Regional
DIABETES CRISIS
Deputy Minister for Public Health Minister Rennier Gadabu says diabetes is a national crisis in the country.
The government paper reported Rennier Gadabu attended the World Diabetes Day earlier this month.
Gadabu said diabetes weakens Nauru's workforce and drains its health...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Pew Charitable Trust believes the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) needs to do more on port side measures in order to reduce illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
And getting transshipment in the high seas management also needs urgent...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Samoa's Prime Minister La'aulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Schmidt, has banned the country's only daily newspaper, the Samoa Observer, from all ministerial press conferences.
The move has raised serious concerns among industry stakeholders about media freedom as he...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Next week, legal experts from U.S. Territories will come together for a virtual panel hosted by Right to Democracy to discuss the recent statement by Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas that the Territories Clause, “rightly understood,” does not “...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Samoa Prime Minister La'aulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt has returned home after an eight-week absence for medical treatment in New Zealand.
La'aulialemalietoa departed Apia for Auckland on a private jet just days after being sworn in as Samoa's eighth prime minister on...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Samoa Ministry of Health has issued new travel advisories for all travelers entering Samoa, effective from the 3rd of this month requiring all travelers from infants aged 12 months and above, to have received at least one dose of a measles-containing vaccine at least...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A Samoa woman in her late 20s freed herself after she says she was kidnapped, assaulted, and tied to an iron pole.
After members of her husband’s family, who were her alleged captors fell asleep, she managed to escape.
She reportedly then fled to a nearby household whose...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — American sailors and personnel from nine other nations recently wrapped up a two-week exercise in the South Pacific island nation of Samoa as part of an annual U.S. Navy humanitarian mission. The sailors, along with personnel from Samoa, Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Child and adolescent obesity is soaring in Polynesia and there is no quick fix, according to an eminent Pacific health leader.
The most obese 5-19-year-olds globally live in three Pacific Island nations, a UNICEF report found.
The report, Feeding Profit: How Food...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A Samoan caregiver is using social media to highlight the realities of caring for someone with dementia.
Sapini Unoi and his mother Mutalau have gained thousands of followers on their TikTok account.
Unoi describes their online platform as his "love letter to Mum",...

![Choose healthier meals, reduce sugar intake and stay active to help reduce diabetes. [photo supplied] Reduce sugar intake and stay active](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/healthy_eating.jpeg?itok=Ly_ykqau)
![The Pew Charitable Trust believes the Pacific Tuna Commission needs to do more on port side measures in order to reduce illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in the region. [Photo: Facebook/PNA Tuna] unregulated fishing](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/unregulated_fishing.jpeg?itok=JPZwCC_D)


![Samoan Prime Minister La'aulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt. [Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii] La'aulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmid](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/samoapm_schmidt_copy.jpg?itok=0cyeOY5p)


![Samoa first responders pull simulated casualties out of the water during a disaster-relief exercise in the island nation in late October 2025. The training was part of the annual U.S. Navy-led Pacific Partnership humanitarian mission. [Dana Millington/Australian Defense Department] first responders](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/samoa_first_responders.jpg?itok=IYobcbnB)
![Sir Collin said "we don't seem to have found any way of curbing the rapid rise in overweight and obesity in children and young people.” According to the UNICEF report, the most obese 5-19-year-olds globally live in three Pacific Island nations — with Niue that has a population of 1600 — tops the lot, with nearly 40 percent of children and youth being obese. [Photo: RNZI/Sally Round] We don't seem to have found any way of curbing the rapid rise in overweight and obesity in Pacific children](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/2095_copy.jpg?itok=ChDXA1O2)
![Sapini Unoi and his mother Mutalau have gained thousands of followers on their TikTok account. [Photo: Marika Khabazi] Sapini Unoi and his mother Mutalau](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/6789_jpg_copy.jpg?itok=4OdL-M5S)