Articles by Utopia Support

New reporter keen to explore islands

Saturday 26 May 2012 | Published in Features

Roving reporter Calida Smylie has joined the Cook Islands News team, combining a love of travel and fascination with print media to find her new posting in Rarotonga. Smylie has been freelancing with the Sunday Star-Times and TV3 Online before taking up a permanent position as a staff reporter with CINews. She arrived at Rarotonga […]

Miyako – Japan's 'Eco Island'

Saturday 26 May 2012 | Published in Features

– 300km off the coast of Okinawa – Japan’s experiment in renewable energy technologies – Underground dam powered by wind turbines to control the flow of water, which is stored in reservoirs and diverted to farms – Recycling centre – ”Eco-houses“ with solar shading and other energy efficient technologies – Eco Den Club – high […]

Journalists visit tsunami site

Saturday 26 May 2012 | Published in Features

Pacific journalists this week had the opportunity to take an emotional tour of Iwaki, a city hit hard by last year’s triple disaster – the tsunami, earthquake and subsequent nuclear accident that hit Japan on March 11 last year. Reporters from the Cook Islands, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, […]

Put off by salon reps

Saturday 26 May 2012 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, My friend and I arrived on beautiful Rarotonga early on Saturday morning… headed off to our resort to get settled in then headed off to hire us a car so we could attend the market later that day. People here are so nice and welcoming. As we walked around the market the vendors […]

Tuna leftovers?

Saturday 26 May 2012 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I’m referring to a plan by the government to package and distribute our own tuna brand using a US based company Starkist located in Pago Pago. Maybe it’s my own lack of knowledge that I’ve never heard of or seen such company processing tuna products using Cook Islands tuna. Not according to the […]

A second chance

Saturday 26 May 2012 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, We salute Judge Colin Nicholson for his tenure as a judge in our courts and commend him for his comments ”it’s never easy to judge a fellow human being…“ A person was mentioned in that article whom the judge presided over their case and I wonder to myself, the person’s name was aired […]

Kata - May 26, 2012

Saturday 26 May 2012 | Published in Kata

Food festival aims for $40,000

Saturday 26 May 2012 | Published in National

In aid of raising funds for projects such as beautification of the school, Tereora College is hosting a food festival at Punanga Nui on June 22. The last school food festival was in 2008 and was a big success raising $30,817.80. Each form class of the school is required to think of what kind of […]

Okinawa beef a talking point

Saturday 26 May 2012 | Published in National

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda joked about Prime Minister Henry Puna’s apparent fondness for beef at a banquet on Friday evening. Pacific leaders were transported via government-chartered plane to Okinawa, the venue for today’s PALM6 meeting, on Friday (Japan time). They were whisked away in a convoy of cars to a hotel further south, and […]

Safe sex talks for voyagers

Saturday 26 May 2012 | Published in National

The importance of sexual health and protection is an issue worth talking about on land and on the oceans and, thanks to Cook Islands health spokespeople, the Pacific Voyagers will be doing so after visiting Rarotonga over the last week. The Cook Islands’ National HIV, STI and TB Committee used the fleet’s visit to give […]

Sing, dance, sell in 6 countries in 10 days

Saturday 26 May 2012 | Published in National

The tourism road show has come to its final stop in Europe, taking in 10 cities, six countries and three major tourist markets over the last 10 days. Cook Islands Tourism Corporation chief executive officer Carmel Beattie said the road show had been putting the Cook Islands in the thoughts of countless people through a […]

Age no barrier to being computer savvy

Saturday 26 May 2012 | Published in National

The coconut wireless is moving online thanks to a new computer course being funded by the information and communications technology unit of the Office of the Prime Minister. A computer skills course for people ages 50 and over has seen its first batch of graduates complete the two-week course last week. The OPM is funding […]

Bus company still unhappy about saltwater

Saturday 26 May 2012 | Published in National

Cook’s Island Bus Passenger Transport manager Kevin Cook said he is working with the Avatiu harbour development managers to find a solution for the trucks transporting dredged material from the harbour to a Panama storage site. Cook this week told bus drivers making the anti-clockwise route to divert around a stretch of road that was […]

Puna to join Samoan celebrations

Saturday 26 May 2012 | Published in National

Prime Minister Henry Puna will this week represent the Cook Islands at celebrations in Samoa to mark 50 years since the country gained independence. Puna is currently in Japan, where he is co-chairing the sixth Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting. He will travel directly from Japan to Samoa with a brief stopover in Auckland, New Zealand, […]

Ears like a rabbit

Saturday 26 May 2012 | Published in National

With a deck half full of anthurium flowers, it takes a special one to catch Makea Joseph Vakatini Ariki’s eyes and a special one has bloomed in amongst them all. With ears like a rabbit and a face with a nose, Vakatini said this anthurium flower was definitely a special one. ”This one is unusual, […]

Windy wet weekend

Saturday 26 May 2012 | Published in National

Thunderstorms, heavy rain and high seas are predicted for the weekend as a low pressure system develops and moves south. An active area of cloud band with associated rain lies to the north of the southern Cooks and is expected to slowly move south then southeast in the next few days. This will bring rain, […]

Flying high while supplies run low

Saturday 26 May 2012 | Published in Smoke Signals

One of our readers phoned in this smoke signal: ”After reading about the pharmacy shortages in the newspaper (CINews, Thursday, May 24, ‘Commercial pharmacies under pressure’) and the government saying there was no shortage, I thought I’d share my experiences. Three weeks ago I took a 94-year-old to the hospital because he couldn’t hear and […]

Getting unstuck in my family

Friday 25 May 2012 | Published in Church Talk

Today I want to talk about how to get unstuck in your family. This idea about getting unstuck in our family is something that we all deal with, because we all have families of one type or another. They all get stuck. But here’s what we know as well – there is no such thing […]

It's Pentecost Sunday

Friday 25 May 2012 | Published in Church Talk

While we cannot be sure of the exact dates on our calendar, we do know that there are two great events that Christians all over the world will always want to celebrate – these being the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the establishment shortly afterwards, of his universal church. Both occurred on a Sunday, exactly […]

Japan wants Pacific to be a 'peaceful ocean'

Friday 25 May 2012 | Published in Environment

The Japanese government says it is committed to maintaining peace and fostering sustainable fishing in the Pacific Ocean. Renowned for its diet of fish and seafood, Japan is looking in particular for ways to ensure the sustainability of its fish supply. ”This is very important for us because as a nation we have been relying […]