Archive - Jun 11, 2012 - Article (News Story)

American Samoa will be represented by five athletes in the upcoming 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, England that will be taking place from July 27 to August 12.

At an announcement last Friday afternoon, the American Samoa National Olympic Committee (ASNOC), announced the names of the athletes who will be representing the territory in the Summer Games, with three of the five being present at the announcement.

Among the 35 prisoners given amnesty as part of Samoa’s 50th Independence celebration, was former Cabinet Minister, Leafa Vitale, who was jailed for murder.

The Samoa Observer reports that during the official ceremony last Friday, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Lupesoliai Malielegaoi warned Government, Church and Village leaders that no one is above the law.

“It doesn’t matter who it is, even leaders of countries, if you break the law you must be prepared to face the consequences.”

The Criminal Investigation Division with the Department of Public Safety is investigating the death of a 56-year old Chinese man in Satala over the weekend.

The Commander of the CID Captain Lavata’i Ta’ase Sagapolutele confirmed with Samoa News that they are investigating the death and are treating it as a homicide, unless it’s proven otherwise.

The CID Commander declined to give further details surrounding the investigation.

“Men who are occupied in the restoration of health to other men, by the joint exertion of skill and humanity, are above all, the great of the earth."

So said Voltaire, a philosopher of another continent, another era.

Living — and thriving — today in Tutuila is an infant girl, born very ill, whose parents would agree with that assessment from another time and place, when the practice of medicine did not have the advantages (or the complications) that it has in our day.

Back in the good 'ol days (better in retrospect?) our Toa Samoa warriors used to bring back those wonderful heavy Seiko self wind dive watches from their tour of duty in Vietnam. They would pick them up for $35-$50 in Hong Kong and bring them back to the islands.

Governor Togiola Tulafono used his radio program to thank A’asu village and the  Alataua county for an outstanding performance at the celebration of Samoa’s 50years of independence, commending the villages for the traditional presentations of sua (ta’alolo), as American Samoa’s gifts for Samoa.

The gifts included a tanoa (kava bowl) and $10,000 USD. He added the tanoa was made specifically for this important event, which was created out of a tree found in Vatia.  

FATHER PLEADS GUILTY IN CONNECTION WITH ASSAULTING DAUGHTER

A man charged by the government on allegations that he threatened his daughter with a knife and then at gunpoint will be sentenced on July 27 after he entered a guilty plea before the High Court last week.  

Samoa News is withholding the name of the defendant to protect the identity of the victim.

A 57-year-old man in Samoa who was found guilty of incest has been ordered by the Court of Appeal to be jailed for 12 months, reversing a Supreme Court ruling that had imposed a fine of 5,000 US dollars.

The Supreme Court had also ruled that half the fine be paid to the defendant’s 36-year-old daughter, who had also been jailed on incest charges.

However the Court of Appeal has set aside the fine paid to the victim and ordered she be released from jail after serving eight months of her three year sentence.

The Court of Appeal says it took account of several factors.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans are calling it "Taxmageddon," the big tax increase awaiting nearly every American family at the end of the year, when a long list of tax cuts is scheduled to expire unless Congress acts.

It would be, GOP leaders in Congress say again and again, "the largest tax increase in American history."

CAIRO (AP) -- Doctors used a defibrillator twice on Hosni Mubarak when they could not find a pulse Monday, the latest health crisis for the ousted Egyptian president since he was sentenced to life and moved to a prison hospital nine days ago, security officials said.