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PNG in the News
Supplies delivered to storm ravaged PNG -- http://giaman.com/pg/?a19a27
Weather, Not "King Tide", Caused PNG Wave Destruction -- http://giaman.com/pg/?916451
English a problem in schools -- http://www.nnnforum.org/forums/showthread.php?t=143673
PNG seeks Aussie help after tidal surge -- http://giaman.com/pg/?9a899c
PNG Blogs
A collection of blogs about PNG.
Misc Links
Education Milne Bay -- http://www.edumilnebay.com/
Kokoda Historical Web site -- http://www.kokodahistorical.com/ -- don't forget to vote in their Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels poll.
Singing Dog Vanilla beans are organically grown in the lush climate of Papua New Guinea without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers. -- http://singingdogvanilla.com
Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary - RPNGC unofficial site -- http://www.skillresearch.com/rpngc/
Untouched Paradise -- http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,23483,22002505-5006180,00.html
The Capital City of PNG -- http://www.126126.info/the-capital-city-of-papua-new-guinea/
Real Estate Agents
Arthur Strachan (Lae) -- http://www.arthurstrachan.com.pg
Century 21 -- http://www.century21.com.pg/
Kohoy Real Estate -- http://kohoyrealestates.tripod.com/
L.J Hooker -- http://png.ljhooker.com/
Ray White Real Estate -- monian@online.net.pg
Strickland RE -- http://www.sre.com.pg/
The Professionals -- http://www.theprofessionals.com.pg
News Items
Christmas Time
At this time of year airports and wharves are filled to capacity with people and cargo attempting to get home. The system that has been chaotic in the past seems to be handled better this year especially at Jackson's airport. PNG travellers are still causing airline officials to pull their hair out by not turning up for flights and flights that have been overbooked sometimes go out with spare seats and then other times everyone turns up and passengers have to be offloaded. Luckily or maybe by better management of resources Air Niugini has even been able to get some of the flights out on time if not a few minutes early. Some of this is due to the arrival of newer aircraft with more seat capacity and some of it is just by the handwork of employees. Just remember that the poor person behind the counter getting you to your various destinations at all the airline and shipping agent desks is not going to be able to travel on holidays this year. No one likes to see flights or ships delayed so have your tickets and other travel documents ready to avoid wasting time at the counter.
To all readers of this newsletter a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Kainantu Landslide
A landslide 2 kilometres away from Barrick Gold Corp's Kainantu mine has killed at least 10 people. Three people have been pulled alive from the mud unleashed by heavy rains. The slide also destroyed miners' accommodation at an exploration camp. It is feared that others are still buried alive under the debris. An Australian team has flown in to help lead the search for survivors.
Relatives of 10 people killed in a landslide at remote Barrick Gold Corporation's Kainantu mine camp in PNG want one million kina ($A500,000) in compensation from the mining company.
Barrick Gold is the world's biggest gold miner, with its headquarters in Canada and operations on five continents. PNG authorities are investigating the cause of the landslide, which covered about one square kilometre in the isolated mountainous region where Barrick was exploring for gold.
Kainantu is in the Eastern Highlands province of the country.
Tiare Gateway
Internet access for the whole of PNG was down from 6.30pm last Sunday due to a scheduled Tiare Internet Gateway outage that enabled Telikom to carry out an upgrade to the network. Telikom says you should see an improvement in reliability and performance of the gateway as a result.
Lae Best Buy Fire
A fire has destroyed the Best Buy supermarket at Top Town, Lae, Morobe province. This was the site of the historical Burns Philip store - an icon of Lae for many years. The liquor store was one of the last sections to go up in flames so many onlookers took advantage of the situation to loot the store. It didn't matter if the beer was not cold and some of the bottles were hot from the flames.
The fire completely gutted the supermarket and forced other businesses in the vicinity to close for the day while the ANZ bank closed its doors for at least an hour.
see -- http://anvanderheide.blogspot.com/2008/12/oopsi-forgot-something.html
Foul Smell
The smell from the remains of the Best Buys supermarket has forced tenants in the nearby Vele Rumana building to stay away for an indefinite period. Vele Rumana is owned by Nambawan Super, and houses major corporations including Maybank, the PNG Electoral Commission, Ombudsman Commission, National Agriculture Department, Provincial Lands Department, Power Haus studio and 94.7 FM Morobe, Paraka Lawyers, and Big Rooster. Bank South Pacific also has its automatic telling machines (ATM) located inside the building.
Alotau Hospital Fundraiser
Andrew Hughes from -- http://expeditionclass.com -- who had cause to use the services of the Alotau Hospital is trying to make the amount of $820 that he has raised so far for the hospital get to $1000. The donation will help to obtain some much needed equipment for the Surgery Ward. You can donate using the button on the -- http://expeditionclass.com -- web site. All donations received by this method over the few days will go 100% to the hospital.
UK Rugby League
The UK Sheffield Eagles Rugby League Club have signed PNG World Cup star Menzie Yere on a two-year contract. The 25-year-old centre will arrive in January next year, and will join Kumuls forward Trevor Exton in Sheffield. The Eagles signed 26-year old Exton in October.
Deadman's Corner
Deadman's Corner at the end of the Poreporena Freeway in Konedobu, Port Moresby has claimed another life. The Post Courier reports that this is the 15th death at the corner since the freeway opened.
An unfortunate driver of a Hebou Construction vehicle was incinerated after his water tanker crashed at the corner. As the speed limit of 60 kilometres per hour is invariably exceeded on the freeway engineers have called for a redesign of the corner to help reduce the number of accidents and death toll. If vandalism wasn't so rife in the city may be the introduction of a speed camera in the area would help to slow drivers down but just imagine trying to track down who was driving the vehicle. Of course an education campaign would also help.
The owners of the crashed water truck have denied the truck was overloaded and urged the media not to make any assumptions or speculate on the cause of the accident before police complete their investigations.
When was the last time you saw any one pulled over for speeding in the National Capital District?
Waves Destroy Homes
Huge waves caused by what was thought to be a king tide have destroyed a hospital and homes in low lying areas of northern PNG near Wewak and the west coast of New Ireland province. Patients were evacuated from Wewak hospital in the Prime Minister Somare's home province of East Sepik while doctors and police in New Ireland have been checking on people living on the nearby low lying islands. It also washed away six houses on Pitiluh Island in Manus Province. Bougainville and Milne have also reported damage by huge waves.
Even Prime Minister Somare's village of Karau in the Murik Lakes area of Angoram, East Sepik Province is under water.
So far two children have reportedly died as a result of the huge waves and 50,000 people have been affected by the surges.
see -- http://uk.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUKSYD292118._CH_.2420
see also - PNGDF craft to evacuate people in New Ireland -- http://giaman.com/pg/?274da3
see - Not a king tide -- http://giaman.com/pg/?916451
Exposed Bombs
Huge waves pounding the Wewak coastline have revealed two unexploded World War II bombs. Locals have been warned to stay clear of the Boram Bridge and Boram Police Barracks beachfront where the bombs were found. Two explosives experts from the PNG Defence Force headquarters in Port Moresby have been flown to Wewak, and are expected to inspect the devices when the tide subsides.
Police Vehicles
The Member for Moresby Southeast and Minister for Community Development Dame Carol Kidu has presented two new cars to the police force for use in the Moresby Southeast electorate. The vehicles were purchased from the electorate's funds and will be given to the Badili and town police stations.
Dame Carol wanted it made clear that the purchasing and presenting of the two vehicles were made possible by the Moresby Southeast people and not by her.
Passenger ID
Air Niugini now requires all passenger identification cards and any other necessary information to be added to the reservation system at the time of booking before a copy of the ticket is given to the passenger. At the time the passenger checks in this information must be produced before the passenger will be allowed to travel. A statement from the airline's corporate affairs department said there had been an increase in fraudulent activities with tickets where those who had purchased tickets were illegally giving or selling them to other people to travel.
Fuel Prices
The retail price of petrol in Port Moresby has dropped from K2.95 a litre to K2.40 a litre. Diesel is down from K2.56 to K2.30 a litre. Kerosene has dropped 10.7% to K2.22 a litre from K2.49 a litre last month. Petrol has fallen by a massive K1.82 a litre since August.
Highway Fuel
The price of fuel may have dropped in Moresby but the town of Mt Hagen, the provincial capital of the Western Highlands, and villages further along the highlands highway have had to go without fuel. This has been caused by a deteriorating road along the Okuk Highway in the Chimbu province preventing fuel tankers passing through. Some of the roadside sellers have bumped prices to as much as K15 a litre.
Reserves of jet A1 fuel at the Kagamuga Airport are also critical.
Human Rights Award
The Minister for Community Development, Dame Carol Kidu, was surprised at being awarded a human rights award in Fiji. She was not even aware of the award until told recently. Dame Carol was presented with the award for her outstanding contribution to the promotion of the rights of Pacific Islanders. Dame Carol said such award was an honour for the people of her electorate, PNG and the Pacific as a whole.
Mi Redi Nau!
From the Post Courier - "The Drum" - Flight to Hagen the other day produced a stunning event for cabin crew. The plane was hitting turbulence as it weaved its way down the valleys. Crew walked up and down, checking seatbelts and overhead lockers. The plane was shaking a fair bit. Down to the back of the plane, the crew member was startled to see a bearded gent not just buckled in but also wearing the full lifejacket kit, as if they were about to ditch in the water (water? Hagen?). Bearded one pipes up: "Mi redi nau!"
Operation Open Heart
Australian singer, Kamahl, has performed at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Port Moresby to help raise funds for Operation Open Heart (OOH). He also performed at the Ralum Club in Rabaul in support of OOH's Christmas appeal. The event called "Christmas with Kamahl" raised K270,000 towards Operation Open Heart.
Milne Bay
An outbreak of Typhoid has been detected at Kiriwina in Milne Bat province. It is thought that water contamination may be the cause of the outbreak. Help will be sent to the island without a doctor to assess the situation and carry out further tests.
Coming Events
Inaugural Madang Golf Classic February 2009 sponsored by Airlines of PNG.
Symposium on Sea Turtles - to be held in Brisbane, Australia between the 17th and 19th of February 2009.
Oceania Snooker and Billiards titles in Port Moresby from the 20th to the 29th of March, 2009
34th Games Fishing Association PNG National Game Fishing Titles - Madang - from the 3rd of April to 13th of April 2009.
PNG Kickboxing Association has postponed its world title fight -- 25th April 2009
Arafura Games - 9 to 17th of May 2009 -- http://www.arafuragames.nt.gov.au/
The International Cricket Council (ICC) East Asia Pacific (EAP) Under 19 Cricket Trophy tournament will be held from the 1st to the 7th of June 2009
5th National Tourism Conference -- June 2009 (date to be confirmed) - to be held at Madang Resort Hotel.
45th Medical Symposium - Port Moresby - sponsored by the Pacific International Hospital from the 1st to the 5th of September 2009
National Elections - June 2012
Do you have an event that you want advertised? - use the submission form located at -- ../misc/ctc.html.
PNG Media
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