Cook Islands announces protection zone for migrating Oceania humpback whales

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown arrives at Tuurangawaewae Marae Photo: Layla Bailey-McDowell / RNZ Cook Islands prime minister Mark Brown has announced the creation of a zone to protect the migratory corridors of the endangered Oceania...

Cook Islands Rugby League tackles ball shortages with new partnership

Cook Islands Rugby League has secured a new sponsorship deal with TVATI, covering the full cost of 160 official balls for training and match for all grades from juniors to international every year for the next three years. Cook Islander Dr Graham...

Cook Islands engages at global platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 2025 in Geneva

Emergency Management Cook Islands Director John Strickland (far right) emphasised that “greater access to technology to support national-level efforts to strengthen resilience can help overcome some of our remoteness and connectivity challenges....

Cook Islands creates Pacific’s first ocean protection zone for whales

Prime Minister Mark Brown with Sandrina Thondoo, director of Treaties, Multilaterals and Oceans Division at the Cook Islands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration. PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM/25060904 Cook Islands is creating the Pacific’s first...

The Cook Islands’ Dilemma: To Mine or Not to Mine

This article is part of our series on responsible mining solutions. The push for clean energy is fueled by a growing demand for minerals, but conventional mining has a track record of harmful social and environmental impacts. Deep-sea mining is...

Letter: Cook Islands superannuation

Dear Editor, We’ve just built nine small units costing less than $30,000.00 each which could house up to two people. I was being generous about the $50,000.00 cost for a little unit. Therefore, I do know what I’m talking about 100%. Depreciation,...

Ruta Mave: The reality of immigration in the Cook Islands

Ruta Tangiiau Mave. Photo: CI NEWS Immigration is the international movement of people from one country to another and is a fundamental aspect of human history, though it was as divisive hundreds of years ago as it is today, writes Ruta Mave....

Cook Islands under scrutiny as deep-sea mining debate shifts from green transition to militarisation

This week, the Cook Islands came under scrutiny for excluding environmentalist groups from deep-sea mining consultations in Queensland, Australia. Climate change is one of the greatest threats to Pacific nations, but an escalating military buildup...

Cook Islands youth demand transparency in seabed mining talks

Cook Islander Helena Keenan-Williams is calling for greater transparency and genuine consultation over the government’s controversial seabed mining plans. Speaking from Sydney following a last-minute public meeting with Prime Minister Mark Brown,...

Letter: Cook Islands sovereignty debate

Dear Editor, Joe T Public’s (JoeTP) (bully-boy tactics letter 20 June) was the clever work of a sophist (a person who peddles a fallacious argument to support a false conclusion) and reads very much like it is Government’s position and coming from...

Deep sea mining decision already made, Cook Islands opposition leader says

Cook Islands nodule field - photo taken within Cook Islands EEZ. Photo: Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority The Cook Islands' opposition leader believes the government has already decided it wants to pursue deep sea mining despite the science...

New Zealand citizenship ‘by right, not privilege’, says Cook Islands PM Brown

RAROTONGA (COOK ISLANDS NEWS)—Cook Islanders are New Zealand citizens “not by privilege, but by right”, said Prime Minister Mark Brown in response to a recent poll conducted in New Zealand on citizenship rights. The nationwide poll, commissioned...

Cook Islands PM Brown leads seabed minerals dialogue in Australia

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown will lead a 11-member delegation to Australia this week for an “open dialogue” on seabed exploration activities. The delegation includes: Sonny Williams – Associate Minister for Seabed Minerals, Travel Tou...

Cook Islands seabed minerals consultations under fire for excluding environment groups…

Environmental groups are again raising red flags as the second round of overseas public consultations on seabed mining gets underway in Queensland, Australia, citing the Cook Islands government’s refusal to allow independent environmental experts...

Cook Islands holds national consultations on the BBNJ Agreement

The Cook Islands government, in collaboration with the Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner (OPOC), held the national consultations on the Ratification and Implementation of the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the...

FNU’s College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences – School of Medicine | A history 1886 – 1971

Fiji became a British colony in 1874, driven largely by economic struggles. The situation deteriorated in 1875 when Ratu Cakobau and his party returned from Sydney carrying measles. The epidemic devastated the non-immune Fijian population, killing...

Former New Zealand PM blames Cook Islands for creating a crisis

WELLINGTON: Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark believes the Cook Islands, a realm of New Zealand, caused a crisis for itself by not consulting Wellington before signing a deal with China. The New Zealand government has paused more than...

RC Blog: Who’s willing to pay for sustainability in the Pacific?

Written by Simona Marinescu, Isabella Massa, Guillaume Lafortune After major setbacks to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Pacific needs fairer access to financing as it fights to overcome climate challenges. Crises in climate, geopolitics...

Cook Islands declares dengue fever outbreak in Rarotonga amid rising cases

Two new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number of cases to seven. Photo: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY The Cook Islands government has declared a dengue fever outbreak in Rarotonga. In a statement on Friday (Thursday in the Cook Islands), the...

Former New Zealand PM Helen Clark blames Cook Islands for crisis

By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific presenter/producer Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark believes the Cook Islands, a realm of New Zealand, caused a crisis for itself by not consulting Wellington before signing a deal with China. The New...