Regional
Apia, SAMOA — Over 300 passengers who arrived on the first Covid-19 repatriation flight from Australia Friday night are now on mandatory quarantine for 21 days. The passengers included returning Samoan scholarship students from China and Japan and Samoan nationals who were stranded in Australia due...
Sydney, NEW ZEALAND — Air New Zealand operated its first repatriation flight from Sydney, Australia to Apia, Samoa on Friday (Samoa time). Flight NZ1960 departed Sydney around 11:00am AEST. The flight is Air New Zealand’s first repatriation flight to Samoa from outside New Zealand.
Air New Zealand...
Honiara, SOLOMON ISLANDS — Solomon Islands have recorded their first case of Covid-19.
The case was a student who had been repatriated from the Philippines earlier in the week.
He tested positive upon arrival, despite passing three earlier tests before departure while awaiting his flight.
The...
Honolulu, HAWAII — The state of Hawaii's pre-travel testing program will launch on Oct. 15, allowing trans-Pacific travelers to bypass quarantine if they test negative for COVID-19 before arriving.
While the tests for travelers are slated to be available through Walgreens, CVS, Kaiser Permanente...
Apia, SAMOA — Samoa's police have launched a three month amnesty for unlicensed and illegal arms.
TV1Samoa reported Police Commissioner Fuiavailili Egon Keil indicated the amnesty also included explosives in their possession.
It was the third amnesty since Fuiavailili took command of the country's...
Kona, HAWAII — A hotel security guard brutally beaten by three people in the parking lot of a Kona hotel just over two years ago has died.
John Kanui, 65, was receiving medical treatment on the mainland for a closed traumatic brain injury and a broken neck that resulted in paralysis after he was...
Apia, SAMOA — Conditions for juveniles at Samoa's Tanumalala prison have been described as criminal by the former acting Chief justice, Vui Clarence Nelson.
Vui also said the youth looked like ''caged animals'' at the facility.
The Samoa Observer newspaper reported the criticism was contained in an...
Apia, SAMOA — The man who threw a pig’s head at Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Dr. Sa'ilele Malielegaoi, and is now accused over a plot to kill the P.M., is facing an extradition hearing in Australia.
A spokesperson for the Attorney-General's office told the Brisbane Times that the defendant, Talalelei...
Apia, SAMOA — The Vice-Chancellor of the Oceania University of Medicine in Apia has called for a ban on the advertising of sugary food and drinks in Samoa.
Manufalealili Dr Viali Lameko wrote in the latest edition of the Journal of Samoan Studies, saying the move, along with the promotion of more...
Honolulu, Hawaii — United Airlines will become the first U.S. airline to offer coronavirus testing for passengers, in time for Hawaii’s pre-travel testing program set to launch in mid-October.
Starting Oct. 15, passengers flying from San Francisco International Airport to Hawaii will be given the...