More Top Stories
$541.7m tourism earnings
25 January 2025
‘Paedophile’ gets 13 years in prison
22 January 2025
Thomas Wynne: Where were our leaders while children suffered?
25 January 2025
Cook Islands passport proposal
6 January 2025
Top cop position advertised
7 December 2024
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
Tourism contribution set to surpass half-billion dollar mark
25 September 2024
Parliament Clerk sparks outrage over deep sea mining statement
23 September 2024
Deep sea dilemma: Cook Islanders weigh the cost of mineral riches
21 September 2024
Anxiety on the rise: Cook Islands faces mental health challenge
7 September 2024
Cook Islands deep sea mining poll sparks controversy
7 September 2024
MCI rejects ‘dark fleet’ label
3 August 2024
Rising seas, rising costs: Climate impacts on Cook Islands economy
2 September 2024
Inflation eases but concerns remain
31 August 2024
Prime Minister defends $659,000 MPs travel bill
23 August 2024
Taxpayers foot $659,000 bill for MPs travel and allowance
22 August 2024
Corruption report exposes ‘bribe and sexual favours’
17 January 2023
PM Brown eager to hand over Forum chair role to Tonga
13 August 2024
Challenging ‘rape culture’
8 July 2024
Opinion
Letter: Travel budget
Not one dollar, not one cent better be spent on these MPs in the supplementary budget for travel. Not another dollar Mr Brown, not another cent of our hard-earned taxpayers’ money to be spent on your travel.
Letter: Protecting our women and children
Dear Editor, The recent sentencing of Yawea Teophilo to 14 years in prison for 47 charges of rape (and other charges) has shocked our community. Learning about what these young girls had to go through is heart breaking and reminds us of the urgent need to protect our women and children, and support survivors of gender-based violence (GBV).
Power for change lies within us all
THE OTHER day, a local islander said to me about the American presidential election, “I thought it was a joke. Now it’s serious.”
Why are we a divided nation?
WE ARE polite, kindly, refined, affable, polished and courteous, yet capable of unleashing ruthless cruelty and savagery beyond measure!
Where to for Demos after Teina Bishop?
RIGHT NOW, I am in extreme anguish over the guilty finding the jury returned for my dear friend Teina Bishop.
More to decluttering than meets the eye...
Can you imagine becoming a millionaire by teaching people how to fold their underwear in a new way?
Working together on suicide issue
Guest columnist Thomas Wynne takes a look at a conference on suicide prevention, held in Japan in May this year, and the contribution made by Cook Islander Eliza Puna, who gave a presentation on her Phd on Suicide Prevention amongst Cook Islands Youth in New Zealand; Eliza Puna. The conference was attended by a number of service providers in the Pacific.
Demos seem bent on self-destruction
Occasional columnist Mata-Atua McNair casts her eye over the current political situation in the Cook Islands and tries to make sense of some strange and bewildering events.
A warning every parent should read
ONE DAY, when I was helping my 13-year-old son pack to visit family for the summer, I took a break and sat back on the bed.
Political deadlock - the winners and losers
SOME PEOPLE are treating the current political impasse as the agony without end.
Rule of law should govern the nation
The RULE of law is more than just some quaint phrase that is trotted out from time to time to sound impressive.
Mindfulness makes all the difference...
I WAS amazed while eating a salad at a restaurant in Rarotonga, when the owner stopped by and asked, “Is your salad a little dry?”
A festival of mistakes and bad habits
The LAST few days have brought to a climax all the bad decision-making by the Speaker and Clerk of Parliament.
Big on promises, short on delivery
DESPITE THE last minute flurry as to whether parliament was correctly adjourned, (which, with the doors firmly locked, provided camera opportunities but not much more), the June sitting of parliament came and went with an opposition promising much, but delivering little.
Freebies take priority over parliament
TIME AND time again, the self-serving needs of the prime minister and his cabinet have brought the Appropriation Bill to a sudden halt.
The reluctant Solicitor General
READERS will recall that in April this year, I sent for publication the copy of a letter I forwarded to the Solicitor General, David James, asking him to review the decision of the Cook Islands Police Force not to prosecute Henry Puna for careless driving causing injury after an accident on October 4, 2014.
Handicraft export made much easier
COMPREHENSIVE information about biosecurity regulations for transporting handicrafts across borders in the Pacific region is now more accessible following the launch of a manual at the recently-completed 12th Festival of Pacific Arts in Hagatna, Guam.
A tribute to Muhammad Ali, 1942-2016
MUHAMMAD Ali was a great athlete, civil rights leader, linguist, showman, philanthropist, world citizen – and a man who left some memorable quotes:
Family unity fulfills a divine convenant
I WALKED into the large carpeted meeting room of an apartment complex where our family reunion was being held. Gradually the room filled, with five generations of Kavelins, my dad’s relatives.
Cook Islands devoid of critical thinking
Last week, a Tongan academic claimed that the Pacific is at a critical stage where there is a noticeable lack of “critical thinking.”
Can't wait for 'Aoteoroazhou'
I would like to live long enough to see the day when people of Chinese or Asian descent are in the majority in New Zealand, and I would like Mike Hosking and the racist citizenary of New Plymouth to be around then too.
The language of love important one to learn
Araura College Counsellor Thomas Wynne and I were recently talking about the needs of youth, and he shared some fascinating information. Thomas discovered what students at Araura are craving as ways to feel loved.