Post Courier, Friday January 2, 2015

Bloody New Year

SORCERY has reared its ugly head closer to the seat of government – Port Moresby – with the brutal killing of an elderly couple accused of practising it on New Year’s eve.

They were among eight deaths reported by police throughout the country.

The deaths marred what was otherwise a peaceful, quiet festive season which started last Wednesday, Christmas

Eve. While Government House announced that 90 people had been honoured in the New Year’s Honours List and Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says PNG was well-placed in 2015 to make progress despite global economic conditions, 2014 did not end well elsewhere as police reported:

THE extrajudiciary killings of the couple at Six-Mile in Moresby Northeast electorate on

Wednesday;

THE death of a man through strangulation in Madang as he attempted to escape from the police cells by squeezing through the steel bars of the window;

THE deaths of two people in Lae, one as a result of high-speed car chase and the other the victim of a suspected murder; and ARMED men raided Western Highlands’

Baisu jail to free an accomplice on Wednesday morning resulting in 33 prisoners escaping as a guard was shot in the leg. In Manus, a nine-yearold girl is dead and in Buka two others are dead and many injured in separate road accidents. This brings to eight the total number of deaths reported around PNG.

SEE STORIES INSIDE

Escape to death

STORY ON PAGE 4

NINE inmates at the Jomba police station cells in Madang dashed for freedom on New Year’s eve. The 10th escapee did not make it. He was strangulated as he tried to follow his fellow inmates (pictured right with a policeman pointing at his lifeless body (picture supplied). ABOVE: Fireworks in Port Moresby to welcome the new year. Picture: MARK TALIA

2015 has opportunities but challenges remain

ITis a new year and offers Papua New Guinea and its people another opportunity to get their development agenda back on track and on the road to success and long-term prosperity.

But this year 2015 is no ordinary one like any other as we will celebrate 40 years of independence from Australia, a journey that our forefathers began with a sprint from Independence Hill at Waigani on September 16, 1975 and at some points in the journey suffered breakdowns that came close to forcing total system shutdown.

The O’Neill/Dion Government has set out its agenda for this year with Prime Minister Peter O’Neill yesterday zooming in on the 40th independence anniversary celebrations in September as well as Port Moresby’s hosting of the 2015 XV Pacific Games and the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Summit.

But the Government’s biggest challenge will be to manage expectations associated with the country’s exporting of liquefied natural gas with dropping global commodity prices already putting pressure on projected revenue from LNG exports.

Mr O’Neill said his Government is working to “insulate” Papua New Guineans and the business community from feeling the adverse effects of the drop in oil prices and pointed to the various public infrastructure projects that are currently on foot and creating jobs for thousands of people.

“In particular, while the price of oil has dropped in recent months, for the most part this will not overly affect LNG revenues as we have forward contracts in place that are set at fixed pricing formula. Our domestic economy remains strong with a range of major projects underway that have already been funded and are creating tens of thousands of jobs throughout the country,” he said.

The Government’s continued devolution of powers to the districts and increased funding (an extra K5 million in this year’s budget to bring total District Services Improvement Programe funding to K15 million annually) confirms its determination to empower our rural communities, where over 80 per cent of our people stay.

We note the Government’s continued focus on free education, universal healthcare, improving law and order and establishing vital infrastructure. However, we would like to bring to the Government’s attention issues of good governance that continue to raise questions about the integrity of its own institutions and processes and procedures. The Special Agriculture and Business Leases (SABL) program, which saw over five million hectares of customary-owned land illegally taken over, remains outstanding and needing action by the Government following the conclusion of a Commission of Inquiry in 2012. Consequently, it has become business-as-usual for some of the leases despite assurances that the land will be given back to the people. And the case of Indonesian fugitive Djoko Tjandra, whom Indonesian authorities want to extradite over his role in the collapse of Bank Bali in 2009, continues to be swept under the carpet in Waigani as he travels locally and abroad on a PNG passport and as a Papua New Guinean. PNG is set to shine at the various local and international events this year but its record as a progressive leader will continue to be questioned and tarnished if it fails to address these issues.

Index

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Elderly couple killed over sorcery claims

BY MIRIAM ZARRIGA

TRAGEDY has befallen the Okapa block at Six-Mile in Moresby Northeast, after an elderly couple from Okapa in Eastern Highlands Province was brutally killed for allegedly practising sorcery.

The killings yesterday marred a quiet New Year’s for the capital, Metropolitan Superintendent Andy Bawa said.

The suspects are understood to be from the same block as the couple and investigations are being carried

out and the bodies are now at the Port Moresby General Hospital morgue.

“The murders of the couple are inhumane, unwarranted and unacceptable,” said Mr Bawa. “And I condone the taking of a human life, especially in the New Year; we will be working hard to arrest the attackers.”

Sorcery-related killings had been frequent in the Highlands region last year but this is the time first time such killings have been reported in the nation’s capital where law-makers are

seriously contemplating the death penalty for sorceryrelated killings of women.

Mr Bawa did not provide further details of these extrajudicial killings, adding they were the only serious crime reported in an otherwise quiet Wednesday and Thursday.

“The murders are the only major incident that has been reported, but there were a few drunkards who we were able to control, other than that, the city were quiet,” he said.

Mr Bawa commended city

residents for their wellbehaved and quiet celebrations, adding his policemen and women should also be praised for their hard work in ensuring peace and goodwill prevailed.

“I want to commend the police personnel for their hard work and restless nights. They have ensured the city and its residents are safe,” Mr Bawa said. “The Australian Federal Police personnel are to be thanked also for their assistance and for their work in 2014 and for their continuous support in 2015.”

Besides the sorcery killings, it was fairly quiet around the nation’s capital, police said.

NEW YEAR TRAGEDY

PM: We will progress despite challenges

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill is looking forward to the challenges that will be faced and progress that will be made throughout the new year.

“The year 2015 will mark our 40th year of independence as a nation, and will provide an opportunity to take stock of and build on our recent progress,” he said yesterday in his first media statement for 2015.

“Our nation will also hold the largest Pacific Games that has ever been undertaken. We will host the Leaders of the Pacific Islands’ Forum and welcome hundreds of APEC delegates as we prepare to host APEC presidents and prime ministers in 2018.”

The bottom line

the drum

FIREWORKS

ANY attempts by NCD police to arrest people who set off fireworks to mark the New Year would have been futile. The illegal pyrotechnics display activities were happening in most suburbs of the national capital and police manpower was stretched.

CELEBRATE

IT appears Gerehu, which was recently tagged “Port Moresby’s safest suburb”, took the lead in setting them off. Some residents didn’t mind firing them to celebrate their suburb finally coming of age and shedding the notorious suburb image.

11 MINUTES

DID you know fireworks can also burn a hole in the pocket? The one that the City of London municipality did for the British capital on New Year cost taxpayers £1.8 million or about K6 million and only ran for 11 minutes!

RESOLUTION

SPEAKING of New Year

what are some of the most common New Year resolutions? Some of the most popular are losing weight, quit smoking, cutting down on alcohol and spending more time with the family. Sadly, a lot of people don’t follow through with them.

Mr O’Neill said the Government’s focus would remain on the core policy areas that it promised to the people at the 2012 election, while managing global economic concerns relevant to PNG.

“As a Government we will continue to ensure the development of our four key priority areas of free education for all of our children, universal healthcare, improving law and order around the nation and delivering vital infrastructure.

“There will be challenges, particularly as the larger economies around the world face difficulties, but we are working to insulate people

and businesses in our country from these complications.

“In particular, while the price of oil has dropped in recent months, for the most part this will not overly affected LNG revenues as we have forward contracts in place that are set at fixed pricing formula.

“Our domestic economy remains strong with a range of major projects underway that have already been funded and are creating tens of thousands of jobs throughout the country.

“This includes the infrastructure programs that are needed to ensure our economy continues to generate businesses and create jobs into

the future.

“Projects such as new roads, bridges and wharfs, new teachers colleges other educational institutions, and ongoing hospital improvements will be delivered in 2015.

“We are building thousands of new houses that will also be completed in 2015 giving thousands of Papua New Guinean families their own homes through one of the best personal home loan schemes in the world.”

Mr O’Neill said despite the challenges posed by the international economy, the PNG economy was moving forward and potential for growth was positive.

A cat uses its whiskers to determine if a space is too small to squeeze through.

POLITICISED

SAD to see the appointment of the new Bougainville chief secretary getting politicised. Some are pushing for the top bureaucrat to be selected along regional lines. The PNG National Government used to do that and got nowhere.

NO GROG

THERE have been a number of deaths over the festive period triggered by vehicle crashes with intoxicated people behind the wheel. The fatalities could have been avoided if drivers steered clear of grog and there were police roadblocks.

AUCTION

WONDER what Port Moresby police will do with those hundreds of beer cartons they confiscated when they enforced the partial liquor ban over the festive period. Maybe they should auction them and give the proceeds to charity.

GO ROCKY

CONGRATS to veteran PNG-based photographer Laurence “Rocky” Roe for getting a gong in PNG’s New Year’s Honours List. Rocky gets a Member of the Order of Logohu (ML) for services to photography and promoting culture and tourism.

PENGEE: thedrum@spp.com.pg

Photographer Laurence “Rocky” Roe

ROCKY ROCKS

THIS couple and their children, who are heavily bandaged as can be seen in this picture, were in a group of about 20 people who were involved in a fatal accident on Buka. Many others were injured and two lost their lives when the truck they were travelling on lost power and reversed downhill, throwing them out and onto the road. SEE PAGE 4

Tragedy on Buka highway

TWO people have died and many others where injured in Buka on Wednesday when the truck they were travelling on lost power and reversed downhill, throwing passengers out onto the road.

The truck was carrying mostly mothers and young children who travelled to Buka town to shop for their New Year celebrations and were returning to the villages in the afternoon when disaster struck.

According to a passenger who lost his brother, the driver of the vehicle changed the gears halfway up the hill, resulting in the vehicle losing power and it reversed downhill, hitting the side of the earth wall twice and throwing passengers onto the middle of the road.

All injured passengers, numbering close to 20, were rushed to Buka Hospital by passing vehicles with some in critical condition while a man and a woman succumbed to their injuries.

The vehicle owner did not sustain any injuries and has been locked up at the Buka police station while his wife also sustained chest injuries.

Police who rushed to the scene said it was a horrific accident with mostly mothers and young children involved.

Police said investigations into the cause of the accident are underway.

HELPER OR BEGGAR?

Madang remandee dies trying to escape

BY ROSALYN ALBANIEL and FRANKLIN KOLMA

A REMANDEE died a horrible death while attempting to escape from Madang’s Jomba police cells on Wednesday.

His head got stuck as he tried to squeeze through the steel bars and may have died in agony, through strangulation, while nine other suspects before him made good their escape.

Police in the province have commenced a man-hunt for the nine.

Madang provincial police

Joint operation to catch 33 Baisu escapees

BY MIRIAM ZARRIGA

A JOINT operation will be carried out between the police and Correctional Services today to recapture the 33 prisoners who are on the run after walking out of the Baisu jail in Western Highlands Province in the early hours of Wednesday.

The walkout was the result of armed men cutting the jail’s perimeter fence and accessing the prison grounds in an attempt to free a lone prisoner. In the process, they released 33 high-risk prisoners and shot a warder in the leg.

Assistant police commissioner divisional commander for Highlands region Teddy Tei said yesterday that investigations were continuing into the breakout.

He said from intial information they received, the armed men had cut through the fence of the prison at 3am on Wednesday to free an accomplice.

“In the process they opened a cell block with 33 prisoners who walked to their freedom.

Five CS officers who were on duty were overpowered by the rascals,” Mr Tei said.

“The rascals were armed with high-powered weapons while the CS officers had only two guns, this enabled the men to simply walk in and shoot a guard in the leg, and shot off the locks to open the cells.”

commander Sylvester Kalaut said the incident happened on New Year’s Eve at about 5am.

The escape took place during

a heavy downpour.

He said the Jomba police cell guards found the dead prisoner dangling from the prison’s half-removed steel bars.

He said the suspect had tried to force his body through the tight gap in the bar only to get his head stuck between the bars.

His nine accomplices managed to squeeze through the gap that they created using a sharp implement that was smuggled in prior to the escape; a matter that is also being investigated.

Chief Superintendent Ka-

laut said the incident should serve as a lesson to other suspects, that risks of escaping were high and it was better to do the right thing and to work with the rule of law instead of against it.

He said among those now on the run was a betelnut trader from the Highlands region who police had arrested for being in possession of a highpowered firearm. Police believed it had been bought in Bogia district.

Meanwhile, one woman’s New Year’s celebrations turned sour after she was

caught by police along the North Coast trying to smuggle in fireworks which she had bought at the Indonesian border trading post of Batas at the PNG-Indonesia border.

The PPC said the woman to have spent K4400 to bring in the items, which are prohibited by law.

Street value of the items are said to be between K40 and K50 and it is estimated she would have made about K20,000. However, she was instead slapped a hefty fine and her wares have since been forfeited to the state.

The 33 prisoners were all remandees, awaiting National Court appearances and decisions for various serious offences.

Mr Tei said as soon as word of the breakout reached the police, investigations were carried out and police were in the Dei council hunting the escapees.

He urged the public in the Western Highlands and neighbouring provinces to be on the lookout for the prisoners.

“Due to the notoriety of the prisoners, I am urging the public in the province to be on the lookout,” he said.

Arts and craft vendors call for proper facilities

BY TONY SII UPNG journalism student

WOMEN who trade at the Tabari arts and craft market in Port Moresby are crying out to the city authority for a proper market for them before the Pacific Games begins in July.

They are hoping the staging of the Games in Port Moresby would encourage the city authority and the National Cultural Commission to plan a proper market infrastructure.

“That’s why our humble cry and call to especially NCD

Governor Powes Parkop is to establish at least a new decent market manned with security personnel before the Pacific Games begins, because it would be a shame if our visitors from the other Pacific islands countries see us in the condition we are in currently,” one seller said. The women say they made the call after having endured a harsh and unsafe struggle to make ends meet at the arts and craft market almost daily for years.

And it is a struggle the city authority seems to blatantly cast a blind eye on as evi-

denced by the forlorn absence of infrastructures such as decent shelters, proper selling areas, storage facilities, ablution blocks, and even security personnel – features expected of any market, say the women.

“As long as we can remember, we have never received or seen any assistance from the Government, NCD Governor and the local MP,” they said.

“Day in day out we’ve been trading here while sitting on the ground and exposed to sun, rain, wind, dust and even criminal elements but we have to bear with those ex-

tremes if we are to make ends meet not only for ourselves but for our families too.”

They reasoned that it is also unjust when Mr Parkop has established market facility in Central Province for trading of betelnuts that filth the city and leave them to fend for themselves in promoting the country’s cultural heritage through the selling arts and crafts that pose no threat to the city’s cleanliness. Although they seem to be on the losing end of government support, most of their products attract a lot of local and overseas buyers.

SHELTERS built purposesly for arts and craft vendors overgrown with bushes at Ela Beach while the sellers do business at Boroko.

A youngster hoping to earn a few bucks from patching potholes at Taurama in the nation’s capital. Many motorists ignore such individuals, saying what they are doing is a form of begging and not service.

His nine accomplices managed to squeeze through the gap that they created using a sharp implement that was smuggled in.

Police: New Year quiet in Highlands

THIS festive season is the first in three years that the Highlands region has reported unusually quiet celebrations, says Highlands regional police chief Teddy Tei.

Mr Tei said the festive season is normally associated with energy and preparations by law enforcers to keep law and order but this year was different.

The Highlands has been in the spotlight in recent months but for the festive period, Assistant Police Commissioner Tei said this was the first time in his three years as commander that the region enjoyed a quiet ChristmasNew Year period.

He said this was due to the awareness carried out by the police which included advising celebrations to be carried out in the safety of the revellers’ homes instead of on the streets.

“The quietness of the Christmas and New Year celebrations is due to the awareness we had carried out before the festive period began, telling everyone not to cause nuisance but celebrate in the safety of their homes,” Mr Tei said.

Although it was quiet there were still minor incidents which police attended to, Mr Tei said.

In Southern Highlands Province two women were arrested at the border checkpoint at

Porgera company back in operation

THE landowners of Porgera gold mine in Enga Province are happy with the restructure of their company following a court-ordered mediation early this month.

At a glance

REGION: The Highlands region is one region that has been in the spotlight in recent months.

INCIDENTS: although the festive season in the highlands was peaceful there were minor incidents in the Southern Highlands Province.

FESTIVE SEASONS:

CHRISTMAS and New Year has always been the time police operations are in full force to deter the public in causing a nuisance to one another.

River Kagul, he said.

Police removed 28 cartons of SP beer and six cartons of spirits, all worth K15,000.

Both women were detained in Mendi awaiting court appearances for smuggling.

At Kikita, two village in the Tari district of Hela Province, police reported a payback killing of a man.

Police said the suspect was known and an arrest would be made soon.

In Mt Hagen, armed men raided the Baisu jail and set free 33 prisoners.

But Mr Tei praised the public for the quiet festive season and said that the quiet celebrations were a sign that the people were beginning to understand their responsibilities as citizens.

SETTING UP LIGHT POLES

WORKMEN setting up the light poles along the free way at

in Port

Lead plaintiff Sole Taro said their landowner company, Kupiane Yuu Anduane Company Limited (KYACL), which owns 2.5 per cent equity at the Porgera gold mine through Mineral Resources Enga Limited (MRE), has suffered in the hands of few individuals for over 20 years due to mismanagement and, consequently, returned no dividends to shareholders.

Mr Taro led a faction of shareholders and directors of KYACL and instituted court proceedings in April 2011 over the management of the company and its subsidiaries but this proceeding was settled out of court through the deed of release on May 9, 2012.

The supposed deed of release to sell the KYACL assets was never executed, prompting Taro to institute another court proceeding which Justice Ambeng Kandakasi heard and ordered for mediation on November 19, 2014, which paved a new way for the landowners of Porgera gold mine, a prepared statement signed by four clans chiefs, including Taro, who are also directors and shareholders of the company, said.

Agreed under the new mediated KYACL re-structure are the following:

These lights were

being blown up and couldn’t light up the streets.

Animal rights group urges people not to trade in animals

BY TONY SII

THE Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty against Animals (RSPCA) is asking the public to refrain from buying

animals sold on streets and public places in Port Moresby in an effort to advocate animal rights in the country.

RSPCA community liaison officer Brigitte

Baki-Taú and assistant vet nurse Joe Kendai said the call comes after their continuous attempts to discourage animal sellers from trading birds such as eaglets, owl-

ets, and hawks as well as young kangaroos, wallabies, cuscus, cassowaries, crocodiles, puppies and kittens have proven fruitless in most cases.

“The people contin-

ue to sell the animals and we feel helpless because we do not have the powers to stop or prosecute them right on the spot.

“We encourage them that instead of selling

the animals, they can start poultry and pig farms because chickens and pigs are in abundance and easily replaceable, unlike most of the animals they sell,” they said.

There will be only three institutional shareholders in KYACL and they are Kupiane Holdings Limited (52.6 per cent), Kupiane Gold Resources Limited (37.4 per cent) and Porgera Development Authority (10 per cent) with three directors of MRE (one representative from KGRL and two from KHL)

Six directors of KYACL (two from KGRL, three from KHL and one from PDA with two signatories to the bank accounts of KYCAL (one from KGRL and the other from KH.

The statement said the two factions will transfer their shares to separate entities.

Local govt funds lifeline for Manam students

BY ROSALYN ALBANIEL

THE local level government services improvement program fund has been a lifeline for high school students from Madang’s Iabu local level government area. With the decision by the Government to drastically slash this funding support, concerns are that these students may be deprived of the opportunity to advance their education.

Iabu LLG president Martin Ururu told the Post-Courier

while in Port Moresby last week that of the total K500,000 that had been disbursed to the people of Manam that he and his local assembly had allocated 20 per cent towards education.

Mr Ururu said priority in this sector had gone towards assisting parents in paying a portion of the total school fees for selected students to attend Holy Spirit Catholic High School in Bogia district.

He admitted that this may have been small and may

not have been according to the regulations governing the use of these funds.

However, the president said that he regards education as vital, especially

for the future of the children from his area. He said with the Manam volcanic eruptions had robbed many parents from the island of any means to earn a decent income to pay for necessities, including school fees. He said the consequences are graver than his having to bend the rules to accommodate this crucial need.

Mr Ururu said any form of school fee assistance ought to be an assistance that the local MP should be taking on under his District Support

Services Improvement that his people had been missing out. He is worried that he may not be able to do that this year. He said that while the LLGSIP was supposed to go towards impact projects they have had to make the concept workable to suit their needs.

“It has been difficult trying to commit to impact projects which are permanent because Manam was still active and for the care centres, the land is not ours,” he said.

Konedobu

Moresby.

being replaced after

MR Ururu (right) and a president of Almami LLG Eric Pekah

Modilon ICU to reopen this year

By ROSALYN ALBANIEL

MODILON’s intensive care unit will reopen in the New Year, the hospital’s chief executive officer Sister Christine Gawi insists.

She said yesterday that funding and staffing constraints were the main reasons for the prolonged closure.

However, she said the hospital has since been able to recruit an anesthetist and a registrar who are key ICU personnel and there are plans to recruit more specialist staff.

“Like all hospitals, government funding support has been our biggest challenge. The cuts have put a strain on salaries. Due to this major setback are looking at reopening the unit in 2015,” she said.

She said that for the unit to function effectively that it should be staffed with one anesthetist, two registrars, seven registered nurses and about six nursing aides or community health workers.

In relation to equipment, Sr Gawi said what the ICU had were being used by other sections of the hospi-

Firearms trade still rife in Madang

BY ROSALYN ALBANIEL

THE smuggling and illegal trading of high-powered firearms are continuing in Madang’s Bogia district, prompting officials to question whether enough is being done to improve border checks.

At a glance

REOPENING: The cuts have put a strain on salaries. Due to this major setback are looking at reopening the unit in 2015.

RECRUITMENT: The hospital been able to recruit an anesthetist and a registrar who are key ICU personnel and plans to recruit more specialist.

GOVT FUNDING: Like all hospitals government funding support has been our biggest challenge.

tal. Modilon’s board chairman Fr Jan Czuba confirmed the ICU would reopen next month.

“Modilon General Hospital ICU staff, including doctors, nurses, clinical nurse specialists, pharmacists, physical therapists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, even social workers, and chaplains are in place,” he said. “We urgently need the ICU at the hospital for seriously ill patients, who require close observation and monitoring, where specially trained nurses care for one or two patients at a time, each shift.”

THE RSPCA Vet Clinic now has an animal x-ray machine. The state of the art digital x-ray machine was valued at K200, 000.00. The RSPCA’s committee hosted two main fundraisers this year to raise the money needed. The first one was the RSPCA Trivia Night, hosted in May, and held at the Crowne Plaza. The second fundraiser, ‘Tribute to the Greats’ night, featured the amazing world-class performance from Vogue Duo and was held in November at the Royal Papua Yacht Club. Funds raised contributed to the purchase of this valuable equipment, which means better treatment for our patients. Picture-Dr Berlini Endaya taking an x-ray of patient Tom. He is assisted by assistant vet nurse, Joe Kendai.

Closed clinics force patients to general hospital

A HIGH number of people are turning up at the accident and emergency department of the Port Moresby General Hospital with minor ailments.

This is despite efforts by the hospital to educate people about the role of this department and the need for people to go to the urban clinics unless they have life-

threatening health issues and injuries from accidents.

This week, the Post-Courier visited an urban clinic and found it closed and understands there are a number of them that are also closed until Monday.

National Capital District Health Services (NCDHS) is also closed and the security

guards manning the gates had reported that staff of NCDHS would not return to work until Monday, January 5.

When asked for his comments, PMGH chief executive officer Grant Muddle said when people turn up with ailments at A&E, they should not complain if they wait for a long time because

they are not supposed to be there in the first place.

“A and E is dealing with people with splinters to injuries from accidents to high blood pressure. If so many people turn up they should not get upset if they are not seen quickly. We are seeing a high number of people turning up at A and E. “If the clinics are closed,

people will obviously come here,’’ Mr Muddle said.

He said the Department of Personnel Management had made it clear that the public holidays were three days and the health services are supposed to be running during these times.

Gerehu Hospital was open yesterday for normal service.

Joint operations by Police and PNG Customs officers in Madang Province had throughout last year had resulted in quite a number of these weapons being hauled in but more needs to be done.

Concerns that this trade remains rife resurfaced this week when police from the Sumkar District impounded a new .22 rifle from a betelnut buyer from the Highlands region.

Madang provincial police commander Sylvester Kalaut said the buyer was heading back to town from Bogia district with his cargo of betelnut when the PMV he was travelling in was flagged by police who had set up a road block at Dylup plantation.

He said a thorough search which they had conducted on the PMV had resulted in the discovery of the weapon.

Chief Superintendent Kalaut said Bogia is a known haven for the buying and selling of these weapons, which authorities believe are being smuggled in from across the border and through Sandaun and East Sepik.

He said they are brought in from the Sepik provinces then to Madang where the trading took place. He said the weapons have been shipped to other parts of the country. Chief Supt Kalaut said his concern was that these weapons would be used to commit serious crimes, including armed robberies, rapes.

“Innocent people have and will be killed using these weapons. This is a big concern which collectively must be addressed,” he said.

He said joint operations conducted last year with PNG Customs had resulted in a number of these weapons being seized.

Angau records more babies during festive period

BY FRANKIY KAPIN

LAE’S Angau Hospital has again recorded an increased child birth of almost 100 births over the festive period ending yesterday.

According to Angau nursing services director Mrs Makanda, this is peak period and again the high births were not a surprise.

She said the festive

season in Lae has come with its blessings, giving a total of 93 newborns starting from Christmas Day (December 25) to December 29.

Mrs Makanda confirmed that the festive period leading to the New Year has seen an average of 19 babies per day.

Mrs Makanda said 48 of the births were females and 45 were

males, a mere difference of three females. She said on Christmas Day a total of 17 babies were born, followed by 23 the next day, 19 on December 27, 23 on December 28 and 11 as of 2:30pm on December 29.

According to the statistics given, the unaccounted newborns for the remaining two and half days will stand at 46 or 19 births per day aver-

age. A total of 19 midwives and seven community health workers have been committed and tirelessly working over the festive period at the Angau hospital. The unofficial record of highest births in a month for Angau for 2014 stands at 900 plus in May of 2014, according to caretaker nurse at the Angau hospital’s labor ward.

Your average dog’s nose is tens of thousands of times as sensitive to odors as yours.

The bottom line

RSPCA GETS X-RAY MACHINE FOR CHRISTMAS

MOTHERS who gave birth during the festive season showing their newborn babies at the Angau Memorial Hospital.

Islanders welcome New Year with joy

NEW Year celebrations in the New Guinea Islands region varied from family gatherings, to church services and other social activities.

People celebrated in their own ways. Some people had quiet celebrations at home while others chose to welcome the year with partying activities.

Some churches hosted services as well as song and dance performances.

For those in the villages, it was the usual noisy activities to welcome the New Year.

Julie David from Takekel in the Gazelle area of East New Britain said New Year’s Eve was spent with her family and on the first day of the year yesterday, Ms David joined in a Christmas and New Year party in Kokopo hosted by her employer. She thanked her family as well as her employer Kenny Ling for a great year 2014 and wished all her family and as well as Alanda Trading colleagues in Kokopo and Alotau and a blessed New Year.

School girl Natalie Maira in Namatanai Town in New Ireland Province said there was not much to do and she had a quiet evening with her aunt and brother Patimos. She said it was not that noisy but said the New Year started off with a heavy downpour.

As for Mary Tulasoi in Kokopo a special dinner was held for friends and family to welcome the New Year at Seaview while Nelsie Giraure Saya at Vunavulila in Rabaul said despite a few drunks, celebrations including church activities in their community were peaceful. They had a family get-together and enjoyed a

At a glance

CELEBRATIONS: new Year celebrations in the New Guinea Islands varied from family gatherings church and other social activities.

SECURITY: In the New Island Province police were out in full force to make this New Year a peaceful one.

NGI: New Guinea Islands.

special meal.

Kevin Low’s New Year’s Eve was spent at Ragaga in the North Baining area of ENB. He said their celebrations in that part of the province was quite enjoyable and involved family and friends.

Randall Cheong in Kimbe said New Year celebrations in Kimbe were much better than last years. He said police were patrolling the streets. He said he had a quiet and peaceful New Year’s Eve.

Rayleen Walaun also from Kimbe said there were activities held in Kimbe to celebrate the New Year but she spent time with family, friends and colleagues who got together to welcome the New Year.

John Tokmun in Namatanai said it was a very quiet period and people celebrated in their own premises. He said those at Namatanai Secondary School built a bond fire and gathered around to welcome the New Year. He said there were also church and sporting activities in their communities yesterday during the first day of the New Year. Mr Tokmun said police were also out in full force to make sure their celebrations were peaceful.

Association encourages widows

THE Akavau Widows Association is urging widows in other areas of Bouavinlle to form their own groups to seek ways to help themselves.

Association president Glenda Makaso said her group has proven that this was an effective way to address issues affecting the widows as they struggle to come to terms with the loss of their loved ones during the 10-year Bougainville crisis.

“We first started with 13 widow women, now the when we are helping each other, more women are joining us,” Ms Makaso said.

“Now I see my women,

they are very thankful for the group thus I encourage other centres to develop such groups to help themselves.”

“On the other hand if we throughout Bougainville stand up as widows and widowers, we can get a special attention from the government.

“Because there is difference between the widows or widowers and those who both of their partners are living.”

She also challenged men who are widows (widowers) to form such groups and make proper connections throughout the region and help themselves because it is very

hard for one parent to look after a family by himself or herself.

She also called once more on the Government to help such groups by building resource centres, from which they can help eacher and seek support.

Mrs Makaso said she has seen peace and unity among these widows because since they have come from different areas in Central Bougainville with their difference backgrounds but they have share and helped each other in whatever way they can.

“Having right connections with someone who understands who helps a

lot,” she said “Also supports from others who are not widows really help boost morale and we encourage more to support us because in the end we all should be working together as Bougainvilleans.”

The association is looking forward to a deserved tour to Lae and other provinces in mainland PNG this year to expose the members to life outside Bougainville and also to find opportunities for its members to learn and exchange ideas about starting small to medium enterprises.

She said they are keen to share ideas on such ventures as floriculture, landscaping and others.

Anitua group to continue gender fight

THE Anitua Group on New Ireland’s Lihir island will continue with its various initiatives in eliminating violence against women (EVAW) this year, it said in a statement.

These activities included Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs research partnership to identify the business cost of gender

violence and other genderrelated activities such as staff awarded for promoting elimination of gender violence in workplace.

“They (workers) have firmly acknowledged that gender violence is not just a law and order problem, or a humanitarian problem, but that it is also a considerable occupational health

and safety problem,” says EVAW program manager Dr Linda Van Leeuwen.

She said she was proud of the fact that the Anitua Group was leading the charge against gender violence and encouraged by the growing number of Papua New Guinea businesses such as Digicel PNG , Steamships, West New Britain Palm Oil

and Westpac bank which also had their own EVAW initiatives.

Dr Van Leeuwen said the work that Anitua has been involved in would not only benefit Anitua staff throughout Papua New Guinea but also staff from a whole range of other businesses.

Lae top cop urges prisoners to change lives

BY HAIVETA KIVIA

FOR the first time in many years, prisoners held at the Lae Central Police cells were fed chicken, greens and rice and visited by Lae Metropolitan Commander Iven Lakatani.

Chief Superintendent Lakatani made a surprise visit into his police cells to

wish the 95 male prisoners and three women well and for them to make changes in the New Year and be better persons.

Mr Lakatani told the prisoners that things happen for a reason and them being locked up in the police cells is for a reason and that they should take it upon themselves to reflect on their

lives and make a change for the better.

He told the prisoners, mostly young men in their 20s and 30s, that their families and especially their mothers loved them and did not want to see them holed up in a God-forsaken place.

He reminded the prisoners that they could not all be the same for the rest of our lives

and along the way they had to change, settle down and be good citizens.

“Good citizen is what the country asks for and the police force wants to see in you,” he said.

He reminded the prisoners that the police was designed to hold only 30 people at any one time and having 95 of them all crammed up was

not good.

“We fill for you all crammed up in here but we must do our duty and process you for the courts or be released but you all can do favours for yourselves by not coming here at all,” he said.

He said crime does not pay and it only worsens a person’s live and situations

and his opportunities.

Supt Lakatani wished the prisoners well in the New Year and went out to kick start the Lae City New Year operations.

He was heavily involved in police operations right up to 9 o’clock yesterday morning.

Lae reported a quiet New Year besides two deaths.

AWA President Glenda Makaso (left) handing out an end-of-year gifts to some of her colleagues at Arawa Motors Beachside, Central Bougainville.

Woman takes tough stand against abuse

WOMEN are rising up to use law enforcement authorities to curb family violence.

A keg and home brewing equipment with its connections was picked up at Wairiki ward four in the Gazelle area of East New Britain this week by police after a woman reported her husband who is now at the Kerevat police station cells.

Kerevat police put a bullet through the keg to ensure it never gets used again.

According to Toma Vunadidir LLG law and justice operations team leader and LLG manager John Matava, the unidentified woman was a victim of wife bashing and she reported the matter to the ward member, who called the TomaVunadidir ChristmasNew Year law and justice sector operations team in to pick up the keg and the suspect.

Bishop of Vanimo receives top award

PAPUA New Guinea’s highest honour – the grand companion of the order of Logohu (GCL) – for this year has been bestowed on a Catholic Church bishop.

Governor-General Sir Michael Ogio announced yesterday that Cesare Bonivento, Bishop of Vanimo, West Sepik Province, had been awarded the chiefly title in the 2015 New Year’s Honours List of 90 people.

The award was for his service to the community and the Catholic Church as a PIME missionary priest serving the people of Milne Bay and West Sepik provinces for 40 years.

He has been the Bishop of

Tubal thanks public servants

EAST New Britain provincial administrator Aquila Tubal has thanked all provincial and national public servants for all implementation achievements in 2014.

“We all understand all our impediments and trust that these will be our strengths for 2015,” he said.

He said they have achieved a lot in 2014 and he thanked political leaders in the province led by ENB Governor and Kokopo MP Ereman ToBaining Jr, local MPs, presidents and ward members for continuing to provide the leadership that the public service needs in order to implement policies.

“Despite the challenges and downfalls of 2014, I believe it has only strengthened our working relationship as a critical success factor to further progress,” he said.

Mr Tubal said in the midst of a lot of implementation issues and challenges, they were continuing to implement major government decisions.

“I understand the tremendous pressure asserted to you all due to the demand and high expectation from all very high learned citizens of a very progressive province with a very high standard of living,” he said.

He said the 2014 year was the year of implementation and what they were seeing was a result of shear hard work put together by officers from the provincial headquarters, districts and local level government and national officers based in ENB and the region.

Vanimo for the past 22 years where he had actively promoted human dignity and freedom in a distant and challenging diocese and community, Sir Michael said in a statement.

He said three women will receive the Companion

of the order of the Star of Melanesia (CSM) for their services to their communities.

Mrs Kila Amini, MBE, is being recognised for service to the community through her contribution in the promotion of social

and economic equality for women, the further advancement of women in all areas of the community, and the care and training for young and disadvantaged women through her leadership in the YWCA.

Mrs Miriam Soroda, OBE, is being awarded for service to the community through her leadership in the advancement of the role of women in society, the care of women and the promotion of family life, particularly in Northern Province, and her involvement in health care and the Anglican Church.

Lady Nerrie Tololo, MBE, is being recognised for service to the community and the

United Church through her deep interest and active participation in general community service, particularly in relation to the status of women in society.

Other notable honourees are veteran photographer Laurence “Rocky” Roe, silver medallist from the Beijing Paralympics Francis Kompaon and Defence Secretary John Sini Porti.

Roe has been awarded with the Member of the order of Logohu (ML), Kompaon, from East New Britain, has been awarded the Logohu Medal (LM) for service to sport and Porti will receive the distinguished military service medal (DMS).

He said it was also the year of growing the local economy as reflected in the theme of the budget in the last two years.

Mr Tubal said following the declaration of Kokopo being the tourism hotspot of PNG, the O’Neil/Dion government had appropriated additional funding towards infrastructural development on tourism alone in ENB which is expected to create employment opportunities and spinoffs in years to come.

“Our strategic development plan for the next ten years clearly demarcates our pathway to accomplishing vital provincial objectives and aspirations under the national strategic planning to become wealthy, healthy and wise living.”

Bougainville leader backs youths through sports

BY ISHMAEL PALIPAL

THE Autonomous Bougainville Government member of parliament representing Central Bougainville Women, Joan Jerome, has thrown her support behind the STI tournament in Arawa with about K2000.

A small presentation held on Tuesday this week at the Independence Oval, witnessed by other sports officials showed her com-

mitment to supporting such activities in whatever way she can to involve youths as stated by her executive officer, Basil Peso.

Mr Peso presented an envelope with K2000 cash inside to help with the ongoing STI tournament.

According to Mr Peso, Ms Jerome also gave some funds to Wakunai and Manetai to support youths in sports in order to promote unity amongst themselves.

He said that the leader was happy in supporting such activities facilitated by such well-organised groups like the Good Samaritans Natural Disaster Volunteers (GSNDV).

Mr Basil said Ms Jerome believes that we must help our youths because they are the leaders of tomorrow and keeping them captivated in sporting events is one thing that can help keep them away from harm-

ful activities. “The member gave about K4000 cash money to help sports in Central Bougainville, especially Wakunai, Manetai and Arawa,” saidMr Peso.

“The member was happy in supporting such activities and wishes all a happy and a prosperous new 2015.”

Meanwhile, the STI tournament is running smoothly with the support from the public and business houses in Arawa.

KEREVAT police display the confiscated keg and home brewing equipment.

GSNDV representative Charlie Donatus receives the envelope from Mr Peso.

HONOURS LIST: The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year’s Day, January 1, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this day in this way. The awards are presented by or in the name of the reigning monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II or her vice-regal representative. Honours have been awarded at New Year since at least 1890.

No human bodies on illegal vessel

BY SEBASTIAN HAKALITS

REPORTS of dead bodies being stored in a wrecked fishing boat off Bougainville have been found to be erroneous, investigators say.

The bodies discovered in the freezer of the fishing vessel were in fact large tuna, a team of officers from the National Fisheries Authority, National Agriculture and Quarantine

Inspection Authority, Health Department, environmental officer, police and the Bougainville disaster relief office has found.

They have just completed their assessment on the alleged illegal fishing vessel that ran aground on Paona Island in Bougainville.

The island is one of the many smaller islands in the remote Nuguria atoll areas and is used as the wildlife

sanctuary for the people who live on the other mainland island about 45 minutes by boat and an eight-hour boat ride and 264 kilometres from Buka.

The abandoned vessel, Liao Yuan Yu 68 was first discovered by locals on December 17 when they went to dive for turtles in preparation for the opening of their new health centre.

Paramount chief Robinson

Himata of the Perulani clan, which is responsible for looking after the Paona wildlife area, said the 54m vessel has been torched before being abandoned, leaving behind its tuna catch. Village youths who went to investigate reported seeing human-like figures in the freezer compartment which was reported to the Bougainville disaster relief office.

The assessment team which travelled to the island on Monday has found that the suspected bodies on the freezer trays were large yellow fin tuna that were the size of adult humans.

The top of the vessel was completely burnt out from the wheel house to the rear of the ship and still contained diesel and oil that the locals were taking from the front tanks but the rear

fuel tank is mixed with sea water, which the youths cannot take and this will pose a risk to the environment.

Tumor Boise of the National Fisheries Authority said the vessel hasd been engaged in illegal fishing and is an illegal unreported unregulated (IUU) long liner fishing vessel and is not listed to fish in Papua New Guinea waters.

THE fishing vessel runs aground on Paona Island. The large tuna, which were thought to be human bodies, were on its freezer compartments.

VICTIM OF GRAFT

A FEW weeks ago TIPNG reported that PNG stands at 145 out of 175 nations in terms of the corruption index. This ranking is very shameful in the global eyes. As a Papua New Guinean, we cannot hold our heads high because of few corrupt people. One place in which corrupt practice is rife is the National Housing Corporation, where of fi cers sell houses at will. I fell victim to this practice on December 16. I have paid off my arrears up to December 31, 2014, and yet the NHC sold the house to somebody without going through and checking the normal processes. I as current legal tenant was never given the opportunity to respond to the purchase. I have written and also spoken to housing of fi cers of my intention to buy the property. Therefore, I am requesting Government to investigate such practices as many citizens have suffered under the NHC management.

Miri Setae Tenant

VISION IMPOSSIBLE

GULF Province’s vision as stated in Gulf Vision 2020 is to become economically independent and to build a safe, healthy, prosperous, intellectually smart and progressive province. Unfortunately at this juncture, it seems to be vision impossible. You only need to live with people to feel the pain and struggles that they go through each day trying to access basic services.

A K10 million District Services Improvement Program (DSIP) funds meant for improved services delivery and development from national government allocated each year is not doing anything. People are not seeing the effects of these monies transform their lives and improved services delivery at district levels. W hy? Where are K10 million DSIP f unds for each electorates going to each year? Gulf people are crying and dying for help.

BK Dara

WELCOME to 2015. Many people who sent their requests to this column in 2014 were successful because they found or were able to trace their loved ones, friends or school mates or a new friend. The hunt is still on. In 2015, we will still help you to find that special friend you have missed for years. However, if you do send a request to us and we publish, we ask you to reply in kind to this column if that person you were looking for is found. Send requet to:

Fax us on: 3201781 or email: letters@spp.com.pg

THERE are two main factors working against the idles of democracy in PNG. The existence of these factors lies in favour of our political “leaders” who wish to cling to power.

This is despite the fact the Papua New Guineans do not see any threat to the nation’s interest. The first of these factor is that the bulk of the people are illiterate and therefore remain uninformed. For this reason they are easily manipulated at election time. The other factor is that the huge majority do not rely much on government services as much as they rely on their land. Most of our people are disillusioned with the government in Waigani. These factors weigh heavily against one of the idles of democracy, “accountability”

because the bulk of the people are less informed to hold their leaders accountable by public pressure. The few enlightened make a lot of noise but the leaders do not care because the bulk who are less informed will be easily manipulated into voting them again during elections. The leaders therefore seem not to care at all about the leadership standard they must cultivate now for the future.

I believe that a true leader would not take advantage of the ignorance of the people. It is time to be accountable to our conscience, of what we believe to be the nation’s interest being mindful of our collective objective of handing over a prosperous and proper principled nation to the future generations. We need leaders who are

Christians live a life of trust and worship in our Creator, the God Almighty. Such leaders will not struggle to obey the rules of laws but set proper standards because they know they are but servants of the people. We need a leader who will not only lead the present generation but the future as well. My dear Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, I beg you to show us that you are a leader that will drive this country forward by stepping aside. Trust me, if you do that, you will certainly have far more support than you have now and once had. What PNG needs is not a politician but a leader who has the heart to lead before God and men.

The views expressed on these pages are the opinions of our readers. They do not necessarily represent the views of the Post-Courier – Editor Your opinions

We won’t be beaten on PRICE

Emmanuel Isaac Former UPNG SRC President.

Nurses, doctors must step up

Letter of the day

I WISH to comment on a recent newspaper article in the PostCourier, “Grieving dad to sue hospital over deaths”. All my heart to the father, only peace will come from God alone at this time of sorrow and grief. We cannot blame nature or sorcery for acts of incompetency and stupidity of some nurses and doctors that lead to unnecessary loss of lives. Of course there are difficult situations and limitation of equipment but how can such multiple death occur at a major hospital like Nonga.

This is unbelievable and the authorities including NDOH needs to investigate so no more unnecessary death occur. Let me say this, “fear of death” either the mother or the unborn infant is always at the back of every expectant mother who is in labour regardless of their status. This is a reality because we go to health clinics where there are trained professionals, some of these fear diminishes until the baby is born.

Nurse and doctors, do we rely on them?

One of the Governments aim through the Health Department is to reduce the maternal and infant mortality rate by encouraging pregnant mothers to visit health facilities for safe delivery. However, it seems the message is compromised. It’s no longer safe anymore in hospitals. I say this because it’s not only at Nonga, the same practice of mismanagement is happening in PMGH and I believe every major hospital as well. The environment is not friendly anymore. The nurses shout like if they are in labour. They show no kindness, professionalism and caring attitude. There are no smiles on the faces of nurses or doctors attending to mothers in labour, they attend to them like objects. I was dumbfounded when I took my wife to PMGH delivery ward, are these people pouring their own personnel problems into these poor mothers? They shout and swear at mothers.

These are vile words that you do not normally hear or expect

Text us on 208

to come from people who you go to for help. Mothers deliver in fear and the fear factor is one reason mothers and infants can die because there is no comfort and care.

When my wife was admitted, they said I could not go and visit or stay at her bedside to help her.

Well I understand that in the delivery room there is no privacy because the rooms are all open and they do not want me or any husband to be there. But I am an adult and father. I have seen and I am aware of those private parts. What is it that the nurse and doctors think fathers do not know? It’s old fashioned and ridiculous to chase husbands away from attending to their wives. He can provide more care and support to help the nurses deliver the baby. Should any difficult situation arise, the husband is there, he is not suspicious of any mismanagement issue.

Please do your work with care and respect.

Kewai Kulin Gordons NCD

Solve teachers leave fare problem please!

THE way in which teachers’ leave fare entitlements are being administered continues to be a nightmare at the end of every school year.

No one seems to know how to solve this problem. Many times teachers continue to front up provincial education offices trying to sort out their leave fares but it continues to be a recurring nightmare.

Often their complaints are not addressed and no one seems to be concerned and take responsibility for their leave fare issues. There does not seem to a solution.

10 years ago

The Education Department with Finance and Treasury departments seem to be incapable of sorting out leave fare issues of teachers in the country. They continue to give reasons and point fingers at each other.

The Parliamentary Referral Committee on Education (PRCE) being set up as directed by the Speaker of Parliament to investigate teachers' leave fare issues and other welfare discrepancies is yet to give its findings. PRCE has been chaired by Member for Wabag Open which has raised some high hopes for the teach-

SECURITY CONCERN

IF THE Police hierarchy is truly concerned with their image then they need to immediately remove all police personnel from logging camps around the country. Logging companies using police to force people to sign consent forms and stop them from protecting their traditional sites and water sources drives a massive wedge between the people and the Police. Most areas with logging have this issue. I have seen it for myself. People have lost all respect for the police and are even talking about ambushing police vehicles. This needs to be resolved immediately. How can we possibly prepare for the security of the Pacific Games and other future international events when we cannot even secure the rights of our own people. The police must primarily be there to safeguard our own citizens. They are not private security guards to be ordered around by private companies. Are they here to protect greedy foreign businesses or to protect us and our children?

A Concerned Citizen

ENB MUST SUPPORT

ers to see this leave fare problem being solved towards the end of 2014 and onwards. The recommendations made by this committee based on their findings are not making any difference in sorting out this particular issue. On the other hand, PNGTA is not doing much to address this issue on behalf of the teachers.

Why are teachers being deprived of their rightful leave fare entitlements at the end of every school year? Who will solve this problem once and for all?

James Iki, mgvtais.

ENB Provincial Government is not prioritising and focusing to fund, schools and institutions providing training in heavy equipment operator and training skills. I appreciate the administration of ENB Provincial Government who provides a leading role in development in the province and districts. Some major development projects in the districts have been commissioned in 2015. Such vital projects add value to the economy of the country and the province. I call on ENB leaders and the Provincial Government to support and provide funding to our locally owned company name NGI Multi Skills Heavy Equipment Training School, registered with

the IPA for the sole purpose of providing various training programs in operating heavy equipment such as backhoes, front loaders, graders, rollers, excavators, bulldozers, amongst others. The first phase of training program began towards the end of March, 2012 here in ENBP and the second phases, which was run concurrently with phases one, was run in the ARB in mid-April, 2012 and the third phase in Kokopo, which is now in progress. The company anticipate venturing out to other provinces as soon as all logistics on the ground are in place. The Heavy Equipment Operator Training School has participated in a big way in the SME sector business which the O’Neill Dion government and the ENB Provincial government currently support. PNG’s SME sector is not only creating wealth for our citizens but also growing employment. The government plans to boost the number of SME’s from 49,000 to 500,000 by 2025 which would create an additional two million jobs in the formal economy. This can be achieved through skilled manpower training and development. Heavy Equipment, Technical and Vocational Training Skills is therefore a blue ribbon program, design and intended to produce the skill HR to engage in economic development of this nation through industrialisation and modernisation.

Henry

Vuia via email

IT’S 2015

YES it’s the new year, what’s new? The sun did not fail to rise did it? Thank God. What was your resolution for 2015? Mine was to do better than the last year. I also hope the Pacific Games venues are ready on time. What about our athletes are they ready? We will get there.

Forever an Optimist

UNFORTUNATELY this is one of the rots we have inherited. There are some we have put on full employment but others are on their way to retirement.

GRANT

Muddle CEO of Port Moresby General Hospital replies over the hospital’s casual staff pay fiasco.

THE Australian Government has reiterated its support for the PNG-Australia gas pipeline project. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer wants to see the project go ahead. PC Dec 16 -2004.

Settlement starts anew

BY DONALD WILLIE

FIVE members of the Holy Ghost Passover Ministry in the previously notorious settlement of Tete in Gerehu were baptised on the final day of 2014, marking a brand new start for the five, the congregation and the community.

This is the first time for the community to hold a baptism in the area.

A small procession made its way to a creek nearby where the five were baptised.

This follows the launch of the community’s five-year suburban development plan given to the Government before Christmas to seek basic services and developments.

Chairman for the Tete Reform Association Phillip Kama told the congregation after the ceremony that the event was historical and significant.

“This place will never be the same again,” Mr Kama said.

“People have changed in the area. This place used to be a notorious area, a red no-go zone for many of the people in the city,” Pastor Andrew Wapi said.

Rural Morobe teachers still await allowances

MOST teachers in rural

Morobe are still waiting for their hardship allowances to be paid by the provincial education division.

The Morobe education division cited internet problems with mobile communication provider Digicel as the factor in the delay.

A frustrated teacher posted at Hengati Primary School in the Menyamya district, Eric Yapela, expressed his disappointment over the long wait for his allowances and the reason given for the delay.

Mr Yapela said the reasons given for the delay including Digicel internet problem were all pathetic and the

At a glance

DELAY: Many teachers posted throughout rural Morobe are still awaiting their over-due hardship allowances.

AUTHORITY: The allowance is the responsibility of the Morobe education division.

REASON: The division is citing internet problems with mobile communication provider Digicel as the reason behind the delay.

FRUSTRATED: This reason however is being rejected as being pathetic and unfair by many frustrated teachers.

PAYMENT: According to the teachers the payments are usually done in October or November. However, this year the payment was deferred

system and authorities were very unfair on the teachers. He said the payment is usually done around October and November but this year it was deferred to a later date

and is yet to be paid. He said many times teachers in rural areas have been given second choice in such matters while those in the urban areas were given the

preference. He said many rural teachers enquired for their allowance only to find that there was a problem with the Digicel internet service and that was why the payment was being deferred.

Mr Yapela speculated that the delay was due to a management problem in the division of education because the payments has been already planned and budgeted for.

He also stated that the provincial education division should not be neglecting the rural teachers because they are the ones lacking real basic services.

“Many of the teachers walk for hours to get to schools in

District honours Simon

BY GERALDINE GUBULI

the villages that don’t have access to proper roads,” he said.

Mr Yapela said he usually walks for five days to get to Hengati Primary School from Menyamya government station.

“It is discouraging to a person who is willing to put his effort to serve this nation while being neglected by the authority,” he said.

In addition to that most teachers live in deteriorating houses and teach in classrooms that are already deteriorated.

He said these are ongoing issue and the provincial education division needs to plan better for the new year.

Kapi urges stakeholders to support disabled

THIS year should be the year that people with disabilities finally get recognised.

Chairman of the PNG Rehabilitation Centre and Kapi Foundation Brown Kapi made this call to the Government, churches, non-governmental organisations, business houses and the community at large to join hands and support people living with disabilities (PLWD) in a more tangible way.

“MPs must look at allocating some of their district support improvement program funds to persons with disabilities (PWDs) in their electorates so that they can be included in provisions of services,” he said.

“Governors especially should

create a desk under their administrations to specifically facilitate and support the interests of PWDs,” he added.

Mr Kapi said PWLD have been neglected for too long and it was time for them to be included in the national and provincial budget allocations and legislations.

He appealed to business houses to support through general community obligations, service delivery and employment opportunities.

The foundation and the rehab centre have partnered with other organisations over the years to provide empowerment training to PLWD with companies and institutions coming on

board to provide scholarships and employment.

Last month 20 PLWD’s graduated from a personal viability training course from the Entrepreneurial Development Training Centre in partnership with Papa Sam Foundation.

“The Kapi Foundation is ready to work with anyone who is willing to assist in this cause,” he said.

Mr Kapi is also urging PLWDs not focus on their impairments but stand ready to do something for themselves and their cause.

“Know that you have a right to make use of the opportunities that good people bring so that you can become empowered and contribute to nation building.”

FOLLOWING the Supreme Court’s decision, the people of Maprik District were overwhelmed and excited to welcome their MP John Simon when he arrived in the province on Christmas eve.

Mr Simon was surprised and moved when he saw the reception at the Boram Airport in Wewak and when he arrived at his electorate.

According to former Yamil/ Tamaui local level government president and a local leader in Maprik Mathias Gilichebe, the decision came as a Christmas present not only to the MP but to his people as well.

“We his people congratulate him on his win and we are proud of him. He is a powerful leader willing to deliver services to his people but the court petition has been an obstacle blocking him. This is our Christmas present,” said Mr Gilichebe.

When Mr Simon arrived in Wewak on Wednesday afternoon, there was a traditional singsing group all the way from Maprik ready to receive him.

After the 2012 election, Mr Simon was taken to court by the former MP for Maprik Gabriel Kapris.

Since then, he has been to every court in the country finally ending up at the Supreme Court where a three-man bench dismissed the 2012 election petition case. When he arrived in the District on Christmas Day, he received a great welcome.

“It was as if he won the election for the second time,” said Mr Gilichebe.

THE baptism ceremony at Tete settlement at Gerehu in the nation’s capital. Picture: MARK TALIA

A CHESIRE Homes resident (centre) get a Christmas visit from Oil Search Managing Director Gerea Aopi in early December.

Nipa-Kutubu sees success

By JEFFREY ELAPA

THE Nipa Kutubu district in the Southern Highlands has completed a successful service delivery this year and look forward to more development in the New Year, local Member of Parliament Jeffery Komal said.

Mr Komal who spent the Christmas and New Year period with his people in Kutubu and Nipa said the 2014 fiscal year was a success for his electorate.

Mr Komal said he has also spent the Christmas with the people in a special way as he used the time to deliver several project covering all the Government’s development pillars of Health, Education, infrastructure, law and order and small to medium enterprises.

Soon after Christmas Day, Mr Komal travelled to Pimaga government station and delivered a new Highway 19 police vehicle to police in Kutubu to address law and order in the area.

He also presented K100,000 to the people of Barautauke village outside Pigama station for the payment of a road project he delivered early this year while anther K20,000 was delivered to the Kutubu Women’s Association to assist them with their SME activities.

Mr Komal then travelled to Mubi village and committed K100,000 to assist

the Mubi Primary School with its infrastructure and another K100,000 to the Mubi Health Centre.

“I’m proud to be with my people of Kutubu this Christmas period although I should be spending my holiday with my family. I had to come to give you all comfort and be with you all in this special festive season.

“This festive season is special also for the district to successfully end the year on a special way in service delivery.

“I end the year covering all the five development pillar of the government with presentation of a police vehicle to cover the law and order sector, K100,000 to the people of Barutauke to cover infrastructure, K100,000 each to cover health and education sector and another K20,000 to support SME for women activities in the Kutubu area,” Mr Komal said.

He said over the past two and half years, he has successfully delivered services covering all the sectors and he was proud to announce that achievement.

He said under his leadership, he has equally delivered services to all the five local level governments in the area despite political difference and disturbances.

Mr Komal said he would continue to fund project covering the five LLGs in the New Year.

MP Jeffery Komal observes District Administrator Joe Perap presenting K100,000 cash to the Barutake villager leaders.

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Village new road a symbol of peace

THE opening of a new bitumen road in a village in the North Fly district of Western Province has been hailed as a symbol of peace and the beginning of new developments.

The road, which was once just dirt, was officially opened on December 23 to signify an end to a four-year dispute between two village leaders of Bultem village following a leadership change in 2010.

A ceremony was held at Bultem, one of the six Ok Tedi mine villages, in which John Wanim, one of the principal mine landowners and a young village leader David Kaiankim reconciled

Present to witness the ceremony were Star Mountains local level government president Borok Pitalok, Ok Tedi Mining Limited chief operating officer Musje Werror, Ok Tedi Development Foundation chief executive officer Ian Middleton, the Southern region Assistant Police Commissioner Alan

Kundi, Western provincial police commander Chief Inspector Silva Sika and other dignitaries from the civil society.

Mr Werror praised the two leaders and the community of Bultem for restoring peace at Bultem village.

“With this peace reconciliation, OTML now looks forward to working alongside the community of Bultem to help bring more development into the village, particularly in the areas of education and health,” Mr Werror said.

Chairman of the village planning committee Maino Lucas commended the two community leaders for reconciling.

“We have now set the foundation for change so let us all support each other and change the lives of our people,” Mr Lucas said.

Mr Wanim and Kaiankim both pledged their support towards bringing more development into their village.

ENGA PROVINCIAL SUPPLY & TENDERS BOARD

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

FOR THE PROVISION OF FOOD RATION SERVICES TO THE SCHOOLS IN THE ENGA PROVINCE

Vision

Education is the priority of the Enga Provincial Government. The Provincial Education Board in this regard has identified a number of projects and programs and begun to implement them to achieve the Provincial Government’s vision of Reformed Quality Service delivery and to ensure that the ser vice is truly provided to the schools in the province.

Scope of Service Required

Consistent with the Provincial Government’s vision of providing quality service to the schools the Provincial Supply and Tenders Board is seeking Expressions of Interest to provide high quality food rations to the schools in the Enga Province.

Legal Standing, ability and Experience

The ideal bidder will be registered, reputable service provider having demonstrated high level management and continuity in the respective industry. The company must have proven track record in the provision of high quality supplies and capable of meeting demands of the schools.

Essential Requirements

Expression of Interest proposal must contain details of the type of service to be provided and must have IPA registration certificate, tax certificate, company profile and such other relevant documents.

Delivery and Due Date

All proposals clearly marked “ EPSTB 02/2014 – Provision of Food Ration Service” must be delivered no later than 4:06 p.m. on the 30th January, 2015 to:

The Chairman, Enga Provincial Supply and Tenders Board, P. O. Box 109, WABAG, Enga Province.

Authorised By: Dr. Samson Amean Provincial Administrator

Convicted governor still has respect

By LEONNIE WAYANG

DESPITE being convicted, jailed and now released on bail pending his appeal against his conviction and sentence in the Supreme Court, Gulf Governor Havila Kavo is still seen as important to the people.

Emmanuel Xavier, Gulf Deputy Provincial Administrator for policy and advisory services, said the people of Gulf had been closely following Havo’s case throughout and still saw Kavo as an important person to them.

“The Governor is an important person to us in part for his strong stance in giving the Gulf people first preference in the second LNG (liquefied natural gas) project in the country,” Mr Xavier said.

“The entire province followed the case closely, at times we almost lost hope but his release on bail can be seen as good news and he is still our governor.”

Mr Xavier said leaders in the province made sure there was no political tussle when news broke of Kavo appearing in court.

“To ensure there was some level of political stability, we had a crisis management meeting straight after to maintain stability in managing the administration of the province.

“We have 10 presidents and two open members of parliament as well as the governor himself.

“We had the Minister for InterGovernment Relations appoint someone as deputy governor,” Mr

Xavier said. Whilst Kavo was battling his case in court, Jim Pokara, president for Central Kerema Rural LLG, was appointed as the deputy governor and still holds that position.

“We made sure Mr Pokara was given authority to act in the place of the governor as deputy but Havila Kavo is still our governor,” Mr Xavier said. “He has 40 days to make a submission for review so until then he still carries that title.

“In the meantime, we have gotten out leadership sorted out with the acting governor where government decisions can be made so it’s business as usual for us.

“The release of the governor who is out on bail is good, and while we allow the court to take its course, we still respect Havila Kavo as our governor of Gulf Province.

“Our hope for the province in 2015 is political unity and stability. My biggest ask is for our leaders to remain administratively stable and for the people to give their support to their leaders to administer the province.”

COMMUNITY leader John Wanim and Southern region Assistant Police Commissioner Alan Kundi cutting the ribbon to signify the opening of the road and the restoration of peace to Bultem village. Also witnessing this ceremony are OTML COO Musje Werror (far left), OTDF CEO Ian Middleton and David Kaiankim (far right).

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School asks Jiwaka politicians to assist

By MAL TAIME

THE Jiwaka Christian Grammar Secondary School has appealed to all provincial politicians to contribute towards the infrastructure development at the school.

School director Gabriel Eka Wii made the appeal at the second graduation ceremony which saw the graduation of 186 grade 10 and 12 students.

Mr Wii said the directors took the initiative to establish the school, which now meets the national education requirements.

He said the school’s aim was to give second chances to students that dropped out because there was no ending in education.

But the school needs better facilities for learning, he said, adding the school takes students from all three districts in the new province and as such all MPs must help.

Technical school gets funding

BY SIBA MESA

KIMIL TVET, a sub centre of the Minj TVET in Jiwaka Province, has received a K100,000 cheque made from North Waghi MP and Defence Minister Fabian Pok.

The cheque that was presented by the district administrator Nalan Kawa.

Kimil TVET, known as the Kristen Leader Trade Skills (KLTS) centre, became a registered technical institution under the TVET division of the Education Department in 2012 through its extension program.

“We assist such technical institutions because we believe it plays an important role in educating youths who are coming out of the school system,” said Mr Kawa.

The manager of Minj TVET Steven Tents says the MP has a big interest to assist technical education in Jiwaka Province so that youths in his district of North Waghi would know the basic trading skills to benefit themselves.

Through the extension program managed by Mr Tents, work has already been done to create a technical school in Jimi, one in Tiki in Western Highlands while planning is underway for another one in the Kombal area of north Waghi district.

“The extension program is a simple tool to establish new TVETs in

Doctor’s operation a success

DR Jim Radcliffe’s heart operation fundraisin g team has thanked those that contributed in both cash and kind towards his heart surgery in America. The fundraising team comprising of his (Dr Jim) former staff and patients with their children took the initiative to go out to the streets of Mt Hagen in the Western Highlands Province and Jiwaka Province respectively to raise his operation funds.

The Kudjip-based American missionary Nazarene Hospital chief surgeon underwent heart operation in his country after contracting a heart disease.

Dr Jim is the only chief surgeon for Kudjip Nazarene Hospital and has saved many lives in Jiwaka, Western Highlands, other neighboring highlands provinces and the country as a whole.

ENGA PROVINCIAL SUPPLY & TENDERS BOARD

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

FOR THE PROVISION OF STATIONARY SUPPLIES TO THE SCHOOLS IN THE ENGA PROVINCE

Vision

Education is the priority of the Enga Provincial Government. The Provincial Education Board in this regard has identified a number of projects and programs and begun to implement them to achieve the Provincial Government’s vision of Reformed Quality Service delivery and to ensure that the serv ice is truly provided to the schools in the province.

Scope of Service Required

Consistent with the Provincial Government’s vision of providing quality service to the schools the Provincial Supply and Tenders Board is seeking Expressions of Interest to provide high quality stationaries to the schools in the Enga Province.

Legal Standing, ability and Experience

the district and province to train more youths which the Jiwaka government should continue to assist,” said Mr Tents.

More than 200 students at KLTS Kimil technical school have undergone courses in motor mechanic, carpentry, electrical, computer business studies, panel beating, spray painting and welding, tourism and hospitality and auto electrical.

Mr Tents says he is looking forward to having seven or eight more technical schools in Jiwaka and Western Highlands.

The board members and the community thanked the MP for his assistance.

Mr Pok also provided K30,000 to Kimil Health Centre, K20,000 to Kimil Primary School and K10,000 to Kimil Station Elementary.

The ideal bidder will be registered, reputable service provider having demonstrated high level management and continuity in the respective industry. The company must have proven track record in the provision of high quality supplies and capable of meeting demands of the schools.

Essential Requirements

Expression of Interest proposal must contain details of the type of service to be provided and must have IPA registration certificate, tax certificate, company profile and such other relevant documents.

Delivery and Due Date

All proposals clearly marked “EPSTB 01/2014 – Provision of Stationary Service” must be delivered no later than 4:06 p.m. on the 30th January, 2015 to:

The Chairman, Enga Provincial Supply and Tenders Board, P. O. Box 109, WABAG, Enga Province.

Authorised By: Dr. Samson Amean Provincial Administrator

GRADUATING students sitting and listening attentively to the speakers at the graduation ceremony. Picture: MAL TAIME

STEVEN Tents holding the cheque of K100, 000 at Post-Courier office in Mt Hagen, WHP

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MP urges people to uphold culture

EVERY society in Papua

New Guinea has been blessed with unique cultures and traditions, says Maprik MP John Simon.

In Maprik, the kwarambu or haus tambaran (spirit house) is a unique tradition that identifies the people from the rest of East Sepik and PNG.

However, as the people are introduced to the foreign culture, many young people these days are not aware of their cultures or the importance of having those traditions and customs, the MP said.

Mr Simon has been outspoken about preserving the traditions and customs in every society in the district.

During his visit to the district recently, he told the people of Saikisi village in the Yamil/Tamaui local level government that everyone needs to be proud of their cultures.

“We must hold onto our customs and traditions as our culture is our identity and our pride,” he said.

“We need to teach our chil-

dren before it is too late.”

Mr Simon called on the youths to be willing and excited to learn the traditional skills and knowledge as it helps them to be a better person in their societies.

“Because of the lack of traditional knowledge and skills in our children and our families, there is a lot of breakdown in the society today.

“However we cannot blame only our youths because if we look at it, our fathers are not at the ame (traditional meeting place) to teach our children the values and knowledge that were passed onto us by our fathers,” he said.

He said because the customs were strong in the past, there was a lot of respect towards the elders and the children in the villages were disciplined.

Mr Simon also said that one of the things that are so obvious is the respect that the young people lack when it comes to the ame and the absenteeism of the fathers at the ame

Papua New Guinea Associations Incorporation

Reg.Sec.2

NOTICE OF INTENTION TO APPLY FOR THE INCORPOATION OF ASSOCIATION

Form 1

I, WILLIAM KANDAO of TASK PUMAKOS, person authorized by the committee of association known as ST. VINCENT DE PAUL DISABLE ASSOCIATION give notice that I intend to apply for the incorporation of the Association under the Associations Incorporation Act.

The following are the details of the prescribed qualifications for incorporation as specified in Section 2 of the Act:

(a) The association is formed (or is being form) (or is operation) for the purpose of-

• The association is formed to look after all the disabled people to the Task Valley and Enga Province.

• We already have the Disable Center at Task Pumakos. St Vincent de Paul Disable Center.

• The center is cared by the Catholic Mission in Task Pumakos. The Parish Priest will be the Treasurer. When the Parish Priest transfers out the incoming Priest will take over the role.

(b) That the association will apply its profits (if any) or other income in promoting its objectives; and

(c) That the association will prohibit the payment of any dividend or payment in the nature of a dividend to its members.

Date:

This notice has been approved by the Registrar of Companies

Date……………/………………/2014 Registrar

Note: A person may within one month after the publication of this notice, lodge with the Registrar an objection to the incorporation of the proposed association in accordance with Section 4 of the Act.

Given names WILLIAM

Surname

NGO: Let’s help the Papuans

BY JOSEPH DAWAI

WHILE the Melanesians are having peaceful New Year celebrations in the South Pacific, West Papuans are still struggling for freedom in their own home land.

It seems like just another day in the Papua province of Indonesia for the people fighting for independence and so far there are no solutions to the problem.

The president of Madang nongovernment organisation, the Millennium Good Governance, Steven Andambo said Papua New Guinean being the closest neighbour, has turned a blind eye on their brothers and sisters across the border.

Mr Andambo expressed this concern while commenting on the recent killing of a pregnant woman whose unborn child was ripped from the mother’s womb by a bayonet in the remote village of Wamena of the West Papua province by a trained soldier.

He said such killing is inhumane and must be considered in the floor of parliament and protested in United Nations convention to save our neighbours. He said our neighbours have been struggling for decades and the New

Year celebration is nothing special but just another day of violence for them.

Mr Andambo claimed that some Members of Parliament have used the plight of the West Papuan people to get into power but once in Parliament, they do nothing for the Melanesians in Indonesia.

He suggested that the PNG government should help in sponsoring the issue in taking the matter on board to the United Nation (UN) because innocent lives have been intimidated and threatened in that part of the island.

Mr Andambo said the PNG government has been concerned about the business ties between the two countries but lives has been lost and many people on the other side of the border are living in fear and there is no proper relationship.

He said the Melanesians in general are not united and as such are not doing enough to raise awareness and fight for the rights of the West Papuans.

Mr Andambo also criticized the PNG government for not fighting for Papuan people who are misplaced in their home land and said it is an international issue and should be addressed by the United Nations.

THE people of Salata in the Bumbita/Muhian local level government of Maprik District performing a traditional dance during Mr Simon’s visit earlier this year.

Kimbe shop lifts spirit of inmates

BY NICOLE JOANNES

INMATES at the Lakiemata jail in West New Britain Province have been blessed this Christmas with food items from the Wang Ho Limited Seven Mart Shop in Kimbe.

Last year Seven Mart gave food items to the inmates and again last week delivered K7000 worth of items, including toiletries.

Shop owner Charles Lin and his manager Allan Caras were received warmly by Correctional Services officers and the detainees who were delighted with the substantial amount of food given this year.

Mr Lin told the detainees that he hoped they will begin taking a positive approach towards non-citizens operating businesses in the province.

He said those behind bars have greater potential in life which they should pursue when they leave prison.

Mr Lin told the inmates that are not forgotten by the community as shown by the many little things the community is doing for them.

Seven Mart started supporting the Lakiemata inmates since 2012 to enable them to celebrate Christmas in the cells and Mr Lin had pledged to continue with the support.

ENERGY

Girl dies in Manus accident

A NINE-year-old girl is dead following a fatal car accident in Manus Province on New Year’s Eve.

Three others were seriously injured and were now in critical condition at the Lorengau Hospital.

The accident occurred on Wednesday just when people were getting ready to celebrate and welcome the New Year.

Manus acting provincial police commander Senior Inspector David Yapu said it was an unfortunate incident, adding that that the girl was with her family members who had traveled in by

boat from Pam Island in the Balopa local level government area to Lorengau to farewell a family member at the airport. He said they were traveling towards Lorengau when the vehicle went off the road and slammed into a tree in a cocoa block around 12 midday.

The girl, a woman and two men were seriously injured and were rushed to the Lorengau hospital, where the girl succumbed to her injuries.

The province was quite besides this road accident, Yapu said.

SEVEN Mart owner Charles Lin (left) and manger AllanCaras presenting the food items.

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Report: 2014 successful year for Morobe miner

Market Snapshot

MOROBE Mining Joint Venture (MMJV) has invested over K600 million of economic benefits to the country at the close of 2014’s financial year.

A report from MMJ revealed this and other significant statistics in what the company considers as being one of the most successful periods since the mine commenced operation in 2008.

MMJV chief executive officer Greg Jackson said the period had also been a difficult time for the gold mining industry and this has challenged the firm to cooperate as a team to make significant changes to the business.

“We have continued to engage with all of our stakeholders and completing a number of key activ-

ities including the Hidden Valley MOA review.

“And we also accomplish some major community projects in the areas of sanitation, health, education, agriculture and community capacity building through adult literacy and numeracy programs,”

Mr Jackson said.

According to the report, over K19 million (3%) out of the total K680 million was paid as royalties to all stakeholders.

The company also purchased over K200 million (59%) worth of goods and services produced in PNG and an additional payment of over K300 million (44%) was made in purchasing goods in services in Morobe Province alone.

A further payment of over K60

million (9%) in taxes and levy fees were made to the National Government. The report also revealed that at the close of the financial year, a total of over K6 million (1 per cent) was used in rehabilitation and community development programs in the mine’s operational areas.

This included maintenance work carried out on the Lae to Bulolo Highway, and other infrastructures to assist local subsistence farmers in the area. Mr Jackson also added that human resource plays an integral part in the success of the business, and as such, the company spent over K85 million (12%) in employing and training their staff, most of whom are nationals.

Despite these successful reports, the firm confirmed a few challeng-

es they had faced during the last financial year.

“We are still seeing further decline in the gold price (and) this, along with operational setbacks of injuries and major equipment failures, will require us to redouble our efforts to find ways to make our business more efficient over the New Year.

“This is going to challenge us to face even more change to remain a viable business,” Mr Jackson added. Meanwhile, the company is pleased to announce that Golpu Project’s optimised prefeasibility study has been accepted and the project is now moving to the feasibility study stage which will advance this exciting project to the next level.

Dragon dance brings blessings for Lae businesses

BY ABRAHAM AVEDIBA

VARIOUS shopping centres in Lae city, the capital of Morobe Province, were enlightened with the traditional Chinese lion dances to commemorate the New Year yesterday.

Large retail stores such as Food Mart and The Lae International Hotel were given surprise visits from the Lae Chinese Club members who performed the dances to encourage good will and prosperity upon each business house.

Food Mart general manager Bernie Dela Vega told the Post-Courier the dragon dance is performed yearly on January 1, to impart pros-

The bottom line

perity and good fortune upon a particular business.

“Our shop had to open a little bit late this morning from the usual 7am opening time, but this was basically done to cater for the performance to take place, in front of shops.

“Many of the business owners in Lae come from Chinese origin and many consider such events to significant to the growth of one’s business,” Mr Del Vega said He stated that the shop and various other shopping centres in Lae had gone through some challenges last year with the increase in the number of competitors.

“Despite the increase in competi-

tors, we are looking forward to providing affordable goods and good customer service to the general public in Lae city this year.

“As many businesses would consider, competition is healthy, and we’ve decided to do weekly promotions and discounts to our customers on Fridays and on weekends” he added.

Despite a few customers being disappointed with the delay in the opening of shops in the morning, many were excited to watch the lion dances taking place, and they flocked shops to do their shopping.

Jenny Genesis, a regular customer at Food Mart said the lion

$A finishes firmer on last day of 2014

SYDNEY: The Australian dollar has finished the last day of 2014 in a firmer position after greenback weakness helped it rise above 82 US cents for the first time in a fortnight.

At 1700 AEDT on Wednesday, the local unit was buying 81.93 US cents, up from 81.32 cents on Tuesday.

But it finished 2014 losing eight per cent of its value, compared with 2013 when it shed more than 14 per cent.

The currency peaked at 82.15 US cents during the early afternoon, its highest level since December 18.

It dropped from its daily high soon after British banking giant HSBC released a report showing China’s manufacturing activity had contracted in December to the worst level in seven months.

Still, the Australian dollar had risen after the American greenback weakened against a range of currencies.

dances this year is quite different from what she saw last year.

“I’m quite pleased to see that a lot of nationals have joined the Lae Chinese Club and are taking part in the dances and the beating of the drums this year.

“The shops opened a little bit late also, but regardless, you still go in later on to purchase your store goods so it’s wasn’t a really big deal waiting for three hours for the shop to open,” Ms Genesis said.

Meanwhile, a few shops opened during the public holiday to attend to the needs of the city residents while others were close the entire day and will resume business today.

Like the Dragon Dance, the lion dance is also believed to bring good luck and fortune to the business.

“It was more the US dollar broadly weakening a little bit after having had a very strong run over the last few months,” National Australia Bank chief markets economist Ivan Colhoun said.

“The US dollar lost a bit of ground against everyone.”

Since the start of 2014, the Australian dollar has fallen by more than eight per cent, from 89.36 US cents, as expectations of a US interest rate rise in 2015 boosted the greenback.

The local currency peaked at 95 US cents in July but during the early hours of Christmas Eve fell to 80.89 US cents, the weakest level since June 2010.

Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens this month hinted he would prefer the currency to fall to 75 US cents, a level last reached in May 2009.

At 1700 AEDT, the Australian dollar was at 98.08 Japanese yen, up from Tuesday’s close of 97.89 yen, and at 67.40 euro cents, up from 67.02 euro cents. Meanwhile, the bond market has finished 2014 in a slightly firmer position as worries about Greece lingered and traders squared up positions.

At 1230 AEDT on Wednesday, the March 2015 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 97.240 (implying a yield of 2.760 per cent), up from 97.215 (2.785 per cent) on Tuesday.

MAP of MMJV Tenement.

Academic: PNG resource rich

Govt must turn wealth into growth

PAPUA New Guinea’s wealth of natural resources can be viewed as the nation’s blessing, providing a lubricated pathway to social development and financial security.

But some see it as a potential curse to the Pacific’s fastest growing developing state as published in the Cook Island News this week.

The Papua New Guinea economy has grown significantly in the past 20 years and some estimates say it could reach 20 per cent next year, although a recent slump in commodity prices may cut that back sharply.

But despite the growth, half of Papua New Guinea’s population are still at or below the poverty line.

Associate professor Glenn Banks at New Zealand’s Massey University recently wrote a United Nations Development Program report on the challenges this poses for PNG. In it, he identifies the “paradox of plenty” and the “resource curse” of the PNG economy.

The report reviews the state of human development in PNG in terms of the three pillars of sustainable development – economic, social

InterOil help women trial vegetable supply project

ELK-ANTELOPE focused InterOil Corporation has initiated vegetable farming for project impacted villagers with the aim of empowering the women folk.

On the banks of the Purari River in a remote part of Gulf Province, Elisa Sorio is proud of her garden, as she has just sold her first crop of cucumbers to the nearby InterOil camp for K240.

In recent years InterOil has established a significant presence in this part of the province with its Herd Base as a logistics hub to service drilling and seismic exploration work near the Elk, Antelope, Raptor and Triceratops petroleum discoveries.

Herd Base is home to many of the employees who are necessary to support field operations; all food and

other supplies for the camp mess are barged in from Port Moresby.

Hannah Philip of the InterOil Community Affairs team has initiated trials of various vegetables to see what grows best in the swampy lowland environment in this part of Gulf Province and then promote the planting of these in local villages by community women.

This small-scale village level project has many benefits – it empowers local women, diversifies traditional food sources and provides cash income.

The initial success of the trial garden across the river from Herd Base is good indication that this is a viable activity.

Local vegetables can be supplied to to local petroleum exploration companies or sold in local village markets.

and environmental. It examines the ways in which the extractive industries have contributed – positively and negatively – to these related but distinct pillars.

Professor Banks told Radio New Zealand’s Dateline Pacific that there have been some measurable achievements with the money coming into government coffers for the nation’s resources.

“The starting point is to recognise that there are some really good initiatives that have begun and in some senses those just need to be reinforced.

“One of the things the report highlighted pretty clearly is that it is down to the government to make a difference. The government is not just the duty bearer but also the institution that receives significant revenue flows from these extractive industries and has the potential to be the institution, really, that turns resource wealth into human development for the poor within Papua New Guinea.

“There are some really good initiatives in terms of improving the quality of aid posts and basic primary education.

“The initiative of the current government to introduce free education across the country at primary and secondary levels is a really important initiative, so that needs to be built on.

“By that I mean actually following up to make sure that the schools actually are there, that they have the resources, that teachers get paid, and improving the systems to build on this free education policy can make a huge difference.

“It’s not going to happen overnight, but in the next decade if it’s done well – and the report suggests small improvements around the margin for improving service delivery.

“If that’s done well, then over the next decade you could see a real transformation in the delivery of health and education to the 85 per cent of Papua New Guineans who live in rural parts of the country.

“I’m reasonably optimistic that things are going to get better – that Papua New Guinea is going to be able to provide some benefits from this resources boom to the bulk of the population,” he added.

AN AERIAL view of Barrick-operated Porgera Gold Mine in Enga Province.

AN INTEROIL community affairs staffer visiting a local woman during a vegetable harvest.

Airline pilots renew contracts

NEGOTIATIONS between Air Niugini pilots and the airline management on pilots’ contracts ended successfully with majority of pilots renewing their contracts with the airline on December 31, early this week.

A media release from the airline stated that whilst there were unsubstantiated claims that the pilots were going on strike, negotiations between the pilots and the airline have been successful.

“It is now business as usual at Air Niugini,” the statement read.

According to the press release, all 2012 contracts expired as of December 31, 2014, hence a new contract was made available to all pilots to sign, which the majority of them did. “2014 had been a difficult year for business with the completion of the LNG project and the reduction in economic activity.

“The company is going through a restructure phase, both Air Niugini and its subsidiary airline, Link PNG and the airline has to make commercial decisions like all private companies.

“Majority of the pilots both national and expatriates have already signed the new contracts,” as quoted from the statement.

Air Niugini acknowledged the pilots all other parties involved in the successful negotiations and execution of the new pilot contract.

“Air Niugini values the importance of all its employees,” the statement quoted a source from the company.

Share market rises, led by energy stocks

SYDNEY: The share market is marginally stronger as higher commodity prices propel energy stocks.

Energy stocks were the biggest losers on Tuesday as crude oil prices fell to the lowest levels since May 2009.

But increases in commodity prices overnight saw energy stocks outperforming the other sectors on Wednesday morning, CMC chief market

strategist Michael McCarthy says. “It’s the best performing sector at this stage,” he said.

“Because of our heavy commodity presence, and the impact of those changes on commodity prices, it’s quite possible we’ll see a positive day on the local market.”

Mr McCarthy said the People’s Bank of China’s relaxation of deposit requirements for loans, in a bid to stimulate

commercial lending, was also helping the resources stocks.

“That’s taking some of the China bear story out of the commodity market,” he said.

Woodside Petroleum was up 14 cents to $38.17, Santos had found four cents to $8.24 and Oil Search was four cents higher at $7.88.

The big miners were mixed with BHP Billiton down 13 cents to $29.35 as Rio Tinto

gained 66 cents to $58.22. Iron ore player Fortescue Metals added six cents to $2.81, as iron ore prices rallied for the fourth straight day. The banking sector was mixed, with ANZ adding two cents to $32.06, National Australia Bank was fl at at $33.53, Commonwealth Bank shed five cents to $85.53 and Westpac lost seven cents to $33.13.

- AAP

QLD algae technology ready to expand

THE company behind technology that uses algae to clean dirty farm water is ready to roll it out across the Queensland and overseas after trials in 2014 proved it could be used on a commercial scale.

The technology was pioneered at Pacific Reef prawn farm in Ayr, North Queensland, where water from prawn ponds was successfully cleaned before going out to the Great Barrier Reef area.

The company, MBD Energy, says the water ejected from the operation is even cleaner than the water it draws in from the reef to feed the prawn farm.

The algae eats nitrogen and other nutrients that the farming process puts into the water.

The algae, or seaweed, can then be sold as a healthy food.

While 2014 was a year of successful trials, 2015 could be the year when the technology spreads into other aquaculture and agriculture ventures on a commercial scale.

MBD Energy director of agribusiness and government relations, Tony St Clair, says the company will look to ex-

pand its operation at Pacific Reef, but is in talks with other groups about how it can be used to clean their waste water.

“We will see the further enhancement of that project and Pacific Reef are looking to expand their operation down to Guthalungra once they receive approval, so hopefully that will be in transition over 2015,” he said.

“Also, we are looking at growing a red algae not at Pacific Reef but into other areas on fresh water in the Ayr area.

“We’ve been very buoyed by the Burdekin Council and the cane growers association there that have been to our plant just before Christmas, so we are moving forward.

“A few of them can see an option for getting into another

enterprise other than just cane growing, without affecting the aquifers.” The technology can be used to treat any waste water that is high in nitrogen, which is a common problem in many forms of agriculture.

Mr St Clair says the company is looking at piggeries, poultry farms, feedlots and dairy operations.

MBD Energy has already taken its technology overseas, but in early January Mr St Clair will join the Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb, along with 30 delegates, on a week-long mission to India where he will look at commercial opportunities for its use, particularly on massive, run-down prawn farms which have been ruined by too much nitrogen.

With demand for protein growing rapidly in Asian countries such as India and China, and a new awareness of water sustainability in those countries, Mr St Clair says the time is right for the technology, perfected in Queensland, to make its mark internationally.

- ABC

MBD Energy has successfully used algae to clean dirty water at a prawn farm in Ayr, North Queensland. - ABC

AIR NIUGINI management have successfully negotiated with pilots who have renewed their contracts with the airline. - airniugini.com.pg

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GOLD COAST SATURDAY

Weather: Fine.

Track: Soft (5).

Rail: Is in the true position.

GEAR CHANGES

RACE 1: (4) Allon Zee tongue-tie on first time; (8) Grand Dazzler, (10) Infinite Lee, (14) Kyoto Rose blinkers on first time RACE

3: (1) Jumbo Prince blinkers off first time; (3) Pretty Vacant bandages on first time; (8) All Clear lugging bit on first time; (13) Secret Tryst ear muffs on first time RACE 4: (17) Ekofanidea

cross-over noseband off first time RACE 5: (8) Number One

Gun pacifiers off first time, visor on first time; (14) Senglea Sun blinkers on again, cross-over noseband off first time RACE 6: (6)

Agitate ear muffs on first time RACE 7: (8) Kempelly tongue-tie on first time; (10) Spatha blinkers off again

Direct Connect Handicap 1800m

REVIVING CULTURE REVIVING THE VALUE OF THE KINA SHELL

EVER Best New Year

Port Moresby’s sky came alive with both illegal and legal fireworks to usher in the New Year.

29 to

Leading the way

With each new generation comes new and greater dreams. ALFRED KANINIBA tells of young Engan lass Kimberly Andup, who is no exception. Studying in a foreign country alone, she is setting a standard not for herself but all young and brilliant women of Papua New Guinea.

NINETEEN-year-old Port Moresby

lass Kimberly Andup is part of a new and growing breed of young women who want to be different.

Despite being of Engan descent, Kimberly spent most of her young life attending school in Port Moresby. After completing Grade Nine and 10 at Tokarara High School, she was sponsored to take up higher secondary schooling in the Philippines.

So in 2011 she packed her bags and left the comfort and security of family and friends and journeyed to the Philippines. She enrolled at Colegio San Augustin where she completed grades 11 and 12.

Then she applied and was accepted and enrolled at the Perpetual Help Dalta System University where she entered as a freshman. This is a name given to new students who are starting out at university. In 2013 Kimberly completed her first year at the university. She continued onto her second year in 2014 choosing to take a pre-med course.

“I am very interested in medicine and I want to be a doctor so I took up the pre-med course. This course is a general course, basically an introduction into the general workings of medicine and covers all the medical field.”

“It is after we finish year 4 that I can go into specialised training.

Right now I am aiming to complete the general training,” she said.

Kimberly has a quiet and calm demeanour. She is confident, forthright and has strong analytical awareness, quite advanced for her age.

She arrived back in the country for her end-of-year break and is quite surprised by what is happening, especially with the young people.

“Filipinos are very hard working people; they are also very beautiful

people.

They have a lot of respect and they go out of their way to help you. They are very courteous.”

“They have a big population and many are poor. But they work hard at whatever job they do, because they have to feed themselves and their family.”

However, she said in comparison, she saw that people here, “do not work hard. There is no hard life”.

“Maybe because we have this wantok system which makes us depend on each other and this makes us

lazy,” the young woman said.

“In the Philippines, you are on your own and you must work to earn money to feed your family.”

On the Government’s free education policy, Kimberley said there were advantages and disadvantages.

“All children will go to school which is good and parents will not worry about paying school fees and so they will get lazy.

“Will there be enough places in colleges and universities for all these

children when they graduate?”

Kimberly is due back in school by mid-January to continue her third year at university studying premedicine.

Her mother, Rose, said she was very proud of her daughter and what she is achieving for herself. Rose is a single parent and is confident that her daughter will do very well.

“As a single mother I feel very proud of Kimberly. I have two other children and I hope they can follow their sister.”

Rose also thanks her family for the great support they have been giving towards Kimberly, saying that all their effort was going towards a good cause.

Kimberly will be flying back in the next week or so, with her mind set to complete another solid year of study.

“At the university the pass mark is 85 per cent. If you do not get the grade they tell you to leave. They do not worry about our money. What the management want is that their academic standards must be maintained at the highest level,” Kimberly said.

With her confident demeanour, Kimberly is sure to excel in her third year at university in 2015 as she aims for her higher calling.

Kimberly with her mother Rose and brother Kelvin Ramsi Kimberly aims to become a health professional and return to help people

Kimberly Andup is confident of doing well at university

Pictures: ALFRED KANINIBA

Best ever

CARMELLA GWARE had the most amazing New Year experience ever this year. Port Moresby’s skies came alive with illegal and legal fireworks, she recounts.

IT was the best New Year I’ve ever had! I am talking about the year 2015 people.

I have spent three new years in Port Moresby in total; two of them at a house where you can only hear the sound of fireworks at the Gold Club, thanks to a big hill that children like sliding down during the rare rainy days experienced in the capital. But I wised up this year. I was at the balcony of a colleague’s house, looking down at Vision City and the Gold Club (GC), hooting like a mad baboon next to my two sidekicks (it wasn’t their house either).

It all started 30 minutes before New Year, when people were warming up with their illegal firecrackers and fireworks. My aunt and her friend were having a few cold ones on the side while my little sister looked longingly at their glasses. My recently adopted baby from RSPCA, Willow (a one-yearold cat), was trying to run out the door while my two friends tried their best to discipline the uneasy feline. I was doing what cool people normally do when no one is watching … yep, stuffing my face with all the New Year goodies.

I was on my fifth chocolate biscuit when fireworks started going off somewhere near Vision City. The door was flung open – no wait, it was already open ever since it came off its hinges a month or two ago – and a bulky shape came speeding out. That was sidekick number one. “Is it New Year already!?” I asked my aunt. “No, 10 more minutes,” she replied.

“Let’s go out to the road and see!”

Number one suggested. We sped off towards the gate and were just about to exit it when a kindly colleague blocked our way out. “Turn back girls, a lot of drunk people out there,” he said, swaying dangerously with a can in one hand.

“You girls go up to my unit.” Sway. “The grill door is open. You’ll have a good view there.”

“Is it New Year yet?” asked sidekick number two as we eagerly looked for colourful lights in the sky. “Anytime soon,” I replied confidently. Seconds turned into minutes and then … BOOM boom boom!! “Yeah! Happy New Year!”

“Wooooohhhh!” “Happy New Year Happy New Year!”

It was brilliant! The sky was alight with illegal and legal fire-

works. Empty drums were being beaten like crazy! And of course, the biggest and most creative fireworks came from GC. “Isn’t this amazing,” I breathlessly asked my friends. “Yes,” they breathed. I thought I saw tears of joy in number two’s eyes but I could be wrong.

So why make all these noises to usher in the New Year? Well, noisemaking and fireworks on New Year’s Eve is believed to have originated in ancient times, when noise and fire were thought to dispel evil spirits and bring good luck. That is why people scream at the top of their lungs, beat drums, toot horns and generally pollute the neighbourhood with noise as if their lives depend on it. And of course, thanks to the Chinese, we have fireworks to add to the festive atmosphere.

And it is believed that the Babylonians were the first to make New Year’s resolutions, and people all over the world have been breaking them ever since, according to infoplease.

I cannot wait to see what this year has in store for me. Happy New year everyone!

CIVILISATIONS around the world have been celebrating the start of each new year for at least four millennia. Today, most New Year’s festivities begin on December 31 (New Year’s Eve), the last day of the Gregorian calendar, and continue into the early hours of January 1 (New Year’s Day).

world have been thestartofeachnewyearfor

Over the centuries, the calendar fell out of sync with the sunandin46BCtheemperor

Common traditions include attending parties, eating special New Year’s foods, making resolutions for the new year and watching fireworks displays.

The earliest recorded festivities in honour of a new year’s arrival date back some 4000 years to ancient Babylon.

For the Babylonians, the first new moon following the vernal equinox – the day in late March with an equal amount of sunlight and darkness –heralded the start of a new year. They marked the occasion with a massive religious festival called Akitu (derived from the Sumerian word for barley, which was cut in the spring) that involved a different ritual on each of its 11 days.

In addition to the new year,

sun, and in 46 BC the emperor Julius Caesar decided to solve the problem by consulting with the most prominent astronomers and mathematicians of his time.

He introduced the Julian calendar, which closely resembles the more modern Gregorian calendar that most countries around the world use today.

As part of his reform, Caesar instituted January 1 as the first day of the year, partly to honour the month’s namesake: Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, whose two faces allowed him to look back into the past and forward into the future. Romans celebrated by offering sacrifices to Janus, exchanging gifts with one another, decorating their homes with laurel branches and attending raucous parties.

Atiku celebrated the mythical victory of the Babylonian sky god Marduk over the evil sea goddess Tiamat and served an important political purpose: It was during this time that a new king was crowned or that the current ruler’s divine mandate was symbolically renewed.

Throughout antiquity, civilisations around the world developed increasingly sophisticated calendars, typically pinning the first day of the year to an agricultural or astronomical event. In Egypt, for instance, the year began with the annual flooding of the Nile, which coincided with the rising of the star Sirius. The first day of the Chinese new year, meanwhile, occurred with the second new moon after the winter solstice.

The early Roman calendar consisted of 10 months and 304 days, with each new year beginning at the vernal equinox; according to tradition, it was created by Romulus, the founder of Rome, in the eighth century BC. A later king, Numa Pompilius, is credited with adding the months of Januarius and Februarius.

In medieval Europe, Christian leaders temporarily replaced January 1 as the first of the year with days carrying more religious significance, such as December 25 (the anniversary of Jesus’ birth) and March 25 (the Feast of the Annunciation); Pope Gregory XIII reestablished January 1 as New Year’s Day in 1582.

In many countries, New Year’s celebrations begin on the evening of December 31 –New Year’s Eve – and continue into the early hours of January 1. Revellers often enjoy meals and snacks thought to bestow good luck for the coming year.

In Spain and several other Spanish-speaking countries, people bolt down a dozen grapes – symbolising their hopes for the months ahead – right before midnight. In many parts of the world, traditional New Year’s dishes feature legumes, which are thought to resemble coins and herald future financial success; examples include lentils in Italy and black-eyed peas in the southern United States. Because pigs represent progress and prosperity in some cultures, pork appears on the New Year’s Eve table in Cuba, Austria, Hungary, Portugal and other countries. Ring-shaped cakes and pastries, a sign that the year has come full circle, round out the feast in the Netherlands, Mexico, Greece and elsewhere. Fireworks is also the highlight of such an event. – History

The beginning of a trend

TOP: Families out to watch fireworks

Bottom: The sky came alive with fireworks to usher in the New Year Pictures: MARK TALIA

‘Twas a day for all

PEOPLE all over Papua New Guinea and the Christian world celebrated Christmas with joy, peace and promise of greater goodness and prosperity to all mankind.

Hohola, in the National Capital District, has more churches, than police stations and schools. It can be said it is the holiest suburb in the whole of PNG because it has 13 churches. One of them being Islam’s Mosque – a beautiful building in the heart of Hohola.

Christmas Day is a time when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. In the many churches that held services congregations sang carols to mark the occasion.

Hohola’s Sacred Heart Catholic Church was no different. In fact, Christmas day this year was a beautiful day for a beautiful service.

The church was packed with parishioners and once-a-year church goers aiming to get a Christmas blessing. The main celebrant was Fr Bobby Cue, while Fr John Glynn was his assistant.

But the day really belonged to those young ones who were going to be baptised.

One family, Henry and Ethel Paeke, both primary school teachers who travelled in from their school in inland Rigo, came to have their three children baptised. The

children, Philemona, Michael and Lois, were three of a big group of 55 young people who were baptised. Henry, who is from Mekeo, and his wife Ethel, from Milne Bay, were happy parents after the baptism.

What made it all the more memorable was when they had their photo taken with Fr John Glynn after the service.

“We have heard about Fr John Glynn and all the work he is doing to help needy people and to have our family photo taken with him is something to be remembered every Christmas in our family,” both parents said.

As the whole world celebrated this Christmas day

Hohola suburb residents chose to spend the day in thankful remembrance of the birth of Christ.

ALFRED KANINIBA

We remember the time we spend with those we love the most and Christmas gives us that gift. It is also a time of remembering the One who has given us all that we have, writes

ALFRED KANINIBA

The packed Sacred Heart Catholic Church at Hohola on Christmas Day

Santje Sarwom holds up the candle as she leads the Christmas Day offering procession up to the alter at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church at Hohola

The Paeke family. From right: Parents Henry and Ethel and children, Lois, Michael and Philemona, who were baptised on Christmas day

The Paeke family pictured here with Fr John Glynn Pictures: ALFRED KANINIBA

Kina’s revival

The kina value has been maintained for generations in Southern Highlands Province. That gleaming iridescent gold-lipped pearl shells was such a prestigious possession one could have, writes

BOLA NOHO

PAPUA New Guinea’s currency is unique and has been derived from the country’s diversified cultural elements.

The Kina and Toea are PNG’s legal tender, which we use today, was treasured during the barter trade system in the past.

They were scarce but were all found only along the coastal areas and were traded with other goods and services with neighbouring tribes. But in the highlands, especially in the Ialibu area, nobody knows where it came from. They believed it drops from the sky when the thunder strikes during storms.

The Kina became precious in the culture, a way of life for the people of Southern Highlands Province. Its value has been maintained for generations before the arrival of the first Europeans in the area. The history was that gleaming iridescent gold-lipped pearl shells (Pinctada maxima) became the most prestigious objects of the highlanders who could possess with pigs.

The pearl shells were objects of rarity and importance as wealth items in the highlands. They were traded from the southern coastal areas through barter system into the highlands areas.

They were made more popular by the arrival of early explorers and patrol officers through trade routes

into Western Highlands Province.

These pearl shells, commonly known as Kina shells, were flown into the Western Highlands in boxes by the Leahy brothers who were exploring for gold in Waghi Valley.

They were used to pay wages to the local people who loved the shells as much as the explorers loved the gold.

Large number of Kina shells entered Southern Highlands through Ialibu through trade routes linking its neighbouring province of Western Highlands.

Ialibu is situated between the Twin Mountains, Mt Giluwe the second highest in the north and Mt Ialibu the third highest in the south. The plateau between the mountains, called Ialibu Basin, became the centre of kina jewellery trade and later developed into

a trade centre for all forms of commodities from all directions.

Tribal leaders facilitated the trade for traditional oil, salt and ornaments for body decoration, weapons for tribal warfare, other sea shells and food items using kina as medium of exchange.

Kina shells were used as the medium of exchange for all goods and services, including compensation, marriage, exchanges and tribal conflicts.

The early patrol officers saw that people treasured Kina shells, they brought them in the planes and paid them as wages for local labour.

This created wealth among the people and tribal leaders used their influence to accumulate the Kina shells as much as they could and become wealthy and influential in all matters of importance

to their societies.

The Kina jewels became the pride and strength of the tribe who acquired and possessed them most.

Kina rituals and ceremonies were performed by each tribe months prior to huge pig killing ceremonies as they showed off their wealth in the number of Kina shells and large number of pigs they were to slaughter.

The pieces of pork are cooked and given away without anything in return. This would be the time when everyone who came to the pig killing ceremony was served with a large piece of pork.

They ensured that everyone had enough, but to those with trading links and family ties, it would be a huge task to carry a large amount of pork meat given by the sponsoring tribe.

Today, the traditional and cultural rituals including ceremonial practices are dying out because of modern influences. Younger generations are forgetting their past.

The Kina culture is no longer practised now; even the elder people have lost hope and interest in the very kina shell culture they once valued.

Modern PNG currency derived its name from those cultural elements which were treasured in the past.

Those once treasured jewels have become historical objects rather than valuables today.

However, its historical significance reminds us of the way the kina culture influenced all forms of traditional trade and relationships among the people.

The traditional rituals and ceremonies of this culture are worth recording and preserved through whatever means possible.

The historical and traditional practices that centred on the use of Kina shell valuables could be easily forgotten if nothing is done to preserve, protect, safeguard and promote them.

The Kina culture project undertaken by the Kina Cultural Group of Ialibu, Southern Highlands Province, is being rekindled.

The Kina Cultural Group is trying to revive the culture and have its rituals and ceremonies performed including the display of the kina jewels annually. The launching of Kina Culture will eventuate as soon as possible, depending on the funding.

It is a worthy cause for all Southern Highlanders of all walks of life to rally behind the Kina Cultural Group with assistance in cash or kind. The group is also extending its invitation to interested corporate organisations. For details contact chairman Yake Pua or secretary Max Pumina on 343 0079, 7669 5458, 7225 6306 or email: kinaculture@gmail.com or the National Cultural Commission.

Modern PNG currency derived its name from those cultural elements which were treasured in the past.

Those once treasured jewels have become historical objects rather than valuables today.

BOLA NOHO

Kina shell display at Holiday Inn

Kina shells on display

The rejection

Though God had brought his chosen people out of the land of Egypt and led them through the wilderness, his people still insisted on making one of their own their king, just as the nations around them, thereby forsaking the King of kings and Lord of lords. In so doing, they rejected the Almighty, says

FRANK MECKLENBURG

SAMUEL the Prophet reacted to the elder’s request for a king. As stated in the last article, if he thought about what God told Moses about a king for the people in the future, he may have reacted differently.

Even though Samuel was displeased with the elders of Israel asking for a king, as a man of God he handled his displeasure in the right way because he went to God in prayer. In prayer God encouraged Samuel by telling him to listen to what the people were saying and to warn them of what life would be like under a king.

Also God told Samuel that the people were not rejecting his leadership, but that rather they were actually rejecting God as their king.

We know from scripture that God loves Israel, but he does not hesitate in this situation to describe Israel as a parent would speak of a problem child. “And the LORD told him: ‘Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.’” (1 Samuel 8:7–8

It is interesting how many times we read about God’s patience and compassion toward his people, but then sometimes it seems that God is like a human father. We could rephrase that last part of the verse above as “Oh my, these people I have chosen are quite a problem for me. Ever since I chose them they have been misbehaving by following other teachings instead of my instructions. How can I ever make them the people that I want?”

We will see how that God makes adjustments in order to allow more time for his people to turn to him with all of their heart.

Samuel was faithful to share with the elders just what God had told

him. He made sure that the people knew what would result from them having a king like the other nations.

A king will force some of the young men to serve in the army with the his chariots and horses and they would even have to run in front of the king’s chariots;

Some will be commanders over thousands of troops and some commanders over smaller groups of soldiers;

Others will plow his ground and harvest crops for the king;

Others will have to spend their time making weapons and equipment for the king’s chariots;

A king will take their daughters and have them work as perfumers, cooks, and bakers. A perfumer is a person who is trained in making special perfumes with a nice smell;

A king will take the best of their fields, vineyards, and olive groves and given them to his workers, and,

A king will take a tenth of their grain for his workers. Ten per cent tax in today’s time is not that high.

Samuel told them that if they insisted on getting a king, later when they complained about having a king, God would not hear

them or change their system of governing.

They will have to live with their decision, but God will be there to help them because of his compassion and love.

The things that the Prophet Samuel listed about a king seems to be describing how the kings of other countries treated those who were under them, but there is no indication that the kings of Israel were ever like the kings of other countries. This is especially true of those who strove to please God with the way they ruled over Israel.

An indication of how the rule of the righteous kings of Israel was different from that of the kings of other nations is the comparison of what God told Moses about a king and what Samuel described.

For example other countries did not have a king chosen by God, did not have an Israelite as a king, or among other things on that list did not have to write out the law for themselves. Those kings knew very little about the law that God gave to Israel.

God willing, I will be writing about each of the kings of Israel in light of what both God told Moses and what the Prophet Samuel told the Israelites about the consequences of having a king.

That series of articles will help us see more clearly what principles of kingship were actually followed by the kings of Israel.

We know that King Saul and King David and most of the kings who followed had an army of young men to fight against the enemies of Israel. That is one area that was like the kings of other countries, but this for sure was not the first time that the leaders of Israel used an army to defeat the enemies. The difference was the that under a king the army was no longer voluntary, but required that all or most young men serve in the army.

Today in Israel, all men and women who have completed high school are required to serve in the army or they can sometimes opt for a special community service instead of serving in combat. There are some religious young people who have not been required to serve in the army, but that is in the process of changing.

One aspect that is quite different today from Bible times is that in Israel, women also serve in the army and even in the infantry. It is not unusual in Israel to see young women carrying a gun. Send

Israeli soldiers with a Papua New Guinean Soldiers at wine settlement

Frank Mecklenburg Freelance journalist and CEO of Zion Pathways

What the New Year holds

Several cities around the world already have rung in 2015. Here’s a look at how they celebrated in pictures.

Crowds cheer as the countdown hits zero and fireworks begin during a New Year’s Day celebration at the Quezon Memorial Circle in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines, on Thursday, Jan 1, 2015 Aaron Favila/AP Photo

Pope Francis celebrates a New Year’s Eve vespers Mass in St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec 31, 2014. The traditional Mass on Dec 31 contains the thanksgiving hymn Te Deum for the ending year and is the last public appearance of the pope in 2014 Andrew Medichini/AP Photo

Chinese folk artists dressed in costume drama performances during the New Year’s Eve count down to 2015 on December 31, 2014, in Beijing, China Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

People watch as Dubai celebrates the New Year with a light and sound extravaganza at midnight at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower on Jan 1, 2015. The 828-metre (2716-foot) tower was lit up with differentcolored panels as the clock counted down to 2015 Karim Sahib/AFP/Getty Images

Fireworks explode off the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the midnight fireworks display on New Year’s Eve on Sydney Harbour on Dec 31, 2014, in Sydney, Australia Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

NEW Year’s Eve one liners:

I have only one resolution. To rediscover the difference between wants and needs. May I have all I need and want all I have. Happy New Year!

Dear God, my prayer for 2015 is a FAT bank account and a THIN body. Please don’t mix it up like you did this year.

My New Year’s resolution is to break my New Year’s resolutions....That way I succeed at something!

New Year’s is just a holiday created by calendar companies who don’t want you reusing last year’s calendar.

There have been many times in 2014, when I have annoyed you, disturbed you, irritated you, and bugged the hell out of you....today I just wanna tell you I plan to continue in 2015.

A BLONDE was speeding in a 25 mile per hour residential zone when a local police cruiser pulled her over.

The female police officer who walked up to the car also happened to be a blonde. She asked for the blonde’s driver’s license.

The driver searched frantically in her purse for a while and finally said to the blonde policewoman, “What does a driver’s license look like?”

Irritated, the blonde cop said, “Don’t be a smartass!. It’s got your picture on it!”

The blonde driver frantically searched her purse again and found a small, rectangular mirror down at the bottom. She held it up to her face and said, “Aha! This must be my driver’s license”, then handed it to the blonde policewoman.

The blonde cop looked in the mirror, handed it back to the driver and said, “You’re free to go. And, if I had known you were a police officer too, we could have avoided all of this.”

Industry under scope

THE year 2014 has been a slog of a year, especially toward the end, and especially if you cover the entertainment industry.

Did you know?

The first flyer is ...

WILBUR and Orville Wright weren’t just lucky to make the first flight. They played with flying paper models in their youth, and by 1901 they had made hundreds of wind tunnel tests.

In 1902, their glider was the biggest flying machine ever built. Orville Wright wrote, “We now hold all the records! The largest machine…the longest time in the air, the smallest angle of descent, and the highest wind!”

On Monday 13 December 1903, a toss of a coin gave Wilbur the honor of making the first flight. The engine and propeller powered the plane, the Flyer lifted off but immediately sank down, slightly damaged.

By the time the Wright broth-

ers got their flyer up in the air, flying was a hobby for New Zealand farmer Richard Pearse. Working single-handedly in his barn, he designed and built his own engine and flying machine. Datings suggest that Pearse made his first flight in March 1902. But there is an account of an even earlier flight…

“Two years, four months and three days before the successful flights of the Wright brothers, a birdlike monoplane took to the air at early dawn on August 14, 1901, near Bridgeport, Connecticut, carrying its inventor and builder, Gustave Whitehead, a distance of approximately a half mile.” – Megan Adam, descendant of Gustave A. Whitehead.

It’s been a year without a big, transcendent movie hit, a period in which a game-changing TV show, True Detective, reverted to every cliché in the book, and it all ended in the disaster of The Interview. Thank goodness it’s over! As we see 2014 out the door, here are three resolutions that pop culture’s power players might want to consider for the new year.

1. Get better in-house cybersecurity. And then get angry: Sony Pictures Entertainment’s handling of The Interview, an action-comedy about a plot to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, in response to blackmail and terrorist threats from a group of hackers who call themselves the Guardians of Peace, would have been disappointing under any circumstances. The hack was a glaring example of what a totalitarian response to media really looks like, and Sony Pictures’ capitulation is the logical result of an environment in which culture and criticism are often met with threats of violence.

But Sony Pictures’ retreat is particularly shameful for an industry that likes to champion itself as the best the United States has to offer. The movie business “is both a beneficiary of and a champion for the First Amendment and freedom of speech,” Motion Picture Association of America chairman Chris Dodd wrote this year.

2. Remember that epics aren’t the only stories worth telling: Critics have been having this conversation for a while, but The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, the conclusion to Peter Jackson’s bloated adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s children’s classic, has brought out some excellent writing on the subject.

“With his ‘Hobbit’ movies, Jackson has taken the epic style and themes of his Lord of the Rings pictures and placed them on the shoulders of a tale far too slight to support them,” Chris Orr argued in the Atlantic. “The Fellowship of the Ring introduced filmgoers to hobbits and the shire, elves and Rivendell, wizards and balrogs,” Sonny Bunch wrote in an assessment of the franchise in the Washington Free Beacon. “But it did so on a smaller scale than that of later films, focusing on the journey of a few protagonists. Ironically, restricting the characters and locales magnified the sense of drama, and heightened the tension. We actually cared about what happened to the fellowship.”

In other words: Sometimes the journey there and back again is enough, without being garbaged up with higher and higher stakes that serve only to make the whole thing feel more duplicative of other so-called epics and more remote from any actual human emotion.

3. Remember that the world is big, and there are interesting stories to be found everywhere

in it: Hollywood continues to be an imperfect mirror for America, much less for the global population that is increasingly its market.

But 2014 had signs of the uneven progress on diversity that is so often the industry’s hallmark.

Roxane Gay had two hit books (the novel An Untamed State and the essay collection Bad Feminist) and signed on to edit a spinoff of the Toast, the humour and commentary site that is itself the product of a rollicking feminist vision.

Amazon continued to prove that looking beyond common tropes and anti-heroes produces great television with Transparent, Jill Soloway’s series about a transgender woman coming out to her utterly impossible family later in life. Ava DuVernay’s “Selma” charged into the Oscar race as a sadly timely commentary on policing in the United States and a powerful refusal to succumb to the conventions of biopics. Chris Rock finally found his groove with “Top Five.”

So in 2015, let’s hope Hollywood expands its curiosity about the world and all the stories the entertainment industry currently isn’t telling.

A greater commitment to diversity not just in staffing but also in ideas would be a great cure for pop culture’s present geopolitical cowardice and for the increasing fragmentation of television viewership. And if the past few years are any indication, it would be terrific for art’s sake, too.

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg attending the photocall of the movie The Interview

Jonjo Shelvey accepts violent conduct charge

SOCCER

JONJO Shelvey will serve a four-match ban after Swansea ‘reluctantly’ accepted an FA violent conduct charge.

Shelvey was charged after the FA reviewed footage of an incident in which he appeared to throw his elbow into the face of Liverpool’s Emre Can during Monday’s 4-1 loss at Anfield.

And the 22-year-old midfielder will now have to sit out the New Year’s Day game at QPR plus home fixtures with West Ham and Chelsea, and an FA Cup trip to Tranmere.

Shelvey maintains that the incident was accidental and tweeted after the match: “Just wanna say I didn’t intentionally elbow Emre Can - I was just trying to get my arm across to get round him.

“It’s come off as if I’m trying to hurt another player and I can assure you that isn’t the case. I apologised to Emre Can for catching him.”

But his club released a statement on Wednesday which read: “Swansea City has reluctantly accepted the charge issued by The Football Association against Jonjo Shelvey for violent conduct following an incident in Monday night’s Barclays Premier League defeat at Liverpool.

“The Football Association said the incident with Liver-

pool’s Emre Can, which happened in front of the referee, “was not seen by the match officials but caught on video”.

“While the club supports Shelvey’s statement that the incident was unintentional, it does not believe the outcome of an appeal would prove positive for the club or player.

“Shelvey will now serve the customary three-match ban, plus an additional game for his second red card of the season.”

Swansea manager Garry Monk agrees with Shelvey that the incident was accidental.

He said after the match: “I don’t think it was an intentional elbow at all and the referee was perfectly placed.

“There were no complaints from any of the players afterwards, so you have to trust the referee made the right decision - and we thought that he did.”

Shelvey has been shown seven yellow cards and one red card this season, and Swansea manager Garry Monk said before the Liverpool game he needed to “wise up” because “laziness” was costing him needless bookings.

However, Monk has also stressed that he wants the midfielder, who has been capped once by England, to remain with the club –FOX SPORTS

Ronaldinho to stay with team SOCCER

BRAZILIAN superstar Ronaldinho won’t be moving to MLS, Angola or anywhere else in the near future, with Queretaro confirming Tuesday that the 34-year-old will remain at the Liga MX club.

“Ronaldinho will stay with the team,” said Joaquin Beltran, the Gallos Blancos sporting president, at a Tuesday news conference designed to stop the steady flow of rumors regarding the player’s future.

“He’ll show up in the first few days of January due to a special permission he has to resolve some personal problems.”

–FOX SPORTS

Bale loving life at Real Madrid SOCCER

REAL Madrid forward Gareth Bale is keen to remain at the club, despite speculation he could join Manchester United in the summer.

Bale moved from Tottenham to Madrid in a worldrecord $133m deal in September 2013 and has been a key performer in their run of 22 straight victories in competitive matches.

Real president Florentino Perez warned on Tuesday Bale would not be allowed to leave the Bernabeu at any price and the player himself insists he is happy with life in the Spanish capital.

“Go to Manchester United?

I am very happy in Madrid, a city, a climate and a club that I love,” Bale said on the club’s mid-season tour to Dubai.

“My contract ends in 2019 and I could sign a renewal. I am very happy at Madrid and I hope to win many more titles in the future.

“It has been a fantastic year for me. I wanted to come to Real Madrid to win titles and work alongside the best players and that is exactly what I have done in a single year.

“I hope that we keep improving, winning more titles and that I can keep giving my all.”

Bale also paid tribute to team-mates Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, who have scored 57 goals between them this season.

“He (Ronaldo) is an impressive player,” added Bale. –FOX SPORTS

Carlos Tevez: I will not renew Juventus contract past 2016

SOCCER

CARLOS Tevez has revealed that he has no plans to extend his current contract with Juventus.

The Argentine has been in fine form since his move to the Serie A champions and is currently their top scorer in the league. However, Tevez has no desire to continue his spell in Turin beyond his current deal.

“I want to respect my con-

The bottom line

tract until 2016,” he told reporters at Buenos Aires airport. “That’s my plan. I don’t want to extend; that’s not how I feel at the moment.”

When asked if he would consider a return to boyhood club Boca Juniors, the 30-year-old urged calmness on any decisions regarding his future.

“It’s too hard to say right now,” he said. “I’m playing at a high level so it’s important to be calm and enjoy being in the moment. Constant specu-

lation would drive me crazy.”

Carlos Tevez has revealed that he has no plans to extend his current contract with Juventus.

The Argentine has been in fine form since his move to the Serie A champions and is currently their top scorer in the league. However, Tevez has no desire to continue his spell in Turin beyond his current deal.

“I want to respect my contract until 2016,” he told re-

porters at Buenos Aires airport. “That’s my plan. I don’t want to extend; that’s not how I feel at the moment.”

When asked if he would consider a return to boyhood club Boca Juniors, the 30-year-old urged calmness on any decisions regarding his future.

“It’s too hard to say right now,” he said. “I’m playing at a high level so it’s important to be calm and enjoy being in the moment. Constant speculation would drive me crazy.”

A bolt of lightning killed an entire soccer team during a game in 1998!

Carlos Tevez has revealed that he has no plans to extend his current contract with Juventus.

The Argentine has been in fine form since his move to the Serie A champions and is currently their top scorer in the league. However, Tevez has no desire to continue his spell in Turin beyond his current deal.

“I want to respect my contract until 2016,” he told reporters at Buenos Aires air-

port. “That’s my plan. I don’t want to extend; that’s not how I feel at the moment.”

When asked if he would consider a return to boyhood club Boca Juniors, the 30-year-old urged calmness on any decisions regarding his future.

“It’s too hard to say right now,” he said. “I’m playing at a high level so it’s important to be calm and enjoy being in the moment. Constant speculation would drive me crazy.” –FOX SPORTS

JONJO Shelvey has been banned for four matches after throwing an elbow at Liverpool’s Emre Can

JONJO Shelvey (left ) in action.

Marsh happy to stay in middle order

SOG plaque to honour Hughes

CRICKET

A PLAQUE to honour the memory of Phillip Hughes will be unveiled at the SCG on Monday on the eve of the fourth Test between Australia and India.

In one of a number of planned tributes to Hughes, whose death five weeks ago after being struck by a bouncer at the ground shocked the cricketing world, the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust will place a plaque featuring a small bust of Hughes on the wall of the Member’s Pavilion outside the home dressing round.

Cricket Australia are yet to announce their tribute plans ahead of what is sure to be an emotional Sydney Test which starts on Tuesday.

The plaque will feature highlights from Hughes’ career at the famous ground, where he made his first-class debut for NSW in 2007 and played his first home Test against Pakistan in 2010. -AAP

Scorchers to take on Thunder

CRICKET

THE Perth Scorchers will be aim to make it three wins on the trot when they take on the Sydney Thunder in tonight’s Big Bash League clash at the WACA Ground.

The Scorchers will again be without injured spinner Brad Hogg, but coach Justin Langer is confident his team’s in-form pace attack can get the job done. -AAP

Hurricanes axe Hilfenfaus

CRICKET

PACEMAN Ben Hilfenhaus has been dropped from the Hobart Hurricanes’ squad after a costly performance in the team’s latest Big Bash League loss.

CRICKET

SHAUN Marsh does not covet Shane Watson’s spot in the Test batting order and is confident a big score is imminent for the allrounder.

Watson is expected to remain at No.3 for Australia’s fourth Test against India, despite his increased bowling loads in the past two matches due to Mitch Marsh’s hamstring injury.

First drop has been a problem for Australia ever since Ricky Ponting’s demotion to No.4 in 2011, with 11 men

having filled the post since.

Watson has scored the side’s only two centuries at No.3 in the postPonting era, but has recently failed to turn starts into centuries.

The 33-year-old scored 52 and 17 at the MCG last week, registering his first Test half-century since the 2013 Boxing Day Test against England.

There have been calls for Watson to bat at No.6 given how much he is bowling at the moment.

Marsh, the first man trialled at No.3 after Ponting, would be among the

contenders to take Watson’s place at first drop.

But the 31-year-old is more than happy to stay at No.5 in an order that has been reshuffled following Michael Clarke’s serious hamstring injury.

“I’m really enjoying my role down in the middle order,” Marsh said.

“I’ve been batting there for WA for the last 12-18 months ... but to be honest I’ll be happy to bat anywhere in the Test team.”

Marsh described Watson as a “great player and a fantastic team person.

“I’m sure a big score is around the corner for him. He’s hitting the ball really well and he’s a big part of our team,” he said.

Coach Darren Lehmann said Watson’s partnership with Chris Rogers on day one in Melbourne laid the platform for an intimidating firstinnings total of 530.

“So we’re pleased with his output,” Lehmann said.

“We’d love him to make a hundred, and hopefully it’s in Sydney.” -AAP

The former Test bowler finished with 0-32 from one-anda-half overs in last night’s eight-wicket demolition at the hands of the Adelaide Strikers.

Hilfenhaus’s omission for the clash with the Brisbane Heat is the only change for Friday night’s match at Bellerive Oval.

He’ll be replaced by Big Bash debutant, right-arm quick Jake Reed. -AAP

Prime Minister Abbot reveals he was a good sledger

CRICKET

AS tensions between the Australian and Indian cricket teams reach boiling point, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has revealed sledging was his only strength as a cricketer.

Speaking at an afternoon tea for the teams at Kirribilli House in Sydney on Thursday, Abbott spoke of his time as a cricketer during his student days at

Oxford University.

“I couldn’t bat, I couldn’t bowl, I couldn’t field, but I could sledge, and I think I held my place in the team on this basis and I promise there’ll be none of that today,” said the former captain of Oxford’s Middle Common Room team of the Queen’s College.

Emotions are riding high between the Australian and Indian sides following an explosive series

that has featured plenty of sledging.

It’s feared things could get worse during next week’s fourth and final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Abbott weighed into the debate over Australian captain Steven Smith’s decision to delay the declaration in the third Test at the MCG as the hosts failed to take the remaining four wickets to win the match

and take a 3-0 series lead.

The home side had to settle for a draw, but still reclaimed the BorderGavaskar Trophy with an unassailable 2-0 in the four-match series.

“When I told people last night that I was lucky enough to be hosting the Australian and the Indian cricket teams here today, the only question that they assailed me with was `What did you think

of the declaration?’,” Abbott said.

“My initial thought was it was none of my business. My further thought was that Steven Smith did absolutely his duty, because it is his duty to put Australia in the strongest possible position because, as India’s batsmen have repeatedly demonstrated this summer, you can never take India for granted.”

-AAP

sometimes will wear baseball caps, but baseball players never wear cricket caps.

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott

SHAUN Marsh says he’s happy to stay batting at No.5 in Australia’s Test side.

Guerra extends Roosters contract

RUGBY LEAGUE

SYDNEY Roosters backrower

Aidan Guerra has agreed to an extension that will keep him at the club until the end of 2017.

The 26 year-old Guerra expressed his delight at extending his tenure with the foundation club.

“Playing for a club like the Roosters is an honour I don’t take lightly. This is a great club and I’m really happy that I’ll continue to represent the Roosters and be a part of this team over the next three years,” said Guerra.

2014 was a breakthrough year for the backrower who made his State of Origin debut for Queensland, and later made his Australian debut in the Four Nations tournament.

Roosters Recruitment Manager, Peter O’Sullivan, said:

Brad Takairangi not angry with Tigers

RUGBY LEAGUE

IT’S never nice knowing you’re not wanted by a club. Doubly so when they agreed to provide for you and your family for three years, too.

For it to happen to Brad Takairangi just a couple of months before Christmas was bordering on NRL cruelty.

And here’s why: on September 19, the former Titan agreed to a three-year deal with the Wests Tigers hoping to add some much-needed depth and experience to what was at times a makeshift and raw backline at Concord last season.

Less than three weeks later the joint venture backflipped on the deal, leaving Takai-

rangi out in NRL limbo in a time when most salary caps are just about full. Only Parramatta were willing to throw him a lifeline, but only on a one-year deal.

“I guess I was a little bit shell-shocked when it all happened, but I honestly think it’s a blessing in disguise,” he told NRL.com.

“I guess I could be filthy, but I’m pretty confident in my abilities. I backed myself just to sign a one-year deal and hopefully I can have a pretty good big pre-season which I’ve been having at the moment,” he said.

Given his 2014 output on the Gold Coast, the well-travelled Takairangi has reason to feel confident. After failing to

crack the Sharks as a local junior, he played for South Sydney’s Holden Cup side in 2009, made his debut for the Roosters in a three-year spell before moving to the Titans as a combination centre/backrower in 2013.

It was there where Takairangi established himself as a first-grade centre, playing 16 games for then-coach John Cartwright. Last season he kicked on to play 21 games – the most in his five years in the NRL. “The last two seasons at the Titans has been massive for my career. I went away as an interchange player and the two years up there, I established myself as a starting centre,” he said.

“That too has been a bless-

ing, being away for two years and establishing myself as a centre. And now I’ve got a chance to come down here and build on that.”

There will be challenges, like fending off veteran centre Beau Champion and impressive rookie John Folau to partner Ryan Morgan in the three-quarter line.

“But you get that in every team. It’s no different here,” he said. “We’ve got good centres for those two spots in Morgs, Beau Champion there. And we’ve got young guys like Vai [Toutai] and Johnny Folau coming through.

“I haven’t seen too much of [Folau] play, but he’s a big boy and he looks very powerful. If he keeps training hard, I’m

sure he’ll get a crack.”

Brad won’t be the first Takairangi to run out in blue and gold, either. Dad Louis played three games on the wing for the club in 1987, playing outside the likes of John Muggleton, Steve Ella and Peter Sterling.

“He was a very, very big winger. I think he was on the wing because he couldn’t tackle. He could only take massive hit ups and use his weight, I think,” Takairangi laughed.

“When I made the decision to come to Parramatta he was pretty proud. For me to follow in his footsteps and play for Parramatta is a pretty special thing for my family,” he said.

–NRL.com

“Aidan made his NRL debut at the Roosters and has matured into a player chosen to represent his state and country.

“Aidan’s coming of age during this year’s Origin Series was a just reward for his dedication and hard work. He certainly brought that experience back to his club football, and we were proud to see him complete the year by making his Australian debut in the Four Nations.

“Committed, strong and talented, Aidan plays an important role within the team and it’s great to have secured his services until the end of 2017,” he added.

Guerra made his first grade debut with the Roosters against the South Sydney Rabbitohs in Round 1 of the 2010 season and has played 87 NRL games to date.

–NRL.com

Gidley resurrects Newcastle’s community spirit

RUGBY LEAGUE

NEWCASTLE. Pick up the phone. Kurt Gidley is calling.

The Knights skipper wants to reconnect with the local community and draw upon what makes Newcastle great in 2015.

From Maitland to Cessnock, Port Stephens to Lake Macquarie, Central Coast to Scone and every other nook and cranny within the greater Hunter region, Gidley wants to get back together with the club’s fans and thrive like the good old days.

Gidley said the Knights have seemingly “lost touch” with fans in recent years, and the Western Suburbs local junior wants to rebuild that thriving two-way relationship.

“Our community is our backbone,” Gidley told NRL.com.

“Ever since I’ve been a junior and have come through the grades, the community has loved seeing local juniors come through and represent the Newcastle Knights in the NRL.

“They hold that pretty close to their heart, that they get to see local people play and when

I say local I mean areas including the Hunter Valley and even the North Coast – we count them as our catchment area.

“As soon as someone sees younger guys coming through the grades and [play] first grade we make them our own and we’d like to see them play their whole career here.”

Drawing inspiration from past Newcastle teams, Gidley said his team can learn a thing or two from the club’s history when reconnecting with the community.

With Rick Stone, a born-andbred Novocastrian, returning

to coach the club and former Newcastle player and premiership-winning coach Michael Hagan rejoining the Knights as Director of Football, steps have already been made in reforming that bond with the local community.

“We were criticised over the past year because we weren’t putting our bodies on the line.

Our town is a big working class town, from the old days when it was the BHP to the people involved with the mines nowadays, they’re all blue collar workers and that’s what this town is about,” Gidley said.

“Newcastle is about rolling up your sleeves and having a dig and that’s what our club was built on back… when we first came into the competition in ‘88.

“All of our players back then were tough, they might not have won many games… but the other teams went back to Sydney with sore bodies because they got bashed around. That’s what we need to get back to, making it hard for other teams to come to Newcastle and play us in front of our fans.”

–NRL.com

HIS three-year deal with the Wests Tigers may have fallen through, but Brad Takairangi is looking at the positives after his move to Parramatta.

AIDAN Guerra

The Orders of Papua New Guinea

2015 NEW YEAR’S HONOURS LIST

The Governor-General of Papua New Guinea, Chancellor of The Orders of Papua New Guinea and Principal Grand Companion of The Order of Logohu, His Excellency Grand Chief Sir Michael Ogio, GCL, GCMG, OBE, KStJ, is pleased to announce the following appointments and awards in the 2015 New Year’s Honours List, and to warmly congratulate all the award recipients.

GRAND COMPANION OF THE ORDER OF LOGOHU (“GCL”) CONFERRED WITH THE TITLE OF “CHIEF”:

o Most Reverend Cesare BONIVENTO, DD, PIME

For service to the community and the Catholic Church as a PIME missionary priest serving the people of Milne Bay and Sandaun Provinces for 40 years and during that time in the last 22 years as Bishop of Vanimo and through active promotion of human dignity and freedom in a distant and challenging diocese and community.

COMPANION OF THE ORDER OF THE STAR OF MELANESIA (“CSM”):

o Mrs. Kila AMINI, MBE

For service to the community through her contribution in the promotion of social and economic equality for women, the further advancement of women in all areas of the community, and the care and training for young and disadvantaged women through her leadership in the YWCA.

o Mrs. Miriam SORODA, OBE

For service to the community through her leadership in the advancement of the role of women in society, the care of women and the promotion of family life, particularly in the Oro Province, and her involvement in health care and the Anglican Church.

o Mrs. Nerrie TOLOLO, MBE

For service to the community and the United Church through her deep interest and active participation in general community service, particularly in relation to the status of women in society.

OFFICER OF THE ORDER OF LOGOHU (“OL”)

o Brother Antony HOLLENSTEIN

For service to the community as a Catholic missionary and especially in making a significant contribution in building living Christian communities.

o Robert Lee LITTERAL

For service to the Church and community through dedicated work in Bible translation and literacy in the Sandaun Province.

o The Hon. Charles LYNN, MLA

For the service to the development of bilateral relations between Australia and Papua New Guinea and especially in the development of the Kokoda Track and its honoured place in the history of both nations.

o Dr. Ora RENAGI

For service to education and the community through his contribution to the University of Technology and the United Church.

o His Excellency Andreas SITEPU

For service to the Indonesia/Papua New Guinea relations through his significant contribution in promoting diplomatic and trade ties and people to people links.

o Professor Kenneth SUMBUK

For service to education and the community through his contributions to cultural preservation and the University of Papua New Guinea.

MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF LOGOHU (“ML”)

o Sister Solange ARU, FDNSC

For service to the Catholic Church and the community as a religious sister of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

o David GELA

For service to Church and the community in Bible translation and literacy and his leadership role as BTA Executive Director.

o Michikazu JYOGATAKI

For distinguished service over forty years as a staff member of the Papua New Guinea Embassy in Tokyo, Japan.

o Watt Kil Wooner KIDDIE

For service to commerce and accountancy.

o Mrs. Willing MAIRA

For service to the community and the Bank of Papua New Guinea.

o Raphael Wenkip OGA

For service to education, Catholic Church and the community.

o Michael QUINN

For service to commerce and the community.

o Laurence “Rocky” ROE

For service to the community for his significant and lengthy contribution to photography and the promotion of culture and tourism.

o John TENNENT

For service to research on butterfly species of Melanesian States.

o Kembo UNGIA

For public service in agriculture in the Southern Highlands Province.

o Sister Antoinette VAGU’U, FDNSC

For service to the Catholic Church and the community as a religious sister of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

o Lady Beverly WARD

For service to the community, Church and charities. THE LOGOHU MEDAL (“LM”)

o Boso AGIMA

For service to the Southern Highlands community.

o Father Fred EVERAKO

For service to the community and the Anglican Church.

o Francis KOMPAON

For service to sport through winning the Silver Medal at the Beijing Paralympic Games.

o Brother Stanislaus KOSZUTA, SVD

For service to education and the Catholic Church.

o Rex MAURI

For service to the community and Hidden Valley mining.

o Mrs. Grethel Yaweni MOGI

For service to Bank of Papua New Guinea.

o James Caspar NOKE

For service to the community and the Scouts movement.

o Michael Sorori ORAKA

For service to the Gulf provincial administration.

o Mark Anthony PAPAU

For service to the Oro provincial administration.

o Kelap PESOP

For service to the Southern Highlands community.

o Pastor Sol POMA

For service to Assemblies of God in Maprik, East Sepik.

o Philip POSANAU

For service to public health and Madang Urban LLG.

o Wangdi PUT

For service to religion and Western Highlands community.

o Kaumba Philip SIOVIO

For service to the Eastern Highlands community.

o Dr. Jillian THIELE

For service to education and the SDA Church.

o Gabriel Alongrai TOKA

For service to the New Ireland provincial administration.

o Dr. Tonges Epos ZANGGO

For service to public health and medical education.

CROSS OF MEDICAL SERVICE MEDAL (“CMS”)

For service to health care:

o Steven DAMA

o Mrs. Pangau GAYALU

o Suk POLA

o Henry TALOALI

o Mrs. Handai TIMBABU

DISTINGUISHED MILITARY SERVICE MEDAL (“DMS”)

For service to the Papua New Guinea Defence Force:

o Secretary John Sini PORTI

o 86827 COL. Joseph FABILA, OBE

o 89725 LT.COL. Andrew DOPEKE

o 89595 LT.COL. Tony ASEAVU

o 89928 LT.COL. Francis KARI

o 88479 CWO Alois SUANG

o 88786 CWO Peter WOIWOI

o 88698 CPO Fred Randolph DOBUNABA

o 88903 PO Jason YAWA

o 88976 PO Bernard RATIMI

For service to the Australia-Papua New Guinea defence relations:

o LT.COL. Steven McCONNELL

DISTINGUISHED POLICE SERVICE MEDAL (“DPS”)

For service to the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary:

o Hodges ETTE

o Daniel LINGNOGE

o Frank GAMEA

o Dudley MADABE

o Akuila KALEBO

o Paul SIMON

o Jim BELIGA

o Toua KUKUNA

MERITORIOUS PUBLIC SERVICE MEDAL (“MPS”)

For public service:

o Ilave AIKELAVE

o Tony EMMANUEL

o George NIME

o Namanea OMAHE

o Raphael PANNY

o James TEYABE

o August YATAMI

o Clive Lepilepi YEMINI

MERITORIOUS COMMUNITY SERVICE MEDAL (“MCS”)

For service to the community:

o Norman Gill AREKI

o Peter ARIBAN

o Giwisa DEBIS

o Sigik GOGA

o John Douglas HEVARI

o Poli Nonu HOGADE

o Peter Obedi IVOVOGAI

o Yuke KOMBA

o John KUNDA

o Felix MINING

o Tony Andiwa MUNCH

o Tobby NONGI

o Tom APAL

o Kayak PANGO

o Kang SENG

o Hubert Honi SEREVA

o Suba Tonny TABIE

o Cr. Dawana TILLEY

o Mrs. Cathy WRIKEN

Authorized by:

TIPO VUATHA, LVO. MBE Official Secretary to the Governor-General GOVERNMENT HOUSE

Libya’s bold bid to influence Pacific

CANBERRA: Considering the vast distance between Libya and the South Pacific, it’s hard to imagine it ever being a serious player in this part of the world.

Yet in the 1980s, driven by strongman Muammar Gaddafi’s anti-imperialist world view, Libya sought to parlay oil cash into influence in a range of struggling Pacific Island nations.

Cabinet documents for 1988 and 1989 – released by the National Archives of Australia – show the government was quite concerned that a pariah nation and terrorist supporter was meddling in our part of the globe.

A submission prepared by the Office of National Assessments (ONA) and marked AUSTEO - Australian eyes onlyargued Libya was principally interested in Vanuatu which had only gained independence from France and Britain in 1980.

Police: Three missing climbers believed dead

THREE climbers missing on Mount Cook, including Australian doctor Michael Bishop, are thought to have died, New Zealand police have said.

Fifty-three-year-old Dr Bishop, who founded Sydney's Ascent to Life ministry, was last seen on the Linda Glacier on Monday with German climber Johann Viellehner, 58, and his son Raphael, 27.

The three-man party had been climbing to the summit of Mt Cook, which is New Zealand's highest mountain, when the weather began to deteriorate.

This morning Inspector Murray Hurst said the res-

cue effort had been called off after an air and land search failed to find any sign of the men.

"It is presumed that the men have perished on the mountain," he said.

"I've just been advised that the aerial searches will take place over the next few days in an attempt to locate the bodies.

"It has started to snow again up there. About 30 centimetres of snow has fallen at the plateau with large amounts settling higher up on the mountain.

"The men were only very lightly clad, from my understanding, and weren't really prepared for the conditions."

Dr Bishop’s son, Joshua Bishop, said his father was an experienced hiker who had successfully dealt with bad weather in the past.

“While he’s not necessarily had heaps of experience with big mountain climbing, he has done a lot of summit climbs from huts, which is what he is doing on Mt Cook,” he said.

“My dad has built igloos before when bad weather has caught him out, and survived.

“I’ve had moments where I think about him and I’m in tears and that’s usually when I’m by myself in the bathroom or something, but ... I have great faith in Jesus

as well, and there’s a great joy in knowing that if my dad’s not here on earth then he’s in Glory with his saviour.

“There’s no fear in death as a Christian.”

The Ascent to Life organisation describes itself as a “dynamic local ministry” with a “growing international medical, church planting and charitable ministry in India”.

It provides household assistance and medical care, and offers adventure activities including mountaineering.

It used a Facebook page to call for prayers for Dr Bishop and his climbing

companions.

“Dear All, thank you for your continuous prayers for our brother Dr Bishop and his two climber friends at Mt Cook,” one of the posts said.

“Thank God the weather has been good this morning and helicopter search was sent out 6:00am New Zealand time.

“[The] latest report from New Zealand police after the first round [is that the search] did not locate nor sight any movement in the specified search area.

“Please keep on praying for a successful search mission - both ground and aerial - today.” –ABC

Tongan activivist becomes first commoner PM

A TONGAN politician who has previously been jailed for his efforts to reduce the power of monarchy in the kingdom has become the country’s first commoner to be elected prime minister.

Akhilisi Pohiva defeated former deputy prime minister Samiu Vaipulu 15 to 11 in a secret ballot in the capital Nuku’alofa.

Mr Pohiva was instrumental in the push to reduce the powers of the king.

Local journalist Fatai Fainga’a said he appeared to be a popular choice.

“I can tell the majority of the public were very excited with the results,” she said.

“The result has been submitted to his majesty King Tupou VI and I do believe he was happy with it, despite that fact that Akilisi has a history of always opposing

the royal family.”

Mr Pohiva was first elected in 1987 and is the longest serving MP in the Tongan parliament.

He was jailed in 1996 for contempt of parliament and was charged with sedition in the wake of the 2006 pro-democracy riots in Nuku’alofa.

Mr Pohiva was one of only five people’s representatives to keep their seats at last month’s election, which saw 12 representatives and one noble dumped by voters.

Nine members of Tonga’s 26-seat parliament are chosen solely by the 33 mem-

bers of the country’s nobility. The other 17 seats are elected by the people and Mr Pohiva’s Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands controls nine of those seats.

Ms Fainga’a said Mr Pohiva used his first speech to appeal to the nobles to cooperate in further reforms.

“He also called on the noble representatives to parliament for more cooperation in order to move Tonga forward for more democratic government,” she said.

“This is a huge step forward for that democracyhim being prime minister.”

Last year, Mr Pohiva’s party attempted to push more political reforms including direct election of the prime minister and allowing the public to vote for the nine noble seats.

November’s election was only the second in which Tongan commoners have been able to elect the majority of MPs.

Prior to the election in 2010, the king held the power to appoint the cabinet.

Former prime minister Fred Sevele, who was also a commoner, was appointed by the king, but Mr Pohiva is the first elected to the role.–ABC

Libya and Vanuatu established diplomatic relations in 1986, with Libya offering to train local police and security forces with an eye on a resident mission.

Libya was also interested in New Caledonia, where its ideology had some attractions for locals dissatisfied with French rule, and Fiji, where it offered to replace British aid following the 1987 coup.

In Australia, Gaddafi had his supporters on both the far right and far left.

They included Victorian Labor figure Bill Hartley and indigenous activist Michael Mansell who in 1987 attended Gaddafi’s conference on peace and revolution in the Pacific.

Mr Mansell subsequently claimed Gaddafi’s support for a separate Aboriginal nation.

Australian, New Zealand and US officials all saw great potential for mischief-making, with Libya using Pacific outposts to channel cash and arms to anti-government rebels in New Caledonia, PNG and Indonesia.

Fijians most happy

A STUDY surveying people in 65 countries has found happiness is on the rise globally, with Fiji leading the way.

The research by polling organisation WIN/Gallup found 70 per cent of the 64,000 respondents were content with their life, a 10 per cent increase from last year. The group’s annual global end of year survey explores the outlook, expectations, views and beliefs of people across the globe.

This year, researchers asked a sample of people from each country.

AN AERIAL view of Mt Cook, New Zealand’s highest peak, where the three men went missing. Picture: AFP/ABC

The Pacific Ocean was named by Ferdinand Magellan. He called it mar pacific, which means peaceful sea, in 1521

Australia farewells 2014, welcomes 2015 with a bang

AUSTRALIA has celebrated the new year with millions of people flocking to fireworks displays around the country.

Organisers of Sydney’s spectacular event were expecting to break crowd records with more than 1.6 million people watching New Year’s Eve fireworks display on the city’s harbour.

The main event at midnight was a sea of colours with silver umbrellas with crackling centres and gold palms with tips.

The atmosphere across the city was described as electric. Earlier in the night, an eight-minute family fireworks display was launched from four barges in the harbour.

The Sydney fireworks cost more than $7 million.

The event was telecast around the world with more than a billion people watching the city welcome 2015.

Tens of thousands of people turned out to events in other capital cities across Australia.

In Melbourne, thousands of people watched early fireworks near the Melbourne Cricket Ground before the main midnight display. –ABC

Aquatic lights light up Qld

BRISBANE: Tens of thousands of Queenslanders have endured light showers and a sticky Brisbane evening to ring in 2015 with a spectacular fireworks display showcasing the city’s riverside skyline.

Around ten tonnes of fireworks were launched from three barges floating on the Brisbane River, producing more than 30,000 individual pyrotechnic effects.

Splashes of colour and light reflected across the water as a crowd which was expected to exceed 80,000 people admired the spectacle from the South Bank Parklands.

While largely celebratory, the mood was also reflective and at times sombre as an audio soundtrack revisited the destruction of November’s super cell storm in Brisbane and the passing of comedian Robin Williams.

Excerpts of US President Barack Obama’s lecture during the G20 summit and the Brisbane Roar’s A-League grand final win also reminded revellers of the high points of 2014.

“We like to think we set the bar very high,” the man in charge of the dynamic light show, Skylighter Fireworks Director Max Brunner said.

NATIONAL CAPITAL DISTRICT COMMISSION EXPRESSION OF INTEREST / TENDER

The National Capital District Commission hereby invites EOI / tenders for the following:

1 Flyover on Waigani Drive from Freeway to the City Hall dropping at Wards Road, Cameron Road and Sir John Guise Drive – The Commission in partnership with the GoPNG plans to construct a flyover on the above to prepare the city for the APEC. We invite bids under the following options:

a. Design and Construct – Contractors who have the ability to deliver the flyover on design and construct basis can apply under this option.

b. Design – Designers who have prior experience in designing flyovers can apply for the design, document and cost the design.

c. Early Contractors Involvement (ECI) – Contractors who wish to apply under ECI basis can also submit their bids.

2 Project Management Services

Bids are invited from established and reputed Engineering firms who have experience in managing Bank financed infrastructure projects to manage the following projects:

1 D & C of 9 Mile to 17 Mile and 9 Mile to Laloki Bridge Roads

2 D & C of 6 Mile to Bautama Road

3 Construction of Magani Cres

4 Construction of 9 Mile to Bootless Bay Road

5 D & C of Ela Beach Road and redevelopment of Ela Beach

All completed EOI’s/ tenders must be placed in a sealed envelope and dropped off at Tender Box located at 2nd floor of City Hall and must be addressed to:-

The City Manager

National Capital District Commssion

P O Box 7270, BOROKO

National Capital District

Only genuine interested bidders are asked to call Mr. Ravu Frank on phone 325 1166; email rfrank@ncdc.gov.pg or Mr Augustine Ravi on augusravi@gmail.com for more information.

Closing date shall be 30 January 2015.

Authorised by:

LESLIE ALU City Manager

Sydney’s heart beats on New Year’s eve

SYDNEY: A gigantic beating blue heart encased in a lightbulb throbbed on Sydney’s Harbour Bridge as the city welcomed in the new year.

The blue and red symbol was unveiled as the centrepiece of the worldfamous New Year’s Eve fireworks spectacular as the city erupted in celebrations in its final goodbye to the year that was.

Revellers hugged, kissed, clapped and cheered as Sydney showed off what it does best.

Bursts of red, white and yellow set the Harbour Bridge and Opera House on fire before dandelions of blue, green and pink exploded over the city.

For more than 10 minutes the crowed stopped and marvelled as the harbour was enveloped in a cornucopia of colour, with the bridge once again stealing the limelight.

A bright golden waterfall cascaded downwards as yellow, pink and white fireworks shot from its arc, as the show reached its crescendo.

Leanne Clare from Lincolnshire in the UK said the extravaganza was well worth the wait.

“Absolutely amazing. Phenomenal, so much better than I expected. They were out of it this world.”

Tasha Whitehead, from the UK said she was looking forward to the year to come.

“I want to get fit,” she said.

“I say it pretty much every year ... Being surrounded by fit people here also really makes me want to try harder!”

It came after the city was spoilt with two opening acts, including the family friendly 9pm show where two bright blue seahorses lit up the bridge.

As the clocked ticked over in Melbourne, more than half a million people watched as fireworks shot from the rooftops of 21 city buildings, covering six square kilometres.

More than 7.5 tonnes were fired, including the new “ghost shell” crackers making their Australian debut.

“We came for the atmosphere and it’s beyond my expectations,” Val Doukas said.

In Brisbane, the city’s skyline exploded in an extravaganza of light and colour as an estimated 80,000 people packed into the river’s South Bank parklands for the main event.

Throughout the night, unique aquatic pyrotechnics shot from the barges before dipping under the water and into the sky.

Meanwhile on the famous Surfers Paradise foreshore at the Gold Coast, more than 10 tonnes of fireworks were let off from a barge just off the coast.

The nation’s capital started its eve celebrations at the city centre, where Perth band Eskimo Joe joined local acts for a free concert from 7pm and people gathered for Bass in the Place dance party in nearby Garema Place at 9pm.

Meanwhile, the Gold Coast started the new year with a bang as thousands of revellers ran in 2015 on the city’s famed Surfers Paradise foreshore despite a slight shower.

Fireworks light up the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the annual fireworks display. Picture: Reuters

North Korea open to fresh talks

NORTH Korean leader

Kim Jong-Un has used his new year message to call for improved inter-Korean relations saying he is open to the “highest-level” talks with South Korea.

Yonhap news agency reported Mr Kim made the statement in what appeared to be a pre-recorded address broadcast on state media.

“We should write a new history in the North-South ties,” he said.

“If South Korean authorities sincerely want to improve relations between North and South Korea through talks, we can resume stalled high-level meetings.

Thirty-five die as fake money reports result in stampede

THIRTY-FIVE people have been killed in a New Year’s Eve stampede in Shanghai, with reports the crush was triggered when people rushed to pick up fake money thrown from a building.

The Shanghai government said that large crowds started to stampede in Chen Yi Square on the Bund just before midnight.

Dozens of others were reportedly injured and the government said they were being treated in three local hospitals including Shanghai General Hospital. It was not immediately clear what triggered the stampede, but state media and a witness said the incident was caused when people tried picking up fake money thrown from a building.

A man who brought one of the injured to a local hospital for treatment said fake money had been thrown down from a bar above the

street as a New Year’s celebration. He said people rushed to pick up the money, triggering the stampede.

Another witness, Cui Tingting, said she had picked up some of the bank notes but had thrown them away when she realised they were fake.

“It’s too cruel,” she said.

“People in front of us had already fallen to the floor, and others were stepping all over them.”

A third witness, who gave his family name as Wei, said there also had been a problem away from the area where the fake bills were thrown, with people trying to get onto a raised platform overlooking the river.

The Shanghai government said on its Weibo account that an inquiry had begun.

The official Xinhua news service reported the stampede began at 11:35pm (local time).

Photos posted on social media showed people receiv-

ing first aid on the road and large numbers of police cordoning off the area.

In some photographs, rescue workers were seen trying to resuscitate victims lying on the pavement while ambulances waited nearby.

A photo on the website of the Shanghai Daily newspaper showed what appeared to be dead and injured people lying on the ground with crowds still in the background.

Another photo on social media appeared to show people being crushed to death as a crowd pressed against a barrier.

Images from earlier in the night showed densely packed crowds of revellers along the Bund, a famed tourist areas that runs along the bank of the Huangpu River.

Dozens of distraught relatives gathered in the hospital lobby waiting for news, with some expressing frustration over a lack of infor-

mation.

“Many relatives have asked to go inside and asked the hospital to give us a list of the injured, including the conscious and unconscious ones who are being treated in there, but nobody got back to us,” said a relative who gave her family name as Fan.

“Six hours have passed, but we still don’t have any information.”

The official Xinhua news agency said many of the injured were students.

President Xi Jinping has told the Shanghai government to get to the bottom of the incident as soon as possible and learn the lessons, and ordered governments across the country to ensure a similar disaster cannot happen again, state television said.

The Bund is the former financial district of China’s commercial hub and now a popular tourist destination, packed with high-end

restaurants and expensive boutiques.

The site for last night’s celebrations, including the countdown to midnight, was moved to a new location specifically out of concerns about over-crowding, after nearly 300,000 people turned out last year, the Shanghai Daily newspaper said on its website.

Most large gatherings in China are carefully controlled by authorities but the country has seen other incidents in which overcrowding has caused panic and deaths.

Last year, 14 people – some of them children – were killed and 10 injured in a stampede that broke out as food was being distributed at a mosque in China’s Ningxia region.

Also last year, six students were killed in a stampede at a primary school in Kunming city in the south-west after the accidental blocking of a stairway corridor. –ABC

Floods, storm kill dozens in Asian countries

MALAYSIA, southern Thailand and parts of the Philippines have been battered by heavy rain and flash floods in recent days, killing dozens of people.

Malaysia’s worst flooding in a decade forced nearly a quarter of a million people from their homes, authorities said, with the government coming under renewed fire for its perceived slow response.

The National Security Council said that “exceptionally high” water levels had cut off rescuers from relief centres, as the death toll rose to 21 across the northeast.

Most criticism was directed at prime minister Najib Razak for his absence as the disaster unfolded, after being

bottom line

photographed

with US president Barack Obama in Hawaii.

“No matter how prepared we are, there will always be a bigger and more devastating disaster that tests the capability and resources of the country,” the council said in a statement.

Opposition MP Tony Pua denounced the government’s reluctance to declare a state of emergency and what he described as a “complete lack of urgency” in calling a council meeting.

“We are running a headless government with no urgent, cohesive and proactive response to the arising chaos,” he said.

Meanwhile, 15 people have been killed in neighbouring

Thailand, where five southern provinces - Narathiwat, Yala, Pattani, Phatthalung and Songkhla - were still flooded.

Nearly 10,000 people have been evacuated.

Philippines disaster management officials reported more than 20 people were killed in the onslaught of storm Jangmi over the central and southern Philippines.

But local officials on the ground said the number of dead was close to 40 people, with at least 10 others missing.

Fifteen people died in a landslide in the central Samar province, while a family of 10 was swept away by floodwaters in nearby Cebu province.– Reuters/ABC

“If the atmosphere and environment is there, there is no reason not to hold a high-level summit [with South Korea].”

The message came days after Ryoo Kihl-Jae, the South’s unification minister in charge of inter-Korean affairs, offered to hold high-level talks with North Korea in January.

The last round of formal top-level talks was held in February 2014 and resulted in the North hosting a rare union of relatives separated by the conflict.

The two Koreas had earlier agreed to restart dialogue when a top-ranking North Korean delegation made a surprise visit to the Asian Games held in the South in October.

The unusual trip raised hopes of a thaw, but was followed by a series of minor military clashes along the border that renewed tensions and talks never materialised.

Ties were strained further when the North angrily slammed the South for allowing its activists to send anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border via hot air balloons.

Seoul rejected Pyongyang’s demand to ban such exercises, saying there were no legal grounds to stop free activities by citizens. –ABC

Aust spared more drugs

CHINESE authorities have detained 15 South Koreans for alleged drug-smuggling as they were about to board a plane to Australia.

The Xinhua news agency said suspects were caught on Sunday with about 33 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine - also known as ice - at Baiyun airport in the southern city of Guangzhou while trying to board a flight to Melbourne.

Chinese authorities have recently launched a highprofile crackdown on drug use, detaining a number of celebrities including the son of kung fu superstar Jackie Chan.

all continents in the world are united in one land mass, it still cannot beat the

playing golf

THE scene of the stampede in Shanghai. Picture: ABC/weibo.com

A ROAD damaged by flooding at Kuala Krai in Kelantan, Malaysia. Picture: Reuters/ABC

Rocket kills 15 in Afghan wedding

AT LEAST 15 people have been killed in Afghanistan when a wedding party was hit by a stray rocket, officials say.

More than 40 others were wounded, including women and children, when the rocket struck a house being used to host the wedding in the southern province of Helmand.

The owner said guests were gathering outside to welcome the bride, adding nine of his own children were missing.

The injured were taken to hospital in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capi-

Man gets 13 years for eating 3 tigers

A CHINESE businessman who bought and ate three tigers has been sentenced to 13 years in prison.

During the trial, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported the wealthy real estate developer, identified only by his surname Xu, had “a special hobby of grilling tiger bones, boning tiger paws, storing tiger penis, eating tiger meat and drinking tiger blood alcohol”.

Xu organised three separate trips last year for a total of 15 people, including himself, to Leizhou in the southern province of Guangdong, where they bought tigers for a “huge amount of money” that were killed and dismembered as they watched, the government-run news portal gxnews.com.cn reported.

One of the party filmed the entire process of a tiger slaughter on his mobile phone.

That footage was later obtained by police.

Police also seized eight pieces of animal meat and bones from a refrigerator in Xu’s home, some of which were later identified as tiger parts, the report said, adding that 16 geckos and a cobra were also found.

Earlier this year a court in Guangxi convicted the group of 15 of “illegally transporting precious and endangered wild animal products”, but the conviction was not reported at the time.

Xu was sentenced to 13 years in prison and fined 1.55 million yuan ($305,771). The others were jailed for terms ranging five and six-and-ahalf years and given smaller fines.

The group appealed and a higher court upheld the ruling on Monday, the report said.

Tiger bones have long been an ingredient of traditional Chinese medicine, supposedly for a capacity to strengthen the human body, and while they have been removed from its official ingredient list, the belief persists among some.

It is a long-held belief across parts of Asia that penises of animals such as tigers and seals can boost men’s sexual performance.

However, there is no orthodox scientific evidence for such claims.

Decades of trafficking and habitat destruction have slashed the tiger population from 100,000 a century ago to approximately 3,000, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of threatened species, where the tiger is classed as endangered.

Girl held for drawing

tal.The incident happened on Wednesday during fierce fighting between Afghan soldiers and Taliban militants

It was the last day of the United States and Nato combat missions in Afghanistan.

From 1 January the alliance’s role will shift to a mainly training and support mission for the Afghan army.

Nato’s Afghan deployment began after the 9/11 attacks against the US in 2001.

But more than a decade after this long and expen-

sive mission began, the Taliban are still active and gaining in strength, launching a number of attacks in recent months.

The year 2014 has been the bloodiest in Afghanistan since 2001, with at least 4,600 members of the Afghan security forces dying in the fight against the Taliban - underscoring the challenges that lie ahead of the Afghan security forces.

Nearly 3,500 foreign troops have been killed since the beginning of the Nato mission. –BBC

CMCA Communities and Mine Villages Leaders

C/o P. O. Box 282

TABUBIL, Western Province, PNG

Media Statement

CMCA Communities look forward to working with Western Province Governor

Honourable Ati Wobiro

We, the Community Mine Continuation Agreement (CMCA) communities of Western Province would like to apologise to Western Province Governor Honourable Ati Wobiro for statements we made in the media on the 22nd of December 2014.

Our statements were made against Governor Wobiro who had made public his own views on how the 33 per cent Ok Tedi shares were to be distributed.

For this, we sincerely apologise. Our statements were made in good faith, were unintentional and were in no way made to discredit the good work and support the Governor had made to ensure the CMCA communities receive this shareholding.

We have written to our good Governor on the 23rd of December expressing our sincere apology and we look forward to working with him to reach a final decision on the shareholding distribution by the end of January 2015. On behalf of the 158 CMCA communities, we the leaders, Joel Dangkim representing the Mine villages, James Assan representing the North Fly villages, Richard Zumoi (Middle Fly) and Kameng Arawok (South Fly) acknowledge Governor Wobiro’s support through his separate discussions with Prime Minister Honourable Peter O’Neil which has resulted in the historical outcome.

The decision to give 33 percent shareholding in OTML to the Western Province is a landmark milestone for the country as this will now make the CMCA communities and the mine landowners direct shareholders of the mine and not just recipients of royalties and dividends.

As per the Prime Minister’s direction, the Fly River Provincial Government together with the CMCA communities and the mine villages will hold further talks on how the shareholding will be distributed.

We are adamant that with the continued support of Governor Wobiro, we all will be satisfied with the outcome. Signed for and on behalf of CMCA Communities and Mine Villages Leaders:

Joel Dangkim Mine Villages Representative Core Group Spokes Person

James Assan

North Fly Regional Representative Core Group Member

Richard Zumoi Middle Fly Regional Representative Core Group Spokes Person Kamen Arawok South Fly Regional Representative Core Group Member

Children were among the injured taken to hospital. Picture: AP/BBC

HONG Kong: A 14-year-old girl in Hong Kong could be removed from her father’s care after she was arrested for drawing chalk flowers on a wall at one of the city’s pro-democracy protest sites. The girl was arrested in the early hours of December 23 at a staircase leading to the Central Government Offices in the city’s Admiralty district and was detained by police for 17 hours.

Two bodies retrieved

TWO bodies retrieved from the AirAsia flight QZ8501 crash site have been flown to the Indonesian city of Surabaya for identification, as the recovery mission slows due to bad weather.

The remains were flown by a military plane and have been taken to a hospital nearly three days after the plane carrying 162 people plunged into the Java Sea.

AirAsia QZ8501: What we know so far

INDONESIAN officials have confirmed that flight AirAsia QZ8501, which disappeared on 28 December, crashed into the Java Sea off Borneo.

The airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore, was just over 40 minutes into its flight when contact was lost during bad weather.

Debris and bodies were spotted on the third day of the search, about 16km (10 miles) from the plane’s last known co-ordinates.

Flight QZ8501 took off from Surabaya at 05:35 local time on Sunday (22:35 GMT Saturday) with 162 people on board. The seven crew were made up of two pilots, four flight attendants and an engineer. There were 155 passengers, including 17 children and one infant.

Nearly all the passengers and crew were Indonesians, including six of the crewone of the pilots was French. There was also one passenger travelling on a UK passport. The low-cost carrier was on a two-hour flight to Singapore.

Flight QZ8501 vanished on Sunday about 40 minutes into its flight from Surabaya to Singapore. Officials have said debris and bodies from the plane are being scattered by strong currents and monsoon weather conditions.

Rescue planes and helicopters were grounded on Wednesday near the coast of the Indonesian island of Borneo after officials suspended aerial missions.

Heavy rain and low visibility has made it difficult to recover bodies from the downed Airbus A320-200. Senior air force official Dwi Putranto visited the search area and said “there was no way we could do a search”. “Now we are standing by in case remains can be evacuated,” he said. He said more than 100 divers and rescue workers were “ready to search”.

The search area was narrowed to 120 square nautical miles, and 22 ships continued to hunt for the remaining victims and for the plane’s black box, Mr Putranto said. Search and rescue official Sunarbowo Sandi said bodies and debris were being scattered in the ocean. “All the wreckage and bodies have drifted around 50 kilometres and we’re expecting all the bod-

ies will end up on the beaches around here,” Mr Sandi said. “That is why we are searching all the beaches, because the current is moving.”

Seven bodies have been pulled from the sea so far, including one wearing a life jacket, an official said.

“The clouds are very low in the target area,” Mr Sandi said. “Everyone is praying for more friendly weather.”

Bad weather hampers recovery of remains

BAD weather has hampered the search for wreckage, bodies and black boxes of doomed AirAsia flight QZ8501, which plunged into the water at the weekend carrying 162 people.

Waves of between two and three metres and winds complicated the search for the sunken remains of the plane, which vanished on Sunday about 40 minutes into its flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

Ships and planes resumed the search on Wednesday, but air force rescue coordinator SB Supriyadi told AFP rescuers were experiencing bad weather.

Searchers found four bodies on Wednesday, including a flight attendant still wearing her

AirAsia uniform, bringing the total to seven so far, said the head of the search and rescue agency, Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo.

Fully clothed bodies could indicate the plane was intact when it hit the water and support a theory that the Airbus A320-200 suffered an aerodynamic stall and plunged into the sea.

An official with the search and rescue agency, Tatang Zaenudin, said the fact that one body was found wearing a life jacket would appear to indicate those on board had at least some time before the aircraft hit the water, or after it hit the water and before it sank.

“This morning, we recovered a total of four bodies and one of them was wearing a life jacket,” he said.

A pilot who works for a Gulf carrier said the life jacket indicated the cause of the crash was not “catastrophic failure”. Instead, the plane could have stalled and then come down, possibly because its instruments iced up and gave the pilots inaccurate readings.

“There was time. It means the thing didn’t just fall out of the sky,” said the pilot, who declined to be identified.

He said it could take a minute for a plane to come down from 30,000 feet and the pilots could have experienced “tunnel vision ... too overloaded” to send a distress call.

“The first train of thought when you get into a situation like that is to fly the aircraft.” – ABC

MEMBERS of the Search and Rescue Agency carry debris, presumed to be from missing AirAsia flight QZ 8501, that was recovered from the sea. Picture: Reuters/ABC

Four injured in Malaysia flood relief helicopter crash

A POLICE helicopter carrying aid to displaced flood victims in north-eastern Malaysia has crashed, injuring four crew members, as flood waters continued to recede.

The accident occured in the badly hit Tanah Merah district in Kelantan state late Wednesday (local time),

as the helicopter was trying to deliver food packages to victims of the deluge, Kelantan police chief Mazlan Lazim said.

The injured helicopter crew were hospitalised following the accident, but one had already been discharged, he said.

“Despite the incident, we

are continuing to ferry aid via air because some roads are damaged,” Mr Mazlan said. At least 21 people have died in the worst flooding in decades, and more than 167,000 people were forced to abandon their homes. Roads have been washed away and bridges damaged, hampering the delivery

of aid. The region is regularly hit by flooding during the annual monsoon season, between November and March, but this year’s storms have been unusually powerful.

Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang states have been particularly hard hit. Floodwaters have started

to subside in many areas but authorities are bracing for possible disease outbreaks. “We anticipate that flood victims will come in masses seeking care once the floodwaters start to recede,” health ministry director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a Facebook post. – ABC

The pilot contacted air traffic control at 06:12 local time (23:12 GMT) to request permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather.

Officials said heavy air traffic in the area meant he was not given permission to do so straight away.

When air traffic control tried to contact the plane again there was no answer. The plane disappeared from radar screens shortly afterwards. It did not issue a distress signal.

AirAsia said the pilot had asked to climb to 38,000ft (11,000m) from 32,000ft, to avoid big storm clouds, which are a common occurrence in the area.

Indonesia’s weather agency says the storm clouds at the time rose to a height of 44,000 ft (13,000m), higher than commercial airliners in the region regularly fly.

The plane was in an area near the equator known for thunderstorms, where trade winds from the northern and southern hemispheres intersect.

Air France Flight 447, which crashed in the midAtlantic in June 2009 killing 228 people, was flying through similar conditions.

The AirAsia jet was reported to be the lowest-flying plane in the region at the time of its disappearance.

The search, led by the Indonesian military and the Indonesian search and rescue agency, has focused on an area of the Java Sea between Belitung island and Kalimantan, the plane’s last known position.

About 30 vessels, including three warships, and more than 20 aircraft, including helicopters, several P3 Orions and Hercules C-130s, are taking part. – BBC

INDONESIAN military personnel have flown two bodies recovered from AirAsia flight QZ8501 to Surabaya for identifi cation. Picture: AFP/ABC

US President Barack Obama said he was “optimistic” about the political transition process in Myanmar, also known as Burma, during a visit to the country - but added that “change is hard”. Mr Obama had met President Thein Sein as well as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whom he is seen with here.

Maryland spares four on death row

MARYLAND Governor Martin O’Malley has commuted the sentence of the state’s four remaining death row inmates to life in prison.

The state’s legislature ended the death penalty in 2012, making the highest sentence life in prison without parole.

Mr O’Malley said executing the remaining inmates “does not serve the public good of the people of Maryland”.

He added he had spoken to many of the relatives of those killed by the inmates before making the decision.

The state’s outgoing attorney general recently argued during an appeals hearing on one of the cases that it would be illegal for Maryland to carry out death sentences previously handed down because there is no law that allows capital punishment.

“The question at hand is whether any public good is served by allowing these essentially un-executable sentences to stand,” Mr O’Malley said.

Failing to act would “needlessly and callously subject survivors, and the people of Maryland, to the ordeal of an endless appeals process”.

Capital punishment in the US is at a 20-year low, with 35 people killed by

Activist arrests revive US-Cuba tension

THE United States has said it is deeply concerned about reports that several highprofile Cuban dissidents were detained on Tuesday.

Activists say police made the arrests hours ahead of a planned protest in Havana’s Revolution Square.

Organisers said the protest was aimed at testing the tolerance of Cuba’s communist government.

On 17 December, the US and Cuba announced they would normalise relations.

Despite the historic announcement, Washington said earlier today that it would “continue to press the Cuban government to uphold its international obligations”.

“We strongly condemn the Cuban government’s continued harassment and repeated use of arbitrary detention, at times with violence, to silence critics,” read the statement.

The crackdown was flagged up by Cuba’s best-known dis-

sident blogger, Yoani Sanchez, on Tuesday.

She posted on Twitter that her husband, Reinaldo Escobar, and another dissident, Eliecer Avila, had been detained.

Ms Sanchez, founder of opposition website Catorce y Medio, said she was briefly put under house arrest.

Mr Escobar, a senior editor at the website, was released after several hours in police custody. They had been supporting an “open microphone” protest organised by performance artist Tania Bruguera.

Ms Bruguera was also detained on Tuesday, hours before the unauthorised event at Havana’s Revolution Square.

She was briefly released earlier today, but rearrested after trying to hold a press conference in Havana’s seaside avenue, the Malecon, according to the AFP news agency.

Opposition activist Elizardo

Sanchez told AFP that 51 dissidents had been detained and that 15 remained in jail.

The arrests have not been confirmed by the Cuban authorities or reported by state media.

US-Cuban ties have been frozen since the early 1960s.

On 17 December President Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro, made simultaneous announcements stating that they planned to normalise relations.

President Obama said the “rigid and outdated policy” of isolating Cuba since then had clearly failed and that it was time for a new approach.

Mr Castro, meanwhile, urged the US to ends its trade embargo, which has been in place since the Cuba turned to communism more than 50 years ago. But the proposals to end the embargo still need to be approved by the US Congress, where they face strong opposition. -BBC news

execution across in the US in 2014, down from a high of 98 in 1999.

Of the seven states that performed executions, three of them - Missouri, Texas and Florida - are responsible for the vast majority of executions.

In some states, fewer prosecutors are seeking the death penalty during trial.

Many executions have been put on hold amid difficulties in obtaining lethal injection drugs and several botched executions.

Currently, 35 US states use lethal injection as the primary method of execution - this includes three states which have stopped handing down the death penalty but still have prisoners on death row

In some states a person sentenced to death may choose an alternative form of execution

Eight US states allow electrocution, three allow the gas chamber, another three allow hanging, two allow the firing squad

The last time an inmate was executed by a means other than lethal injection was in January 2013, when a 42-year-old man was electrocuted in Virginia -BBC news

New York queues to ring in 2015

NEW YORK, Dec 31 AFP - Hundreds of thousands of revellers have braved chilly temperatures and poured into New York’s Times Square for America’s annual New Year party that this year features Taylor Swift.

About a million people were expected to pack the famous square, known across the globe for its non-stop bustle, giant illuminated billboards and New Year tradition of dropping an enormous crystal ball down a pole.

MEDIA RELEASE

APOLOGY

The Na onal Airports Corpora on would like to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience, discomfort and distress experienced by our valued travellers, airport users, customers, partners and the general public due to the lack of air-condi oning at the Jacksons Interna onal Terminal. This is a result of the current upgrade and extension works at the Interna onal Terminal Building which is scheduled to be completed within the next six (6) months. However, the air-condi oning facili es will be opera onal within the next six (6) weeks.

The NAC seeks your understanding and pa ence as we work with the contractor to complete these works and ul mately improve the facili es for us all to use and enjoy.

People travelled from far and wide for the party, which includes a musical show and culminates with the crystal orb’s star turn.

The nearly 5400-kilogram ball, which features 32,000 LED lights and 2688 Waterford crystals, will slide down the pole on Wednesday to mark the final minute of 2014.

Almost 200 million Americans were expected to tune in for the moment.

Authorised by: JOSEPH TUPIRI Ac ng Managing Director Na onal Airports Corpora on

OBAMA MEETS MYANMAR LEADERS

World welcomes 2015

MILLIONS of people around the world are continuing to gather to welcome 2015 with fireworks and celebrations across major cities.

Samoa, which used to be among the last countries to see the new year, was one of the first to ring in 2015, after jumping the International Date Line three years ago.

Celebrations also took place across New Zealand and parts of the Pacific before Australia’s festivities.

In Auckland, a giant clock on the landmark Sky Tower counted down the minutes until midnight when a huge fireworks display was launched from the top of the tower.

January 1 also brought parties and fireworks to major cities across east Asia, despite the Lunar New Year being one of the most prominent holidays there.

In Tokyo, hundreds of balloons were released to usher in 2015.

Residents of Pyongyang were treated to a lavish display of fireworks at midnight as part of North Korea’s celebrations.

North Korea had its first grand New Year celebration in the capital three years ago, after Kim Jong-un came to power.

Since then, it has become an annual event.

However, in Indonesia, all celebrations in East Java province were cancelled, in the wake of the AirAsia plane crash.

It was also a solemn marking of the new year in war torn Syria, where activists lit candles next to photos of war victims in Salah al-Din neighbourhood of Aleppo. Dubai rang in the new year by setting a record for the largest display of fireworks.

The Guinness World Records said the display features 500,000 fireworks and was 10 months in the planning.

While the fireworks centred on the 830-metre Burj Khalifa skyscraper, the display spans the United Arab Emirates’ 94kilometre coastline.

Turkish revellers gathered in Istanbul’s Taksim Square to see fireworks launch from buildings after a night of concerts and entertainment.

Greece dissolves parlt for election

In the German capital, the eight-minute-long new year firework display, which were centred on the Brandenburg Gate and Victory Column, was viewed by an estimated 3.5 million.

Officials organised two hours of festivities counting down to midnight with entertainers as diverse as David Hasselhoff and the Russian State Ballet, who performed on stages along a 2-kilometre stretch in front of Brandenburg Gate.

The Arc de Triomphe in Paris was laden with fireworks and lasers and displayed goodwill messages in different languages.

Parisian authorities usually reserve fireworks for the Bastille Day in July, but have invested more money this year to attract people to the Champs-Elysees for new year.

London’s Big Ben chimed to signal the arrival of 2015 in the United Kingdom followed by fireworks being launched from the London Eye wheel and barges on the River Thames.

In Africa, Liberia lifted a curfew imposed to curb the spread of Ebola so that people could attend New Year’s Eve church services.

In South America, more than 1 million people turned out to Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro to watch the seaside fireworks display from several barges located just off the coast.

Cities across the United States also held their own celebrations once the clock struck midnight for their time zones.

About a million people packed New York’s Times Square to watch the nearly 5,400-kilogram ball, which features 32,000 LED lights and 2,688 Waterford crystals, slide down the pole to mark the final minute of 2014.

Several musical acts including Taylor Swift and singersongwriter Idina Menzel performed in a televised live show ahead of the 2015 countdown.

American Samoa will be among the last to farewell 2014, a full 25 hours after its close neighbour. -ABC news

ATHENS: Greece’s parliament has been dissolved ahead of an early election which will be watched warily by markets and international creditors concerned that the austerityweary country could starting unwinding unpopular fiscal reforms.

A statement from the chamber said the election would be held on January 25 - as announced on Monday by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras - and the new parliament would reconvene on February 5.

Samaras had warned on Tuesday that the financially-stricken nation may be forced out of the eurozone if the election is won by radical leftist party Syriza which has vowed to reverse years of austerity imposed in return for financial aid.

“This struggle will determine whether Greece stays in Europe,” Samaras told President Karolos Papoulias.

On Wednesday, Samaras warned again that Syriza planned “not to pay interest rates, and therefore to lead the country to a payment default and bankruptcy”.

Pope presides over New Year service

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis has presided over a solemn prayer service in St Peter’s Basilica on New Year’s Eve, using his homily to stress life’s fleetingness.

The spiritual leader said, “How we like to be surrounded by so many fireworks, seemingly beautiful, but which in reality last only a few minutes”.

As humans, he said, there is a “time to be born and a time to die” and New Year’s also is a time to reflect on our mortality, “the end of the path of life”.

Afterward, the 78-year-old pontiff, wearing a long white coat, a scarf and a thin skull cap, braved frigid air to admire the life-size Nativity scene in St Peter’s Square.

Hundreds rescued from abandoned ship in Greek waters

ALMOST 1,000 migrants have been rescued from a cargo ship found adrift in Greek waters, the Red Cross says.

The Blue Sky M, carrying 970 people, had been abandoned and left on autopilot by its crew, believed to be people traffickers.

Italian coastguards later brought it under control and safely docked it at the Italian port of Gallipoli.

The migrants, believed to be mainly Syrians and Kurds, have been taken to local schools and a gymnasium.

Thirty-five of them were taken to hospital, with some treated for hypothermia, Italian Red Cross

The bottom line

spokeswoman Mimma Antonacci said.

“They [the migrants] are now in all the schools around Gallipoli and they are recording now and trying to find out the names, but we’re talking about Syrians,” she added.

The Italian Red Cross had previously said that four people were found dead on the ship. It later withdrew its report, and officials now say no-one is known to have died on the ship, Reuters reports.

The passengers of the Blue Sky M cargo ship have a strange, terrifying story to tell. Hundreds of migrants paid thousands of dollars each to smug-

glers to get them to Europe.

Mohammed from Iraq was one of the passengers. “One week we sleep in the ship,” he said in broken English. “[We] don’t have clean water, don’t have food, don’t have doctor… women, children all sick.”

It would appear that the smugglers left the ship’s controls on autopilot and then abandoned ship - leaving the Blue Sky M to head towards the Italian coast.

The migrants inside the boat did not know what was going on.

“Inside the room,” continued Mohammed, “[We] don’t have any informa-

tion about life or death.”

The coastguard boarded the ship, disengaged the autopilot and steered it to port. In Gallipoli, the refugees are now being cared for in local schools.

“It’s an emergency, a real emergency,” says rescue volunteer Federica Palumbo.

Ambulance crews stood waiting as the ship docked in the early hours of New Year’s Eve.

A local eyewitness in Gallipoli, Gilberto Busti, told the BBC World Service he had seen hundreds of people - who he thought could be Syrian and Kurdish refugees - disembarking from the vessel.

People cheer in front of the Colosseum in Rome, Italy, as fireworks explode to celebrate the new year. Picture: ABC/AFP

THE Blue Sky M was spotted floating adrift near the coast of Corfu on Tuesday. Picture: BBC

New Year is normally the time for most to resolve for change.

Scientists: Hollow tree could be source of Ebola

SCIENTISTS say insect-eating bats which inhabited a hollow tree in a remote village in Guinea may have been the source of the world’s biggest Ebola epidemic.

More than 20,000 cases of Ebola, with at least 7,800 deaths, have been recorded by the World Health Organisation (WHO) since a two-year-old boy died in the village of Meliandou in December 2013.

Reporting in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine, scientists led by Fabian Leendertz at Berlin’s Robert Koch Institute delved into the circumstances surrounding this first fatality.

The finger of suspicion points at insectivorous free-tailed bats - Mops condylurus in Latin - living in a hollow tree 50 metres from the boy’s home.

“The close proximity of a large colony of freetailed bats ... provided opportunity for infection.

“Children regularly caught and played with bats in this tree,” the team said after a four-week probe carried out in April.

The Ebola virus holes up in a natural haven, also called a reservoir, among wild animals which are not affected by it.

The virus can infect humans who come into contact with this source directly, or indirectly through contact with animals that have fallen sick from it.

Highly contagious, the virus is then passed among humans through contact with body fluids.

A known reservoir is the fruit bat (Epomophorus wahlbergi), a widespread tropical African species which in some countries is killed for food, offering an infection pathway to hunters and butchers of the mammal.

However, the role of fruit bats in the current outbreak has never been confirmed, the scientists said.

In contrast, free-tailed bats - a cousin specieshave been found in lab tests to be able to carry the virus but not fall sick with it.

That, too, would make them a “reservoir” but no evidence of this has ever been found in the wild.

The German team said evidence that this species helped unleash the present epidemic was strong, but not 100 per cent.

Local children not only played with the bats at the tree, they also hunted bats that roosted at village homes and grilled them for food, they found.

In addition, they saw no evidence of any local die-off among larger mammals, which would have been a secondary route of infection for humans.

On the other hand, no trace of Ebola virus was found in any of the bats the scientists captured and whose blood was analysed.

Court bans Jewish festival

A COURT in Egypt has banned an annual Jewish festival held in honour of a 19th Century Moroccan rabbi.

The Alexandria Administrative Court said its decision was due to “moral offences” committed in previous years.

Locals had reportedly complained about the consumption of alcohol and mingling of men and women at the tomb of Yaakov Abuhatzeira in the town of Damanhur. Jews, mostly from Israel and Morocco, have made pilgrimages there since Egypt’s 1979 peace deal with Israel. However, they were prevented by court orders in 2001 and 2004.

Abbas signs bid to join ICC

RAMALLAH: President Mahmud Abbas has signed a Palestinian request to join the International Criminal Court, seeking a new avenue for action against Israel after a failed UN resolution on ending the occupation. Abbas signed the request along with applications to join 20 other international conventions during a meeting broadcast live on Palestinian television.

The Palestinians hope ICC membership will pave the way for war crimes prosecutions against Israeli officials for their actions in the occupied territories.

The Hague-based ICC can prosecute individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and Palestinian plans to become a party to the court have been strongly opposed by Israel and the United States. Israel warned that joining the court would also expose the Palestinians to prosecution.

The applications came one day after the UN Security Council rejected a resolution on ending the Israeli occupation.

Egypt court orders retrial for Al-Jazeera journos

EGYPT’S top court has ordered a retrial of three al-Jazeera journalists jailed for spreading false news.

The decision was made after the hearing in Cairo of an appeal by the three, Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, against their conviction.

Prosecutors acknowledged major problems with the verdict, defence lawyers said. A new trial will occur within a month but the trio must stay in custody.

The journalists deny collaborating with the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

They say they were simply reporting the news.

They were accused of aiding the banned organi-

sation after the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi by the military in 2013.

Two of them are foreign nationals - Peter Greste, a former BBC correspondent, is Australian, and his producer colleague Mohammed Fahmy holds Egyptian and Canadian citizenship.

The three journalists have now spent a year in jail since they were first arrested in December 2013.

They were convicted in June - with Fahmy and Greste jailed for seven years and Mohamed for 10 years.

Judges have ruled that they should remain in custody until the new trial.

Thursday’s court ses-

sion began at 09:00 local time (07:00 GMT) and lasted just 30 minutes. None of the defendants were present.

Reacting to the hearing, Greste’s mother Lois said the decision was “not as good as we hoped”.

Fahmy’s brother Adel said he had “hoped for more” - that his brother would be freed, at least on bail.

The BBC’s Orla Guerin in Cairo says that the case has been hugely damaging for Egypt and there are strong indications that the authorities want to bring it to a close.

A recent thaw in relations between Egypt and Qatar - which owns the TV channel - has heightened expectations, our correspondent says, and

there is a growing belief here that the journalists will eventually be freed even if the time frame is uncertain.

In December al-Jazeera decided to suspend its Egyptian channel, Mubasher Misr (Live Egypt), whose coverage had become a major source of tension between the two countries.

Analysts speculated that the channel’s suspension might ease the way for Egypt to free the three journalists in line with a recently-approved law that allows foreign citizens to be deported rather than jailed.

President Sisi has said in the past he wished the journalists had been deported rather than being put on trial.

THE three journalists were jailed in June. Picture: BBC

The burnt hollow in a tree housing a colony of insectivorous freetailed bats, near the village of Meliandou, Guinea, where the Ebola epidemic is believed to have originated, date unknown. Picture: ABC

crossword: 10817

Complete the grid so that every row, column and 2x3 box contains every digit from 1 to 6 inclusive

Solution to puzzle SL0821

stars

March 20 - April 19

Somebody is playing a game with you. They’re overwhelming you with logic in the hope they’ll get their way. Don’t be afraid to question their facts, and to demand details. While these may be correct, you aren’t necessarily being told everything. Do a little digging and you’ll find out.

April 20 - May 19

Time with those you care about and whose company you enjoy isn’t just a pleasure, it’s given you a boost after recent rather disillusioning situations. And don’t be shy about letting others know how much they mean to you. It will enrich the relationship and bring you even closer.

May 21 - June 20

This is one of those strange periods during which plans that go wrong can, with a little inventiveness, be turned into something brilliant and, equally, misunderstandings can lead to worthwhile discussions. In every case, it’s about overcoming disappointment or disillusionment and sticking with it. Doing that will change everything.

June 21 - July 21

Sooner or later you’ll have to confront somebody about an issue that’s remained unresolved for far too long. Once you understand that they actually want it that way, everything else will make sense. Their silence not only ensures you’re uneasy, it’s this particular individual’s way of controlling others, including you.

July 22 - August 22

For ages you’ve managed to avoid making changes in certain habits, in your daily routine or working life. Now that events are forcing you to do exactly this, you’re not happy about it. Yet the actual circumstances in question have changed, which makes keeping things as they have been completely unrealistic.

August 23 - September 22

You rightly pride yourself on your capacity to think clearly about even complex situations. Equally, should there be a need to discuss these, you put the facts in order and talk matters through. Situations of an emotional nature, however, are far more challenging. Still, these need to be discussed. And soon.

September 23 - October 22

Every once in a while you find yourself dealing with somebody who isn’t just difficult, they simply refuse to discuss potential changes. Even if sticking with the familiar will badly inconvenience or, possibly, cost others. Explain why it’s important, then back off. Soon events will force them to face the facts.

October 23 - November 22

What now seem setbacks are actually designed to encourage a review of arrangements that are familiar but also restrictive. While the obvious thing to do would be battle to proceed as planned, you’re better off doing nothing, at least for a week or so. Soon you’ll spot new, and rather exciting, options.

November 23 - December 22

Admitting you no longer have sole control of certain everyday matters may be difficult. But doing so is the first step to acknowledging it to others and, next, to discussing alternatives. The actual process of exchanging ideas will both boost your spirits and lead to worthwhile, and creative, solutions.

December 21 - January 19

Knowing that your ruler Saturn has just moved into the most strategic portion of your chart is one thing. Profiting from it is another matter entirely. Understanding its influence in this new position is bound to take time. But it will, in itself, be informative and constitute that essential first step.

January 20 - February 17

If the ideas others are so enthusiastic about just don’t make sense to you, that’s no surprise. You’re in a period that’s about disentangling yourself from the past. For now, focus on that. Then when the Sun moves into your sign, on the 20th, you’ll be ready to explore ideas regarding your future.

February 18 - March 19

During times of far-reaching change, it’s usually easier to reorganise things all at once. But as has become clear, this isn’t about a single plan being reorganised but, rather, something that will unfold over time. Knowing that, regard everything you do now as but one step in the process.

JOIN OUR TEAM AND HELP FIGHT MALARIA

POSITIONS VACANT: PROJECT STAFF (FIELD BASED)

Client: Positions:

Reference:

CLosing:

Contact: Telephone:

Email:

Rotarians Against Malaria

Project Supervisors Under 5’s Campaign

Project Officers Under 5’s Campaign

R15PSU5

R15POU5

15 January 2015

Mark Seddon 323 6790 recruit@nla.com.pg

Overview

Essential Qualifications Experience and Skills

Minimum Grade 12 Certification

Past Experience working on field based programmes

Must have outstanding leadership, coordination and communications skills

Must be self motivated and able to use their initiative to achieve goals

Must be able to work under pressure and in remote rural environments

Must be computer literate (MS Word and Excel)

Preferred Qualifications and Skills

Tertiary Qualifications and Certifications

Previous Experience with Donor Funded Development Programme

Previous Experience with Funds Management and Acquittals

Prior Experience working in Rural Areas

Prior Experience working working with Government Agencies to successfully deliver a programme

Prior Experience with SIAs (Suppliementary Immunisation Activities)

Additional Information

A competitive salary will be offered to the successful applicants. The position is based in Port Moresby and does not qualify for an accommodation allowance

For more information please see the contact information listed above.

APPLICATION FORMS CAN BE COLLECTED FROM ROTARIANS AGAINST MALARIA, UNIT 5 KENMORE TRADE CENTRE, WAIGANI, NCD.

BIRTHDAY GREETINGS

HAPPY 2ND & 39TH BIRTHDAY JOANA & ELIAS NAMILA 10Q GOD 4 DAUGTER & FATHER WISHES 4RM FAMILY & FRIENDS IN HAGEN,FINSCHAFEN,SIASI & DOI ISLAND

SPECIAL ONE FROM THE YASLING’S @ HAGEN

Monitoring and Evaluation Adviser

Job Description

HK Logistics has been appointed as the Managing Contractor to deliver the Health and Education Procurement Facility (HEPF) in Papua New Guinea.

The Health and Education Procurement Facility (HEPF) is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). HEPF has been commissioned to implement a large infrastructure and equipment program (approx. $AUD 245M) designed to strengthen the PNG health and education sectors.

As the Monitoring and Evaluation Adviser you will: for HEPF that articulates and integrates the monitoring and evaluation requirements of the project, and measures Service Order objectives, outputs and outcomes.

quality strategy, PNG Education Outcomes and DFAT’s minimum quality standards. (ARF) at the C4 level. encourage suitably qualified women to apply.

The Role

The role of Monitoring and Evaluation Adviser will involve:

with relevant management staff to ensure that lessons learned inform effective decisionreports as requested.

Leader.

DFAT core team.

Essential Qualifications & Experience methods in an international development context.

Theory of Change and Program Logic) that is suitable for use in an evolving and dynamic Procurement Facility model of program delivery. databases.

administrative levels in a cross cutting setting.

Organisation Description

HK Logistics has over 26 years experience in Project Management, Capacity Building, Humanitarian Emergency Response, Supply Chain Management, Procurement services, Logistics and

To Apply- Applications close 19 January 2015

DIRECT ENTRY PILOTS

Air Niugini operates a fleet of Boeing B767, B737, Fokker 100 series, Bombardier Q400 and Dash 8 aircraft throughout Papua New Guinea with services to Australia and South East Asia. Employing over 2300 staff this position reflects the Airline's commitment to technical excellence, passenger safety and service excellence.

We seek to recruit suitably qualified pilots to operate as First Officers and Captains on our Dash 8 Classic, Q400, F100, B737 and B767 Fleets.

The successful applicant is guaranteed continuous training and development opportunities to ensure compliance to Civil Aviation Rules and to also ensure maximum personal development and job satisfaction as a commercial pilot. If you are interested in working for an airline that is committed to providing a safe, efficient and profitable airline services, then you are encouraged to apply.

KEY DUTIES

Your primary responsibility will be to operate the Aircraft in accordance with the PNG CAA regulations and the company’s instructions and procedures.

QUALIFICATIONS and WORK EXPERIENCE

To be considered for the position you will need to have a demonstrated track record in operations on same aircraft type, or similar with multi crew experience. You must have an Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL) or equivalent acceptable to the Civil Aviation Authority. In addition you shall have 3,500 hours Aeronautical Experience with 2,500 hours on fixed wing aircraft which includes a minimum of 1000 hours of Command flight time on Multi Engine Aircraft and 100 hours Aeronautical Experience at night.

KEY QUALITIES

Applicants should be self motivated and possess the discipline and teamwork skills required in a modern multi crew environment.

The positions offered will be based Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea with option for domicile at a port of the employees own choosing. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea which has facilities for water sports, diving, tennis, golf, restaurants, and family clubs with access to Australian curriculum international primary and secondary schools. Port Moresby is ideally located allowing easy accessibility to all parts of the world via Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Manila and Japan.

A competitive salary package will be provided to attract the right candidate. For enquiries you may contact :- Air Niugini

Human Resources Department

P O Box 7186

BOROKO, NCD

Papua New Guinea

Phone: [675] 327 3289

Fax [675] 327 3416

Email: staufa@airniugini.com.pg

ThePortMoresbyGeneralHospital

Nurses&MidwivesRequired

LongTermCareerOpportunitiesatPortMoresbyGeneralHospital

Port Moresby General Hospital is still interested in recruiting Registered Nurses such as Midwives, Paediatric, Acute Care qualification for long-term rewarding careers in the Health Sector.The Hospital has gone through, and is continuing to go through, major changes with ward refurbishments and re-equipping.

Port Moresby General Hospital is the largest Health entity in the country as well being a Teaching and Level 7 hospital. If you are interested in pursuing long term career options at Port Moresby Hospital to be successful you will need to have the following attributes:

Requirements for general Nurses will include:

Registration with the Nursing Council of Papua New Guinea.

Sound Knowledge of General Practice Nursing Standards. Excellent Communication Skills (Written/Oral).

Requirements for the Midwife will be:

Registration with the Nursing Council of Papua New Guinea. Attendance of a midwifery program.

Port Moresby General Hospital offers a competitive salary and accommodation is available for single nurses. Entitlements vary dependent on the level of experience of the applicant. There is a professional working environment and culture in rewarding and challenging work positions. Team work is of vital importance.

Successful applicants will gain experience in a broad range of clinical settings. Education and training opportunities are available in specialty areas. The hospital also offers flexible work and leave arrangements and opportunities for career advancement.The successful candidates will be making a contribution to the development of the health of the nation in PNG’s largest health entity If you have the right skills and experience for either of these roles please submit a resume to kenneth_wangoro@pomgen.gov.pg.

Provincial and Local-level Governments Program Development Opportunities

• Full time to 1 December 2015

• Based in Port Moresby

The Program

The PNG Provincial and Local-level Governments Program (PLGP) is a partnership between the governments of Australia and PNG to support and improve the quality of decentralized service delivery to the people of PNG through technical support provided to provincial governments and key national agencies. In line with the change in strategic directives from both the Government of Papua New Guinea and the Government of Australia, the program was recently repositioned to provide a ‘Whole of Government’ support approach, focused primarily on public financial management.

We are looking for a new generation of development practitioners who are able to act as a broker and build productive coalitions with Government stakeholders. You will be able to support stakeholders in the identification of, and engagement in, critical issues and road blocks to service delivery. You should have the ability to facilitate stakeholder meetings around shared issues and develop consensus through your influencing skills. We are looking for people who can encourage and help facilitate a collaborative approach to the development of ‘solutions’ and who can help transition ‘solutions’ into projects.

Sub National Service Delivery Adviser – COFF 4690

The Sub National Service Delivery Adviser will assist targeted provinces to understand the key processes for coordination and implementation in order to facilitate ethical, effective and efficient service delivery. The Sub National Service Delivery Adviser position is designed to promote and encourage communication and cooperation between the provincial administration and local politicians to better facilitate service delivery outcomes aligned to provincial plans and government policy.

The ideal candidate will have relevant tertiary qualifications in Social Sciences, Public Policy, Management or similar. Together with extensive public sector experience in senior management you will also demonstrate a sound understanding of the PNG decentralised systems of government and the relevant technical skills and experience in strengthening sub national governance in an international development context. Significant experience in strategic, public sector and/or economic management in a developing country context is vital to the success of this role.

Budget and Finance Adviser – COFF 4689

The Budget and Finance Adviser will be predominantly based within the targeted province to engage with the Provincial and District Administration and political and non-government stakeholders to provide operational support for planning and budgeting, coordination and management, monitoring and reporting and evaluation and feedback.

The ideal candidate will have relevant tertiary qualifications in Financial Management, Commerce, or similar. Together with extensive public sector financial experience, you will also demonstrate a strong understanding of the PNG decentralised systems of government and display the relevant technical skills and experience in strengthening sub national governance in an international development context. These positions are reserved for Nationals of Papua New Guinea. The ARF will not apply.

How to Apply

Please visit www.coffey.com/en/careers for a detailed position description and to apply on line. Please search the relevant reference number. Further enquiries can be directed to internationaldevelopment@coffey.com PLGP promotes gender equality and social inclusion within the workplace. Women are strongly encouraged to apply.

Applications close at 5pm on Sunday 4 January 2015.

OUTAGE NOTICE TO GOROKA CONSUMERS

PNG Power advises consumers that it will carry out power interruptions to allow workmen to do urgent maintenance work on;

PLANNED INTERRUPTION

Date: THURSDAY JANUARY 11

Time: 9:00am - 4:00pm.

Areas Affected: West Goroka, DOW, Goroka Base Hospital, Melanesian Institute, Kofi Ruts, Dog Street, Rotary Park and Emanuel Lodge

PNG Power regrets any inconvenience caused to consumers.

“TENDER” AS IS WHERE IS

“TENDER” AS IS WHERE IS

Used Company Generator Details

Used Company Fire Tube Boiler Details

1x_1000 kw(LMW)Fire Tube BoilerWetback Design HN 1500-10R

TENDER CLOSES: 09/01/15

For Inquiries and inspection

Contact Financial Controller on Phn: 472 5900

TENDER CLOSES: 09/01/15

For Inquiries and inspection

Contact Financial Controller on Phn: 472 5900

TENDER

GRADUATE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM 2015

Nambawan Super is the country’s premier Superannuation Fund and manages the funds for over 130,000 members from both the Public and Private Sectors.

We are developing our young people across Papua New Guinea to be the next generation of leaders as part of our vision to be the world class Superannuation Fund in Papua New Guinea.

The Central Supply and Tenders Board (CSTB) on behalf of the PNG Ports Corporation invites written sealed bids for the Expression of Interest (EoI).

CSTB 3236 AITAPE NEW WHARF, HYDROGRAPHIC SURVEY

CSTB 3237 AITAPE NEW WHARF, GEOTECHNICAL INVESTIGATION

CSTB 3238 AITAPE DESIGN AND BUILD OF WHARF STRUCTURE

Bid Security: Bids Less than PGK 1 million (not required) Bids exceeding PGK 1 million (K10,000.00) NOT REQUIRED Bids exceeding PGK10 million (K15,000.00)

Bid Security must be in the form of a Bank cheque or Bank Guarantee and bids submitted without the respective Bid Security will be rejected

Bid Validity: 90 days

Price of the Tender Document A non-refundable fee of K1,000.00 (CSTB 3236), K1,000.00 (CSTB 3237) and K1,000.00 (CSTB 3238) per set of tender documents in the form of Cash or Bank cheque payable to Central Supply & Tenders Board.

Bid Documents Available Central Supply & Tenders Board 1st Floor, Westpac Waigani Branch Building, Waigani drive

National Capital District.

Bid must be addressed to: The Chairman Central Supply & Tenders Board

P.O Box 6457

Boroko, National Capital District

1st Floor, Westpac Waigani Branch Building, Waigani drive

National Capital District

Bid Delivery Place Lodged in the “Tender Box” located at the Reception office at the Central Supply & Tenders Board Office, B Wing, Level 1, Waigani Westpac

Corporate Central Branch Building

Closing Time & Date Thursday 8th January 2015 at 10:00am

Contact Details Erue Jack (Mrs)

Contract Coordinator Central Supply & Tenders Board

1st Floor, Westpac Waigani Branch Building Waigani drive, National Capital District

Phone: (675) 3113777 Facsmille: (675) 3113778

Email: EJack@cstb.gov.pg

Instructions to Bidders

Interested Bidders must arrange with their Agent (s) or a Courier firm of their choice to pick up tender documents and similar arrangement must be done for the lodgement of their bid (s).

Bidders must clearly address the outer envelope containing their bid with the address as indicated above in the Bid Delivery Place and marked with the tender number, description of the project, closing date and time. The Central Supply & Tender Board will not be held liable for any mishandling.

Authorized by:

Philip Eludeme Chairman

Our Graduate Development Program provides this opportunity for aspiring graduates through professional coaching and mentoring programs, leadership development, on the job rotations, toast masters, and many exciting learning and development programs to achieve their career goals.

Our Graduate Development Program covers a 12 months career development opportunity where graduates are placed in respective Divisions of our business.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:

Graduates eligible to participate under the GDP must:

• be a Papua New Guinean , or hold PNG permanent residency status,

• be existing employees

• be currently in final year of study at the undergraduate level

• have scored a minimum GPA of 3.5 and above from his/her academic studies, or equivalent grading relevant to other universities, and

• eligible to graduate at a recognized university within PNG or overseas by the end of the year before intake

Graduates must be studying a degree level qualification that is not limited to:

• Banking and Finance

• Sales & Marketing

• Accounting

• Business Management

• Economics

• Information Technology

• Human Resources / Industrial Psychology

• Law, Arts and Science

Nambawan Super Limited is an equal opportunity employer and will select and recruit Graduates through a merit based approach.

To apply, please include your cover letter, current CV, your latest academic transcript and two written references with contactable referees. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

For those who are not contacted by 31st January 2015 for further screening process, please consider your application unsuccessful.

Forward your application with your resume to:

The Manager - Human Resources

Nambawan Super Limited PO Box 483

Port Moresby. NCD.

Fax: 321 4474

Email: recruitment@nambawansuper.com.pg

Applications Close 31st January, 2015

THE INFANT JESUS FRATENITY OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA

World No. 1 no problem for Sharapova

Kyrgios struck down by back injury

TENNIS

THE Australian Open preparations of Nick Kyrgios have suffered a blow with the rising tennis star forced to pull out of the Hopman Cup due to a back injury.

Kyrgios has been replaced at the mixed-teams event by West Australian Matt Ebden, who will team with Casey Dellacqua in a bid to break Australia’s 16-year title drought. Ebden and Dellacqua will be in action on Sunday night during Australia’s opening tie against Polish duo Agnieszka Radwanska and Jerzy Janowicz. AAP

Kallis injured, Thunders roar

CRICKET

JACQUES Kallis has overcome a hamstring injury to lead the Sydney Thunder to three for 179 in their Big Bash League clash with the Scorchers in Perth.

Kallis was on 25 when he tweaked his right hamstring while setting off for a run, but he battled on to finish with 70 off 49 balls.

Aiden Blizzard chipped in with 47 and Mike Hussey added an unbeaten 36 to set the Scorchers a challenging victory target. -AAP

Injured Kyrgios out of Hopman Cup

TENNIS

YOUNG Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios has been forced to withdraw from the Hopman Cup because of a back injury.

TENNIS

THE world No.1 crown doesn’t interest Maria Sharapova so much in 2015 as she focuses on starting the new year in style with a maiden Brisbane International title.

Sharapova jetted into Australia from Los Angeles on Thursday as the top-seed for the year-opening tournament which gives her a big opportunity to close the gap on long-time nemesis Serena Williams.

Williams, who toppled the Russian in last year’s Brisbane final, among 15 straight wins over her, has instead opted to play Hopman Cup in Perth and will forego defending the tournament’s 750 ranking points.

A Sharapova triumph will cut the margin to 685 and also boost her confidence leading into the Australian Open where she has more ranking points available after a fourthround finish last year.

But the five-time grand slam

champion said she was more interested playing to her potential than making it back to the top of the WTA rankings for the sixth time.

“I just want to focus on matches and competing well and being the best player out there,” the 27-year-old told reporters.

“I want to start the year well. It’s nice to come back to Brisbane.

It was my first time playing here last year.”

While favourite for the Ev-

onne Goolagong Cawley Trophy, Sharapova faces stiff opposition from a field that features four women in the top 10 and eight in the top 20, not to forget dangerous unseeded pair Sam Stosur and Victoria Azarenka.

Rounding out Brisbane’s top four seeds are crowd favourite Ana Ivanovic, Angelique Kerber and Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova who upset Sharapova last year at Melbourne Park.

“I think it’s one of the best

Potro withdraws from Brisbane event

TENNIS

THE Brisbane International has lost its second US Open champion in 48 hours with Juan Martin del Potro withdrawing from the yearopening tournament.

Del Potro followed world No.9 Marin Cilic (shoulder) on Thursday by pulling out of Brisbane due to a persistent left wrist injury.

The Argentine has been out of the game since undergoing surgery in March, but had targeted Brisbane as his return to the tour. While it’s a second hit to tourna-

ment organisers losing another big-name drawcard, it has opened the door for two more Australians to gain wildcards to the men’s draw.

Brisbane baseliner John Millman and James Duckworth were on Thursday granted wildcards that had been earmarked for compatriots Marinko Matosevic and Sam Groth.

With 2014 US Open champion Cilic and del Potro withdrawing, two spots opened up in the main draw that were filled by world No.75 Matosevic and 81st-ranked Groth - their rankings gaining them automatic qualification.

The quartet take the number of Aussie men in the tournament up to seven with defending champion Lleyton Hewitt, Bernard Tomic and rising wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis already booked in.

There are three Australians in the women’s draw, headed by local hope Sam Stosur.

The withdrawal of 2009 US Open champion Del Potro also leaves him in doubt for the Australian Open while he appears unlikely to mount a defence of the preceding Sydney International which he won last year. Argentine newspapers have reported. -AAP

tournaments, a tough field, it’s great preparation for all of us, I think that’s why so many of us love coming here,” Sharapova said.

German world No.9 Kerber also flew in on Thursday and set her 2015 sights on closing out tournaments after finishing as runner-up four times last year, including Sydney.

“I lost four finals last year so I hope I can win one final at least this year,” she said.

“That is my goal for sure.”

AAP

The teenager, who knocked out Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, will be replaced by Matthew Ebden.

Hopman Cup organisers tweeted late on New Year’s Eve Nick #Kyrgios has been forced to withdraw from #HopmanCup due to a back injury. We welcome WA’s own @MattEbden to replace him. Kyrgios tweeted he was gutted to miss out.

Injury-free for the first time since charging into the Wimbledon quarter-finals in July, Kyrgios was to have launched his 2015 campaign. -AAP

MARIA Sharapova holds her trophy during the award ceremony after defeating Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in the women’s single final of the 2014 China Open tennis tournament in Beijing in October. Picture: AFP/East News

Waghi Tumbe home ground to be opened

RUGBY LEAGUE

BY MIRIAM ZARRIGA

JIWAKA Province is set to see some exciting times ahead in 2015.

The Waghi Tumbe rugby league club is awaiting a response from the Digicel Cup committee for confirmation as to whether they will be a part of the 2015 season.

As a regulation of the committee, Waghi Tumbe has already received financial sup-

port of K250,000 from Jiwaka Governor William Tongamp to develop its home ground team in Minj Town.

With the launch of the home ground slated for January 10 2015, chairman of Waghi Tumbe Frank Goi is confident that the launch will entrench the seriousness of the province in having a team in the Digicel Cup competition.

“People of Jiwaka be ready, after 15 years, Waghi Tumbe is coming back, the Governor

is providing a lot of money to ensure there is a team in the Digicel Cup, because he wants to see rugby league take off in the province.”

“The first Governor’s Cup was successful and K204,000 was given by our Governor and the matches were played in Minj and Banz, and from the success we hope to emulate that success and host another great cup for the players, teams and supporters to enjoy the game of rugby

league,” Goi added.

Jiwaka Province is serious about rugby league and has 14 registered affiliated rugby league clubs in Jiwaka.

The clubs include Nondugl, Kerowil, Kondol, Banz, Fatima, Kimil, Konodopina, Jimi, Kambia, Minj, Kurumul, Banning, Anglimp, and Kandeng.

During the launching of the home gound, the first two matches will be played.

Start from humble beginnings

TABLE TENNIS

TABLE tennis, like weight lifting and cricket, were dominated by Hanuabada in the recent PNG Games in Lae, Morobe Province.

People of Jiwaka

FRANK GOI Jiwaka

TACKLING IT OUT!

THESE players were all for the competition and did not care about the midday heat and the harsh field conditions when they participated in the Governor’s Cup at the IPI Park, in Port Moresby this week. Picture: MARK TALIA.

This may be because the kids of Hanuabada are very creative to play using DIY equipment to start whatever sport they are interested in.

Some Hanuabada kids play table tennis on a make shift table, using a piece of timber as their net.

With growth in popularity, many such tables are found everywhere around the village.

All kids who won gold in the PNG Games this year started off playing on one of those.

Disability knows no boundaries

CRICKET

A-14-year-old, Emanuel Pune from Elevala was found playing a game of cricket in the Hanuabada Liklik Kriket Competition.

Being physically different does not stop this energetic young lad from playing a game, which he said he loves. His opponents and those watching the game may agree to say that his one hand batting technique is as good and powerful as those who use both hands.

He was seen smashing the ball for Elevala Australia Team against the KMC cricket team yesterday.

At a glance

CRICKET: Since its beginnings cricket was picked up naturally in the Motuan areas of Papua New Guinea, most recognisably the village of Hanuabada. This was also where the Liklik Kricket Competition was started in PNG. It may be for these reasons why more than half of the PNG national cricket team is from Hanuabada village.

Karate federation ends year on high note

KARATE

THE PNG Karate-Do Federation (PNGKF) summed up what appeared to be a good year for the sport.

In partnership with PNG Sports Foundation and PNG Games Council in delivering a successful Karate Competition in the 6th PNG Games in November 2014 followed up with a training camp in Port Moresby in December 2014.

During 2014 PNGKF hosted its 7th PNG Open Karate Titles and 25th National Karate Championships, and three

The

bottom line

training camps in Port Moresby. six of karate’s elite athletes participated in a four-day karate training seminar with the Ishinryu Karate Dojo in Wollongong, NSW, Australia in early March and whilst another eight attended a four day Kata and Kumite Training with head and Mentor coach Sensei Trevor Roberts at the Shotokan Karate Budokai Honbu at Camira, Queensland, Australia at the end of March 2014.

PNGKF also sent eleven members of its National Development squad to the Mel-

bourne International Open Karate Championships in February, 12 athletes to the Queensland Summer Championships in March 2014, seven to the Australian Open Karate Championships in April 2014, four to the Thailand Open Karate Championships in July 2014 and a full team of thirty one athletes the 16th Oceania Karate Championships in Suva, Fiji in September 2014.

PNGKF is currently organising the 1st Training Camp of 2015 which will be held in Port Moresby from January 12 – 23 and 26 – 28, 2015; and

the 8th PNG Open Karate Championships on January 24 and 25.

The training camp is important since the final team will be announced at the end of the camp.

The following athletes are advised to attend the camp; Quentin Bougen, Gladyskarren Wallace, Hillary Wasawa, Cletus Mason, Beverlyn Wasawa, Hillary Arnette and Francilia Kokin (AROB); Domininc Sipapi, Junior Billy, Lera Kose, Dennis Kopman, Miriam Stanley, Geua Rupa, Catherine Wilson, Ismael

Stanley, Junior Chapau, Junior Smith, Gima Peter, Naorie Joseph, Geita Maraga, Jason Kilangit and John Kajona (Central); Timothy Alovare (EHP), Joan Abala, Francis Virgil and John Paivu (ENBP); Daniel Kavoung and Jennifer Kautil (Madang); Jacklyn Barney, Manu Mekere, James Gaub, Siwari Matus, Seby Desmond, Eddie Martin, Emil Golpalou, Frenrich Hura, Maryanne Porika, Donald Samuel, Willie Gaida, Wayne Goa, and Phyllis Bibuai. (Morobe); Julius Piku, Ni-

Karate not only keeps your body fit, it also strengthens your mind and enhances your concentration.

gel Bana, Doris Karomo, Sarah Ande, Crystal Mari, Joancherry Revui, Annabel Joseph, Violet Wangihau, Cosmas Saliawali, Leonard Gariadi, Sailas Piskaut, Terah Efi, Jason Carl, Owen igiro, Patresio Roko, Andrew Molen, Theophil Meta, and Patrick Kassamento (NCD); Atomu Amani (New Ireland); Kevin Duna, Basil Oriri, Steven Bonga and Roy Ipa (Northern); Nick Mou, Enerst Nuli, Peace Kaiwa, Romana Sasinge, Alois Masusulu, Ludger Giru, Tom Ramey and Romanus Asiange (WNBP).

be ready, after 15 years, Waghi Tumbe is coming back, the Governor is providing funds

Games chief confident

CHIEF executive officer of the Games Organizing Committee Peter Stewart has always been confident of the venues completed on time and said the games would allow for the world to see what PNG is all about.

The country will see 300 international media personnel produce stories about PNG in general, as well as reporting on the Games.

1500 hours of broadcast material will be produced by the Games Organizing Committee for distribution throughout the world across television, satellite, cable, internet and digital phone network which will play an important role in changing the perceptions of PNG.

GAMES VILLAGE

The games village will be the “home away from home” for all the athletes. Located at the University of Papua New Guinea campus, the village will house 4000 athletes and officials and will be used as a student accommodation by the University after the Games.

Designed by Warren and Mahoney the village design is inspired by the country’s different culture and traditions.

China Railway and Construction Engineering Company (CRCE) were awarded the contract for the K263 million job. During a tour of the Games Village early this year Minister Tkatchenko affirmed that the village would be completed on time.

The village will have a dining hall that can sit up to a thousand people at one time, including an international zone, catering, cleaning and waste management, a Poly clinic, safety and security, and a transport mall is included.

The halls of residence will house all the chef de missions’ offices, common rooms and laundry areas. Services provided at the international zone will include an Internet café, sports information centre, PGA Service Centre, Chef des mission meeting room, religious service centre, banking services, merchandise retail outlet, casual dining outlet, offices for key functional users and education service station.

SIR JOHN GUISE INDOOR AND OUTDOOR STADIUM

The stadium will host its second Pacific Games and will be centre of activities next year.

Hosting both the opening and closing ceremony, the stadium will also see athletics, soccer, beach volleyball, hockey, and weightlifting, power lifting, bodybuilding, basketball finals and boxing.

The redevelopment will see a facility upgraded to an international standard. The former 900 seat grand stand will be converted into a 15,000 seating capacity.

A hockey facility complete with a hydro-turf will also be constructed.

The work will also include the refurbishment of an existing multi-use Indoor complex to accommodate basketball, netball, and weightlifting events to meet any international events

The old synthetic track will be replaced with a new surface and the grass infield will be upgraded to a suitable standard for any international football events.

The main grandstand will have the interior refurbished to provide spaces required by athletes and officials as well as VIP and Corporate areas.

Fletcher Morobe have been hard at work for the outdoor stadium to be completed while for the indoor complex Phoenix Builders limited have the task of completing the complex at a cost of K60 million.

DOOR SPORTS COMPLEX

One of the main venues next year, the Taurama Aquatic and Indoor Sports Complex has taken shape and from the outside it looks to be one of the venues to be completed on time.

The facility will have a sitting capacity of 2000 people while the pool area will have a capacity of about 300

The 15,000m2 complex will play host to swimming, basketball, volleyball and martial arts events in July 2015.

one multipurpose AFL field which also fits in two touch rugby fields, a beach volleyball precinct, a lawn bowl oval and a netball facility.

RITA FLYNN NETBALL COURTS

The K54 million complex will include indoor and outdoor courts with the indoor complex to house a capacity of 3000 seats while the outdoor complex will include six courts. The Redevelopment of the courts has seen Chinese company China Jiangsu International Corporation take the reins to build a multipurpose netball courts that can be used for international events.

Designed by Korana Consultant Limited, the design of the complex has been inspired by a butterfly as per the name of the PNG Netball team PNG Pepes.

SIR

HUBERT MURRAY STADIUM

Minister Tkatchenko has always maintained that the stadium will be home to the sport of Weightlifting and will hold its office.

Built in 1969, the stadium first hosted the South Pacific Games and has been a national icon.

Construction was awarded to Curtain Brothers under the privatepublic partnership at a cost of K11 million with Curtain Brothers providing labor and machinery free of charge, come the Pacific Games, the stadium will see the rugby 7s and 9s, and the soccer finals played on its new facilities.

With a new seating capacity of 1500, it will include player and spectator amenities.

TAURAMA AQUATIC AND IN-

Included in the complex is a stainless steel Olympic standard 50m “Myrtha’ competition pool with a capability to shorten the pool to 25m for international standard short course competition, a separate 25m pool, 6 Olympic standard Volleyball/ basketball courts with movable spectator seating for up to 2,500 people in the “Centre Court” arrangement, two multipurpose studios, corporate entertainment areas and a gymnasium for athletes to train in.

Fletcher Morobe has been contracted to construct the complex at a cost of K180 million, working a seven day shift, 350 local workers are contracted in ensuring the venue is completed by May 31, 2015.

BISINI PARADE

The largest sporting venue, the parade will host 12 sporting codes of the 28 and will see over 20000-25000 visitors in the two weeks of competition. The Bisini Football Park will see major rehabilitation of the park as part of the National Government’s K80 million Bisini Parade Master Plan. The new Bisini Parade will feature; two IRB rugby fields, two FIFA soccer fields, 3 cricket fields,

Work has been shared between PNG and China with about 120 employees expected to work three shifts a day and seven days a week.

With a price tag of K1.2 billion, many have labeled the 2015 Pacific Games as the most expensive, but as Minister Tkatchenko has vehemently affirmed it is all for a lasting legacy in the city. All venues have been built under a private-public partnership that will be used for other sporting events and to create an economic boost to sustain the venues over the next 30 years. So far a total of 21 companies have come on board as sponsors, with the latest being NBC and Kundu. It will be the biggest and most expensive Pacific Games this year but it will also be a major coup for the country should all venues be completed on schedule and all eyes are on us in the biggest sporting spectacle since 1991.

SIR John Giuse Indoor indoor complex and (INSET) workmen taking time out at the site.

THE Long Bowls venue.

THE Games village.THE Taurama Aquatic Centre.

THE Rita Flynn Netball Courts.

THE Tennis Courts. 1969 was the year Papua and New Guinea first hosted the South Pacific Games. The bottom line

Games draw closer

BY MIRIAM ZARRIGA

WITH a 185 days to go, the 2015 Pacific Games is fast approaching with 85 days till the 100 day relay begins in the country on March 26, 2015, the onus is on the Sports and Pacific Games Minister Justin Tkatchenko to deliver venues on schedule despite a two year absence of no work done.

On July 4, 2015, 4000 athletes

and officials from 24 countries across the Pacific region will assemble in Port Moresby for the Pacific Games 2015. Twelve venues, 28 sports, and an influx of visitors into Port Moresby will see the city come alive as we host one of the Pacific’s sporting event.

This is the third time the country will host the event, 1969 was the year Papua and New Guinea

first hosted the 3rd South Pacific Games and 1991 saw the second time we hosted the event, which were the 9th Games.

With the National Government’s backing of K1.2 billion, sporting venues have undergone massive development for the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby.

Minister Tkatchenko has been the driving force in ensuring the venues are ready in time for the

opening ceremony on July 4, 2015.

3000 athletes, 500 team officials and 1000 technical officials and dignitaries from 24 neighbouring Pacific nations including Australia and New Zealand will converge on Port Moresby in an adrenaline-charged sporting exchange of 28 varied sports and disciplines.

MORE ON PAGE 63

WORK in progress at the Taurama Aquatic Centre at Three-Mile.