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
Pacific
War on drugs: Fiji soldiers may be deployed to assist police, says Govt
Fiji’s government has announced that military personnel may soon join police in addressing the country’s drug crisis.
Balancing tourism and culture
Cook Islands Tourism’s transparent, inclusive and practical planning public consultation which explored the challenges and opportunities tourism brings in all areas of wellbeing, drew a good number of community members.
Tonga casino moves closer
TONGA – A company looking to build a casino in Tonga has reportedly been given tentative approval from the government.
PNG offers dual citizenship
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa are among eight prescribed countries whose passport holders will be allowed to hold dual citizenship in Papua New Guinea.
Fiji Times offices searched
FIJI – The main office of one of Fiji’s main newspapers, the Fiji Times, was searched by police this week in connection with an ongoing sedition case.
New Zealand tree becomes social media sensation
NEW ZEALAND – A spindly, crooked tree that appears to have grown up out of a lake has become an unlikely internet star and the most photographed tree in New Zealand.
Pastor made to work like a slave in orchard
NEW ZEALAND – A Samoan father-of-five– who claims he was offered a job as a church youth pastor and then made to work “like a slave” in an orchard – has been deported.
Vanuatu workers snap up 'taste of home'
NEW ZEALAND – A Vanuatu food company giving overseas seasonal workers a taste of home is set to increase its workforce as sales rise.
Law must confront sorcery-related crime
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – A Papua New Guinea church leader says strengthened laws and better law enforcement is needed to combat sorcery-related violence.
EU promoting new Pacific commitment
PACIFIC – The head of the European Union’s international development arm says its partnership with the Pacific region is at the dawn of a new era.
Airfares hampering seasonal work
SOLOMON ISLANDS – Steep airfares are a major impediment to Solomon Island workers wanting to take part in New Zealand’s Recognised Seasonal Employers scheme.
Crackdown on smuggling
SOLOMON ISLANDS – Increasing attempts to smuggle goods through ports in Solomon Islands have resulted in customs and inland revenue officials this week launching a joint operation to crack down on the practise.
Games funds reaffirmed
TONGA – Tonga’s High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea has presented her credentials in Port Moresby during a three day visit.
Call to get tough with Vietnamese 'reef robbers'
PACIFIC – The Forum Fisheries Agency is urging people to stop referring to Vietnamese fishing boats poaching coastal reefs across the region as “blue boats” and instead call them “reef robbers”.
Export of NZ's pristine water under debate
NEW ZEALAND – A plan to extract millions of litres of water out of a Unesco world heritage site, send it by pipe to the coast and ship it to foreign markets for bottling has ignited a campaign over water resources in New Zealand.
Mountain top frogs face troubled future
PACIFIC VIEWPOINT By Paul Oliver and Michael Lee ABC’s The Conversation At night, the mountain forests of New Guinea come alive with weird buzzing and beeping calls made by tiny frogs, some no bigger than your little fingernail.
Nations confirm their Games
FIJI – Both Vanuatu and Tonga have this week officially confirmed that the respective events awarded to them by the Pacific Games Council will be staged in the two different countries, as per the agreements their respective governments signed.
Raunchy video sparks uproar in PNG
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – A Papua New Guinean rapper’s sexually suggestive music video has highlighted the conflict between an older generation’s traditional standards of modesty and a desire for modernity from the nation’s young people.
Opeloge thankful for support
SAMOA – Ele Opeloge has thanked supporters in Samoa and abroad for contributing to a fundraising campaign honouring her Olympic success.
Businesses offered New Zealand opportunities
NEW ZEALAND – A number of businesses from around the Pacific region are in Auckland creating partnerships to try to help them break into the New Zealand market.
Claims father threw missing children into river
FIJI – Fiji police have managed to recover the body of a three-year-old boy who was one of three young children allegedly thrown into the Labasa River by their father.
No reprieve expected for 'cooking' coral reefs
AUSTRALIA – Cyclone Debbie is not likely to give coral reefs off Cairns and Port Douglas any reprieve from coral bleaching, according to reef officials. And the weather bureau has not forecast any monsoonal activity on the horizon for the Far North.