More Top Stories
‘Nothing to worry about’: Prime Minister Brown on China agreement
16 February 2025
‘Serious questions’: Opposition challenges China partnership
15 February 2025
No-confidence motion against PM and his Cabinet faces delays
15 February 2025
Ruta Mave: People’s Republic of China red flag
10 February 2025
No debt in China deal
8 February 2025
Thomas Wynne: Haka with the taniwha or dance with the dragon?
8 February 2025
‘Paedophile’ gets 13 years in prison
22 January 2025
Thomas Wynne: Where were our leaders while children suffered?
25 January 2025
$541.7m tourism earnings
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
Anxiety on the rise: Cook Islands faces mental health challenge
7 September 2024
MCI rejects ‘dark fleet’ label
3 August 2024
Pacific
NZ looks forward to talks with Cook Islands govt
New Zealand has indicated to the Cook Islands Government that they are looking forward to discussions between relevant officials on their concerns related to the China / Cook Islands agreement.
Cook Islands seeking New Zealand expertise for Sovereign Wealth Fund
The Cook Islands government has taken further steps towards establishing a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), with officials currently in New Zealand holding discussions with financial experts, Prime Minister Mark Brown told Parliament this week.
Victims still waiting for basic needs
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Quake-affected communities in Papua New Guinea’s Hela province are still in urgent need of basic supplies. It’s been 11 days since a magnitude 7.5 quake in Hela caused buildings to collapse and triggered mass landslides in the surrounding Highlands region. At least 76 people have died, according to local officials. Power is still out in much of Hela, and there’s a shortage of medical, water and shelter supplies for an estimated 150,000 people. The provincial police commander Thomas Levongo said supplies were expected to arrive soon. “Yes, I heard from the provincial administrator yesterday. He told me that medical supplies are on the way..” He said there were more injured people in need across Hela following a 6.7 aftershock in the early hours of this morning. Tari local Moses Komengi said there was an acute need for tents because people were too afraid to stay in their homes. “If the aftershocks continue, some of the houses might break. It’s already shakey so we don’t know. “If things happen then people might need shelters to stay out, because at this moment some who have cars are with their families to the open fields and they are staying in the cars.” - RNZI
Concerns over Nauru court
NAURU – A former Nauru chief justice has raised concerns at Nauru’s plans for its own court of appeal.
Cable deal makes progress
SOLOMON ISLANDS – Discussions on a multi-million dollar submarine cable connecting Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea to Australia were progressed in Canberra last week.
Frustration growing in Highlands
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Frustrations are building among some residents in the earthquake-devastated Papua New Guinea of Hela, as aid is slow to come a week after a deadly earthquake.
Tonga – and then Rarotonga today
TONGA – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern touched down in Tonga yesterday afternoon on the third leg of her Pacific Mission.
Trade deal 'damaging'
PACIFIC – An analyst says New Zealand’s planned trade deal with the Pacific Island nations could be extremely damaging to their economies.
Pension rules under scrutiny
PACIFIC – The New Zealand government is looking at its pension rules to see if New Zealanders living in Niue and Cook Islands can access payments.
King 'out of town' on Chinese business
PACIFIC – Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks in Beijing with Tonga’s King Tupou VI last Thursday where they agreed to further promote the strategic partnership between China and Tonga.
New Zealand treads softly in China's footsteps
PACIFIC – New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern says the main goal of her delegation’s visit to Tonga this week was to see how the kingdom and other Pacific Island nations are recovering from last month’s Cyclone Gita – but Ardern and her ministers may also be worried about another force that’s hit the region – China.
Campaign to save law camp
An Otago student has started a campaign to save a controversial camp for second-year law students.
Planned to go back in time
An anti-census campaigner in New Zealand was hoping to avoid yesterday’s compulsory national count by hiding in a TARDIS, it’s reported.
No option to be a pakeha in latest census
NEW ZEALAND – New Zealand’s introduction of an online census has caused consternation throughout with country, with the absence of an ethnic group choice, accessibility issues for the disabled and elderly, and fears that the nation’s most marginalised people won’t be counted.
Senior National MP hands in his notice
NEW ZEALAND – Steven Joyce summed up his time in politics with, “I like to get on and get things done” – and with his resignation decision, that is what he has done.
Missing dog 'Meg' found five weeks after car crash
NEW ZEALAND – Meg, a black labrador-huntaway cross, disappeared after a crash in which the car she was travelling in rolled on January 31 in Purakaunui, near Dunedin.
Village may become uninhabitable
Samoa – Children in the village of Moata‘a spend their time playing with turtles and swimming among the mangroves – but there are fears their playground may not be around for much longer.
11 killed in earthquake aftershock
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Authorities in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands say 11 people died during a strong earthquake aftershock on Monday morning.
Concerns over easy Chinese money rejected
SAMOA – Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has brushed off concerns about Chinese aid following a meeting with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, saying grants and loans from the Asian superpower are “all out in the open”.
Samoa turns on charm for Jacinda
SAMOA – It may have looked like a tropical island holiday, but it was anything but, reports Henry Cooke for Fairfax media.
Tangi for last Maori officer
More than 200 people gathered at Manuka Point in the Chatham Islands on Sunday to lay to rest the last remaining officer of the 28th Maori Battalion.
Iwi opens health centre
Dunedin’s first iwi-led community health centre is being praised as a pioneering example of Whanau Ora in action.