National

$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 […]

Local

3 new advisors 'teach teachers'

Wednesday 2 February 2011 | Published in National

The ministry of education has recruited three new advisors to help make sure students in the Cooks get the best education possible. Brendon Feibig has arrived from New Zealand with a wealth of experience in improving how pupils learn in primary schools. His last job was deputy principal of Birkenhead Primary School in Auckland and […]

National

Court upholds Rakahanga result

Wednesday 2 February 2011 | Published in National

Taunga Toka will continue to represent the constituency of Rakahanga as a Democratic Party Member of Parliament. In the November general elections, Toka clinched 30 votes – two more than his CIP rival Toka Hagai. Hagai brought a petition challenging the election on the grounds that four voters were absent from Rakahanga for more than […]

National

Dashwood back as CIIC chairman

Wednesday 2 February 2011 | Published in National

Monitoring unnecessary spending, wastage of funds and use of aid money will be the priority for newly appointed chairman of the Cook Islands Investment Corporation (CIIC) Julian Dashwood. Dashwood signed his warrant of appointment yesterday with minister for CIIC Mark Brown who says that Dashwood was appointed to the position because “he can come in […]

National

Rotary called to re-focus

Tuesday 1 February 2011 | Published in National

In an effort to re-direct Rotary’s focus, club president Maureen Hilyard is trying something new – once-a-month ‘breakfast club meetings’ to discuss specific Rotary projects. The first breakfast club meets this morning at Aquarius – an exceptional circumstance, as the meetings will normally be the first Wednesday of the month. Rotary president Maureen Hilyard wrote […]

National

Aid adviser injured in PNG car-jacking

Tuesday 1 February 2011 | Published in National

PORT MORESBY, Feb 1 – An Australian aid adviser in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has been seriously injured in a violent car-jacking in Port Moresby. A spokesperson for the Australian High Commission confirmed the victim, a man in his 50s, worked for Australia’s aid programme. “An Australian man had his car stolen in a car-jacking […]

National

Tonga urged to work together

Tuesday 1 February 2011 | Published in National

NUKU’ALOFA, Feb 1 – Tongan parliamentarians today embarked on a week long journey to deepen their technical knowledge of the workings of the legislative assembly of Tonga, including their role as law-makers and representatives of the people. The parliamentary awareness and leadership workshop follows the historic elections of November 25 last year, in which voters […]

National

400 paua killed as Mauke raui fails

Tuesday 1 February 2011 | Published in Environment

The mass killing of hundreds of young paua on Mauke island will lead to a review of the raui there. In 2008 a raui was put in place on the island from Patito to Anaio, a half kilometre stretch of lagoon which includes one of Mauke’s noted tourist attractions, a salt water swimming cave known […]

Environment

It's World Wetlands Day tomorrow

Tuesday 1 February 2011 | Published in Environment

Wednesday February 2 is World Wetlands Day. The day marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on February 2, 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar. The National Environment Services has dubbed 2011 the Year of the Wetlands and will throughout the year undertake actions aimed at raising public awareness of […]

Environment

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 […]

Local

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 […]

Local

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 […]

Local

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 […]

Local

Composers invited to enter Te Mire Atu 2011

Tuesday 1 February 2011 | Published in National

This year’s Te Mire Atu composer’s competition is open to all aspiring songwriters and will be held on Thursday, March 3. The competition is restricted to Cook Islanders residing in the Cook Islands and songwriters intending to enter a song in the competition must register with the Ministry of Cultural Development before February 9. This […]

National

Pukapuka looks to Samoa for lifeline

Tuesday 1 February 2011 | Published in National

The distance between Rarotonga and Pukapuka is over 1000 miles, making travel by air and sea both difficult and costly. Pukapukans living abroad face considerable challenges in the way of making the journey home – they must first buy a ticket to Rarotonga and then find a way to Pukapuka. Air Raro sends flights to […]

National

Renewed impetus sought for EU agreement

Tuesday 1 February 2011 | Published in National

The Pacific region’s top trade officials, experts and ministers gather this week in Apia, Samoa, to deliberate on key issues surrounding negotiations with the European Union on a fair and comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). Secretary of foreign affairs Jim Gosselin and trade officer Teremoana Mato are representing the Cook Islands at the Apia meetings. […]

National

Air Raro upgrades Bandeirante

Tuesday 1 February 2011 | Published in National

Air Rarotonga Embraer Bandeirante E5-TAK is presently in the heavy maintenance dock at the company’s engineering base at Rarotonga Airport for a major inspection and modification of its primary wing structure. The work is undertaken when the aircraft reaches a certain number of flight hours and the modification returns the aircraft to service with many […]

National

Change of officers in Navy job

Tuesday 1 February 2011 | Published in National

Chief petty officer Kelvin Marsh has been working with the crew of Te Kukupa as a technical advisor for the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) for the past three and a half years. He accompanied his wife Arlene to Auckland in 2009 when she was due to give birth to their fourth child – incidentally, […]

National

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 […]

Local

Family gift to elderly, disabled

Monday 31 January 2011 | Published in National

The elderly and disabled community on Rarotonga has benefited from the recent Engu-Tavai family reunion last month. This week, Engu-Tavai family representative and family reunion coordinator Willie Greig donated $700 worth of adult nappies and plastic crockery to the national disability council division of internal affairs. The Engu-Tavai family unite every three years for a […]

National

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