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Welcome to the Papua New Guinea Gossip - 10 Jul 2001. A very special welcome is extended to any new readers. If you have comments or suggestions to make then please e-mail them to giaman@png-gossip.com Re: ListBot closure,Warning:- The ListBot closure is rapidly approaching. I have set up a trial cgi script at apply.html. From this page you can subscribe for either the plain text version or the html version. It is also possible to unsubscribe by using the same form on the page. All current readers have been set up to initially receive the plain text version. If you wish to receive the html version then visit the above page and enter your email address and then select the html option before clicking on the submit button. Articles for this newsletterTo send a message for submission to the PNG Gossip Newsletter -- please e-mail your contribution to pngnews-queue@png-gossip.comRemember that this mailing list is mainly meant for people who have an interest and already know a little bit about the people and geography of Papua New Guinea. The PNG Kina, which is mentioned from time to time, is currently worth somewhere around 29 United States cents but varies on a daily basis. If you are really keen on finding out what the Kina is worth a currency converter for most world currencies can be located at http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/moni.html For those who are not so familiar with the geography of Papua New Guinea I suggest taking a look http://maps.expedia.com and then click on the find a map option. Go to this link for a quick start to a link to a map of Port Moresby. http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/pom-map.html Also remember that the accuracy of the information in this newsletter should not be relied upon - it is, after all, a gossip newsletter. |
United Church
The historic 111-year-old United Church building in down town Port Moresby has shut its doors to undergo renovations and a slight move. The Church will be moved to the front of the existing site and extended. The Church has been in the one spot since it was built in 1890 at a cost of 274 pounds sterling.
The estimated cost of the renovations is K650,000
Ela Church worshippers will be accommodated at the nearby "Saint Johns on the Hill", Anglican Church during the renovations.
Curfew
As things appear to have returned to normal the Port Moresby curfew has been relaxed so members and friends of the Seven Day Adventist (SDA) Church can attend a two-week rally at Sir John Guise Stadium. The current curfew is now from midnight to 5 am and after the rally the curfew will be extended to be 10pm to 5am up to the 25th of August.
It has been estimated that 10,000 worshippers flocked to the stadium on Friday to watch the opening of the ACTS 2000 programme.
Student Deaths
Police have begun their own investigation into the shooting of the students at the UNPG campus recently. It now seems that there may have only been two students shot - the others being supporters of the students.
Privatisation
Sir Rabbie Namaliu has said the privatisation process should be slowed down so that the general public can understand what is going on and why it has to happen. He said the recent student protests could have been avoided if the public knew what was going on.
Australian Support
The Australian Government has pledged support to the PNG Govt's reform programme in the wake of the recent events.
State of Origin
Once again the Australian Rugby League State of Origin competition had the suburbs reverberating with yelling and shouting when the Queensland side scored try after try. I think it is possible for a person to listen to the noise from the suburbs and only need to check the TV to see who has scored.
Post PNG
The courts have had a submission filed to wind up Post PNG.
The privatisation of Post PNG is under threat but there are many creditors owed money some of them are ex employees.
Consumer Price Index
The CPI for the first three months of the year has been reported to be 9 percent.
Sepik Fish
The fish that have been discovered in the Sepik River may not be Pacu. The National Fisheries Authority are expected to view the fish this week to determine what the fish actually are.
Ian Middleton has said that the fish may have been introduced from across the Indonesian border and are bigger than the Pacu introduced from Brazil. The fish also have different characteristics to those Pacu.
Drinking Age
A judge has called for the legal drinking age to be raised from 18 to 21. The judge said he has seen many alcohol related cases.
Kina
The Kina has continued to fall. It has currently hit the 29 us cent mark and appears ready to go lower.
UniTech
Misty Baloiloi has been appointed as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Technology in Lae. This is the second time he has held the position.
BRA
The North Bougainville Resistance chairman has warned government workers not to abuse govt vehicles. The chairman of the Resistance recently had to confiscate the keys to vehicle when he found it being misused by govt workers.
Bougainville
The National Executive Council has had a look at the autonomy package for Bougainville and requires more time to analyse the package.
Politics
Political Parties are continuing to open branches in many different areas of the country as a lead up to the 2002 National elections.
Black Action Party
Michael Onguglo has resurrected the Black Action Party in time for the 2002 elections.
Pangu Pati
The Party has distanced itself from comments recently made by Sir Pita Lus. Sir Pita said he wanted to become leader of Pangu and the Prime Minister.
Basketball
The PNG men's basketball team competing at the Oceania Basketball Championships in Fiji have been eliminated from the competition after losing three consecutive games.
Compensation
The parents of two of the shot university students have presented a compensation claim of K500,000 to the state and the Student Representatives Council of the University.
New Zealand
The NZ Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister has cancelled a proposed trip to PNG due to the recent student demonstrations and spill over riots.
National Gaming Board
It has been revealed that the National Gaming Board has not submitted any reports to the government since it was formed in 1993.
Electricity
Residents of Moresby are still suffering from unannounced electricity cuts even at 4am in the morning. The most recent one saw the power go off to the whole city of Port Moresby from about 8:30pm until a bit after 12 am.
Elcom, the electricity supplier has said that residents should prepare for more of the same due to the age of the equipment and the lack of funds to purchase new equipment or even, it appears, to fix the old equipment.
Port Moresby
Trading appears to have resumed in full force except for a few stores doing stock takes at the end of June.
Many stores have stated that they lost several days of trading during the trouble.
Lae
The maritime workers in Lae staged a half-day stop work meeting in sympathy of the situation in Port Moresby.
Goroka
The Goroka Town Authority has threatened to cut the water of the Bihute Correctional Institute and the Goroka Base Hospital for non-payment of accounts.
East New Britain
Students from the University of Vudal in East New Britain are fundraising to help fellow students from the University of Papua New Guinea and the funeral costs of the students who were killed on Tuesday.
RPNGC
The Royal PNG Constabulary have shot a man in a failed robbery. The man had just committed an armed robbery in the Port Moresby suburb of Gordon's when intercepted by police.
The Chief Superintendent for Central Province will investigate claims of mass destruction by his men in the Goilala area recently. It has been reported that the police went to two villages and destroyed houses, food gardens and coffee machines.
WWII
World War 2 veterans are calling on the national government to recognise their service during the war. It is expected that over 10000 ex servicemen are expecting compensation.
Air Niugini
Air Niugini has announced a paper profit of about K500,000 for last year. This is after improved performance due to cost savings, better scheduling and more aggressive marketing.
In reality abnormal gains of K19 million made the loss of K18.5 million look respectable. The abnormal gains have been made from the sale of aircraft and the lease back of some of those aircraft.
Air Niugini is looking at commencing weekly flights to Osaka using existing aircraft. This has been introduced in the new schedule released on the 8th of July and available by request from myself but first check the http://www.airniugini.com.pg website and see if it is available there.
Interest Rates
for amounts of K10,000 to K100,000 (per annum)
- 30 - 59 days 7.0%
- 60 - 89 days 7.0%
- 90-182 days 7.5%
- 183-364 days 8.0%
- 1yr-2yrs 7.25%
- 2yrs-3yrs 7.25%
PNG Financial Sites
Bank of PNG -- http://www.bankpng.com.pg Bank of South Pacific -- http://www.bsp.com.pg Currency Conversions -- http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/moni.html Currency Conversions -- http://www.pngbd.com/finance Finance Corporation -- http://www.fincorp.com.pg Public Officers Superannuation Fund -- http://www.posf.com.pg
Moresby Rain
Port Moresby has suffered from un-seasonal rain and a cool change. It was almost as if the wet season had started early.
Port Moresby (POM) weather
One reader has asked the following question: -
What's the weather like over there? (PNG)Well to answer that I can probably truthfully say that the temperature will most likely be about 30 to 32 degrees Celsius during the day and will probably drop to somewhere near 20 degrees during the night. The reason I can say that is because that is the temperature range for Port Moresby for about 350 days of the year. A couple of days a year the temp drops to below 20 but in the whole time the temp has been recorded it has not reached the magical 100 degree Fahrenheit on the other end of the scale in Port Moresby. The records go back for about 100 or so years. Because of the "high" temperatures it is pleasant when it rains.
With the weather being the way it is it is usually forgotten about in conversations. Can you imagine a conversation that doesn't bring up the subject of weather?
PNG weather deatils (from Yahoo)
PNG media related sites
- Post Courier Newspaper -- http://www.postcourier.com.pg
- The National Online Newspaper-- http://www.thenational.com.pg
- Chin H Meen (Music) -- http://www.chmsupersound.com
- EM TV (Television) -- http://www.emtv.com.pg
- Hitron (Cable TV) -- http://www.hitron.com.pg
- Pacific View Multimedia http://www.pvm.com.pg
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