Hundreds of passengers from aboard the second cruise ship to visit Rarotonga in two days disembarked in tenders to explore the island yesterday.

The Court of Appeal has reserved its decision on whether an interim stay on a by-election in the Rakahanga electorate, brought about by last week’s resignation of MP Toka Hagai, will stand or be lifted.

Rakahanga MP Toka Hagai has resigned his seat following a Court of Appeal hearing involving Democratic Party leader Tina Browne.

Prime minister Henry Puna is understood to have cancelled a planned trip to China this week after Rakahanga Cook Islands Party MP Toka Hagai abruptly resigned his seat late last week.

A story on the Stuff website claiming the Cook Islands “is said to be” on the brink of signing a deal allowing China to build a deep water port on Penryhn, has drawn a formal complaint from the Office of the Prime Minister to Fairfax Media in New Zealand.

The Cook Islands government intends to table new legislation relating to seabed minerals activities in December.

A twin-engined Air Rarotonga Embraer Bandeirante with 11 passengers on board suffered an engine failure on departure from Aitutaki last Tuesday evening.

A special service to mark the centenary of the armistice that ended World War One and to honour the 500 Cook Islanders who served in World War One, will be held at the cenotaph outside the Ministry of Justice building on Sunday, November 11.

An Airport Authority spokesperson has revealed an Air New Zealand jet was forced to abandon two attempted landings before finally touching down at Rarotonga International Airport on Tuesday afternoon.

Low cloud forced an Air New Zealand jet to abort its landing at Rarotonga International Airport yesterday afternoon.