More Top Stories
Solar power battery repairs ‘could take up to 12 months’
15 April 2024
Police shortage leads to drop in checkpoints
9 April 2024
Sarakura declared new Penrhyn MP
16 March 2024
Govt says $1.3m invested in Lady Samoa charter
22 February 2024
Mass milkfish die-off in Penrhyn raises concerns
3 April 2024
Regulator defends Starlink users
9 April 2024
Aitutaki’s heritage preserved in new anthology
4 January 2024
Avatiu Eels retain Nines title
8 January 2024
Beddoes crowned top athlete
8 January 2024
NRL player Dargan dies in Aitutaki motorcycle crash
24 December 2023
‘Please heed the signs’: resident makes plea to tourists
20 December 2023
Cook Islands set to play in new World Series
10 October 2023
Corruption report exposes ‘bribe and sexual favours’
17 January 2023
Corruption in the Cook Islands?
21 January 2023
Moana target 2025 World Cup
11 November 2022
Opinion
Letter: ‘We need to hear the truth’
Dear Editor, Good on Minister Mokoroa for coming out straight and saying he wasn’t consulted on the Crypto Bill (‘I was not consulted’: Minister blindsided by crypto bill drafted by private firm, April 16, 2024).
‘Hard Talks’ explore empowerment for Cook Islands LGBTQ+ community
The empowering “Kai Vananga – Hard Talks” panel discussions, exploring empowerment for the Anuanua (LGBTQ+) community, were held yesterday at the Muri Beach Club Hotel in celebration of the Anuanua festival week.
Ruta Mave: Egg-cellent adventure- Why Easter Egg Hunts are a tradition worth keeping
April first was also Easter Monday and the idea of a rabbit distributing colourful chocolate eggs seems like a plausible April fool prank, writes Ruta Mave.
Letter: Marijuana a cure for costly pig feed?
Dear Editor, There is a special provision in the Narcotics and Misuse of Drugs Act 2004, number 33, that allows you to grow as many marijuana plants as you want, as long as you don’t use it for a pharmacological effect.
Virtues in Paradise: Reviving what matters most
Easter is a holy season – honouring the sacrifice Jesus made by giving his life for humanity and celebrating that he rose from the dead, writes Linda Kavelin-Popov.
Thomas Wynne: Amazing Grace: How a hymn was born from a life redeemed
Amazing Grace, that saved a wretch like me – such an amazing grace to us all, is captured so beautifully in a song so many of us would have sung at one time in our lives, writes Thomas Tarurongo Wynne.
Letter: Responsible ownership, not bans!
Dear Editor, I am struggling to comprehend the rationale behind the recent list of prohibited dog breeds released to the public by the Police department.
Letter: Church setup- Mamae e ngakau
Dear Editor, Last Sunday I went to Church, the Avarua Christian Church, a usual practice that I’ve done over many years growing up as a child from the village of Tupapa. As I approached the front steps of the Church, I noticed that the front had been upgraded and looked good. There were the usual men greeting arrivals and we exchanged pleasantries warmly.
Pet Talk: A delicious danger for dogs
Dogs eat some funny things. Along with the more normal weird things like whole bones and baited fish hooks, I have seen sticks, kilograms of grass, stones, earrings, mango and peach seeds and corn cobs inside dogs, writes Dr Rose Hasegawa, medical director Te Are Manu Vet Clinic.
Letter: Promoting sustainable and organic farming
Dear Editor, Kiriau Turepu used to be the minister for agriculture and environment and had at the time the unique opportunity to turn the islands into an organic self-sustaining producer (Fertiliser shortage threatens crops, says former Agriculture minister, March 22).
Ruta Mave: Zero tolerance for corruption- CJ Keane sends powerful message
The happy family photo in the paper taken outside the court after the sentencing before descending the steps into the police vehicles waiting to take the three convicts to jail totally bemused me, writes Ruta Mave.
Letter: The victim ‘had a proper helmet on’
Myself (Chrissy) and my daughter were first on the scene at this accident as we were driving right behind the young girl and her friends and I witnessed the whole accident.
Letter: Fake helmets raise concerns
Dear Editor, The Police department’s response to the problem of fake German hats worn as crash helmets is pathetic and inexcusable (Teen injured in Nikao motorcycle collision, March 23).
Thomas Wynne: Leadership – the answer or the problem?
Guilty as charged, and now the sentence has been handed down and jail terms will commence. Not just for the three defendants that appeared in Court yesterday but for us all, our country’s good reputation and a withdrawal made from the public bank of trust and goodwill, writes Thomas Tarurongo Wynne.
Letter: Broken trust
Dear Editor, I am still trying to wrap my mind around the justification made by (Minister) Tingika Elikana during the recent consultations that because we now have more money compared to 10 years ago, this warrants increasing our number of Ministers in Parliament.
Letter: Spot on, Iriti!
Kia orana, a couple of great Letter to the Editor from Iriti Maoate.
Letter: Life’s most important lesson
Dear Editor, We can all wonder what our under-paid school teachers, sweltering in sauna-hot classrooms think about our ‘honourable' members of Parliament, in their aircon offices, crying for more money so that they can skip work more often.
Te Tuhi Kelly: The pros and cons of increasing the size of Cabinet or voting by proxy
Once again, a couple of controversial amendments that more than meets the eye, I suspect. Would increasing the size of Cabinet or voting by proxy have been mooted if the Democrats as a proper Opposition were in fact an opposition, writes Te Tuhi Kelly, Leader of the Progressive Party of the Cook Islands.
Letter: Hemp legal in Cook Islands
Dear Editor, In an article in the Cook Islands News on December 12, 2023, the esteemed senior defence lawyer Norman George pointed out that hemp, not being a prohibited drug, saying it should not even be mentioned in the amendment.
Letters: Avatiu football
I am a recent convert to soccer. I have followed the progress of the Avatiu Women’s soccer team at the OFC tournament in the Solomon Islands.
Letters: Paychecks and proxy votes
Dear Editor, Overworked? Underpaid? Daily stress trying to get the job done? And all the while still facing the weekly family financial burdens with cost of living, inflation, etc.
Ruta Mave: Are we eating ourselves to death?
In the Pacific, large people denoted wealth to eat and store fat for times of famine from cyclones. In European societies poor women were fat while, husbands were thin. But rich men were fat and rich wives thin. Now rich or poor everyone is fat, writes Ruta Mave.
