Articles by Utopia Support

Go buy local

Saturday 2 June 2012 | Published in Features

The Business, Trade and Investments Board is trying to encourage Cook Islanders to buy locally-produced food, in order to support the local economy. The Go Local campaign, which the Business, Trade and Investments Board (BTIB) started last year, is a broad public awareness campaign to alert consumers to buy locally made products and to consumer […]

Passion for literacy

Saturday 2 June 2012 | Published in Features

Improving the literacy of New Zealand children has been a lifetime’s work for Graham and Joan Crawshaw, visiting Rarotonga this week. For the Crawshaws it all began back in 1960s when they took a group of nine local boys into their home, progressing to camps held in a purpose built woolshed on their Dargaville farm. […]

Sport fishing pushed

Saturday 2 June 2012 | Published in Features

Cook Islands tourism may soon get a boost from visitors seeking to land the ultimate fish, after the Cook Islands game fishing industry was recently featured in NZ Boating magazine. The article, an eight-page glossy spread, featured many local fishing charter operators and information about fishing in the Cooks. The article ‘Destination: The Cook Islands’ […]

Village rallies to save corals

Saturday 2 June 2012 | Published in Features

There are communities that decry the degradation of their environment, and there are those who do something about it. Pacific journalists who were in Japan to cover the sixth Pacific Islands Leaders’ Meeting last week took a tour of an aquaculture facility that’s central to a coral regeneration project in the tropical Okinawan village Onna […]

New 'Motonator Grant' for an arts student

Saturday 2 June 2012 | Published in Features

Motone Productions has announced a new grant for arts students, which it is terming ‘The Motonator Grant.’ ”This grant is for a school leaving student who has been accepted to a performing arts, music, and theatre or sound and lighting engineering course,“ Motone company director Glenda Tuaine said. ”Mo (partner Maurice Newport) and I decided […]

Grave concerns over NZ aid system

Saturday 2 June 2012 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I write in reply to the Hon. John Carter. We appreciate NZ Aid but I have grave concerns with the current system which is likened to the provision of material gifts which is damaging to our struggling economy during these difficult times. Mr Carter says that NZ Aid only looks to foreign companies […]

Fix the economy, leave sports alone

Saturday 2 June 2012 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, As they say, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts. Mark Brown has a clear conflict of interest by wearing many hats and many jobs. He gives two reasons why he is standing as CISNOC President. The first he says is to have a direct hand in healing the rift that has occurred between […]

Kata - June 2, 2012

Saturday 2 June 2012 | Published in Kata

League clubs island-wide celebrate tonight

Saturday 2 June 2012 | Published in League

With the 2012 rugby league season now over, clubs now turn their focus towards honouring the standout players over the season. The champion Titikaveka Bulldogs who won the premier grade final last weekend along with the Avatiu Eels, Ngatangiia Sea Eagles and Arorangi Bears rugby league clubs will be holding their prizegiving functions tonight at […]

60 Plus cooking up a recipe book

Saturday 2 June 2012 | Published in National

Members of the 60 Plus social group gathered for their regular catch up this week which included a photo shoot for the club’s cookbook titled ‘Raurau ki to rima.’ Kitchen-tested and time-honoured, the recipes featuring in the cookbook are a blend of local and non-local dishes submitted by club members. Initially – about two years […]

'Over the moon'

Saturday 2 June 2012 | Published in National

Selina Napa says she is ”over the moon“ with how well her campaign is going. The first female to stand for election in Titikaveka has been busy asking the people of the village what they think needs to be fixed. ”It’s an eye opener to go into people’s homes and find out what issues and […]

Garden party in honour of women

Saturday 2 June 2012 | Published in National

The weather may not have been quite what one would have hoped for, but Selina Napa’s garden party was still a great success. The Democratic candidate in the Titikaveka by-election invited the ladies of her constituency for light refreshments at the Vai Villas in Vaimaanga on Thursday evening. Napa told CINews she was hosting the […]

Text vote for 'your' Miss Cook Islands

Saturday 2 June 2012 | Published in National

Let your fingers do the talking and vote for your favourite Miss Cook Islands contestants in the Miss SMS competition now open to the public. The contestant with the most votes will win the Miss SMS sash and voting will run right up until competition night on June 7. All pageant enthusiasts, friends and family […]

Port fees going up 4.5%

Saturday 2 June 2012 | Published in National

New port fees are set to come into action at the end of this week. The new fees, valid from Friday June 1, are to increase on average 4.5 per cent. Ports Authority general manager Bim Tou says the fee increase was not a revenue-gathering exercise, but is based on the annual Consumer Price Index […]

Visiting surgeons keep the tradition

Saturday 2 June 2012 | Published in National

Doctors visiting Rarotonga this week are continuing with a 20 year tradition of medical assistance from New Zealand. Dr Andrew MacDiarmid, an orthopaedic surgeon from Tauranga, has spent years providing care to patients in the Cook Islands – a task which he has now passed on to the current visiting doctors Dr Vaughan Poutawera and […]

Papa Tauira a NZ citizen

Saturday 2 June 2012 | Published in National

With his New Zealand citizenship certificate in hand – Papa Louis Tauira, originally from Tahiti, says he hopes to get across to New Zealand to visit his kids. Eighty-year-old papa Tauira received his New Zealand citizenship certificate at a special and intimate ceremony at the New Zealand High Commission residence in Ngatipa yesterday. While presenting […]

'Major disaster' if Avatiu silt kills coral

Saturday 2 June 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals

”Silt from the Avatiu Port dredging operation has flowed out to sea, covering the ocean floor from Avatiu to Tupapa,“ a smoke signaller warns. ”You can’t even see the ocean floor, and the coral will die as a result. The marine sector, dive tours and glass bottom tours stand to lose. What did the environmental […]

Choosing a Godly life - Ikianga i te oraanga irinaki atua

Friday 1 June 2012 | Published in Church Talk

The Bible in general presents only One way in which we can live and enjoy life in its fullness. Neglecting this One way face up and suffer the consequences. A blessing, to obey God – a curse to disobey Him. Light to walk in His presence, darkness without Him. Positive if connected to Him; negative […]

Samoa's 50th celebrations

Friday 1 June 2012 | Published in Local

The local Samoan community will be hoisting a Samoan flag this morning to honour 50 years of Samoan independence. Members of the community and ”friends of Samoa“ have been invited to Navy Epati’s Matavera residence at 6.30am, ahead of a 7am flag raising ceremony. Guests will then share a breakfast in honour of the momentous […]

Tobacco tax going up 33%

Friday 1 June 2012 | Published in Local

In honour of worldwide No Tobacco Day, government yesterday gave media a sneak preview of a related measure outlined in the forthcoming Budget. As acting minister of health (in Nandi Glassie’s absence), finance minister Mark Brown revealed that government will be increasing import levies on cigarettes and tobacco by 33 percent annually over the next […]