Samoa

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.

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 federal judge in Rhode Island says "Survivor" winner Richard Hatch cannot leave home confinement early to star in a 10th anniversary edition of the reality show in Samoa. Hatch was convicted in 2006 of failing to pay taxes on the $1 million he won on the debut season of the CBS reality show. He spent about three years in federal prison and is serving the final 90 days of his sentence at home in Newport. Hatch last week asked a federal judge for permission to leave for Samoa next month, when filming begins.

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.

Rocking an infant nephew in her arms, Mary Poloai stood outside the main entrance of the imposing Samoan Congregational Christian Church in Carson on Wednesday staring up at the sky and fighting back tears. "I'm so sad that I can't think straight," said Poloai, 58, one of more than 100 people who gathered at a special prayer service for victims of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Samoa and American Samoa early Tuesday. "They still haven't found my mother's sisters," she said.

When Shaka Sola missed his flight and arrived late at the world championships at Helsinki, Finland, he was saddened to learn that he had also missed the shotput competition. The Samoan was offered a chance at javelin instead and finished last with a throw that was entertaining to everyone but him. "You will not see me with a javelin again unless you come to Samoa and I catch you a fish," Sola told Reuters. His best toss of 41.

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.

Wallace M. Greene Jr., a retired four-star general who was commandant of the Marine Corps during the buildup of U.S. forces for the war in Southeast Asia, died Saturday in Alexandria, Va. He was 95, and the cause of death was multiple myeloma. During a 37-year career, Greene gained a reputation as a brilliant staff officer, long-range planner and troubleshooter. He served as commandant from 1964 through 1967.

Eni Faleomavaega won reelection to a fifth term as American Samoa's nonvoting member of the U.S. House. Faleomavaega received 6,321 votes, or 56.7%, in Tuesday's runoff election, while Gus Hannemann, a former member of the American Samoa House of Representatives, got 4,871 votes, or 43.3%. The runoff was needed because neither candidate received more than 50% in the Nov. 5 general election.

Imagine this. It's pitch dark and you have just arrived on a remote South Pacific island. You haven't a clue what to expect because, truth is, Americans don't know much about the tiny, remote country of Samoa. So here's a quick sketch: Robert Louis Stevenson died here, Margaret Mead created a scandal here, the local television station began operating in 1993 and the first traffic light was installed in the capital in 1996.

If you're visiting Samoa, be prepared to skip Friday and get an early start on New Year's Eve celebrations. The country that sits in the South Pacific near the International Date Line will change its time zone midnight Thursday to be in sync with Australia and New Zealand. The nation of two main islands, Upolu and Savai'i, and several smaller ones will move west of the imaginary date line time-wise. Before the change, Tonga and Fiji, its nearest neighbors, were a day ahead of Samoa.

Phileas Fogg went around the world in 80 days. I did it in 23. And I bet I visited more amazing sites than he - India's Taj Mahal, Easter Island, Tibet, Cambodia's Angkor Wat, the African plains, to name a few - all without having to endure the tramp steamers, bone-jarring trains and elephants that Fogg used in 1872. I traveled by private jet. The price of a seat, and all that went with it, was $64,950. The trip was sold by National Geographic Expeditions, which each year offers at least one and sometimes four around-the-world tours by private jet, a leased Boeing 757-200 that is configured with only 77 super-large and dreamily comfortable seats.

Even in darkness, on the way from the airport, Samoa didn't look like anywhere else I'd been in Polynesia — not like Rarotonga or Fiji, not like Tahiti or Easter Island. Open pavilions dotted the roadsides almost as frequently as the small houses. Some were more brightly lighted: Designed as ovals and sometimes squares, their thatched roofs supported by pillars, they glowed like cages in the hot tropical night. In some small ones, families were watching TV, as if the pavilions were open-air living rooms.

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.

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.

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.

Comedian and actor Howie Mandel and his wife, Terry, have put their Los Angeles-area home of a dozen years on the market at slightly more than $3 million. The comic, 44, filled in earlier this month for Regis Philbin, who was on jury duty, as a host on the syndicated talk show "Live With Regis and Kathie Lee."

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.

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.