More Top Stories
$12.9m approved for solar battery project, NZ confirms
12 March 2025
Crown Law Office on track for record number of lawyers
12 March 2025
‘Nothing to worry about’: Prime Minister Brown on China agreement
16 February 2025
‘Serious questions’: Opposition challenges China partnership
15 February 2025
No-confidence motion against PM and his Cabinet faces delays
15 February 2025
Ruta Mave: People’s Republic of China red flag
10 February 2025
No debt in China deal
8 February 2025
Thomas Wynne: Haka with the taniwha or dance with the dragon?
8 February 2025
‘Paedophile’ gets 13 years in prison
22 January 2025
Thomas Wynne: Where were our leaders while children suffered?
25 January 2025
$541.7m tourism earnings
25 January 2025
Cook Islands passport proposal
6 January 2025
Police need numbers and bigger budget
9 December 2024
Niki Rattle: A call for stronger human rights protections
10 December 2024
Solid and Hazardous Waste Bill referred to Parliament committee
10 December 2024
DPM defends CIIC finance and travel policies
6 December 2024
Cook Islands has its first mosque
14 November 2024
CI Muslim opens up about her faith and journey
16 November 2024
RAC to address mosque legality
19 November 2024
I don’t expect much change: PM Brown on US Elections
6 November 2024
Fifth weekly Sydney flight to Rarotonga announced
23 October 2024
CIIC directors seek $350,000 in damages over defamatory claims
21 October 2024
Man found guilty of rape, burglary
24 September 2024
Tenants face water bill burden
8 October 2024
Concerns over Minister’s role in inmate work releases: PAC
5 October 2024
Anxiety on the rise: Cook Islands faces mental health challenge
7 September 2024
MCI rejects ‘dark fleet’ label
3 August 2024
National
MFEM reforms aim to prevent repeat of costly Sheraton project
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Management (MFEM) has taken valuable lessons from the controversial Sheraton deal, reinforcing its financial policies and procedures to prevent similar issues from occurring in the future.
Facebook group admin responds to police caution on posting personal IDs
The administrator of the private Facebook group, Rarotonga Community and Beyond, has clarified the group’s stance on posting personal identification items online, following a police caution about the potential risks of such posts.
Dancer of year comp delayed
Tuesday 31: This year’s dancer of the year competition has been delayed because of the number of activities happening over the coming weeks. The national junior and intermediate finals will now be held on April 30, not April 24 as first scheduled, while the senior finals will take place on May 7 – two weeks […]
Trades training shared with Niue
Wednesday 1: Four teachers from Niue High School visited the trade training centre recently to check up on the transition programmes being run at the Arorangi facility. Principal James Poihega says they are interested in carrying out vocational training programmes at their school, and are keen to learn how the TTC operates, along with the […]
Tourism industry says what it wants
Monday 30: Aitutaki operators call for more government backing Tourism minister Wilkie Rasmussen took the time to meet with tourism industry members while in Aitutaki on Friday. In what was the most unemotional meeting of four held by the minister last week to discuss Sunday flights, about 30 members of the tourism industry including members […]
Avatea movie night tomorrow
Wednesday 1: Avatea School is putting on a movie night tomorrow to help raise funds to upgrade its playground and car parking area. There will be two movies screened at Avatea School hall from 5pm – one of them is the popular animated children’s movie Bolt. Bolt is about a canine star of an action […]
Website for tourism
Monday 30: The Tourism Industry Council is hoping its new website will become a focal point for the industry. Council president Greg Stanaway says the website, still being fully developed, was launched about two months ago. Creating an informative website for the public and its members was one of the council’s aims set last year. […]
Regional auditors set plan
Wednesday 1: The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) Transitional Working Group (TWG) met in Wellington last week to finalise its charter. Members also reviewed programme funding and staff resource arrangements, discussed a framework for a capacity development programme, and developed a proposal for mobilising a cooperative performance audit. The group’s committee chairman, Paul […]
Machinery to be bought for outer islands
Monday 30: Plant and equipment are being bought by tender for infrastructure projects on some of the outer islands. Ministry of Infrastructure & Planning’s Daryl Rairi says requests come in from each island administration every year and are then prioritised. “These projects are funded from the outer islands budget appropriation where outer islands get approximately […]
Centre to keep in touch
Wednesday 1: The Creative Centre in Tupapa has received a brand new mobile phone, thanks to Telecom Cook Islands. TCI has donated a Nokia C118 phone with a prepaid SIM card and $20 credit. The mobile will be mainly used by the bus driver to remain in constant contact with centre management. Creative centre coordinator […]
Thanksgiving tomorrow
Saturday 28 March: A national thanksgiving prayer service planned for tomorrow to coincide with the end of the cyclone season will now be handed over to all the local churches and denominations. This is because of the unavailability of the National Auditorium which is being set up for the Miss Cook Islands Pageant next week. […]
Shortland Street extras meet actors
Wednesday 1: Locals involved in the production of a Shortland Street episode being shot here were kept busy yesterday as they tackled some of the 22 scenes for the show this week. South Pacific Pictures’ Shortland Street publicist Rachel Keereweer took Cook Islands News on a bit of a tour of the set for one […]
Aitutaki promotion could bring over 500
Saturday 28 March: A $50,000 initiative by CI Tourism to promote Aitutaki and get 500 extra people on the island from March to June is working so well that it is likely to bring many more visitors. Island Hopper’s Stephen Doherty addressed yesterday’s meeting between the Aitutaki tourism industry and tourism minister Wilkie Rasmussen, saying […]
Northern islands back on line
Wednesday 1: Four northern islands were unable to receive or make phone calls on Monday. In a media statement released yesterday, Telecom Cook Islands says the problem occurred during the changeover from the NSS-5 satellite to the new NSS-9 satellite that took place on Monday afternoon. “Unfortunately with the islands of Pukapuka, Nassau, Palmerston and […]
Queen's all for it
Friday 27 March: Manarangi Tutai Ariki says she is all for Sunday flights to Aitutaki continuing, without the need for a referendum. Queen Manarangi, as she is known, is an ex-officio member of the island council and the woman who runs Gina’s Garden Lodges and Gina’s Akaiami Beach Lodge. She expressed her views at the […]