Regional
Auckland, NEW ZEALAND — A volcanologist says a new artificial intelligence (AI) volcano forecasting tool, with the potential to save lives around the world, is still some way off being rolled out in places like Tonga.
It uses data from well-monitored volcanoes and applies it to under-monitored...
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...
Washington, DC — U.S. Congressman Ed Case (HI-01) has reintroduced two measures in the 119th Congress (2025-2027) calling for moratoria on the mining of our world’s deep seabed unless and until its potentially destructive consequences are fully understood and an appropriate international protective...
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...
Apia, SAMOA — The second power loss in less than a week threw the island of Upolu into the dark on Tuesday around 8.30 pm Samoa Time.
According to the Samoa Observer, the blackout did not spare the National Hospital at Motootua with patients reportedly wandering in the dark and vehicle headlights...
Auckland, NEW ZEALAND — The New Zealand Herald is reporting more than 100kg of cocaine has been busted in a smuggler’s bags at Auckland International Airport.
Customs officers were doing routine border enforcement when they checked a number of bags arriving off a Hawaiian Airlines flight on...
Suva, Fiji — A transformative US$107 million grant has been secured by Conservation International and the Pacific Community (SPC) to support 14 Pacific Island countries to safeguard the economic and social benefits they receive from tuna against the impacts of climate change.
The historic Green...
WASHINGTON — The Department of Interior’s Interagency Group on Insular Areas, 2025 Plenary Session, led by newly confirmed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, provided a platform for territorial representatives and governors this week to address their priorities.
Concerns over supplemental security...
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...
Apia, SAMOA — A woman is fighting for her life at Samoa’s Moto’otua hospital from gunshot wounds she sustained earlier this week from a firearm alleged to have been triggered by a two-year-old.
The Samoa Observer is reporting the incident occurred in Aleisa and it has been referred to the Criminal...