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Crime

Rarotonga crime stats challenged

Cook Islands Police data shows no increasing crime trend, but the Opposition leader and a road safety advocate argue understaffing and passive policing conceal actual crime and safety issues in Rarotonga.

Local

Australian High Commission accepting applications for community grants

The Australian High Commission has announced the opening of the Australia – Cook Islands Community Grants Program.

Mangaia craftspeople enjoy boom

Craftspeople in Mangaia upped the ante this past weekend to cater to the hundreds of tourists that travelled there for the eclipse. Local jewellery and local crafts were wildly popular with the eclipse-chasers, who cleaned out market stalls and local shops that most of the time don’t get such great numbers of tourists. Lyn Martin, […]

National

H1N1 swine flu vaccinations continuing

Public Health is continuing to vaccinate the population against swine flu. The Secretary of Health Tupou Faireka said that by vaccinating health care staff and school children, 10 per cent of the population has already been protected against Swine Flu. Yesterday a group of four health professionals, one IT technician and one admin person left […]

National

Telecom boosts cell service

The weekend influx of more than 400 tourists to Mangaia was the impetus for Telecom to provide the island with temporary cellphone coverage. Telecom sent a crew to install cell towers on Thursday last week, and by Friday night they had successfully set up towers at the airport and in Oneroa village. TCI Information Systems […]

National

Avarua school gala raises $30,000

Avarua School’s food festival and gala was a huge success last Friday July 9, according to principal Gelling Jack. They had aimed to make around $20,000 but the quantities of food donated and consumed by parents and the local community left Jack confident that the amount raised would exceed $30,000. The umu goat was ready […]

National

Apii Te Uki Ou fundraises for Aitutaki

Apii Te Uki Ou has helped Aitutaki through weeks of fundraising and fun activities. First we had a food drive which went over in Term 1. Then we raised $1300 for Aitutaki after Cyclone Pat. We bought three mats and a brand new laptop for Araura College and Primary School. We fundraised by having a […]

National

Making fun and funds

By 11.30am yesterday, most of the food at the St Joseph’s School gala had sold out but there was still plenty of fun on offer for families. The gala day at the school was to raise funds to upgrade the pre-school block. There was umu kai food, barbequed kai and plenty of cakes and muffins […]

National

A little help from our Tahiti friends

Air Raro will be busy this weekend shuttling hundreds of international eclipse watchers to Mangaia, while its own Saab 340 is still in New Zealand undergoing a major overhaul. To ensure that all goes smoothly, the airline chartered an ATR42-500 from neighbouring Air Tahiti to assist with inter-island passenger traffic over the coming week. The […]

National

Poetry helps boys speak

Students on the Te Rakei Toa programme were the stars of the show at the auditorium on Thursday night. Each of the 11-14 year old boys on the programme learned, understood, and recited a poem in English or Maori. They were then filmed reciting their poem for the DVD ‘Voices along the Wayside’, copies of […]

National

Pa Ariki Palace planned

Plans to build an official residence for Takitumu paramount chief Pa Ariki have been revived, but no details are available at this stage how the project will be financed. Some of Pa Ariki’s sub-chiefs met yesterday morning on the two-acre section off the main road in Turangi that has long been designated as the site […]

National

Cheap Aussie holidays

A cheap Australian holiday package has been launched for Cook Islands residents. In an effort to ensure the success of the new direct Sydney flight, Island Hopper has packaged a deal for those who want to visit Australia. The tour operator approached Air New Zealand and was able to secure a “reasonably attractive airfare”. Retail […]

National

Audit report reveals 'clear financial mismanagement'

The newly-released Toagate audit report points to serious financial mismanagement on government’s part and reveals that key decision makers did not cost the proposed nationalisation strategy properly. Government attempted to nationalise the fuel industry in order to mitigate and control rising fuel costs, but the plan ended as an “enormously expensive failure with no benefit […]

National

Toagate shows system flaws

Audit recommends changes and improvements to process The audit office’s report on the Toa debacle raises some serious questions about the way government conducts its business, and also makes some suggestions about where government should go from here. Multiple times the report reveals Audit’s concern over the way that just a few public officials had […]

National

A piece of history finds a home

Justina Nicholas, head librarian of the National Library, was delighted when CI News called and asked if she would like to give a set of photos a home. Dame Margaret Shields was a cabinet minister in New Zealand in 1987 when she flew into Rarotonga after Cyclone Sally to see what the NZ government could […]

National

Firearms taken from Titikaveka

Two firearms – a .22 semi automatic rifle and a 12 gauge round singles barrel semi automatic shotgun – were reported missing from a Titikaveka residence. The owners of the home have been overseas since Christmas of last year, and cannot judge when the guns were taken. “Police would like to urge all firearm owners […]

National

New Albert stands for values of old

Nicholas confident new party will grow given some time CIP’s breakaway MP Albert Nicholas believes his constituency will continue to support him as he sets out to grow the Cook Islands Party Tumu. CI News interviewed Nicholas, his committee vice chairman Richard Marsters and CIP Tumu advisor Tupui Ariki Henry yesterday about the decision to […]

National

Sir Terepai 'failed on numerous occasions'

The Toagate audit report says that former Deputy Prime Minister Sir Terepai Maoate’s conduct “failed on numerous occasions”. It says that on December 1 2008, Sir Terepai told the chamber of Commerce that “Chamber’s concerns that government is nationalising the oil industry are noted. As no final decision has been made on the model it […]

National

Ivaiti's 'inappropriate management' led to Toagate scandal says report

The conduct of former Financial Secretary Sholan Ivaiti comes under heavy criticism and scrutiny in the just-released Toagate audit report. The report, which has yet to be tabled in Parliament, says that throughout the five month review of the failed fuel farm project, clear instances of ‘inappropriate public administration and project management practices’ by Ivaiti […]

National

Community connections a key to political success

Tangata Vainerere, the coordinator of the Pacific Legislature for Population and Governance (PLPG) office in Rarotonga, says political success depends on how connected you are to your community. One of the focuses of the PLPG is empowering people to get involved in policy making and politics. Vainerere said that many people in the Pacific go […]

National

Junior tennis down to business

The East Pacific Qualifying tennis tournament heads into the business stage of the competition with the under 12 and under 18 boys to play their semi final matches today. These two grades will then play out their finals games on Friday while the under 12 girls, under 14 boys and girls and the under 18 […]

National

Blue Light relay breaks record

Despite heavy showers, runners last week successfully smashed a 24-year-old record, covering 480km in 40 consecutive hours. The police-driven Blue Light relay raised just under $1000, though organiser Alan Rua said that the run wasn’t about making money but about showing the community that Blue Light is back in action. “This was about re-activating Blue […]

National

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