Samoa

APIA, Samoa --- Samoan Minister of Finance Faumuina Tiatia Liuga has acted illegally and the Attorney General should file charges against him.

PAGOPAGO, American Samoa ---- American Samoan Congressman Faleomavaega Eni has sought the help of the U.S Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco to intervene into the proposed withdrawal of banking services by the Bank of Hawaii (BoH), later this month.

APIA, Samoa --- Samoan police and customs are investigating who imported a consignment of over 900 cartons of whiskey which was smuggled into the country with false documents.

APIA ,Samoa ---- The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Wu Hongbo is leading a UN planning mission to Samoa to prepare for the 2014 Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States.

APIA, Samoa ---- On Thursday 4 April 2013, Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Development, and Neroni Tuiloma Slade, Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretary and Regional Authorising Officer for the European Development Fund, signed two financing agreements for a total value of €11.6 million.

At least 3000 people will be descending on Samoa’s shores next year, and the sheer number makes it the biggest ever conference that will be hosted in this country.

APIA, Samoa ---- Pacific Agriculture Ministers meet in Apia, Samoa this week to discuss a five year programme for farming and fisheries.

APIA, Samoa --- Samoa’s Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, says Pacific island countries can do more with less, by making better use of new ideas.

APIA, Samoa --- The president of the Samoa Fa’afafine Association, So’oalo Roger Stanley, says Samoa won’t adopt a law approving same-sex marriage.

APIA, Samoa --- Police in Samoa have arrested a businessman for the importation of methamphetamine after the discovery of the drugs in a large container from the United States.

APIA, Samoa ---- A direct funding agreement for over 15 million tala ($A6.75m) for post-Cylone Evan support was signed between Governments of Samoa and Australia in Apia this week.

APIA, Samoa --- Development of community-based milkfish farming in Tonga will be given a boost through a project under the FAO Technical Cooperation Programme.

Samoa has become the first Forum Island Country to ratify the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA) Trade in Services (TIS) Protocol.

NADI, Fiji ---- Investment officials sounded a bit sceptical of using social media as a promotional tool after they were given a snapshot on the final day of their Capacity Building workshop conducted by the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) and funded by the European Union.

APIA, Samoa ---Officials in a Chinese company given a casino licence in Samoa have been accused of corruption.

APIA, Samoa ---- Majority of Samoa’s ruling Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) 36-member caucus want Minister of Finance, Faumuina Tiatia Liuga, removed from Cabinet.

APIA, Samoa --- It took the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) Caucus almost three hours to come up with a 10 to 9 votes for the Minister of Finance, Faumuina Tiatia Liuga to remain in Cabinet.

APIA, Samoa --- The Australian Government will provide an estimated WST103.8 million (A$45.8 million) in official development assistance to Samoa in 2013-14. The 2013-14 budget includes WST$10.2 million to meet Australia’s commitment to support Samoa’s recovery from Cyclone Evan. Specifically, the funds will be used to help rebuild schools and ...

Like many things introduced in the islands, it was no surprise to see a big crowd in front of the Farmer Joe Supermarket in Apia, to get a “Taxi” and a free sausage sizzle, as part of a promotion to launch a new soft drink.

Samoan authorities are baffled at how a container of whisky imports was brought into the country illegally. The bottles of whisky named VAT 999 were packed in hundreds of boxes now retrieved by the Inland Revenue and Customs ministry. Not all the products were returned, some were sold when the ...

The world’s first airline to charge passengers by their weight rather than per seat says the policy has helped raise obesity awareness and improve public health.

It’s been eight months since the old Fugalei produce market had closed down. And there were plans a new premises would open in mid-year 2013. But it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen as the bidding process continues to drag on.

Capacity, Capability and Collaboration will prominently feature in this month’s Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The festive season has just taken a whole new meaning with Cyclone Evans turning everything upside down in the heart of Apia.

As more and more weather systems develop over the next few months with potential to become full-blown cyclones that can ravage vulnerable islands countries in the Pacific and do untold damage to properties and lives, the importance of disaster preparedness is as critical as ever.

The opera world is scrambling for superlatives to explain how two of the genre’s hottest young properties have come not just from the same country, but also the same family—a migrant Pacific islands family from south Auckland to be precise.

It was close to 4pm on a Tuesday afternoon. Parliament had just finished the day’s session. Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, in a grey suit and ulafala (pandanus fruit lei) walks out to the foyer of the Government Building’s fifth floor. There was hardly any space—his administration team had placed ...

“I did say once that the best business practice in sales would be to buy it when a pet is fat—not when it’s skinny and unhealthy…but this is not our pet, this is somebody else’s sickly pet and we need to make sure it’s fed well and gets fat,” says ...

The media's role is said to be to hold a mirror to the government and to society without fear or favour. But Pacific media practitioners and academics are doing a disservice to their professions and to media consumers at large as they continue blackening one other's faces putting their narrow ...

Since the history of long boat (fautasi) race in Samoa, there had never been an all-women crew competing in this tough competition.

June was a good month for birthdays in Samoa. The main event was the 50th anniversary of independence in Samoa. SPREP joined many others to congratulate the Government and people of Samoa on this wonderful achievement.

A tiny hip hop sensation with Samoan roots is capturing hearts in Australia. And soon the world would know him too.

There’s extra excitement in the air as the Samoan Government and its people get ready to host perhaps the biggest celebrations in its history through its golden jubilee year of independence.

If the mana in kava still packs a punch, it is sorely needed. The Pacific’s kava producing nations are engaged in yet another rescue mission to save once and for all the reputation of this commodity.

If Samoa was once known as the Navigator Islands, then the Gods must have blessed the island nation with very skilled and exceptional navigators that have successfully steered it through half a century of political independence.

Samoan manufacturer and exporter Eddie Wilson was an angry man when Prime Minister Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sa’ilele Malielegaoi called the private sector gutless in a gathering earlier this year.

At just six years, the late King Siaosi Taufa’ahau Manumataongo Tuku’aho Tupou V’s reign might have been one of the shortest for any Tongan monarch in recent history but the reforms he introduced would probably have the most far-reaching impact on the country’s future.

Around Sydney’s Western suburbs and the southern region of Brisbane, where Samoan communities are predominant, there’s been an increasing incidence of racial hatred-related violence, allegedly initiated by Samoans against other racial groups like the Australian Aborigines and migrant Tongans.

This has always been debated in the past decade -- while farmers cry out for more markets for their products, government insists they be mindful of what they ask for.

For centuries, Samoa has always prided herself as a country that promotes the role of women as leaders in every aspect of society

Trekking up to the summit of Mount Vaea to view the grave of Robert Louis Stevenson, travelling author Thomas H. Booth was struck by the similarity of Samoa across the ages.

Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd (CCA) expects to complete by the middle of this year any acquisition of businesses relating to the sale of its stake in the Australian-based Pacific Beverages Ltd.

Ignore the political sideshows and pre-World Cup scaremongering. The possibility of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga ever hosting a Rugby World Cup maybe slim, but New Zealand hasn’t forgotten its Pacific islands neighbours as the country counts down to hosting this year’s biggest international sporting event in September.