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
Thomas Wynne: A time to reflect, change
Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the mama who was tragically taken while simply walking down the road in our village of Arorangi this week. May God comfort you all in this time of grief and loss, writes Thomas Tarurongo Wynne.
Te Ipukarea Society: Nocturnal beetle a growing problem for Cook Islands crops
This week’s article is an expansion on an earlier “Bug of the Week” post informed by Mike Bowie who was working at the Ministry of Agriculture.
Pet Talk: Something to crow about . . .
When I was a child, we lived in a small country called Swaziland. It has since changed its name, to Eswatini. I can remember a lot about the country and our time there, even though it was a long time ago. One of the things I remember well are the bags of chicken heads and feet, sold in shops as “Walkie-Talkie”. A fantastic name.
Letter: Where are the welcome signs?
When is Aviation Security Services going to do something about the sloppy appearance and behaviour of their staff at the airport?
Letter: Allocations of Olympic funding
I write in support of other families who are still waiting for promised funding from Tokyo Olympics and are questioning the allocations of Olympic Solidarity Funding.
RUTA MAVE: Deaths, taxes and sabbaticals
We may not wish to lose our close ones but we less wish to hold onto them if it means a living death.
LETTER: Questionable funding allocations
Dear Editor, I write as a solo mother unhappy with our national sports committee CISNOC’s decisions with respect to funding allocations.
LETTER: Where is the customer service?
Dear Editor, I’m a local of many years. My partner is a Cook Islander.
RUTA MAVE: A promise to love and to hold until death do us part
With the statistics of marriage these days saying only 55 per cent remain married, the average length of time for a marriage is around 20 years.
Letter: Stats on vaccinated catching Covid
Dear Editor, So reinfection rates for Covid-19 are on the rise, mask wearing being encouraged (hopefully not being made compulsory in public places and just for those who do feel safer wearing one).
LETTER: Justice system
Our Cook Islands legislature, inadvertently, or otherwise, has created a perfect storm of institutionalised injustice. Beat the crap out of your wife, and then burn her with a cigarette and you get a lecture from the Court and sent home. Beat the crap out of your wife and then burn her with a marijuana cigarette […]
LETTER: Plastic pollution: ‘Do as I say, not as I do’
Cook Islands News reported on December 2 of the “emotional plea” made by the Cook Islands delegation to the 190 nations gathered to negotiate a new treaty on plastic pollution.
LETTER: Collaborate on customary law
Dear Editor, Kia Orana e te tangata ma’ata o te Nuti Peapa. Inangaro au i te ‘ōronga atu i toku manako no runga i tēia tumu manako pu’apinga i runga nei tei tātā’ia i roto i tā au nūti peapa o te Ru’itoru rā 28 no Tītema. Te turu nei au i te manako e […]
RUTA MAVE: Yesterday is gone, tomorrow never comes, today is a gift because it’s the present
As children we make impressions of the world from how we saw it or interpreted it growing up. As adults we have the ability to make decisions about life different from what we experienced, writes Ruta Mave.
LETTER: Get set for financial blessings
Dear Editor, Kia orana! I, Pastor Temu Ngarima George, managing director of Tevaka Nui Mission, would like to share the blessing that the good Lord brought to my attention for the next 10 years for this paradise called Cook Islands.
Sheraton sign please!
Dear Editor, If I had a dollar for every time a visitor to the Cook Islands has asked me what the story is behind the old Sheraton Hotel complex, I’d be a wealthy man and maybe have a castle in Poland.
LETTER: ‘Monsters on the loose’
Dear Editor, It appears to me that there are at least two monsters on the loose in Rarotonga right now. The first is the father of a five-year-old who beat his child (Child slapped, thrown to the ground in ‘serious’ assault, Cook Islands News, December 22). In no way can anyone justify beating a five-year-old, let alone with such brutality. Cook Islands News said the child was “slapped”. But it appears to me that much more violence and force may have been used than was reported.
Healthcare at your doorstep
Premium nursing and health services are now available to provide unwell and vulnerable people in the community with the best possible care and support they need in the comfort of their own homes.
RUTA MAVE: Thoughts on the life journey of Jesus
Christmas marks the birth of a son. A journey that starts with a family as diverse and interesting as any family around the world, writes Ruta Mave.
LETTER: Collaborate on customary law in 2023
Dear Editor, Two matters of concern stood out when members of the Koutu Nui reviewed the past year at their end-of-year function.
Scholarship issue clarified
Dear Editor, I write in response to the letter to the editor, “Scholarship woes upset our students”, which appeared on December 21, 2022. Thank you for the opportunity to respond. Te Reinga Akataunga’anga, the Cook Islands Government Tertiary and Study Support Programme, offers a range of scholarship and study grant options for Cook Islanders wishing to access formal tertiary education. The programme has allowed many Cook Islanders access to initial tertiary studies both domestically and abroad, whether supported with a full scholarship or a study grant for those who are privately funded, or undertaking studies while working full-time.
LETTER TO EDITOR: Scholarship woes upset our students
Dear Editor, I wanted to share this with you as I am really upset with the outcome from the Ministry of Education - myself along with many other local students currently studying in New Zealand who have received the same treatment or similar.