Archive - Jun 18, 2012 - Article (News Story)

Gov. Togiola Tulafono says StarKist Samoa has not only increased production it has also increased the company’s local workforce, which means more financial support for families in American Samoa, boosting the local economy.

The Pittsburgh-based StarKist Company first announced in May of 2010 plans to lay off between 600 to 800 workers at its plant in American Samoa citing, among other things, increased global competition and rising cost of operations.

U.S. prosecutors have recommended that Mine S. Pase be given a sentence of 27 months imprisonment and ordered to pay $325,408 in restitution when she is sentenced tomorrow at the federal court in Washington D.C.

Salu & Savusa: “Now is the time for women to arise”

by Joyetter Feagaimaali’i-Luamanu

“We are Women of Now, time for the women to arise”.

This was the statement rendered by Mata’afa Naomi Fiame, Minister of Justice and Courts Administration, Electoral Commission and Film Censorship, who gave the keynote address for Team Salu & Savusa’s women’s prayer breakfast over the weekend.

Samoa Police for the first time set foot in the village of Faleatiu, following a police raid last month that turned deadly, claiming the life of a Faleatiu man and leaving three police officers severely injured.

Last week Friday, Samoa police officers led by Assistant Police Commissioner Leaupepe Fatu Pula, met with the family of Tagaloasa Filipaina, a convicted drug offender, who’s at the center of an investigation on allegations of illegal drug possession.

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa —The American Samoa Territorial Office of Fiscal Reform (TOFR) has recently been informed by the US DHS Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that the American Samoa Government will receive over $800,000 in federal funding for the Matu’u Stream Project. The project will address mitigation of the Afuelo Stream to help reduce any damages to Public & Private Property, and to prevent the risk of loss of life.

Seven Polynesian voyaging canoes sailed across the Pacific beginning last year, and their voyages continue as part of a historical education and environmental project called “Te Mana O Te Moana”. The voyage name, which translates to ‘The Spirit of the Sea’ was begun to raise awareness about the state of the ocean and revisit the wisdom of the Polynesian ancestors who loved and respected the sea.

The Chief Executive Officer of the company behind the 600 acre land acquisition at Sasina, Savaii, is adamant that they had no inkling the government was planning to introduce casinos in Samoa when they started looking into their project.

In response to questions emailed to him by the Samoa Observer, Tupai Sina Jesse James, CEO of South Pacific Development Group, said: “No, we did not know.” “We started this project five years ago, long before the government gave any consideration to the Casino and Gaming Act.”

LBJ Medical Center chief executive officer Mike Gerstenberger and the board chairman Moananu Va in the public hearing for hospital fee hikes, two Fridays ago (June 8), reiterated management’s reasons for the hikes, to an audience sparsely attended by the public.

The public hearing held at the LBJ chapel opened with LBJ board chairman Moananu Va informing the gathering that only 13 members of the public showed up, although some 30 plus people had requested such a hearing. 

CAIRO (AP) -- Islamist candidate Mohammed Morsi claimed a hollow victory Monday in Egypt's presidential vote just hours after the country's military rulers stripped the office of its most important powers.

The power grab by the ruling generals delivered another major blow to hopes for a democratic transition born out of last year's uprising that ousted authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- An archaeologist says he found the oldest piece of rock art in Australia and one of the oldest in the world: an Aboriginal work created 28,000 years ago in an Outback cave.

The dating of one of the thousands of images in the Northern Territory rock shelter known as Nawarla Gabarnmang will be published in the next edition of the Journal of Archaeological Science.