Samoa

Those whose numbers have been picked are now eligible to go through the process of applying for residency.

But one of the ongoing challenges for many is securing a suitable job offer from a New Zealand employer and having enough support when they get to New Zealand.

There were 16,500 registrations by Samoan nations this year for just 1100 places.

That's an extra 2500 people on last year's figure.

Eligible citizens had to be aged between 18 and 45 to register for the ballot which many Samoans see as a chance to fast track their move to NZ.

A fire at the Tafaigata landfill, Upolu's main dumping site, has been burning since Tuesday, with thick smoke emanating from within.

The Samoa Observer reported that thick black smoke is also pouring over nearby villages, with people washing their clothes and children playing in a thick smog.

Residents told the newspaper that the fire had been burning for two days and they are yet to see the fire service respond.

They said there was a pervasive smell of burning rubbish, and some have reported trouble breathing.

Speaking as a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Judge Vui Clarence Nelson said the government had previously assured the UN that corporal punishment had been abolished.

But the Samoa Observer reports Justice Nelson as saying the country seems to be backing out of this promise.

The judge called the move a retrograde step and said the government could not pretend the new policy was not corporal punishment.

GEF has successfully resourced national activities mainly on climate change adaptation and mitigation, biodiversity conservation, land degradation, chemicals and waste, and international waters.

The course is a collaboration between Samoa's School of Nursing and Wellington's Victoria University.

Victoria's Dean of the Faculty of Health Professor Gregor Coster says students in Samoa can now pursue higher qualifications without leaving the country.

He says it's a boost for nursing education, research as well as the overall health sector.

The weapons were confiscated during police operations.

According to Police Commissioner Fuiavailiili Egon Keil, there are questions about how the firearms were brought into the country.

Police held a similar exercise in 2015 where illegal guns handed over during a two-month amnesty were destroyed.

Commissioner Keil said police are planning to hold another amnesty soon for unlicensed weapons to be turned in.

Photo Savali newspaper. 

The young man died instantly when the car he was driving hit a power pole on June 24 at Taufusi in Apia.

TV1Samoa reported an eye witness saying two cars were racing along the Taufusi stretch of road, reportedly well known for young people racing in the evenings, when the 18 year old's car veered off the road and crashed into the power pole.

Police said the young victim was from Tuana'imato and Alafua but did not release his name.

Most of these guns are unlicensed and had been confiscated by police during investigations into criminal activities.

Police Commissioner Fuiavailili Egon Keil told TV1 Samoa that some had been used as evidence in court.

He also confirmed that a man is in custody charged with the theft of a gun from the courts in 2013.

Fuiavailili also said police were also planning to hold an amnesty soon for unlicensed weapons to be turned in.

He said that police had collected hundreds of unlicensed guns the last time an amnesty was announced.

Police Commissioner Fuiavailili Egon Keil has confirmed that the gun was discovered during investigations into a different matter, but he did not say where it happened.

He told Talamua Online that the gun had been seized by police during a road block at Satapula, a village near the Faleolo International Airport, six years ago.

It apparently went missing while it was locked up at the Ministry of Justice.

Fuiavailili says the allegedly stolen gun was still functional and that it's the type of weapon that's used by the military.

Its chief executive Tevita Palu said that they chose Samoa as their first international destination because of the love for the country.

The airline has been servicing Tonga domestically since its inception five years ago.

Polynesian Airlines, now Samoa Airways, used to fly between Apia and Tongatapu in the 1980s and 1990s.

Mr Palu told Samoa Observer that there hasn't been a direct service from Tonga to Samoa for almost ten years and the only way to get to Samoa was to go via Auckland or Nadi.