National

Legal opinion supports PM's view

Friday 15 January 2010 | Published in Local

Prime minister Jim Marurai is content to rely on a legal opinion on the calling of parliament as he continues to thwart attempts to remove him from power by the majority of MPs. The legal opinion concludes that without his advice the Queen’s Representative cannot call parliament to sit – a view the PM and […]

Local

Church leader urges Demos to settle 'marriage problems'

Friday 15 January 2010 | Published in Local

A prominent church leader is calling on politicians to settle their differences or step aside. Apostolic Bishop Tutai Pere wants feuding Democratic Party MPs to resolve their “internal marriage problems” or hand over the reigns of government to the Opposition Cook Islands Party. In his Churchtalk opinion piece on page 11 today, Pere shares his […]

Local

500 get NCEA results

Friday 15 January 2010 | Published in Local

Eighteen-year-old Tara Ngari is one of 500 local students who can now access national certificate of educational achievement (NCEA) exam results online. Results for all 140,000 students (mostly in NZ) that sat the exams are available online, but they must register first to log in. Tara and others who sat NCEA here will start receiving […]

Local

Cabinet of 5 not serving national interest claims George

Friday 15 January 2010 | Published in National

Opposition MP Norman George claims the new five-member cabinet should be called ‘the save Jimmy’s job’ government. “Or is it a ‘SOJ – Save Our Jobs government’ – for a temporary period of six months that is…” snipes George. The MP has also accused Marurai of ‘latching on to political reform to cushion his overstaying […]

National

Police continue blitz

Friday 15 January 2010 | Published in National

Investigations are continuing into the cases of the six men arrested during what police are calling Operation Muri. Operation Muri is the code name for the raids of Tuesday and Wednesday in which six young males were charged with a range of offences involving drugs, burglary and theft. Of the six offenders targeted during the […]

National

2 shipping companies merge

Thursday 14 January 2010 | Published in Local

PDL (Pacific Direct Line) and PFL (Pacific Forum Line) have formed a joint venture company to provide shipping to the Cook Islands. The new venture sees the withdrawal of two vessels which will be replaced by the larger MV Forum Pacific. The withdrawn vessels are PDL’s Southern Phoenix, which will no longer operate the New […]

Local

PM presses for reform

Thursday 14 January 2010 | Published in Local

Prime minister Jim Marurai is taking steps to show he’s serious about a referendum on political reform. In a statement issued yesterday he said he wants the public to support him in pressing ahead with political change. The day after announcing he will put together a team to work on preparing the referendum, the PM […]

Local

Roadside deliveries no problem for Raina

Thursday 14 January 2010 | Published in Local

Babies who couldn’t wait for the ambulance to get to the hospital are among the highlights of 35 years of service to the Rarotonga Hospital for 64-year-old Raina Raina. The ambulance officer, who took on a supervisory role in 2008, recalls having to pull the ambulance over to the side of the road and deliver […]

Local

PM to release legal opinion

Thursday 14 January 2010 | Published in National

Prime minister Jim Marurai says he will soon release the six-page legal opinion received from NZ constitutional lawyer Dr Alex Frame that will prove that his cabinet is abiding by the Constitution. The legal opinion was prompted by the now rejected petition by 19 MPs to the Queen’s Representative Sir Frederick Goodwin to call parliament […]

National

Cyclone story was mistaken

Thursday 14 January 2010 | Published in National

Last week’s report on a cyclone in the Cook Islands was wrong, the Fiji Meteorological Service confirms. Director Rajendra Prasad said the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation Limited (FBCL) website misquoted him as saying a tropical cyclone had developed in the southern Cooks. The mistaken report was picked up by internet search engine Google in their alerts […]

National

Overgrown sections a problem

Thursday 14 January 2010 | Published in National

The last round of Tutaka inspections show an improvement on last year’s figures, according to the Ministry of Health. The ministry inspected 3966 sites and found a total of 59 problems. The major problems were 23 overgrown vacant sections and 12 overgrown vacant houses. Two of the sections and one of the vacant houses were […]

National

Barton not on seabed authority short-list

Thursday 14 January 2010 | Published in National

New mineral and natural resources minister Robert Wigmore says he will now move swiftly to set up the seabed minerals authority but has shot down rumours that he is considering businessman Richard Barton (above) to head the new body. The deputy prime minister said the rumour may be interesting but Barton’s name had not occurred […]

National

Political parties hold off statement

Thursday 14 January 2010 | Published in National

A second joint statement from the Democratic Party and the Cook Islands Party has been put on hold this week as the parties take in the rejection of their request for parliament to be called to sit. It is understood the parties may now hold off on issuing any statement in regards to the recent […]

National

Political reform petition the best way to be heard now

Thursday 14 January 2010 | Published in National

The Mou Piri group for political reform says the promise of a referendum in no way takes away from the importance of all Cook Islands voters to sign the current petition. The new pledge by prime minister Jim Marurai for a referendum to be held before or on the date of the next election has […]

National

Growers study climate communications

Thursday 14 January 2010 | Published in National

Making best use of the available climate data and communicating that information properly will go a long way in assisting growers in the country. A three-day workshop, aimed at improving the communication of climate information to growers during the current weak El Nino cycle, wrapped up at the Kent Hall yesterday. Horticultural scientist Jane Adams […]

National

Tahiti claimant seeks title

Thursday 14 January 2010 | Published in Crime

One of the claimants for Rarotonga’s chiefly Makea Nui title says one needs to go deeper into Tahitian history to find out the real story behind the title. Oti Oti, who is of Maukean descent and has been in the country for the last three weeks, has been residing in French Polynesia since 1970. Oti […]

Crime

Chicken pieces spill mystery

Thursday 14 January 2010 | Published in Environment

The remains of chicken pieces, carrots, potatoes, cauliflower and pumpkin were scraped of the road at the Harley Street corner on Tuesday afternoon. Police, public health and the national environment service were alerted of the spill around 10am, before public health officials cleaned up the mess later that afternoon. It is understood that the equivalent […]

Environment

Dead animals found on foreshore

Thursday 14 January 2010 | Published in Environment

First it was chicken pieces on the road at Nikao on Tuesday. Yesterday morning it was a couple of decaying dogs and a pig carcass discovered on the Matavera foreshore. National environment service compliance officer Keri Herman said they were alerted after a member of the public reported the discovery of the remains to public […]

Environment

6 arrests in police raids

Thursday 14 January 2010 | Published in Local

Police arrested six men after a target operation this week on burglaries, theft and drug offending. An investigation which had been ongoing for the past couple of months culminated with a team of detectives executing search warrants on six homes on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. The men arrested ranged from ages 15 to 22 and […]

Local

Happy to be back at 102

Wednesday 13 January 2010 | Published in Local

At 102 years old, Louie Grau has still got her wits about her, and she’s showing no signs of slowing down. Born in New Zealand in 1907, Louie came to the Cook Islands for the first time in the 1930s to be with her brothers. Walter was the Resident Commissioner for Atiu and Harry co-owned […]

Local

« Previous  1    1,845  1,846  1,847  1,848  1,849  1,850  1,851  1,852  1,853    1,880  Next »