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The Cook Islands in the South Pacific is considering a name change to reflect its Polynesian heritage. The nation was named after British explorer James Cook who landed on the islands in the 1700s. A committee is considering 60 options in Cook Islands Maori including Rangiaroa, meaning Love from the Heavens and Raroatua which translates as We Stand Under God.

The Cook Islands prime minister says depopulation is one of the biggest challenges facing the country. The nation has celebrated 40 years of self government in association with New Zealand this week. Its population has dwindled from over 20,000, 40 years ago, to about 12,000 now, with many Cook Islanders living in Auckland. The prime minister, Jim Marurai says about 500 people a year are leaving, despite the economy performing well. Mr Marurai says young people in particular are not interested in traditional work. Jim Marurai says the country has to work to provide better jobs to keep the young...

SYDNEY, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Two tropical cyclones are bearing down on three South Pacific island nations creating a "critically dangerous situation", weather officials said on Tuesday. Cyclones Olaf and Nancy, which are expected to hit Samoa, American Samoa and the Cook islands, could cross paths creating one giant, destructive storm centre where the two cyclones spin around each other until one is flung off. "For the South Pacific it is unusual to have two cyclones this close together," said Kevin Vang at the Australian-Pacific Centre for Emergency and Disaster Information. "This has the making of an absolute mess,"...

Hundreds of foreign tourists have been evacuated from the Cook Islands as Cyclone Meena nears super-cyclone status. Winds close to the eye of Meena have been estimated at 230 kilometres an hour, giving it a severity rating of four, one level short of the maximum. "This is now a critically dangerous situation" for the Cook Islands, the Australian-Pacific Centre for Emergency and Disaster Information said on its website. The cyclone is forecast to pass very near or over the main island of Rarotonga, with the capacity to cause severe damage to the capital late tonight and tomorrow. Huge seas...

DUBLIN, Ireland - Ireland has become the first country on earth to cut off direct-dialed calls to entire nations in a bid to crack down on Internet-based fraud. The crackdown, announced this week and due to come into force Oct. 4, will block calls to 13 locations — all but one of them far-flung islands — to deter fraudsters from breaking into people's computers and hijacking their modems for profit. The government-appointed Commission for Communications Regulation said it was obliged to act after receiving more than 300 complaints this year from Internet users who discovered that their connections had been...