HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A 19-year-old boy from Pahoa is being hospitalized in critical condition following a two-vehicle crash on Hawaii Island on Sunday, authorities said.

The crash occurred on Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway at the intersection of Kiholo Bay in North Kona around 1 p.m.

Police said the 19-year-old driver was driving a Dodge pickup truck, attempting to make a left turn onto the highway when he was broadsided by a Ford pickup truck being driven by a 21-year-old man.

The 19-year-old was initially rushed to North Hawaii Community Hospital for treatment, but was later medevacked to the Queen’s Medical Center where he remains in critical condition.

An 18-year-old female passenger in the Dodge was also taken to the hospital for evaluation and was later released.

The 21-year-old driver and his 19-year-old female passenger were uninjured.

An investigation is ongoing.

Witnesses are urged to contact Officer Adam Roberg at (808) 326-4646, ext. 229, or via email at adam.roberg@hawaiicounty.gov.

Tipsters who wish to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at (808) 961-8300 in Hilo.

Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

By BRIAN GALLAGHER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Published: 08:15 GMT, 2 December 2024 | Updated: 08:30 GMT, 2 December 2024

Dwayne Johnson returned to his home state of Hawaii over the weekend, where he spent some time with some brave men and women of the U.S. military.

The 52-year-old actor shared photos of him interacting with servicemen and servicewomen at Pearl Harbor in Oahu over the weekend on his verified social media pages.

The outing came as his hit animated sequel Moana 2 broke box office records by becoming the biggest debut ever over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

The first photo Johnson shared on X (formerly Twitter) showed him posing with a big group of servicemen and servicewomen, many of whom were showcasing a ‘shaka’ hand signal.

The next image showed Johnson shaking hands with a female soldier named Lara while another showed him meeting another servicewoman and her family.

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The final image showed him shaking hands with a serviceman while wearing a green lei for the outing.   

Dwayne Johnson returned to his home state of Hawaii over the weekend, where he spent some time with some brave men and women of the U.S. military.

The final image showed him shaking hands with a serviceman while wearing a green lei for the outing

‘My absolute honor to once again come back to scared land, and spend time with our soldiers and their families at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam here in Oahu, Hawaii,’ Johnson began.

‘Boundlessly grateful to all our military men and women & their families for their service. A great day to look you in your eyes and shake your hands and loved all the daps, hugs, tears and selfies too,’ he added.

‘God bless you, and your families. Forever a proud patriot as our freedom is our greatest privilege,’ he concluded.

Just days earlier Johnson hit the red carpet for the Hawaiian premiere of Moana 2 before it’s massive debut at the box office.

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Moana 2 took in $135.5 million over the traditional 3-day weekend and a massive $221 million since opening on Wednesday.

The tally easily shattered the previous five-day Thanksgiving haul of $125 million set by Disney’s Frozen II.

The animated sequel opened in a strong 4,200 theaters and took in a massive $32,261 per-screen average.

It also took in an additional $165.3 million in overseas markets for a whopping global debut of $386 million.

‘My absolute honor to once again come back to scared land, and spend time with our soldiers and their families at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam here in Oahu, Hawaii,’ Johnson began.

‘God bless you, and your families. Forever a proud patriot as our freedom is our greatest privilege,’ he concluded.

Just days earlier Johnson hit the red carpet for the Hawaiian premiere of Moana 2 before it’s massive debut at the box office

That worldwide tally marks the second highest debut of 2024 behind Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine’s $438 million

That worldwide tally marks the second highest debut of 2024 behind Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine’s $438 million.

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Johnson can also be seen on the big screen in the holiday adventure Red One, starring alongside Chris Evans and J.K. Simmons.

That film hasn’t quite found the same box office success as Moana 2, taking in $148.6 million worldwide after three frames at the box office.

He’ll next be seen in The Smashing Machine and he’s currently filming the live-action version of Moana, where he returns as Maui. 

HONOLULU (AP) — On a two-day visit to Hawaii, Taiwan’s president Lai Ching-te met with the state’s governor and congressional representatives as part of a Pacific island tour that has already triggered criticism from Beijing.

On Sunday, China’s Foreign Ministry said it “strongly condemned” U.S. support for Lai’s visit and had lodged a complaint with the U.S. It also denounced a newly announced U.S. weapons sale to Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims as its own territory.

“China will closely monitor the situation’s development, and take resolute and forceful measures to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said the statement.

Hawaii was Lai’s first stop on a weeklong voyage that will later take him to the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau. They account for three of the 12 countries Taipei has formal diplomatic relations with.

Hawaii’s Gov. Josh Green on Saturday hosted Lai at the state’s emergency management agency where they discussed disaster preparedness. Green, who was a longtime emergency room physician before becoming governor, posted on social media that he and Lai discussed how their experiences in health care informed their governance. Lai is also a physician by training and obtained a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard University.

“Together, we extended a warm aloha to Lai and his delegation, highlighting Hawai’i’s shared values of resilience and collaboration with Taiwan,” Green said in an Instagram post.

Lai also visited Bishop Museum, Hawaii’s leading museum of natural history and Native Hawaiian culture.

In the evening, Lai posed for photos with Hawaii congressional representatives and state lawmakers at a dinner banquet with the Taiwanese American community.

U.S. Rep. Ed Case, a Democrat who represents Honolulu in Congress, said on social media that he told the audience that “our ties endured on shared values and interests to advance mutual goals and meet shared challenges.”

It is unclear whether Lai with meet with any senior officials from the Biden administration or anyone from the incoming Trump administration during his Hawaii stay.

President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg in July that Taiwan should pay for its defense. The island has purchased billions of dollars of defense weaponry from the U.S.

Trump evaded answering whether he would defend the island from Chinese military action.

The new arms announced by the U.S. State Department Friday include $385 million in spare parts and equipment for a fleet of F-16s, as well as support for tactical communication system to Taiwan.

The U.S. is obligated to help the island defend itself under the Taiwan Relations Act but maintains a position of strategic ambiguity over whether it would ever get involved if Taiwan were to be invaded by China.

Former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen drew vocal opposition from China when she stopped in New York last year on her way to Latin America. Tsai met with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the time.

The Chinese military also launched drills around Taiwan last year as a “stern warning” over what it called collusion between “separatists and foreign forces” days after Lai, then Taiwan’s vice president, stopped over in the U.S.

China also strongly objects to leading American politicians visiting the island as it views any official contact with foreign governments and Taiwan as an infringement on its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan. Washington switched its formal recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.