Articles by Utopia Support

Rounding up rubbish

Tuesday 28 August 2012 | Published in Environment

The second annual ”Rubbish Roundup“ starts on September 8 and runs through the month. The Pacific Islands Conservation Initiative (PICI) ran the first annual event last year, with great support from CITC, several local businesses and the community. This year is looking to be bigger and better, as both WATSAN and NES have decided to […]

Customs upset tourist

Tuesday 28 August 2012 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I am a regular visitor to the Cook Islands, having been to the country eight times. But the start to my holiday this time was extremely disappointing. I flew in with my wife on the Saturday night flight from Auckland and brought one litre of gin and six bottles of beer from the […]

Silk's outburst 'breathtaking'

Tuesday 28 August 2012 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I cannot let Don Silk’s letter to your newspaper go without reply. Don Silk has chosen to ignore the facts supporting my company’s application for judicial review as outlined in your article. The current proceedings are only about our Dangerous Goods Act. Its regulations say that all fuel storage facilities in the Cook […]

'We used to be a safe country'

Tuesday 28 August 2012 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, Since moving to New Zealand so my children can get schooled here, I have refrained from commenting on issues back home preferring to leave that for the real locals. But after today (Tuesday 21 August), I am moved to write about my nephew because what has happened to him is just appalling and […]

Kata - August 28, 2012

Tuesday 28 August 2012 | Published in Kata

Cosmo magazine shoots in the Cooks

Tuesday 28 August 2012 | Published in National

If anyone was wondering who the beautiful people being followed around by a camera crew were last week, we can assure you it wasn’t some early Forum delegates. A group from women’s magazine Cosmopolitan came on a direct flight from Sydney on August 18 and left just under a week later. The crew of nine […]

Feasts celebrate Forum fellowship

Tuesday 28 August 2012 | Published in National

Food, friendship and acknowledging the links between Niue, Tonga and Samoa with the Cook Islands was the focus of two special celebrations from their local communities last weekend. A kaikai was held for various Polynesian leaders, including Samoa’s Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi and French Polynesia president Oscar Temaru at the residence of the late […]

Underwrite review

Tuesday 28 August 2012 | Published in National

The future of long-haul travel from the Cooks could change drastically after 2014. The present airline underwriting agreement covering the Los Angeles and Sydney direct services runs until then. The Tourism Corporation will shortly be inviting expressions of interest to all airlines within the region who may like future long haul access to the Cook […]

Kia orana cobber, nice to meet you

Tuesday 28 August 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals

”This may be a wonderful opportunity for Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard to make the acquaintance of the Aussie expats resident in the Cook Islands,“ a smoke signaller writes, ”an opportunity which regrettably the Australian High Commissioner from Wellington did not take on his recent visit here. One would have thought that looking out for […]

Trade issues on agenda

Monday 27 August 2012 | Published in Local

Forum leaders will this week be paying particular attention to regional trade agreements that govern the flow of goods and services between their nations. The Forum Secretariat gave Pacific media a breakdown on Saturday of the regional agreements that will feature in this week’s plenary discussions, and while it was heavy on acronyms and light […]

Cops, jobs, security, Fiji, CISNOC...

Monday 27 August 2012 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, With all the recent cases opening up about the police it’s an embarrassment to the commissioner who should just hand in his resignation or the prime minister if he ever shows any initiative should terminate him on the spot. Example: the same as what was done to Mark Short shortly after CIP took […]

Kata - August 27, 2012

Monday 27 August 2012 | Published in Kata

Akirata opens European festival

Monday 27 August 2012 | Published in National

The Cook Islands at the weekend opened a German culture festival that usually attracts around three million people. The Museumsuferfest, or Museums Festival, is a street festival held over three days and nights from August 24 to 26 – the height of the German summer. New Zealand was granted Country of Honour position and asked […]

Akirata shares a distant dream

Monday 27 August 2012 | Published in National

When Czech people get together to celebrate their folklore it is always with beer. At all the events Akirata has attended so far in the Czech Republic the drink that they provide for our team is not water but beer or their own version of Coca Cola which is a very odd tasting drink that […]

24 of 42 deaths NCD-related

Monday 27 August 2012 | Published in National

Between January and June this year, the Cook Islands Ministry of Health recorded 42 deaths – 24 of which were the result of non-communicable diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Two of those who died were under the age of 40. In 2010, 81 percent of deaths in the Cook Islands were due to NCDs. […]

Roaming dogs 'owned' by somebody

Monday 27 August 2012 | Published in National

Howling, fighting and roaming dogs are becoming a problem again on Rarotonga – a problem affecting both locals and visitors to the island. In recent weeks concerned citizens have been expressing their frustrations via letters to the editor over sleepless nights caused by howling dogs and some have gone so far as to say they […]

Motorcade madness, mayhem coming

Monday 27 August 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals

”This cavalcade business is way over the top,“ writes a smoke signaller. ”Who gives this lot the right to break the law and speed through town dangerously? The whole thing is overly obtrusive and sometimes pathetic when you look in the VIP cars and see one or two passengers. Saturday night’s effort, all for the […]

Aquaponics project unveiled

Saturday 25 August 2012 | Published in Environment

Associate agriculture minister Kiriau Turepu has hailed the new aquaponics project in Titikaveka as the solution for the outer islands. Named Te Raurau o te Kaingavai, the aquaponics facility is the first of its kind in the Cook Islands and is on show ahead of the upcoming Pacific Islands Forum next week. Internal affairs minister […]

Green living water garden thrives

Saturday 25 August 2012 | Published in Environment

Ensuring all Pacific people have access to food, and ways to grow it sustainably, is the long-term objective of a new project underway in Rarotonga. The Green Living Water Garden, as it is called in English, rests on 5756 square metres of Titikaveka land. Nestled amongst the garden is a pilot project that could prove […]

Reward increased

Saturday 25 August 2012 | Published in Local

The reward offered for information leading to the arrest of the man responsible for brutally beating Zeb Autaua last Saturday morning has increased eight times overnight. Aucklander Florence Syme-Buchanan was first to offer a reward of $100 for information leading to the arrest of the person who bashed CINews employee Autaua a week ago. This […]