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Welcome to the Papua New Guinea Gossip and a very special welcome to any new readers. If you have comments or suggestions to make then please use the contact form by clicking here.
Articles for this newsletter
To send a message for submission to the PNG Gossip Newsletter queue -- please e-mail your contribution to pngnews.queue@png-gossip.com
Remember that this mailing list is mainly meant for people who have an interest and already know a little bit about the people and geography of Papua New Guinea. The PNG Kina, which is mentioned from time to time, is currently worth about 36 United States cents but varies on a daily basis.
If you are really keen on finding out what the Kina is worth a currency converter for most world currencies can be located at http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/moni.html
For those who are not so familiar with the geography of Papua New Guinea I suggest taking a look http://maps.expedia.com/ and then click on the find a map option.
Also remember that the accuracy of the information in this newsletter should not be relied upon - it is, after all, a gossip newsletter.
If a longer URL in this newsletter appears to be broken, please manually cut and then paste the link into your browser.
Recommended Site
A site worth visiting, especially if you are into diving is http://www.walindi.com whilst over in the New Britain area please take a look at http://www.snille.com/. This site has wonderful photographs of Rabaul after the volcanic eruption.
If you are a citizen of USA then please pay a visit to the official website of the U.S Embassy in Port Moresby. http://www.altnews.com.au/USEmbassy
Sydney Olympics
The following PNG athletes will be competing in the Olympic Games:- Dika Toua, Ann Mooney, Mowen Boino, Xenia Peni and Kieran Chan.
Mowen has come from nothing to the pinnacle of the PNG sporting world in a very short space of time. His potential was discovered by accident in 1997 when he ran to the corner shop for milk in a blindingly fast pace.
PNG Webring
The Webring community has been thrown into turmoil by the acquisition of Webring into the Yahoo empire. The once fairly stable Webring community has had to contend with the might and muscle of Yahoo. If you want to visit the PNG Webring then the following link will still work - http://www.webring.org if that fails for one reason or another (Yahoo can't seem to get it right just at the moment) then possibly http://www.michie.net/pngring may prove to be of some help.
Medical Symposium
The Medical Symposium has discussed many items of interest. Some of them: -
Chewing betelnut probably could contribute to a heart attack.
A Western diet increases the risk of heart related problems.
Health workers have been challenged to strengthen immunisation services and reduce infant mortality.
It is hoped that malaria can be controlled through a mapping program. The program aims to identify areas of high and low incidence of malaria throughout the country.
The recorded cure rate in the Morobe province for TB has gone from zero before the implementation of the Directly Observe red Short Course in 1997 to an 89 per cent success rate.
Trauma is reported to be the highest cause for surgery in the country. It caters for 30 per cent of surgical admissions in Port Moresby and more than 40 per cent in the Highlands.
Assault is a more common cause of trauma admission than motor vehicle accidents. Assault causes catered for 30 per cent at the Port Moresby General Hospital and 14 per cent in the Highlands.
Human Smuggling Racket
A report has stated that some foreigners entered PNG illegally and then tried to cross to Australia whilst others entered the country with valid passports but using suspicious work permits and visas. The report went on to say that some foreigners obtained phoney Foreign Affairs documents to ease travel out of PNG.
National Provident Fund
According to evidence given at the inquiry into the NPF the fund was conned into funding a property at Konedobu that did not exist.
PNG Languages
It has often been reported that PNG has some 800 plus spoken languages. The Summer Institute of Languages has reported that at least six languages have been lost since 1950. Five more have less than five speakers remaining. The major problem appears to be the widespread use of Pidgin.
800 plus languages makes the one country, one people, one nation slogan very difficult to put into practice.
University of Goroka
The University of Goroka Council has elected Sir Ebia Olewale as the Chancellor of the university. He succeeds the founding chancellor Stephen Eka who died recently.
Tourism Promotion Authority
Richard Kassman, the new chief executive of the TPA, stripped down to wear full Mekeo traditional attire recently to greet an Airbus full of Japanese tourists, has won praise from numerous places with his appearance. If any reader has ever waited around and seen all the preparation needed to don traditional attire you will realise that the CEO must have been up at 2 am or earlier to meet the flight. The CEO also handed out personalised greeting cards written in Japanese to the tourists.
Sepik
An elderly man is dead after a World War 2 Japanese bomb exploded in East Sepik recently. This is the second explosion of a wartime bomb in a little over a week.
Melanesian Foundation
The Foundation has once again donated school desks to three schools in the Madang province. The Foundation is continuously making desks for schools and although it will never be able to make as many as required it will make a substantial difference to community schools in the region.
It is hoped that in the future a nominal charge would be charged for the desks so that local carpenters could become self sufficient in the manufacture of the desks.
Silver Jubilee Celebrations
The PNG Harbours Board has donated K50,00 to the National Events Committee for the Silver Jubilee. The Board also donated K10,000 to the PNG coastal cleanup campaign.
It is planned that some of the prisoners around the country will be released on pardon and enjoy the 16th of September with their family and friends. So far a list of 119 prisoners have been identified for consideration.
Southern Highlands
Owing to continuous armed hold-ups on the Nipa road and the ongoing ethnic conflict in the Southern Highlands Province the Hela people have called on the National government to split the province into two. The breakaway province, consisting of the following electorates - Tari - Poro, Komo - Magarima and Koroba - Lake Kopiago, and the Mount Bosavi and Lake Kutabu areas of what is currently the Nipa - Kutabu electorate, would be called Hela province. It is also proposed that the Huli speaking people of Porgera and Kandep electorates in Enga province should also be included.
Literacy
The various provinces around the country have been urged to develop strategies to raise the standards of literacy to 70 percent by the year 2010.
Western Highlands
A tribal fight in Minj, Western Highlands province has come to an end after claiming 12 lives. Leaders of the waring tribes have promised to stop the fighting.
Defence Force
15 Soldiers recently completed a communications-training course held at the Telikom Training College in Lae. The two week course was on the principles of telecommunications and applications.
Telikom Training College
The Director General of PANGTEL has called on the government to transfer the Telikom Training College to his organisation before the privatisation of Telikom so that the school remain as a government asset.
Power Outages
Port Moresby is yet again suffering power blackouts.
Bougainville
The people of the North Solomons province have been urged to be self reliant and to cooperate with each other to rebuild Bougainville.
Rumours
With the arrival of the new Managing Director for Air Niugini once again the rumour mill has swung into action with the whisper of possible mergers or take-overs by other airlines. These rumours have been doing the rounds for many years right from the time of the KLM management team.
Can rice really be grown on a commercial scale in Papua New Guinea?
Fuel Prices
The Price Controller Watchdog has called on all oil companies to co-operate with the Government to find ways to stabilise fuel prices. This follows the decision by Shell last week to stop supplying Aviation Gas. Shell had requested a 20 + toea per litre price rise whilst the Price Controller has approved a rise of 3.5 toea a litre.
Alotau
A surge in crime in normally peaceful Alotau has prompted the Governor to place a ban on all people arriving by ship into the province. Many netballers who had planned to travel to Alotau for the Independence championships by boat have been assured that they will still be able to travel.
Morata Halfway House
The Bank South Pacific (BSP) has donated 24 pillows and 24 mattresses to the Morata halfway house.
Bena Bena
A group of men from a small village in the Bena Bena area of the Eastern Highlands province will demonstrate their skills of cane swallowing to a world wide audience at the Sydney Olympics. The men push a 60cm long cane down the throat and into the stomach in a traditional ritual believed to remove poison from their bodies.
Oro Province
The Lamington Hotel in Popondetta is tipped to have a facelift very soon. It is the only hotel in Oro province and one of six owned by the Coral Sea Hotel chain.
Computer Companies in PNG
- Able Computing -- http://www.able.com.pg
- Daltron -- http://www.daltron.com.pg
- Data Nets -- http://www.online.net.pg
- Datec -- http://www.datec.com.pg
- HT PNG (formerly High Tech Industries) -- http://www.hightech.com.pg/
- Global Technologies -- http://www.global.net.pg
Links
Links to visit
A relatively new website run by the Port Moresby Diocese of the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea still in the initial stages of development is located at http://www.portmoresby.anglican.org
Take a look at DIVErsion Dive Travel & Training in Cairns, Australia at -- http://www.diversionOZ.com/epngdive.htm
Blue Sea Charters -- http://www.blueseacharters.com
Some photos of Papua New Guinea can be found at -- http://www.worlddive.com/phgal/png/pngpix.htm
For an online tourist guide to Papua New Guinea visit the Lonely Planet Website at -- http://www.lonelyplanet.com.au/dest/aust/png.htm
Aviation Websites
- Air Niugini -- http://www.airniugini.com.pg
- Civil Aviation -- http://www.casr.gov.pg
- Airlines of PNG -- http://www.apng.com
- Unofficial Airplane / Balus Register -- http://www.michie.net/balus
Mining Websites
- Highlands Pacific --http://www.highpacific.com.au
- Lihir Gold Limited --http://www.lihir.com.pg
- Oil Search --http://www.oilsearch.com.au
- Ok Tedi --http://www.oktedi.com
- Orogen -- http://www.orogen.com.au
- Placer Dome -- http://www.placerdome.com
Media Websites
- EM TV http://www.emtv.com.pg
- Hitron - Cable/Satellite TV http://www.hitron.com.pg
- NauFM Radio Station http://www.naufm.com.pg
PNG Newspaper Sites
Post Courier
http://www.postcourier.com.pgThe National
http://www.thenational.com.pg
Articles for this newsletter
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