PACIFIC NEWS BRIEFS
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — As the demand for electric car batteries and smartphones grows, mining companies are turning their attention to the deep sea, where precious metals such as nickel and cobalt can be found in potato-size nodules sitting on the ocean floor.
Beneath the Pacific Ocean...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A deep sea mining company leading the charge for the budding future industry is being accused by environmental groups of changing its corporate branding from fueling the green transition to supporting security and defense.
However, The Metals Company (TMC) said the...
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...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Trump administration's decision to eliminate more than 90 percent of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) funding means "nothing's safe right now," a regional political expert says.
President Donald Trump's government has said it is slashing around US$...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Every year 10 Samoan women are diagnosed with cervical cancer, a disease which leads to death if detected late and can be prevented through vaccination.
The ministry is working on a new vaccination program.
Cervical cancer is currently the sixth most common form of...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Nevada National Guard was in Samoa for four days marking the first United States engagement after US President Donald Trump announced aid cuts.
They visited Samoa from February 17-21, 2025 to continue its ongoing collaboration with the Samoa Fire and Emergency...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — More than a dozen civil society groups are calling on Pacific governments to completely ban deep seabed mining (DSM) as regional leaders meet in Suva for a high-level meeting on deep-sea minerals on Friday.
Seabed mining is one of the most divisive regional issues, with...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Fiji's police chief says investigations are underway into allegations against his officers in the tourist town of Nadi — where they allegedly dumped a man's body after he died in custody.
The victim, Richard Mock, 35, a hotel worker, was found on a vacant lot in Nadi....
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Two former officials of Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s administration will plead guilty in federal court for conspiracy around the secret retirement payout to former police chief Louis Kealoha.
Former top city lawyer Donna Leong, former police commission chair Max Sword...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The director of an Arizona burn center says its six patients injured in the Hawai'i New Years Eve fireworks explosion remain intubated and sedated but that's not unusual in these kinds of cases.
Hawaii News Now reported six patients had been airlifted to the center with...