
The chief also praised the King for his efforts highlighting climate change, of which Samoa is particularly vulnerable to through events such as cyclones, flooding and storm surges.
“The King is the perfect advocate for us as a nation,” he said.
“Climate change is real, it is now and we must urge the world to acknowledge how perilous it is for nations such as ours.”
“I’ve talked to a lot of our Commonwealth colleagues in the Commonwealth family and they’re facing real challenges on things like climate in the here and now,” he told reporters on the plane.
“That’s where I’m going to put my focus,” he added. “Rather than what will end up being very long, endless discussions about reparations on the past.”
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Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
Britain’s gas storage levels are “concerningly low” with less than a week of demand in store, the operator of the country’s largest gas storage site said on Friday.
Plunging temperatures and high demand for gas-fired power stations are the main factors behind the low levels, Centrica said.
The UK is heavily reliant on gas for its home heating and also uses a significant amount for electricity generation.
As of the 9th of January 2025, UK storage sites are 26% lower than last year’s inventory at the same time, leaving them around half full,” Centrica said.
“This means the UK has less than a week of gas demand in store.”
The firm’s Rough gas storage site, a depleted field off England’s east coast, makes up around half of the country’s gas storage capacity.
Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
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The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.