Links
Ox and Palm
Click on the following link for a little bit about the Ox and Palm saga between PNG and Fiji but you will have to read to the bottom of the article on the Pacific Islands web site -- http://www.pacificislands.cc/pina/pinadefault2.php?urlpinaid=20907
Misc Sites
An Introduction to PNG -- http://www.geographia.com/papua-newguinea
PNG Government Online -- http://www.pngonline.gov.pg
Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papua_New_Guinea
Bank of PNG -- http://www.bankpng.gov.pg/
Jane's PNG Home Page -- http://www.janeresture.com/png_home/index.htm
PNG Orchid News -- http://www.orchidspng.com/
Australian High Commission in PNG -- http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/png/
Music Archive for PNG -- http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/arts/music/musicarchive/PNGArchive.html
PNG Maps -- http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/papua_new_guinea.html
South Pacific Motor Sports Club -- http://www.spmsc.org.pg
Rocky Roe -- http://www.rockyroephotographics.com
National Research Institute -- http://www.nri.org.pg
CyberMasta Web Design -- http://www.cybermasta.com/portfolio.htm
PNG Coffee -- http://www.pngcoffee.com
PNG Business Directory and Tourism Information -- http://www.pngbd.com
National Disaster Centre -- http://www.pngndc.gov.pg
PNG Institute of Directors -- http://www.pngid.org.pg
Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce -- http://www.pomcci.org.pg
Internet Service Providers
Originally there were five Internet Service Providers distributing the bandwidth allocated by the Government body Tiare. This has been reduced to four. The four surviving ISP's are -
Daltron -- http://www.daltron.com.pg
Data Nets -- http://www.datanets.com.pg
Datec -- http://www.datec.net.pg
Global Technologies -- http://www.global.net.pg
Newspapers
For the latest news about PNG visit the Post Courier web site at -- http://www.postcourier.com.pg -- or the National Newspaper web site at -- http://www.thenational.com.pg -- both offer up-to-date news about PNG. If you want to catch up on news it is also good to visit -- http://www.pngbd.com -- The PNG Business and Tourism web site.
PNG Missions
Here are a few of the websites run by PNG Missions overseas. If you know of any other sites please send an email to this newsletter so the list can be updated. The Official web site of the Papua New Guinea (PNG) High Commission in Australia can be found at -- http://www.pngcanberra.org
http://www.pngembassy.org -- Embassy of Papua New Guinea to the Americas, Washington, DC
I have been told by Chris Luxton, of the Papua New Guinea Church Partnership -- http://hometown.aol.co.uk/pngcpluxton/ -- that the London, UK High Commission has quite a good site. It is located at -- http://www.pnghighcomm.org.uk
Taklam Lodge and Tours
Taklam Lodge and Tours, was originally located in Rabaul but was relocated to Kokopo after the twin volcanic eruptions destroyed Rabaul in 1994. They commenced operations in 1990 offering a home away from home service for people visiting East New Britain. A web site is located at -- http://www.taklam.com.pg/
News Items
PNG Gold
Ryan Pini has made PNG very proud by winning gold in the 100m butterfly at the recent Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne. Pini broke his own personal best mark by 0.17 seconds to win in a record time of 52.64 seconds Pini is astounded at the huge reaction in PNG to his historic win at the Commonwealth Games. This was only PNG's second Commonwealth Games gold medal, the other coming when Geua Tau won gold in the women's lawn bowls at Auckland in 1990.
Pini managed to achieve something the Australian men could not and that was a gold medal in the individual events and in terms of numbers PNG with only one male entrant in the swimming achieved 100 per cent success
Dika Toua also won silver in the 53kg division in weightlifting. She injured her right foot in an unsuccessful second lift. Toua, although in pain, came back for her third lift at 106kg, but she obviously did not have the leg power when it mattered.
Fijian Invasion
Plans by another 300 Fijians to enter PNG and head for Bougainville have been put on hold following a decision by the Melanesian Spearhead Group to weed out visa abusers. The Fijians will be thoroughly screened following a unanimous decision by the MSG foreign ministers to control the movement of "undesirable persons" within MSG states who breached the region's common visa policy and continued to pose security risks to the host nation. Five ex-Fijian soldiers are currently in the "no go" zone of Bougainville with wanted money scheme operator Noah Musingku.
Port Moresby Gold
Miles away from Melbourne another golden product is capturing the attention of residents. The prolonged wet season has meant that more often than not the brown hills of Port Moresby are now flooded with the green of vegetables growing. Some of the gardening adds to the soil erosion causing problems with the drainage system and causing other problems. One of the main vegetables grown is corn. The growers of corn have set up stalls close to where they grow it and roast it on the spot and sell freshly cooked golden corn to eager buyers. To the buyers this is far more important than any gold medal.
Immature Media
The Cocoa Board of PNG angry angered over recent media reports which stemmed from a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) inquiry in to the board's finances has called the media immature even after 30 years of independence. One of the media reports stated that the board's staff travelling overseas were paid more than what the Prime Minister received and that the board sat on 19 occasions one year when it was required to meet only three times. Each time the board members receive a sitting allowance and all of the perks that goes with such a meeting. The reports by the media came from sitting in on public hearings open to journalists conducted by the PAC.
Pointed Justice
A 20 year old East New Britain man was shot in the chest with an arrow an hospitalised. It has been alleged that he was stealing wet cocoa beans from the Gunannur Plantation near Kokopo East New Britain, at the time of the incident.
Obura-Wonenara Landslide
A landslide in the Obura-Wonenara district of the Eastern Highlands Province has buried a house and killed a family of six. The family members were buried alive while asleep when the landslip swamped their house. Landslides and floods caused by continuous heavy rain has also left 500 people from the Ungai-Bena district homeless. The heavy rain has also washed away three bridges, many food gardens and coffee trees in the area.
Lae School Fight
Following a daylight attack by students from three other high schools in Lae two Lae Secondary School students are nursing knife wounds and lacerations. The Grade 11 students were on their way to do research work when they were attacked at Kamkumung by a mob of students believed to be from Busu High School, Malahang Technical School and Bumayong Secondary School. It is believed that the mob attack may have been related to previous fights between the schools and was seen as retaliation against Lae Secondary School.
TB Strategy
The Department of Health has embarked on a new strategy to fight tuberculosis. The launch of the new strategy called "Stop TB" coincided with World TB day. The new strategy would recognise the key challenges of TB associated with HIV (TB/HIV) and Multi Drug Resistant (MDR-TB); respond to access, equity and quality constraints; adopt evidence-based innovations in empowering affected people and communities; and, help strengthen the health system. The strategy comes highly recommended by the World Health Organisation.
MP Faces Charges
A member of Parliament may be the first person to be charged under the HIV/AIDS Management and Prevention Act of 2003 for intentionally infecting his wives and mistresses with the deadly virus. Police say that they have enough evidence such as medical records and interviews to charge the MP under the relevant act. Charges under the Act are comparable to manslaughter. Two of his wives have already died from AIDS related conditions. National AIDS Council Secretariat (NACS) did not deny the possibility of that charges could be laid under the act.
National Capital Land
The National Capital District Commission (NCDC) is fighting to retain control over land that was previously used by city residents as parks and sporting practice areas. Many of these areas have been transferred by the Department of Lands without the re-zoning approval of the NCDC. The NCDC Physical Planning Board has recently refused an application for the commercial development of Unagi Park, a popular public recreational zone at Gordon. It has been revealed that a company wanted to develop this land into a supermarket.
Survey
Are PNG men violent? Have your say at -- http://www.pnginfo.com/survey.html -- Currently 95 percent of participants think so. The National newspaper is also running a survey about whether sorcery and witchcraft be used as alternatives to solving law and order problems that have remained unsolved over a long period of time? Please vote by visiting The National Home Page -- http://www.thenational.com.pg
Light Plane Crash
A pilot was killed and three others seriously injured when their six-seater plane crashed into an open field near the Tari airport on Thursday. Provincial police commander, Supt Simon Nigi, believed that the pilot was apparently trying to land in Tari when the incident occurred. MAF PNG, which operated the aircraft, has suspended its operations for an indefinite period pending investigations.
Sorcery
It has been reported that entire villages in the Bundi area of Madang are turning on alleged sorcerers, killing them, and in some cases, chopping up their bodies into pieces. The Post Courier has reported that at least six people, including a mother-of four, have fallen victims to what has been described as "mob killings" as the attackers were large groups of people targeting individuals suspected of practicing sorcery.
Okuk Highway
The National Executive Council has approved the redevelopment of sections of the Highlands Highway and has awarded contracts to two companies. Shorncliffe has won a contract worth K31,956,341 for the re-development of the Highlands Highway from Mai bridge, on the border of Eastern Highlands and Chimbu, to Kundiawa Another contract worth K31,647,408 has been awarded to Covec PNG for the road portion from Kundiawa to Miunde bridge at the border of Chimbu and Western Highlands. This rehabilitation work will be funded 100 per cent by PNG without aid from another country.
Teachers' Savings & Loans
Members of the Teachers' Savings and Loan Society should be able to expect a windfall this year as the society announces a K66 million net profit for 2005. This is a 360 per cent increase on the previous year's K18 million profit, which had paid out K2.9 million in interest to members. The Society has a membership of 21,848.
Electoral Law
The Electoral Commission will have powers to prosecute electoral-law breakers if Parliament passes major reforms that will be tabled in next month's sitting of parliament. The reforms are part of the Electoral Commission's attempts to put in place mechanisms to cut down violence during polling periods to deal with crooks who attempt to corrupt the electoral process.
Andrew Trawen, the Electoral Commissioner, has said that the legitimacy of Parliament was in question in view of the inflated electoral roll. He said the roll used in the 2002 elections contained 4.9 million names which was obviously impossible as the country had only 5.1 million people. He told a seminar recently held in Port Moresby that "Half the names are suspect". He has stressed that the problems with the electoral roll must be fixed before the 2007 general elections.
Black-market Fuel
There have been claims that fuel is being smuggled across the Sandaun border from Indonesia and that it is being sold on the black-market. It is believed that high fuel prices in Vanimo has forced consumers to visit the black markets where cheaper fuel from across the border is being sold. Using diesel as an example the regulated price in Vanimo is somewhere around K2.89 but Indonesian diesel in Jayapura only costs the equivalent of K1.50 per litre. Local residents in Vanimo are allowed to buy up to 20 litres of fuel in Jayapura for personal consumption but none of it can be sold to anyone else.
Port Moresby Downtown Plan
If city planners have their way the downtown area of Port Moresby is headed for a major overhaul. The city commission has two plans, a five-year scheme to get rapid changes, and a longer-term one to run through to 2020. The aim is to improve traffic, get rid of unplanned settlements, provide better amenities and services and to make Port Moresby "a pearl of the Pacific". The National Capital District Commission has opened the plan to allow for six months of public consultation.
The plan recommends development controls, including a 12-storey limit on building heights, and new measures to improve management, planning and infrastructure maintenance.
Coming Events
Morobe Biang Ngayan Cultural Festival -- 24th to the 27th of May, 2006
Biang and Ngayan are words in two Morobe languages for "good". Morobe has the second largest number of languages in the country with around 90 - second only to Madang with over 100 languages.
8th of April to the 16th of April 2006-- National Game Fishing Titles
PNG 31st Independence Anniversary - 16th September 2006
PNG Media
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