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.
Swam flooded river while in labour
FIJI – A 33-year-old heavily pregnant woman who bravely swam across a flooded creek and was rescued by police while having contractions, is just glad she was delivered to the Lautoka Hospital “in the nick of time”.
Jail urged for president who stole the china
FRENCH POLYNESIA – The prosecution in French Polynesia has called for a one-year jail sentence for a former president Gaston Flosse for taking chinaware from the presidential palace.
No matter what, it's going to get wetter
Droughts and flooding rains are already more likely as climate change plays havoc with Pacific weather, writes a group of scientists from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
Vanuatu scientist leaves inspirational legacy
NEW CALEDONIA – Dr Roger Malapa, the first ni-Vanuatu to graduate with a PhD in science who went on to become one of the Pacific’s most distinguished agricultural scientists, died in New Caledonia this week after a battle with cancer. He was 46.
Not speaking at Big Gay Out 'not a big issue'
NEW ZEALAND – New Zealand’s Prime Minister says his past opposition to civil unions and gay marriage was not the reason he didn’t speak at the Big Gay Out in Auckland at the weekend.
Great weather for eeling
FIJI – At a time when most people secure their belongings and stay home, a group of people from settlements and villages close to Nadi Town in Fiji come out in numbers during heavy rainfall for an unconventional activity – catching eels. Semesa Lagi, 54, told the Fiji Times: “We come here every time the town is flooded. We have done this many times.” Lagi said heavy rain caused the eel population to escape from a nearby lake and swim down the streets into to the town area. “We always know this is the time to catch eels and we are joined by other villagers from Nawaka and other areas. “A lot of people have come to catch the eels this time and my family has managed to catch three buckets full so we have sent these home.” He said they planned to return to the spot if heavy rain continued this week. - Fiji Times
PACIFIC BRIEFS 13/2/2017
Dengue claims life in New Caledonia NEW CALEDONIA – This year’s dengue epidemic in New Caledonia has claimed its first life A 25-year-old woman in the Noumea area died of dengue type 1 and authorities said she was not considered to be at special risk.
400 whales beached on remote spit
NEW ZEALAND – Rescuers were trying desperately yesterday to save scores of pilot whales after a mass stranding on a New Zealand beach thought to be the largest in decades.
Flooding across the Pacific
PACIFIC – Heavy rains continue to fall across the South Pacific, causing flooding from Papua New Guinea to Samoa.
Asylum seekers offered 'bribes' to go home
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Asylum seekers in the Australian detention centre on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island have been offered bribes to return to their countries of origin.
Kiribati island lease plan well advanced
KIRIBATI – A Russian millionaire is in advanced talks with the Kiribati government to lease three uninhabited islands and establish an alternative Russia and revive the monarchy.
Ancient landslide discovered on Barrier Reef
AUSTRALIA – Queensland scientists working on the Great Barrier Reef have helped discover the remnants of an ancient undersea landslide more than 30 times the volume of Uluru.
PACIFIC BRIEFS 10/2/2017
Australia sells military vehicles to Fiji FIJI – Australia has agreed to sell 10 refurbished military vehicles to Fiji.
Fishermen rescued by cruise ship
TONGA – Four marine search and rescue operations have saved 20 people in Tonga in recent days, while one life was lost.
In court for damaging St Mary
SAMOA – A man accused of stealing a statue of the Virgin Mary from inside a church in Samoa and damaging it in the process has appeared in court.
Confiscated tabua to be repatriated
FIJI – New Zealand’s Department of Conservation will repatriate to Fiji more than 100 cultural items from the country which have been seized over the past 15 years.
Medical marijuana access eased
NEW ZEALAND – Seriously ill patients in New Zealand seeking medicinal cannabis to ease their symptoms will no longer have to take their cause right the way to the top, but access to the drugs will remain tightly controlled.
South Island lakes showing signs of stress
NEW ZEALAND – A veteran water quality campaigner says even deep, clean South Island lakes such as Lake Wanaka are showing signs of stress.
Hitchhiking backpacker dumped and ripped off by motorist
NEW ZEALAND – Before arriving in New Zealand a German backpacker never expected a hitchhiking experience could turn so horribly wrong.
PACIFIC BRIEFS 9/2/2017
SEVERE weather across the pacific PACIFIC –Wet weather is now causing strife in several Pacific nations.
