News In Brief

Fire hits Singapore oil refinery - Te Aponga and Airport fuel supply may be affected
Te Aponga Uira and the Airport may possibly be affected by a fire that broke out on Wednesday at the Bukom Island refinery in Singapore. This is where they currently get the diesel needed by the Te Aponga Power house, and the Jet fuel needed by the airport for both domestic and international travel.
The fire broke out in an area that helps makes diesel fuel. As a precaution, Royal Dutch Shell that owns this plant has shut down a hydrocracker at the refinery, which will affect gas oil and jet fuel production. All crude units were also operating at reduced rates. Capacity at the plant is 500,000 barrels a day.
It is expected that a prolonged shutdown will tighten supplies.
The fire hit at a time when refiners around Asia are already running near full capacity to meet demand.
Singapore is the world’s largest market for fuel oil and Asia’s hub for crude and refined product trading.
The next shipment of fuel for the Cooks is estimated to arrive on the 27th October on the Anatolia Sea.
The Te Aponga Uira Power House uses 650,000 litres per month while the Airport domestic and international are consuming 1.1 million litres per month.
Both Fiji and Bukom Island have buffer stocks so the Cooks may not necessarily be affected in the short term.
Triad and Toa both bring in petrol and diesel for their service stations, the Outer Islands and Marine vessels from New Zealand so should not be affected.
A comment was sought from Te Aponga Uira and Air New Zealand but at time of going to print no reply had been recieved.

When “Right” is wrong

Invitations from the Prime Minister’s Office to Thursday’s signing ceremony for the solar energy project in Rakahanga raised some eyebrows because the Prime Minister was listed as the “Right Honourable” Henry Puna.
It is not known how this title came to be conferred upon the PM as there is an established process to follow before such a title can be used. Bestowment of the title, which is regarded as an honour, would usually be accompanied by a media release.
The Times understands Cabinet must endorse a recommendation to the Queen’s Representative who then refers the request to the Privy Council in London, England. It is the Privy Council who grants permission to use the title.
None of the previous Prime Ministers of the Cook Islands had the title conferred on them. It is hard to imagine the Hon Henry Puna being awarded this honour because he has not yet served a full year as Prime Minister.
The Cook Islands cannot be seen to be usurping the role of the Privy Council as that would be an embarrassment not only to our country but also to guardians of long established conventions.
If there has been a genuine error, this must be admitted.
The Office of the Prime Minister is the highest office in government and mishaps such as this which can be potentially embarrassing for the PM, simply should not happen. It is not the PM’s job to double check the work of others. That’s why he has staff. Therefore, the expectation is that the PM’s CEO will remind staff of the need for care and accuracy. The PM should expect nothing less. - Charles Pitt

Tailorwize takes off
According to master tailor Edgar, “he can sew anything!” so it’s a good thing that owners Tashy and Siona Tutai who recently opened up new tailoring business ‘Tailorwize’ in the Punanganui markets have the right man for the job.
The pair, who also own “Kids R Us” clothing store, purchased the business hut over a year ago, “it took a lot longer than we thought to get it up and going,” admits Tashy, which is why the tailoring store only officially opened its doors for business in early August, and so far a steady stream of customers have been placing custom made orders.
Solo tailor Edgar enjoys his work as he produces designs, cuts patterns, ironing, sews and alters all the garments, “I’m happy here and really want to see this business grow,” he says
Since opening Tashy and Siona have noticed a demand for dresses and blouses, and recently have received orders for, “wedding dresses and bridal party wear,” explain the pair.
Although Tashy and Siona originally, “dived into the business relatively blind,” they would ideally like to expand in the future by eventually importing a variety of different materials and fabrics that aren’t currently stocked on the island, “as we’ve had some people asking for denim,” says Tashy, and plan to produce island themed children’s clothing for their “Kids R Us” clothing store also. - Maria Tanner

Cup cake entrepreneur
Travelling on the Nikao back road from school or work on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and feeling hungry, then stop by at Maitira’s road-side hut.
At just a young age of 10 years old Maitira Ponini has showed she has a big heart and even bigger dreams. “I don’t do any of the cooking myself, that is done by mum, but I really wanted to help so she said I can do the money handling, like calculating how much money should be given back to a customer, which is good because this is very good for my school work because ever since I started helping out my money handling skills for maths has become really good.”
With a big bright smile and her never ending good nature, Maitira’s road-side hut has become a hit with a lot of the passing Nikao locals. Maitira tells the Times that straight after school she would rest and rejuvenate, and then would happily get ready to greet her customers at 3 in the afternoon. Maitira sells plates of food ranging of a delicious shepherds pie, the old favourite BBQ and a range of mouth watering dessert dishes, from trifles, cakes and chocolate bread puddings and the ever appearing muffins.
“We only sell one type of plate of food per day from Wednesday to Friday, but I sell my favourite cupcakes everyday day we sell,” said Maitira.
Maitira’s cupcake recipes range from banana, peach and pear, chocolate and sticky dates selling at a price of 50cents for the small and $2 for the large.
“I love doing this, I sometimes think I am in a real shop, its cool, but when I see my cousins start to play games on the field I always swap with my mama, mamasan and go play,” said Maitira with a laugh before she served a passing tourist with a genuine bright Cook Island smile. -Tiare Ponini

OTAKU GIRL
Hi there, and welcome back to another issue of Otaku (comic lovers) Page.
This week we will be reading on MANGA’s relating to the current trends in top box office movies and best selling books VAMPIRE’s.!!
For a couple of years the Vampire genre movies have dominated in all the theatres, especially the classics and most screamed over Vampire films, the Twilight series.
So there is definitely no doubt that the Vampire genre’s in Manga stand in the top 5 most liked, read, and fawned over on all manga sites.
So take a bite into these juice manga’s.
Vampire Knight – Drama, mystery, romance ad supernatural.
SUMMARY
Cross academy is attended by two groups of students, the day class and the night class.
T twilight, when the students of the day class return to their dorm, they cross paths with the night class on their way to school, Yuki Cross and Zero Kiryu are the guardians of the night school, there to protect the day class from the academy’s dark secret; the night class is full of vampires.
Record of a Fallen Vampire – Magic, Supernatural, and Vampire.
SUMMARY
There is a legend that tells of how the world was almost destroyed thousands of years ago by the vampire queen after she unleashed her latent powers. Despite their efforts, the humans were unable to defeat her, and thus resorted to sealing her away until the time came that they would be powerful enough to destroy the seal and kill her. However, the humans are not the only ones after the seal. Having cast aside his kingdom and betraying his own race and the dhampirs ( half vampires ), the Vampire knig is persistently searching, even to this day, for where his queen has been sealed away so he may break the seal and free her before the humans do. Fearing that once the King and Queen are reunited, they shall continue to destroy the world together, the humans and dhampirs hunt the king, using any method possible. -Tiare Ponini

Te Putokotoko - Tumu Manako: “To Tatou Ora Mutukore – Our Salvation”
E te au taeake I to Paulo tere ki Atene, tona tere e te akakoroanga I te apai mai I te au tangata kirikia kia rauka te ora mutukore. Iaia I Atene kua timata aia I te akamaroiroi I tetai au tangata kikite I te oraanga o teia ao (Angaanga 17)E maata tikai ta ratou I kite kareka ra te kite I te Atua e iti ua te reira. Ko to ratou ngere ko te kite tikai akapeea te kimi I te Atua.
Friends when Paul traveled to Athens. He went there with one purpose – to bring salvation to the Grecian World. There he encountered certain Philosophers who found delight in hearing new things from the world (Acts 17) They knew much but they did not know God. It was not that they did not have the ability to know God, but they had failed to begin their search for Him.
E maata katoa te au tangata I teia tuatau nei, e maata katoa ta ratou I kite I te turanga o te pakari o teia ao, kare ra I to te Atua (Korinetia 1:21) Kua oronga ia mai te Bibilia ei kimianga na tatou I te Atua ma te akara tamou I te kite oonu I tona kite e te tapu nui.
There are people today who also know much. However the world by its own wisdom will never know God (1 Corinthian 1:21) Therefore God has supplied us with his Bible to support us in our quest to find Him and a knowledge of his will.
E maata tikai te tangata I teia ra, tei kopae ke ratou I te inangaro kia kite I te Atua. Ko te puapinga I roto I teia kamakura kua aite katoa ki to ratou, uorai. Ka anoano ia tatou kia ariki I te Atu o te au Atua (Angaanga 3:19) Ka anoano ia tatou kia maata te kite, e te kite katoa I te Atua.
Many today are just as ignorant of God as were the people of Mars Hill and so the remedy for our ignorance is just the same as theirs. We need to be converted to turn to the Lord of Lords (Acts 3:19)
E tama e ine e maata ia tatou kare I kite akapeea I te kimi I te ora mutukore, mari ua I te Bibilica (Roma 10:17) Teia ta te Peroveta ta Ieremia I akakite Ko te arataa o te tangata kare I tona uorai, kare I roto I te kite tangata I te akatupu I tona au aerenga (Ieremia 10:23)
Kia tauturu mai te Atua ia tatou. May the Good Lord Bless You and I.

Week 24: Nutritional Program
It’s week 24 now guyz, and just under half way of being on the nutritional program which we’ve decided there isn’t an end date as yet.
Last week some of us didn’t do too well with our weight-loss after Saturday’s weigh-in day, it’s not that we’ve given up, its more ‘watching what we eat’ that’s possibly the problem, we’ve kept up our intense daily workout regime which is into its 3rd week, now its more about watching our calorie intake and having smaller servings of ‘rice’ well for me that is and ‘taro,’ you know us locals we love our taro, especially when eating ‘mackerel, with coconut cream, onions and of course our taro!’
As we’re nearing to our final weeks in the Mind & Body Challenge, we as Team Determinators have come so far and done so well. In the beginning, it was challenging as all our team members are busy people, we then realized ‘you have to make time ‘ if you want to live a healthier lifestyle. So far Team Determinators has done well and we’re receiving much encouragement from members of the public who have seen us running at the Tupapa field and up the NZ High Comm hill, Luci is a person us woman look up to as her fitness level is nothing compared to ours, she is an inspiration and we’ve aimed to be up there before the end of the year. Mathew Rima (Matt) has complimented on Puru’s ‘never give up attitude’ and likes that determination, for me personally, I’ve improved too, when we began our daily sessions I couldn’t even run to the 20-metre mark on the rugby field, this week I managed to make it to the goal post. Mack has improved heaps, and luckily for him and Puru they both have strong legs, and Alex, yeah well, he enjoys everything even if it involves pain!
In the meantime, Harriet’s back this weekend so we’ll give you a progress report on whether she tips the scales or not, and as for me, I’m off to wave our KUKI flag at the Tonga vs France game in Wellington on Saturday (NZT), I’m going to be taking along my ‘fat burning tea’ as I know I’ll probably lap it up with my favourite kiwi ‘fritters & chips’ which unfortunately is just across the road from our house so till then people, ka kite next week!

Headlines : Times 290 02 March 2009
- Lucky $1,000 winner
- Century old palm trees and the French connection
- Koutu Nui takes part in Raui meeting in Moorea
- WOM Award Dinner for Ake Hosea-Winterflood
- Island of Atiu to host Koutu Nui AGM in June 2009