American Samoa

In its latest bid to put the sudden acceleration matter behind it, Toyota Motor Corp. has reached a $29-million settlement with attorneys general from 29 states and one U.S. territory.   The agreement, announced Thursday, was originally approved by Toyota's board in Japan in December, the company said. It comes less than two months after Toyota announced a record-setting $1.1-billion settlement of hundreds of class-action claims that the automaker's actions involving the acceleration problem had damaged the value of consumers' vehicles.

When teensy-weensy Samoa Airlines debuted its pay-by-the-kilo policy in January, I doubt it expected to set off an international controversy about fat discrimination. But that's what happened when news seeped out this week after the airline's chief executive, Chris Langton, told ABC News radio in Australia that the system is not only fair but destined to catch on. “Doesn't matter whether you're carrying freight or people,” explained Langton. "We've amalgamated the two and worked out a figure per kilo.” Samoa Air, he added, has always weighed the human and non-human cargo it carries.

Lonely Planet's top 10 U.S. destinations for 2013 leans toward outdoorsy more than urban spots and gives a big thumbs up to the Eastern Sierra, the sole California location that made the list. "This year, hop past Yosemite - just beyond lies the secret California dream: the Eastern Sierra, the overlooked flank of the Sierra Nevada range, with other-worldly natural attractions and surprises (Basque culture?), not to mention far fewer visitors," Lonely Planet author Robert Reid writes.

In its latest bid to put the sudden acceleration matter behind it, Toyota Motor Corp. has reached a $29-million settlement with attorneys general from 29 states and one U.S. territory.   The agreement, announced Thursday, was originally approved by Toyota's board in Japan in December, the company said. It comes less than two months after Toyota announced a record-setting $1.1-billion settlement of hundreds of class-action claims that the automaker's actions involving the acceleration problem had damaged the value of consumers' vehicles.

A former chief of police of American Samoa has been ordered to serve a 30-day sentence and repay $7,400 that prosecutors say he stole from a Los Angeles Police Department fund before he retired from that force and went to work on the Pacific island. Municipal Judge Jon M. Mayeda, without opposition from the prosecution, allowed Victor Siaki Liu, 55, to remain free until next month, when he is to surrender to authorities.

Cyclone Ofa--the South Pacific equivalent of a hurricane--lashed American Samoa with winds up to 110 m.p.h., causing widespread damage and injuring several people but causing no deaths. There were no immediate reports from the nearby independent nation of Western Samoa, where the eye of the cyclone passed 50 miles west of the island of Savii. American Samoa, a seven-island U.S. territory east of New Guinea, reported heavy damage to buildings, power and water off and roads clogged.

The death toll in Samoa and American Samoa rose to 99 early today, according to news reports, after a powerful tsunami triggered by a deep ocean earthquake devastated coastal towns. Dozens of people were still missing. Seventeen hours after the magnitude 8.0 temblor struck, another massive ocean earthquake off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island early today killed at least 75 people and trapping thousands under rubble. A tsunami warning was issued in the region but was later lifted.

When teensy-weensy Samoa Airlines debuted its pay-by-the-kilo policy in January, I doubt it expected to set off an international controversy about fat discrimination. But that's what happened when news seeped out this week after the airline's chief executive, Chris Langton, told ABC News radio in Australia that the system is not only fair but destined to catch on. “Doesn't matter whether you're carrying freight or people,” explained Langton. "We've amalgamated the two and worked out a figure per kilo.” Samoa Air, he added, has always weighed the human and non-human cargo it carries.

More than 8 tons of mail bound for American Samoa are stuck in Hawaii, and more is piling up as the U.S. territory's only airport cleans rocks and gravel left after recent storms from its main runway. Hawaiian Airlines, which usually carries the mail to American Samoa, suspended its weekly service to Pago Pago International Airport June 24 after two of its aircraft were damaged by the loose debris on the runway. Torrential rains in the last several weeks caused the poor runway conditions.

Rescuers scoured three Samoa Islands ravaged by a hurricane that left at least 30 people injured, including 12 seriously enough to require hospitalization. The hurricane, packing winds of 80 m.p.h., hit the islands of Ofu, Olosega and Tau Saturday, causing an estimated $100 million in damage. A police officer in American Samoa said Ofu and Olosega sustained the brunt of the damage, leaving some 2,000 people homeless.

As the tide drops, seawater in Ofu Lagoon gets cut off from the ocean swirling around American Samoa. Under the intense South Pacific sun, these shallow waters can reach 93 degrees -- temperatures that typically would make corals overheated, cause them to bleach bone white and die. Yet the corals in these hot waters seem to be thriving.  A team of researchers at Stanford University has figured out why: These corals leave a set of 60 genes in...

Lonely Planet's top 10 U.S. destinations for 2013 leans toward outdoorsy more than urban spots and gives a big thumbs up to the Eastern Sierra, the sole California location that made the list. "This year, hop past Yosemite - just beyond lies the secret California dream: the Eastern Sierra, the overlooked flank of the Sierra Nevada range, with other-worldly natural attractions and surprises (Basque culture?), not to mention far fewer visitors," Lonely Planet author Robert Reid writes.

The federal government on Friday proposed protecting 66 kinds of corals under the Endangered Species Act, an acknowledgment that these reef-building animals are suffering so many insults they are threatened with extinction. The proposal, which covers corals in the Pacific and the Caribbean, lists 19 ways that corals are under assault. They include overfishing, pollution, heat-stroke, disease and dissolving in seawater that is turning more acidic. A team of scientists from the National Marine Fisheries Service spent more than three years reviewing the health of these reef-building corals before proposing their protection.

The nation's ability to detect tsunamis has improved in the last few years, but the government remains ill-prepared to warn coastal communities of fast-approaching waves like those that ravaged Southeast Asia in 2004, according to a report issued to Congress on Friday. In a near-the-shore tsunami that arrives less than an hour after a seismic event — such as an earthquake, landslide or volcanic eruption — most people along the coast would receive no warning or orders to evacuate, according to the 266-page study by the National Research Council.

THE BEST WAY TO SAMOA From LAX, Air New Zealand offers connecting service (change of planes) to Apia, Samoa. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $868. TELEPHONES To call the numbers below from the U.S., dial 011 (international dialing code), 68 (the country code) and the local number. GETTING AROUND Independent Samoa's public bus system relies on old school buses. They'll get you anywhere for a couple of tala, but schedules are flexible. Catch them at the open-air depot by the harbor in Apia or flag them down on the roads.

1 Samoa Islands A devastating tsunami on Sept. 30 that killed more than 150 people on the islands also hit the National Park of American Samoa, damaging its headquarters and visitor center and washing away some artifacts, officials said. The park, known for its tropical forests, archaeological treasures and coral reefs, was closed to visitors. -- associated press 2 Mexico Biologists and park workers at this country's monarch butterfly reserve raced to cut down up to 9,000 fir trees infected with the bark beetle before the butterflies arrive later this month for the winter.

Foreign countries with most NFL players (16 countries have one player each; based on opening-day rosters:) 1. Canada: 15 players 2. Germany: Nine 3. Jamaica: Seven 4. American Samoa: Three 5. Zaire: Three 6. Argentina: Two 7. Uganda: Two 8. Mexico: Two 9. Nigeria: Two 10. New Zealand: Two Source: World Features Syndicate

A Los Angeles jury Monday socked a Rhode Island insurance company with a $57.8-million punitive verdict for wrongly rejecting massive damage claims from a 1991 hurricane that devastated the U.S. territory of American Samoa. The punitive award is double the $28.9 million in actual damages that the Los Angeles County Superior Court jury found was suffered by the government of American Samoa, which held the hurricane insurance policy. The total judgment against the insurer is $86.7 million.

Scientists surveying American Samoa's coral reefs say the Sept. 29 tsunami obliterated some corals and damaged others to the point that they might not recover. Researchers say more assessments will be needed to get a full sense of how the disaster affected coral in the U.S. territory. But in at least one area, the damage was so severe and the affected area already in such bad shape before the tsunamis, that the coral may never return. A team led by Douglas Fenner, a coral reef monitoring ecologist with American Samoa's Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, has surveyed about 20 sites around the territory.

Convoys of military vehicles brought food, water and medicine to the tsunami-stricken Samoa Islands on Thursday as victims wandered through what was left of their villages with tales of being trapped underwater, watching young children drown and hoisting elderly parents above the waves. The death toll rose to 160 as grim-faced islanders gathered under a traditional meetinghouse to hear a Samoan government minister discuss a plan for a mass funeral and burial next week. Samoans traditionally bury their loved ones near their homes, but that could be impractical because many villages have been wiped out. The dead from Tuesday's earthquake and tsunami include 120 in Samoa, 31 in American Samoa and nine in Tonga.