Local News
August 21, 2026
Washington, D.C. — Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata’s District Office staff, led by her District Director, Dr. Uta Laloulu Tagoilelagi, met earlier this month with officials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), to discuss Medicaid services, travel, needs and priorities.
“In...
August 10, 2026
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Concerns raised by House Representatives (faipule) about restaurants and businesses reopening after repeated health‑safety violations backfired on the Fono when a senior Department of Health (DOH) official revealed that most of these re-openings were ordered by senators...
August 3, 2026
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The future of American Samoa's fisheries depends on informed community voices.
The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council will hold two public meetings to discuss the Large Vessel Prohibited Area, or LVPA, and hear directly from fishermen, families and...
July 27, 2026
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The appointment of Roy J. D. Hall Jr. as Administrative Law Judge has been formally submitted to the Senate for a confirmation hearing set to take place today, Monday, July 27, 2026. This step in the appointment process comes after Governor Pulaalii Nikolao Pula selected...
July 1, 2026
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Nu‘uuli’s Manulele Tausala Lowrider II extended its dominant run in Heat 1 of the 2026 July 4th Fautasi Regatta yesterday morning, securing its third straight victory in as many appearances on Pago Pago Harbor — a remarkable winning streak that now stands at three‑for‑...
June 30, 2026
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The 2026 July 4th Fautasi Regatta, which was scheduled to launch the territory’s commemoration of the nation’s 250th Independence Anniversary, was called off yesterday after persistent windy conditions, rising swells, and a steady drizzle made the course unsafe for...
June 26, 2026
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Community members were invited to attend Mo Lo Tatou Lumana'i: Stand with the Moana, a community ocean forum and solidarity gathering scheduled for June 19 at the Multipurpose Center (MPC) from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Organized by Finafinau, the event was developed in...
May 7, 2026
Washington, D.C. — Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata released the following statement in honor and observance of the 75th National Day of Prayer:
“The National Day of Prayer is a meaningful continuous 75-year tradition, with instances of proclaimed days of prayer before that. This year’s theme is ...
March 9, 2026
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Flags of the United States and American Samoa are now being flown at half-staff as the territory mourns the passing of former Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga, and recognizes his lifetime of dedicated service to the people of American Samoa. He passed away in Honolulu early...
November 14, 2025
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The long-awaited sports facilities at Onesosopo Park were finally given the green light on Wednesday morning, marked by a groundbreaking ceremony that signaled the start of construction on a new football field, sports complex, and modern playground facilities, some of...
Linking Samoans
May 20, 2025
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The First Nations of Lutruwita Tasmania, Performing Lines Tasmania, in association with Ten Days on the Island Arts Festival, opened the SA/MOA (sacred/centre) Exhibition this year, where siapo mamanu made by local artists Su’a Uilisone Fitiao and Reggie Meredith Fitiao...
July 5, 2024
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Eight fautasi long boats took to the sea for the second time this year yesterday for the Bluesky 25th Anniversary 4th of July Regatta. The race was not a smooth-glass ride for the captains and crews, with at least one fautasi out of the race before it was even held, and...
December 31, 2023
Auckland, NEW ZEALAND — New Zealand and Australia have begun welcoming in 2024 as the world starts to celebrate the New Year.
Thousands gathered at the Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand, to ring in 2024, the first major city in the world to celebrate the new year at 11am GMT.
At around 1pm GMT,...
November 23, 2023
Samoa News would like to take this time to thank everyone in the Community for your continued support during this special holiday — Thanksgiving.
It is a time of giving thanks and appreciating all that each of us bring to this life, a joyful kindness that sometimes is forgotten in our rush to...
April 17, 2023
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Flag Day, April 17, 2023 activities at the Veterans Memorial Stadium. Three traditional performances are set for the celebration starting with the Dioceses of Samoa Pago Pago, followed by the Methodist Synod of American Samoa and at 1p.m. is the performance by the...
March 22, 2023
Auckland, NEW ZEALAND — Acclaimed New Zealand-Samoan film director Damon Fepulea'i makes his feature film debut this week with the premiere of Pasifika themed comedy Red, White and Brass.
The film premiered Tuesday night at the Wellington's Embassy Theatre and will make its first Auckland...
February 14, 2023
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Samoa has all the makings of a dream romantic escape, which makes the islands a top choice for weddings, honeymooners, and couples looking for a special way to rekindle the flame, celebrate, or spend quality time.
The Samoa Tourism Authority says, imagine spending a few...
February 13, 2023
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Gov. Lemanu P.S Mauga and First Lady Ella, led the ASG delegation — including some cabinet members and others — who were hosted by attorney Michael F. Williams of the Washington D.C. based law firm of Kirkland & Ellis LLP at Williams’ home in Alexandria, Virginia on...
Sports
May 12, 2025
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Kanana Fou Stallions center midfielder Malachi Singh in action against the Nu'uuli VocTech Wildcats on the opening day of the 2025 High School Boys Soccer League at the ASFF fields in Pago Pago. Singh is one of four players from the South Pacific Academy (...
April 8, 2025
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The American Samoa Boxing Association (ASBA) is experiencing a dynamic resurgence as the sport captures the enthusiasm of an unprecedented number of young athletes across the Territory. With a surge of renewed interest energizing its progress, the American Samoa Boxing...
May 16, 2024
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Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The journey of a hundred miles starts with the first step, as the saying goes.
The same can be said of the Football Federation of American Samoa’s (FFAS) long awaited and much anticipated facilities which include an artificial turf soccer pitch built to...
March 28, 2024
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The first leg of the American Samoa Rugby Union (ASRU) McConnell Dowell 7s Tournament kicked off last Saturday at the Kanana Fou field, to determine the four local teams that will compete in the upcoming 5th Cocoa Cola Marist Pago Flag Day International Rugby Sevens...
December 19, 2023
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — In an unprecedented gathering of talent and community spirit, hundreds of girls aged 7-18 in American Samoa experienced a day they'll never forget. On Saturday, the GFX Grow the Game Softball Camp, organized by the Community Empowerment Organization, the AIGA Foundation...
December 2, 2023
Honiara, SOLOMON ISLANDS — The theme of the 2023 Pacific Games, “Challenge, Celebrate, Unite” has manifested itself in Team American Samoa’s athletics squad with the appointment of Papua New Guinea sprinting legend, Peter Pulu as national athletics coach.
When it comes to athletics in PNG, everyone...
November 25, 2023
Honiara, SOLOMON ISLANDS — The American Samoa national women’s volleyball team narrowly missed out on the bronze medal of the 2023 Pacific Games volleyball competition, going down 3-1 to a fired-up Fiji team.
After a dismal performance the night before against New Caledonia, American Samoa came...
November 24, 2023
Honiara, SOLOMON ISLANDS - While American Samoa’s national men’s volleyball team is now out of medal contention, the women’s team has one last chance to grab the bronze medal, after missing out on the opportunity to play for gold and silver.
This was because they suffered a total shut out at the...
November 22, 2023
Honiara, SOLOMON ISLANDS — Day 3 of the 2023 Pacific Games was a good day for Team American Samoa’s men’s and women’s volleyball teams.
Especially for the men’s team which suffered three consecutive losses at the hands of Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Tahiti respectively.
For the women’s team, they...
July 26, 2023
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Last Saturday saw the culmination of the two-week American Samoa Rugby Union (ASRU) Summer Seven-a-Side Tournament for local rugby clubs in which the Avele College Old Pupils Association (ACOPA) of American Samoa emerged victorious despite narrowly losing 22-17 to a...
July 19, 2023
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — American Samoa placed 2nd in the 12 and Under Girls at the 2023 Pacific Oceania Junior Tennis Championships in Fiji, according to an American Samoa Tennis Association spokesperson.
Ula Amoa won her singles match 6-1, 6-3, 6-0. Joelei Ioane faced Fiji’s #1 seed and lost 4...
July 3, 2023
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Local high school football players and their coaches received intensive top notch instruction in a one-day football camp last Saturday facilitated by the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame (PFHOF), the Hawaii-based non-profit organization established in 2013, to honor...
April 19, 2023
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The victory ride after the win is brought home to Ituau Malosi – Manulele Tausala crew enjoying the moment after crossing the finish line as this year’s Flag Day Fautasi Champions.
The rivalry between two champions — Manulele Tausala and Paepaeulupo’o — created a classic...
April 14, 2023
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The highly anticipated 2023 Flag Day Tu’uga Va’a — fautasi race — is happening on Saturday, April 15 — barring bad weather.
This year’s Fautasi Fiva is sponsored by Paramount Builders — the local company that also happens to be the major supporter for this year’s Flag...
April 13, 2023
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The highly anticipated 2023 Flag Day Tu’uga Va’a — fautasi race — is happening on Saturday, April 15.
This year’s Fautasi Fiva is sponsored by Paramount Builders — the local company that also happens to be the major supporter for this year’s Flag Day Fautasi Regatta....
April 12, 2023
Pago Page, AMERICAN SAMOA — As the Flag Day festivities are fast approaching, so is the anticipation of the tu’uga va’a — the fautasi race — on Saturday, April 15, 2023.
This year’s Fautasi Fiva is sponsored by Paramount Builders — the local company also happens to be the major supporter for this...
Features
May 7, 2025
The Department of Public Safety is requesting the assistance of the community in locating 17-year old Ophillyah Sami, a senior at Samoana High School. She was last observed wearing her school uniform on the morning of April 28, 2025, when she was dropped off at school. If you have any knowledge...
April 14, 2025
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The highly anticipated fautasi from the village of Alao, often described as the "new kid on the block" and a standout member of the newest generation of cutting-edge, state-of-the-art fautasi, was officially christened and launched for its maiden voyage last Friday.
The...
September 12, 2024
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — While you might think of Spam as a basic canned meat, it’s actually one of the greatest business success stories of all time: Since Hormel Foods Corporation launched the affordable, canned pork product in 1937, it’s sold over eight billion cans in 44 countries around the...
April 24, 2024
Boston, MA — The U.S. government moved closer to banning the video social media app TikTok after the House of Representatives attached the measure to an emergency spending bill on Apr. 17, 2024. The House voted on each of the four components of the bill, and the one affecting TikTok passed 360-58...
February 14, 2024
Boston, MASS. — As poets have demonstrated for centuries, a sonnet for your beloved never goes out of style. The gift of verse may carry extra cachet this Valentine’s Day, on the heels of Taylor Swift’s announcement that her next album is poetry-themed.
But in carrying out my research on...
January 14, 2024
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Gov. Lemanu P.S. Mauga in a memorandum issued earlier this week wrote that Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024, will be observed as a holiday in American Samoa.
“All government offices will be closed and normal activities will be suspended on that day.
“...
September 23, 2023
Ropati Opa sat in the shade on the side of the road beside a carpet of tropical greenery with a massive, fringing coral reef sitting just offshore.
He is the mayor of Leone, a seaside village on American Samoa, an island in the South Pacific between Hawaii and New Zealand. As such, it’s his...
August 8, 2023
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Miss Sei Pageant took place last Saturday at the Gov. H. Rex Lee Auditorium, in Utulei. Five contestants vied for the crown, with Miss Bayka Autumn Taumaoe of Nu’uuli, a Tafuna High School class of 2023 graduate and currently a student at ASCC winning the title.
SEI...
July 21, 2023
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Two of the four Faasao High School alumni pictured offer their thoughts about being educated at the Catholic high school, which is celebrating its 50th Anniversary in the Territory in a 5-day commemoration filled with ‘reflection’ activity, such as a parade, fun...
July 14, 2023
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Punavaiola Va'atausili Tupuola Tanielu Utumapu of Ofu and Olosega, Manu'atele accepted her first stipend of $750 from the American Samoa Community Cancer Coalition in December of 2021, prior to leaving for cancer treatment off island. She was diagnosed with Endometrial...
April 28, 2023
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Tonight and tomorrow night, American Samoa Community College’s club, House of Flying Daggers, will be showcasing their own musical production of the well-beloved movie, Grease.
Before "Grease" became a movie-musical sensation in the late 1970s, it was a Tony-nominated...
April 7, 2023
Worcester, MASS — Churches around the world will be holding services for their three most important days during this Holy Week: Holy Thursday, sometimes called Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
Easter commemorates Christ’s resurrection from the dead, the fundamental belief of...
March 24, 2023
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is raising urgent concerns about President Biden’s initiation of an enormous new National Marine Sanctuary (NMS) for 777,000 square miles around the Pacific Remote Islands. She questions why the administration made no effort to discuss this issue...
March 18, 2023
Nashville, TENNESSEE — Tennessee recently passed legislation that bans drag from being performed in public spaces, as well as in the view of children. Although Tennessee is the first state to enact such a ban, it is unlikely to be the last, as others with conservative legislatures are currently...
February 20, 2023
Richmond, VA — Every American president has landed in the history books. And historians’ assessments of their performance have been generally consistent over time. But some presidents’ rankings have changed as the nation – and historians themselves – reassessed the country’s values and priorities....
Regional
May 6, 2025
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — New Zealand women and South Africa men were crowned HSBC SVNS 2025 champions after securing stirring victories at the HSBC SVNS World Championship in Los Angeles.
South Africa claimed their fifth men’s Series title, and first since 2021 by beating a valiant Spanish side...
April 29, 2025
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA —American Samoans in Alaska are being criminally targeted based on confusion related to Alaska’s election administration system and because they are labeled so-called “non-citizen” U.S. Nationals by the federal government. On Friday, May 2nd, ten American Samoans will be...
March 4, 2025
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — This past Thursday University of Hawaii President Wendy Hensel announced that the UH Foundation is working to raise funding for graduate students amid the Trump administration’s recent federal fund freeze.
The UH foundation launched its Graduate Student Success Fund as a...
November 29, 2024
Apia SAMOA — In Samoa families are increasingly choosing to send patients to India or Fiji rather than New Zealand to avoid high medical expenses.
I presented and compared the costs of New Zealand and India and for example, a cardiac lesion, it would cost only US$7000 in India, but I think it's...
February 6, 2024
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Rainbands from Tropical Depression 98P (now called TC 11P) associated with the South Pacific Convergence Zone is moving northeast of the Manu'a Island group. Damaging winds and flooding are possible for the Islands, mainly over Manu'a and Rose Atoll, while Tropical...
December 25, 2023
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Celebrating the birth of Jesus, the prince of peace, should mean making a commitment to opposing all war, to cherishing human life, feeding the hungry and speaking up for those who have no voice, Pope Francis said.
"To say 'yes' to the Prince of Peace, then, means saying 'no'...
June 6, 2023
Nuku'alofa, TONGA — One of Tonga's most celebrated royals, the late Princess Mele Siu'ilikutapu, has been laid to rest in Nuku'alofa.
The coffin of the late Princess was lowered in the royal tombs of Mala'ekula near the Royal Palace of Tonga on Saturday morning, June 3rd.
Her flag-draped coffin was...
April 24, 2023
Auckland, NEW ZEALAND — Bishop Peter Brown Archdiocese Samoa Pago Pago announced with great sadness the passing of their beloved Archbishop Alapati Lui Mataeliga at 3 am Auckland time in New Zealand Tuesday morning.
“We the Bishop’s, Priests, Deacons, and Catechists and people of he Diocese of...
Associated Press
March 5, 2023
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time, United Nations members have agreed on a unified treaty to protect biodiversity in the high seas - representing a turning point for vast stretches of the planet where conservation has previously been hampered by a confusing patchwork of laws.
The U.N....
Le Lali
[ata: SN]
February 18, 2023
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E faatalofa atu i le mamalu o le tatou aufaitau nusipepa i lenei taeao fou, taeao manuia, taeao toto’a. Faamalo le onosa’i, faamalo le tauata’i. Talitonu le faamoemoe o lo o faamalieina lau faitau I lenei auaunaga vaivai. Ae ia se’e maia i ou se’etaga malu, se’i toe soso’o atu le tatou...
January 26, 2023
E faatalofa atu I le mamalu o le tatou au faitau nusipepa I lenei taeao fou. Tatou te viia faatasi le agalelei ma le alofa o le Tapaau I le Lagi ona o Lana pule faasoifua ua tatou aulia mai ai lenei aso fou I le lagi e mama ma le soifua maua.
Ae se’e maia I ou seetaga malu ma uumau lau nusipepa, o...