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Cook Islands and Australia strengthen ties

Senior officials from the Cook Islands and Australia gathered in Canberra late last month to advance shared priorities in the second annual Senior Officials Roundtable (SORT) with discussions focusing on strengthening cooperation under the 2022 ‘Oa Tumanava Partnership Agreement.

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Cook Islands diaspora embrace digital innovation to preserve Te Reo Māori

Two passionate Cook Islanders living in New Zealand have embarked on an ambitious project aimed at protecting and revitalising the Cook Islands language for future generations.

Minister takes on noni growers' concerns

Agriculture minister Nandi Glassie is taking on board the concerns facing noni growers, following a predicted reduction in the export of noni juice to Japan. Japan is the country’s largest noni export market, annually contributing about $1 million to the industry. Following Japan’s earthquake, the local noni industry has received warning about a cut to […]

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Cabinet discuss development bank concept

Reverting the Bank of the Cook Islands back to being a development bank is an idea that has value, and the finance minister says government is now discussing ‘ways forward’. Finance minister Mark Brown says the concept has been discussed at cabinet and official level and he expects a firm position on the initiative will […]

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Vaka to leave for Tahiti next week

Vaka Marumaru Atua departs for her big voyage on Tuesday, and the community has finalised the programme for her day of send-off. Tomorrow, crew will be attending a service at Ngatangiia CICC church and will then attend a kaikai at the home of Pa Marie Ariki in Vaimaanga. The departure ceremony starts at 10am on […]

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Power prices on Raro to go up in May

Electricity is set to go up on Rarotonga a week from today. Homes can expect to pay five cents more per unit for usage of up to 60 units. The rate goes up eight cents for usage of 61 – 300 units and above 240 units. Similarly, commercial users are faced with an eight cents […]

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Growers miss out on vital machinery

Members of the Titikaveka Growers Association feel as though they have been “slapped in the face” by the new government, chairman Teava Iro says. Iro has received formal confirmation that the association will not be allocated a piece of heavy machinery gifted to the Cook Islands by the Chinese government, as initially intended. The equipment […]

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Mita fails to impress ministers

Bruce who? – was the dismissive response by prime minister Henry Puna when asked to comment on NZ Maori Bruce Mita’s aspirations in the Cook Islands. Clearly, Puna wasn’t impressed hearing about Mita’s latest intrusion into affairs of the state and ui ariki. Other than to say he’s not about to take advice from outsiders […]

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Mita on sovereignty campaign again

Dissolution of the country’s constitution and government, lose NZ passports, remove allegiance to the Queen, sever ties to New Zealand and Ui Ariki to become the kings and queens of the Cook Islands. These are the changes that NZ Maori sovereignty activist Bruce Ruatapu Mita is campaigning to have happen in the Cook Islands. Now […]

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Mangaia shuts down power at midday

Mangaia’s island council is showing its support for today’s international Earth Hour by closing down the island’s power plant for an hour from midday. Mangaia Island Administration secretary Helen Henry says the initiative is to support the National Environment Service efforts towards Earth Hour, which aims to encourage power conservation and recognition of climate change […]

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Imports deficit grows

Exports fell behind imports in 2009, causing the balance of trade for the year to register a deficit of $285.8 million – up from $207.1 million the previous year. While exports decreased by 25.4 percent, imports increased by 36.3 percent over 2008. The provisional current account balance for 2009 shows a deficit of $28.8 million, […]

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Public appeals raise $36,000 so far

More than $36,000 has been donated by Cook Islanders to help those affected by Australia’s recent floods and earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand. A Ministry of Cultural Development fundraiser held last week to raise money for victims of the Christchurch earthquake and Australian floods has generated at least $12,000. The appeal included a radiothon during […]

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Pilot escapes 'eerie calm' of Tokyo

Mark Lusby left a devastated Tokyo last week to come home to his Rarotonga family and says that right now, “this is the best place to be – away from it all”. Lusby is a captain for All Nippon Airways and he was in Tokyo when the 8.9 magnitude quake shook Japan. Following the disaster, […]

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Jonassen says he can't abandon Japan

Cook Islander Rena Jonassen isn’t leaving Japan saying he can’t abandon his in-laws and adopted country. “I can’t turn my back on my relatives, the grandparents of my children and the country,” says Jonassen who is married to Mika, a Japanese school teacher. They live in Funabashi a district of Chiba and have two children […]

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Travel winner on Atiu

Lizzie Bishop from Kuoni Travel is the lucky winner of the Cook Islands Tourism Corporation trade competition, winning a holiday of a lifetime for two to the Cook Islands and a guaranteed commission to write a travel feature for Real Travel magazine on her island experience. She is currently in Atiu, experiencing the natural untouched […]

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Emphasis on attendance

Although truancy has been cited by the Ministry of Education as a concern, particularly among year 11 students, Tereora College says to date no pupils have been referred to a truancy officer in this school year. Ministry of Education secretary Sharyn Paio says measures are being put in place to target truancy among students sitting […]

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Cook Islands and Switzerland establish diplomatic relations

The Cook Islands and Switzerland have formally established diplomatic relations and have exchanged formal diplomatic notes to this effect. “The Cook Islands welcomes this very positive step forward in the development of relations with Switzerland,” says acting Foreign Affairs Minister Nandi Glassie. He says that the establishment of diplomatic relations provides a sound basis for […]

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Jogging for health at Enuamanu

Last month the students and teachers of Enuamanu School on Atiu launched their health and wellbeing initiative towards healthy bodies, healthy minds equals a better education. The entire school will jog around the field for 10 minutes every fine day. Principal Nooroa Teipo and staff member Oirua Rasmussen led from the front with a determined […]

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Miles leads law society

The Cook Islands Law Society has elected a new council following its annual general meeting recently. Barrister and solicitor Lloyd Miles has been re-elected as president and will serve his third annual term in the role. Newly-elected vice president Charles Little fills the vacancy left by former vice president Marie Francis, who resigned from the […]

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Raising the bar in Aitutaki

The teachers at Araura Primary School have been engaged in professional development using ‘formative assessment practices’. A key aspect of formative assessment is the development of learning intentions and success criteria, said Gene Bartlett, principal of the school. “They are used to focus learning and teaching to allow students to self assess themselves against indicators […]

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Water works for 5 islands in north

A $2.2 million project to improve water collection, storage, and supply infrastructure on cyclone-hit northern group islands is set to be implemented in the next few months. A contract for the work is out for tender and project managers hope to have it awarded soon in order for equipment to be procured and shipped to […]

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Tourism launches UK website

In anticipation of the travelers that will flock to New Zealand this year for the Rugby World Cup 2011, Cook Islands Tourism (CIT) is reaching out to the United Kingdom market. CIT has launched a brand new microsite (part of its larger website) in cooperation with Air New Zealand, Austravel, Turquoise Holidays and Gullivers Sports […]

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