Regional
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — All baseball competition matches at the 2025 Pacific Mini Games in Palau in the last two days have been put on hold because the Nippon Baseball Stadium field has been "washed out".
Baseball competition director Reagan Sidoi told RNZ Pacific that the field cannot be...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Tinian residents of the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) have voiced urgent concerns over potential environmental and cultural damage from a major United States (US) military training plan during a series of tense public meetings last week.
At a packed...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Tahiti's Teimoana Taputu claimed the first gold medal at the 2025 Pacific Mini Games in Palau, taking out the V1 500 metres open men's final in va'a (outrigger) racing.
His win also opened the campaign for gold by the French territory, which ended day one with 18 medals...
WASHINGTON — In late March, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unveiled a sweeping restructuring plan to streamline the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and cut an estimated 10,000 full-time jobs.
This drastic policy reduces the overall...
Apia, SAMOA — Ms. Polino Falevaai from The Scientific Research Organization Of Samoa (SROS) who was attending a 10-month training on agricultural research and innovations in Israel has returned home safely on Saturday 28 June, after traveling with other Pacific Island students to Cairo to board a...
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, June 24,2025 (Gephardt Daily) — The public is invited to a memorial service for Arthur "Afa" Folasa Ah Loo, a designer, a leader in the creative Pacific Islander community, and a husband and father of two young children.
Ah Loo died from a gunshot wound on July 14 during the "...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Samoa Observer is reporting that the president of the Journalist Association of Samoa, appeared in the Samoa District Court Tuesday morning (Samoa time) to answer to defamation charges.
Lagi Keresoma, also known as Taliilagi Keresoma, was charged under Samoa's...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The governments of Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are teaming up on an ambitious plan to create a massive marine reserve covering six million square kilometers of ocean.
It's called the Melanesian Ocean Reserve, and if it goes ahead, it'll connect the waters of not just...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A spokesperson for New Zealand's minister of foreign affairs says where feasible, they may assist Pacific Islanders in the Middle East.
The Defense Force is sending a plane to the Middle East to assist any New Zealanders stranded in Iran or Israel.
A spokesperson for...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A UNICEF survey shows that 91 per cent of children in Samoa have experienced violent discipline.
The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey showed a staggering number of Pacific children, some as young as five, experience abuse, neglect, and mental health challenges both in...

![Medallists in women's 100m butterfly: Paige Schendelaar-Kemp (Samoa), Deotille Videau (Tahiti) and Mia Tracey Anne Laban (Cook Islands). [Photo: Palau 2025 Pacific Mini Games/Facebook] WOMEN MEDALISTS](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/samoa-womens-4x-50m-medley-relay.jpg?itok=5p4CTB-7)
![Tinian mayor Edwin Aldan warns that military activities could devastate ecosystems already threatened by climate change. [photo: Supplied] MILITARY EXPANSION](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/us_military_expansion.jpeg?itok=hB2TDkm_)



![The late Arthur "Afa" Folasa Ah Loo with his family. [photo from GoFundMe] Arthur Folasa Ah Loo and family](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/ah_loo_family.jpg?itok=dYgfW4MD)

![While it's not officially in place yet, once it's up and running, it'll be one of the biggest protected ocean areas in the Pacific. [courtesy photo] PROPOSED MARINE RESERVE](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/new_marine_reserve.jpg?itok=uF2Jr2KS)
![A C-130J Hercules at Whenuapai RNZAF base. [Photo: RNZ/Calvin Samuel] A C-130J Hercules](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/c-130j_hercules_copy.jpg?itok=tmRd9Siy)
![Children during White Sunday in 2024. A survey shows an increase in violent discipline practices. [Photo: Sialai Sarafina Sanerivi] WHITE SUNDAY CHILDREN](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/children_2024.jpeg?itok=PnvcnsXQ)