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Auckland, NEW ZEALAND — When the Pacific looks back on the year 2022, the Tongan volcano eruption and COVID-19 will stand out.
But there was a lot more going on across the Blue Continent — including climate discussions and political uncertainty.
Here’s a look back in the rear-view mirror.
TONGA'S...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — It feels like we’ve been running a marathon and can’t find the finish line. Drug busts, domestic abuse and even campaign shenanigans paled in significance up side the all-consuming news story of 2020. In American Samoa and across the world — the pandemic — is the story...

![Steam and gas rise from the Hunga Ha'apai volcano in Tonga. [photo: Mary Lyn Fonua / AFP via RNZ Pacific] Hunga Ha'apai volcano](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/hunga_haapai_volcano.jpg?itok=DSwjQjdx)
![A crowd of people seen standing in line outside of the Territorial Bank of American Samoa (TBAS) waiting for the bank to open so they could cash their stimulus checks on Saturday, May 23, 2020. [photo AF] A crowd of people seen standing in line outside of the Territorial Bank of American Samoa (TBAS) waiting for the bank to open so they could cash their stimulus checks](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/line_of_check_cashers_for_stiumlus_0.jpg?itok=J_Oag5S6)