Articles by Utopia Support

More lawyers not needed

Thursday 7 October 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I have to take issue with Tim Arnold’s assertion that we need more lawyers in the Cook Islands and politics. The very nature of the legal profession is adversarial and combative. Do we want more of that in Parliament? Of greater importance concerns the written language of our laws and regulations. They are […]

Attention letter writers

Thursday 7 October 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

A number of emails sent to the editor@cookislandsnews.com address over the last few days were held up due to technical problems with an email filter, and we only received them yesterday. A number of these emails were letters to the editor. The problem has now been resolved and it appears as if we have received […]

Carr explains his sudden departure

Thursday 7 October 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I refer to the letter to the Editor on Friday 1st October with the heading “Is Carr’s sacking legal” and would like to clarify the situation. Firstly the Minister did not sack me but rather sent a letter that conveyed his loss of confidence and said that he had conveyed this to the […]

Kata - October 7, 2010

Thursday 7 October 2010 | Published in Kata

Netballers suffer second loss

Thursday 7 October 2010 | Published in Netball

The Cook Islands national netball team has yet to really show their prowess at the Delhi Commonwealth Games after suffering their second loss at the tournament. The team was confident heading into their match against lowly ranked Barbados, but they soon found themselves struggling against a much improved Barbados who went on to win the […]

Delhi underbelly – don't forget to look behind facade

Thursday 7 October 2010 | Published in Smoke Signals

“I hope the Cook Islands group at the Commonwealth Games will look behind the faade in Delhi to see how the REAL world has to survive, in the pits hidden from view,” writes a smoke signaller. He also asks: “How many public servants are on ‘national representation leave’ to attend the Delhi Games? That is, […]

Cooks lose to PNG at soccer

Thursday 7 October 2010 | Published in Football

The Cook Islands women’s soccer team lost in a close match to Papua New Guinea 1-0 in the semifinal of the 2010 OFC Women’s Nations Cup on Wednesday in New Zealand. This was an evenly contested match that could have gone either way as both teams fought desperately to keep their World Cup dreams alive. […]

Demo campaign kicks off

Wednesday 6 October 2010 | Published in Local

The Democratic Party will kick off its national election campaign this week in vaka Takitumu – in the heart of leader Robert Wigmore’s electorate of Titikaveka. Tomorrow evening’s event at Enua Manea Hall is the first of vaka-centred launches to promote the party’s candidates and some of their key election pledges. The Takitumu candidates – […]

DPM defends $750,000 Toa payment

Wednesday 6 October 2010 | Published in Local

Deputy Prime Minister Robert Wigmore is defending Cabinet’s decision to pay out $750,000 to Toa Petroleum as the first installment of its eight year $1.2 million profit guarantee agreement. He said the decision was made in order to avoid further litigation from Toa. On Monday Finance Minister Wilkie Rasmussen criticised the decision made in his […]

Ship on Mauke reef

Wednesday 6 October 2010 | Published in Local

The Taio Shipping owned vessel MV Te Kou Maru II ran on to the reef off the west coast of Mauke at around 8pm on Monday. As of press time last night, the ship was still stuck on the reef, and Maukeans were working together to offload valuable cargo, fuel and timber in particular. The […]

Kata - October 6, 2010

Wednesday 6 October 2010 | Published in Kata

NZ league team tours

Wednesday 6 October 2010 | Published in League

A New Zealand-based under 14 Cook Islands rugby league team is visiting Rarotonga and will be in action today. Supporters and parents are all welcome to watch the first of their two matches at Victoria Park in Tupapa at 5pm today. The second match will take place at Victoria Park on Friday at 5pm. The […]

Netballers put up brave fight

Wednesday 6 October 2010 | Published in Netball

The Cook Islands netball team may have gone down 87-24 to the Silver Ferns on Tuesday – but they were no walkovers. The local girls put up a brave and bruising battle, with some moments of brilliance, in what was their first match up of the Delhi Commonwealth Games. They walked off the court a […]

Teei set to serve

Tuesday 5 October 2010 | Published in Local

Sole tennis player Brittany Teei will take to the courts for the first time this morning in the women’s singles competition at the Delhi Commonwealth Games. Teei is scheduled to play against a Maldives opponent and hopes to rise up the ranks of the competition where the ultimate goal will be achieving a ranking. Although […]

36 applications for sports funds

Tuesday 5 October 2010 | Published in Local

The Cook Islands Sports and National Olympic Committee (CISNOC) has had 36 applications for All Sports funding. For the past two years, money given to CISNOC to distribute to sports codes has not been sent out to codes in the way government instructed. The government gave CISNOC $160,000 in 2008-09 and $60,000 in 2009-10 to […]

Toa payment fires minister

Tuesday 5 October 2010 | Published in Local

Minister of Finance unhappy that $750,000 advanced to Toa The Minister of Finance is back in the country and unhappy with the decision made in his absence by Cabinet to advance $750,000 to Toa Petroleum Limited. Wilkie Rasmussen has just returned from Brussels where he signed the revised Cotonu Agreement and reinforced the membership of […]

Great medical attention

Tuesday 5 October 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, My wife and I recently holidayed in Rarotonga and whilst there my wife had the misfortune to cut her hand quite badly. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the owners of the Kikau Hut Restaurant for their kind assistance and also to thank the doctor, nurse and receptionist in particular […]

Baptism suggestion 'preposterous'

Tuesday 5 October 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, If water baptism is the way to heaven, Jesus lied when he told the anabaptised thief (Lk 23:43) that they would both be in paradise that day. If water baptism is essential for salvation, Paul set a bad example by not emphasising this ordinance in his ministry (1 Cor 1:17) If immersion in […]

Import substitution – what a joke

Tuesday 5 October 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, The Democratic Party Government’s position on import substitution is nothing but a joke. CITC is flooding the market with NZ eggs when local production is more than capable of meeting the demand. Attempts by this writer to get government to include in the Fair Trading Act of 2008 a Protection of Local Industry […]

Kata - October 5, 2010

Tuesday 5 October 2010 | Published in Kata