Local
Govt wants more productivity from State Owned Enterprises
Thursday 3 February 2011 | Published in Local
Government will soon be making significant policy shifts around state owned enterprises. Finance Minister Mark Brown says that government is looking at shifting the focus of state owned enterprises away from maximising revenue generation to increasing productivity. “This includes a better service delivery so that the benefits accrue to the wider economy, especially to the […]
Hospital reviewing over-prescription
Thursday 3 February 2011 | Published in Local
Director of clinical services Dr Zaw Myo Aung has confirmed that a hospital patient has been diagnosed with MRSA – the third case in 15 years. MRSA, or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a bacterium that has developed resistance to certain antibiotics, including penicillin. The bug derives its name from its resistance to drugs that should […]
Sir Geoffrey for Speaker?
Thursday 3 February 2011 | Published in Local
One of the country’s most experienced former politicians, Sir Geoffrey Henry, says he would accept the post of speaker of Parliament if invited to take it up by the government. Sir Geoffrey is being widely named as being the government’s choice to be the next speaker of Parliament. But the government is being coy about […]
Tower sacks manager
Wednesday 2 February 2011 | Published in Local
The Cook Islands Tower Insurance office, formerly run and managed by Mariia Pera-Maurangi, is currently under the management of senior staff from Tower in New Zealand. This action follows an internal audit that took place in December last year which resulted in two staff members being dismissed and the matter referred to Cook Islands Police. […]
CIP retains Tamarua seat
Wednesday 2 February 2011 | Published in Local
Chief Justice Tom Weston has rejected Democratic Party candidate Andy Matapo’s petition challenging the Mangaia election results. Cook Islands Party Member of Parliament Pukeiti Pukeiti – who won the Tamarua seat by just one vote – will represent Mangaia. Matapo – who brought his petition through lawyer Tina Browne – named Pukeiti as first respondent, […]
$1.5m Grow Fund stymied
Wednesday 2 February 2011 | Published in Local
A $1.5 million NZaid development fund intended for low interest rate on-lending to small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Cook Islands has been shelved, over six months after the New Zealand government approved it. During that six months the Grow Fund was never accessed as Cook Islands officials were working on changing the fund’s […]
Peep, peep
Tuesday 1 February 2011 | Published in Local
Toward the end of last year, Sabine Janneck of the Dive Centre stumbled upon a baby white tern – a seabird of the gull and skimmer family – in her kitchen. She estimated he was about a week old and named him Peep. “I tried everything to get some information here on the island how […]
Sports may get facilities
Tuesday 1 February 2011 | Published in Local
Sport and Finance Minister Mark Brown is looking into giving sports codes the responsibility for maintaining and running their own facilities. Currently the Cook Islands Investments Corporation has responsibility for managing sports facilities like the BCI Stadium and the Telecom Sports Arena. But many sports codes have argued for years to have control of their […]
SPCA election ends 3-year 'hiatus'
Tuesday 1 February 2011 | Published in Local
The Cook Islands Society for Prevention Against Cruelty to Animals (CISPCA) proceeded with its scheduled meeting last Thursday, despite confusion over the date of its official AGM – for which two conflicting advertisements were placed last week in CINews. At Thursday’s meeting, members and potential members elected a new team of office-bearers – Eric Sijp […]
First sitting of parliament must wait
Tuesday 1 February 2011 | Published in Local
No date has been set for the first sitting of parliament as Prime Minister Henry Puna must wait for the outcome of the four electoral petitions. There is a ruling in the constitution which states that the sitting of parliament has to happen within 90 days of the election – making February 17 the last […]
Saturday swim
Monday 31 January 2011 | Published in Local
Eager triathletes before their swim in Avarua harbour on Saturday. Results, page 10. 11013002
No changes in final counts
Monday 31 January 2011 | Published in Local
The final count of the outer islands elections is nearly complete. All final counts have been recorded apart from those from Penrhyn and Pukapuka. None of the results of mayoral or councillor elections have changed. There were 175 additional votes to add to the count in Aitutaki. Former mayor Tai Herman gained 77 votes bringing […]
Boost for online business
Monday 31 January 2011 | Published in Local
NZaid is providing $500,000 to create an online registration system for all Cook Islands businesses based on the one used in New Zealand. It will make it easier for businesses to get officially registered and begin work. “Making it easier for companies and individuals to access and register information will improve the business environment and […]
Visitor numbers up 1.6% in 2010
Monday 31 January 2011 | Published in Local
International visitor arrivals to the Cook Islands increased by 1.6 percent in 2010 compared to the previous year. Cook Islands Tourism has crunched the numbers to take out of the equation the number of Pacific Island visitors who came to the Cook Islands for the 2009 Pacific Mini Games – making the increase in numbers […]
Censor targets hard drives
Monday 31 January 2011 | Published in Local
Chief censor Alfred Morris is concerned that some people are now importing pirated movies on hard-drives and these are being copied on to DVDs for sale – and he’s exploring how to put a stop to it. “I am aware of hard-drives, flash-drives (being) brought into the country from overseas and people processing them into […]
George paves the way
Saturday 29 January 2011 | Published in Local
Norman George has further paved the way for his predicted move to the Democratic Party. In a lengthy letter to the editor today, he says, “If I am to resign from the CIP, it will be with honour and dignity. I owe nothing to the CIP, the CIP owes me a lot but that is […]
CISNOC moving offices
Saturday 29 January 2011 | Published in Local
The government has approved a request for the Cook Islands National Olympic Committee to move their operations from their current leaky offices in Maraerenga. CISNOC will be packing up and moving to the old home economics building in front of the BCI Stadium. The minister for both sport and finance Mark Brown said that government […]
Petition hearings start Jan 31
Saturday 29 January 2011 | Published in Local
The Pukapuka election petition will be going ahead now a week later than planned. The hearing of all four election petitions begins on January 31, when Chief Justice Tom Weston travels to Mangaia to hear the Democratic Party’s petition over Tamarua. On February 1 he returns to Rarotonga to hear the Cook Islands Party’s petition […]
NZ gives $3m for waste scheme
Friday 28 January 2011 | Published in Local
At the end of three days of talks, a NZaid team yesterday signed a letter of intent with Minister Teariki Heather to provide $3 million of funding for a new three-year waste management and sanitation improvement project. The plan is for the money to speed up changes in septic tanks across Rarotonga and Aitutaki to […]
New effort in recycling
Friday 28 January 2011 | Published in Local
Waste management has become a top priority for the minister of infrastructure and planning Teariki Heather who will this weekend lead a delegation on a tour of waste facilities in New Zealand. But before the fact finding mission – improvements have been made in the rubbish collection service on Rarotonga by contractors T&M Heather. Director […]
« Previous 1 … 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 … 710 Next »