Currency boards vs. dollarization: lessons from the Cook Islands.
Modern currency boards are not necessarily precluded from financing government spending and may feature only partial foreign reserve backing. The potential dangers are highlighted by the Cook Islands case, where accelerating rates of currency issuance, combined with rising government budget deficits, led to a crisis of confidence in 1994....

Return to Culture: Oral Tradition and Society in the Southern Cook Islands.
Return to Culture: Oral Tradition and Society in the Southern Cook Islands By Anna-Leena Siikala and Jukka Siikala Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica. 2005 Pp: 327 Price: not given Anna-Leena and Jukka Siikala, in Return to Culture, combine theoretical perspectives from anthropology and folklore to examine oral tradition...

Photos: TripAdvisor Honors Hundreds of Hotels Worldwide With 2009 Travelers' Choice Awards.
Bargain Beauties and Five-Star Finds Highlighted in Seventh Annual Awards Nearly 200 Bargain Hotels Average $116 per Night NEWTON, Mass., Jan. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- TripAdvisor(R), the world's largest travel community, today announced the winners of its 2009 Travelers' Choice(R) awards. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080902/TRIPADVISORLOGO )...

Holland America to Include Air on Qantas A380 - The Largest Passenger Airliner in the World - For 2009 Fall Asia, Australia and New Zealand Sailings.
Flight aboard Qantas' new A380 is a first for Holland America Line guests SEATTLE, Feb. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Holland America Line is offering a new cruise-and-fly package on select 2009 Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand sailings that includes airfare between Los Angeles, Calif., and Sydney, Australia....

Paul Gauguin Cruises Announces Expanded 2010 Program Featuring New Itineraries, Including 38 Tahiti, French Polynesia & South Pacific Voyages; Begins Accepting Reservations With Early Booking Savings.
Luxury small ship cruise line introduces extensive collection of in-depth 7- to 15-night itineraries with significant Early Booking Savings of up to 45 percent and Free Roundtrip Air between Los Angeles and Tahiti, plus other extraordinary deals FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Paul Gauguin Cruises,...

Survivor Cook Islands' Sekou Bunch to DEBUT His New 'Survivor' Single LIVE, December 17th on the Show's Season Finale.
New Single and Album - The Next Level - Set for Release LOS ANGELES, Dec. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- He became famous as the first to exit this year's show. When Sekou Bunch heard the words, "The tribe has spoken ..." just three days into his Survivor: Cook...

Melanesia, not Polynesia.
Re: your review of 'Dancing, dying crawling, crying' (Mixed Media, NI 415). If Tikopia is in the Solomon Islands it is in Melanesia, not Polynesia - the islands of the Western Pacific, primarily Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia, are Melanesian; whereas Polynesia is further...

Tax injustice--the facts: the measure of just tax is the ability to pay. the world's tax system today is unjust, shifting the burden from rich to poor--and failing altogether to address the green agenda.
Race to the bottom (1) Tax havens are now the first port of call for transnational corporations and rich individuals seeking tax-free wealth. The more havens there are, the more they compete to offer the least tax and attract the most cash. They are no longer just...

Company Watch - Pleasant Holidays.
Nov 30, 2008 Pleasant Holidays features 162 hotels and resorts in addition to 14 new hotels for 2009. The company also offers 26 hotels and resorts in Los Cabos and 26 properties in Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit. Travelers may save even more with Pleasant Holidays' exclusive...

FIBA Asia-Oceania merger perils RP bid.
The country's bid to earn an Olympic spot in the 2012 London Games will become tougher if plans by the world governing body for basketball (FIBA) to unite the qualifying tournaments for Asia and Oceania push through. If the merger happens, the Philippines faces the daunting task...