Links
Warning: PNG web sites seem to come and go. The fact of life is that it costs money to host a web site (try -- http://pngwebhost.com -- for an excellent, reliable but cheap deal) and there is not much return on the outlay to most businesses in PNG. If you do click on a link and use the services or even have some comments to make then please contact the people at the relevant web site and let them know so they at least know that someone has gained some value from their efforts. If you are so inclined then mention that you heard about them from this web site. -- The PNG Gossip Newsletter.
If links in the newsletter do not work properly, copy and paste the URL into your browser and press Enter. Be sure to copy the entire link, as it may wrap to the next line. If this still does not work please send an email to the newsletter advising of the broken link.
Do you have a web site or link to a PNG related area on the WWW? If so do you want it mentioned here? Then send an email to -- pngnewsqueue @ pnggossip.com
PNG Sports
Aussie Rules -- http://www.afl-png.com
Game fishing -- http://www.gfa.com.pg
Motor Sports -- http://www.spmsc.org.pg
Rugby League -- http://www.rleague.com/nations/png
Soccer -- http://www.pngfootball.com.pg
Surfing -- http://www.surfingpapuanewguinea.org.pg
Swimming -- http://pnginfo.net/basc
Yachting and Boating -- http://www.rpyc.com.pg
The Motor Sports Club also has sub-pages dealing with -- go karting, snooker, game fishing and speedway. Visit the -- http://www.spmsc.org.pg -- web site and navigate from there.
Stamps
http://www.postpng.com.pg/philatelic_files/philatelic_policies.htm
http://home.planet.nl/~schmi081/
http://www.antiqueweb.com/articles/stamp_collecting.html
http://www.sil.org/sil/news/2006/PNGstamps.htm
http://www.pngbd.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4382
Final Frontier?
I found this web page to be a very interesting article -- http://www.gonomad.com/destinations/0208/png2.html
PNG Freight
There are many freight companies in PNG but not many of them have a web site. Air Niugini is a large freight company by default but devotes very little space on its web site to freight.
Air Niugini -- http://www.airniugini.com.pg
Express Freight -- http://www.expressfreight.com.pg
Airlines of PNG -- http://www.apng.com
TNT Air Freight -- http://www.tnt.kenmore.com.pg
Does any one know of a PNG site for Danzas / DHL?
Trails, Tracks and WWII
Black Track Trail -- http://www.blackcattrail.com
Kokoda Trail --
-- http://www.kokoda-budget.com
-- http://www.adventurekokoda.com.au
-- http://www.kokodatrail.com.au
-- http://www.pngtrekking.com.pg
-- http://www.kokodaspirit.com
-- http://www.kokodatreks.com
-- http://www.nghols.com
The Kokoda Track Foundation has been established in recognition of the assistance given to the Australian Diggers during the Pacific War from 1942 - 1945 by the people of PNG including the 'Fuzzy-Wuzzy Angels' and the Koiari and Orokaivean people living along the Kokoda Track. The Foundation has a web site located at -- http://www.kokodatrackfoundation.org
see also -- http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1725250.htm --
http://www.kokodatrail.com.au/forums/index.php?showtopic=218
The Kokoda Track - Do's and Don'ts -- http://www.lonelyplanet.com/bluelist/index.cfm?fa=main.viewList&list_id=1855
Shaggy Ridge -- http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-battles/ww2/shaggy-ridge.htm
The Buna, Gona & Sanananda Campaigns -- http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-battles/ww2/gona-buna-san.htm
Bougainville -- http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-battles/ww2/bouganville.htm
CRM in PNG
It has been announced that Steamships Trading Company Limited will implement Pronto Software's flagship ERP product, Pronto-Xi -- http://www.crmchump.org/2006/11/crm_in_papua_ne.html
News Items
Miss PNG
The following ladies contested the Miss PNG event held on the 2nd of December at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Port Moresby.
Martha Nion - Miss Central Marine
Tanya Samuel - Miss Datec
Irene Romel - Miss Freeway Motors
Alice Wama - Miss Wama family
Kathy Hamadi - Miss Remington
Genevieve Roberts - Miss Coffee
Theresa Lulopo - Miss IBS
Miss Coffee won the title of Miss PNG Red Cross and Miss Datec took out the Miss Charity Queen title raising just a bit under K100,000. Miss Coffee, Genevieve Roberts also won the Miss People's Choice title. A total of K284,823.74 was raised by the contestants for the work of the Red Cross in PNG.
Order of Logohu
Another Grand Chief has been added to the Order of Logohu list. Former US president William J Clinton was awarded the highest honour (Grand Companion of the Order of Logohu) under the national honours system on his recent quick trip to PNG. He is now entitled to be called Chief.
Grand Chief, Sir Michael Somare, said the honour conferred on Mr Clinton was in recognition of his outstanding leadership for the good of mankind during his two terms as president of the United States of America (1993-2001), for his commitment to the global fight against HIV/AIDS and other significant health and community challenges in developing countries.
More Fishing Disasters
Two more Indonesian bodies have been found in the Fly River. The bodies are believed to have come from an overturned, illegal fishing vessel seen in the area. This is the fourth time Indonesian fishing vessels had been sighted fishing illegally in Western province this year and the fifth incident in the country where illegal foreign fishermen had been caught including those caught and killed in Vanimo, Sandaun province last August. A total of 43 Indonesian fishermen have now been arrested for illegal fishing this year at the sea borders in Sandaun and Western province.
Mt Hagen Hospital
The Mt. Hagen Hospital has announced that it will have new specialist medical officers and staff in the new year. (2007) The Department of Personnel Management has approved a new staffing structure for the hospital. A number of specialists would be recruited. And to attract doctors, the hospital board would offer financial incentives of K5000 annually to specialist medical officers who serve the hospital for a year.
Moti Affair
The new PNG Foreign Affairs Minister and his Australian counterpart have agreed that the people at fault for the escape of Julian Moti from PNG to the Solomon Islands must be prosecuted. This includes the Australian Federal police and other officials on the Australian side and anyone in PNG who is also guilty of the offence.
Surfing Tiles
The national surfing titles will be held at Lido village in Vanimo, West Sepik from 10th of January to the 15th. It is estimated between 100 and 200 surfers will compete in all divisions. The titles will be used to select the national team for the Pacific Games in Samoa. Coinciding with the 20th anniversary and the national titles will be the launch of an innovative three-year strategic plan for the Surfing Association of PNG, which was drawn up by a World Bank consultant. -- For more information about surfing in PNG, log on to -- http://www.surfingpapuanewguinea.org.pg
Forestry Meeting
Ambassador and head of the delegation of the European Commission, Aldo Dell'Ariccia, has expressed his disappointment at the way in which the PNG Government had reacted to a forest dialogue seminar aimed at helping to defuse the present tensions and polarisations in the forestry sector. He also said "It is also regrettable that the campaign of the forest authorities against the European Union and one of its member States takes place when the European Commission is at the stage of formulating the co-operation programme for the period 2007-2013 for the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries". Forest Minister Patrick Pruaitch strong opposed the seminar.
see -- http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20061205/news02.htm
Business on HIV/AIDS
The NasFund has been selected by the Asia Pacific Branch of the Business Coalition on HIV / AIDS (BAHA) to set up the PNG chapter of the organisation. The branch should be fully operational by February 2007. NasFund has already set up a comprehensive web site -- http://www.baha.com.pg -- which provides an online resource on HIV/AIDS relating specifically to PNG and in particular where to seek assistance.
Marcus Bai
Last week PNG AFL Star Mal Michael was mentioned in these pages for retiring and then returning to play Aussie Rules for another team. This time it is Marcus Bai who at 34 says age has caught up with him and that at 36 he would be too old to play in the 2008 World Cup.
Bizarre War Plan
This item is related to PNG although it is not clear whether plans to use the ashes of Japanese soldiers killed in action in PNG were used for this bizarre, psychological warfare exercise. The man who hatched the idea was killed in a bomber flying carrying leaflets and urns to Lae. The plan would have failed in this day and age with DNA technology but was feasible in the 1940's. Interested enough? - then read the full story -- http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=166947
Land Compensation
Those expecting to receive a huge payout for land compensation claims awarded recently will have to wait. In a landmark case land compensation awards amounting to just over K250 million have been quashed by the National Court. The Deputy Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia recently quashed the awards made by the National Lands Commission after finding that the then Lands Commissioner Nathaniel Marum had acted beyond his powers and not according to the National Lands Registration Act when he awarded land compensation payments to various landowner groups between 1999 and 2001. The court ruling means that the land claims will now have to be re-filed at the National Lands Commission to be heard again.
Online Bookings
Airlines of PNG commenced online bookings ages ago using a flight to and from Cairns and more recently with the introduction of the Boeing B737 a flight to and from Brisbane (both destinations in Australia). Seats on the flights can only be booked over the Internet and can not be charged in the local PNG currency (Kina). -- http://www.apng.com
Air Niugini is in the final stages of implementing its online booking engine. It will offer all seats on the domestic sectors but unfortunately due to ground handling issues will not be able to offer bookings to any of its Asian ports and Honiara. I believe the airline is working on that issue at the moment. Initially the airline is only able to accept Visa and MasterCard for payment as this is all that is currently being offered by the Westpac Bank in PNG for its Kina Merchant Banking Account. Westpac is negotiating with other card suppliers. -- http://www.airniugini.com.pg -- but not activated yet.
Mobile Top Ups
DataNets PNG is offering top up of B-Mobile GSM Mobile pre-paid cards online at -- http://www.esishop.com.pg/ -- Esi Shop, PNG's first e-commerce website, is currently offering K20, K50 and K100 prepaid cards. The introduction of this facility using PNG Kina paved the way for Air Niugini to move one step closer to offering online bookings.
This is great if you are overseas and have someone in PNG who you know can't afford to call. Just think Christmas is around the corner and a top up card would make a handy present. I have heard that people living overseas with family in PNG are making use of the top up feature already only weeks after the official launch of Esi Shop.
HIV Tests
Sir Peter Barter, the Health Minister, has reiterated his call for every Papua New Guinean to go for a HIV test because that is the only way they will know their status. This is for the future generation of PNG. He said PNG has the highest prevalence of HIV in the Pacific region, and realising that, the Government had taken ownership of the issue and embarked on a massive awareness, starting on the 1st of December and ending on the 7th of December. The Government has also increased spending K90 million for HIV in the 2007 budget to deal with the issue.
Markham MP
The Deputy Opposition leader and Markham MP, Andrew Baing, has been found guilty of three of a total five allegations of misconduct in office laid against him. Mr Baing was accused of applying K250,000 from his electoral funds for his own use and not acquitting that money to the Ombudsman Commission. A tribunal found money was deposited into the leader's account from which unverified electronic transactions were made for his benefit.
see -- http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20061205/news.htm
Coming Events
Next Newsletter -- due to family commitments over the Christmas / New Year period I am not sure whether I will be able to produce a newsletter. Of course another possibility is that I may be able to issue a smaller newsletter.
Surfing Titles -- The national titles will be held at Lido village in Vanimo between the 10th and 15th of January 2007.
32nd Gaming Fishing Association of PNG titles will be held from the 7th to the 16th of April, 2007
2007 National Elections - July 2007
PNG 32nd Independence Anniversary - 16th September 2007
Do you have an event that you want advertised? Send email to -- PNGNews[@]pnggossip.com
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