Drought has always posed a threat to agriculture, and over the past 50 years, many regions have experienced longer and harsher droughts. This is especially a problem in sub-Saharan Africa, where 96% of farmers rely on rainfall to grow their crops, and models predict that the frequency and intensity of droughts will increase as climate. An icon used to represent a menu that can be toggled by interacting with this icon.

Links

Surfing information for PNG can be found at the Surfing Association of PNG website located at -- http://www.surfingpapuanewguinea.org.pg/home.htm and -- http://www.surfing-waves.com/travel/papua_ng.htm -- The Tourism Promotion Authority December 2003 Newsletter also had an article on surfing PNG at -- http://www.pngtourism.org.pg/news/newsletters/newsletterdec.htm

The Yahoo regional directory on PNG is located at -- http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/Papua_New_Guinea/

Papua New Guinea information includes Anthems, Defence, Economy, Flags, Geography, Government, Maps, News, and Weather. -- http://www.emulateme.com/papuanew.htm

Jane's Papua New Guinea -- A pictorial insight with comments on Papua New Guinea traditional culture, art and history. Contains a series of excellent photographs and can be located at --
http://www.janeresture.com/png_home/

The Lonely Planet Guide to PNG is located at -- http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/australasia/papua_new_guinea/

Papua New Guinea - From Sky to Sea -- http://www.totheweb.com/personal/travel/png/

One Thousand One Papua New Guinean Nights. These stories originally appeared in Wantok, the Pidgin English (Tok Pisin) newspaper of PNG over many editions. Thomas Slone has translated and cross-referenced these into two volumes. Information about how to buy a copy and a few sample copies can be found at -- http://members.tripod.com/~THSlone/1001PNGnights.html -- Another sample authorised by Thomas can be found at -- http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/1001.html

Diving in PNG

A site worth visiting, especially if you are into diving is -- http://www.walindi.com

Another Site worth visiting is -- http://www.diversionoz.com/
This is the home of Diversion Dive Travel
P.O. Box 7026, Cairns 4870, Australia,
Ph.: +61-740 390 200, Fax: +61-740 390 300
within Australia: Ph: 07-4039 0200 Fax 07-4039 0300

News Items

St John's Church

The Anglican Cathedral Church in downtown Port Moresby will be celebrating Saint John's Day on the 9th of May. It is anticipated that the Bishop of Port Moresby, Bishop Peter Fox, will attend the celebrations along with Retired Bishop David Hand. All Anglicans are invited along whether they are regular attendees in the Port Moresby Diocese or just Anglicans who have not been to church for a while. St John's Day is on the 6th but the 9th of May is the closest Sunday to the day. The service times are 7:00am and 8:30am each Sunday. -- http://portmoresby.anglican.org/org/stjohns

Jackson's Airport Security

Having stood outside the Domestic Departure terminal at the Port Moresby Jackson's airport recently I was able to observe that the guards appear to only stop women from entering the airport terminal. A man seems to be able to bluff his way past the guards. This is similar to how the police force operates in PNG. They tend to focus on the small problems and allow the bigger problem to pass right by their eyes.

Mendi Show

The inaugural Mendi Show has been declared a success. It was the first show to be held in the province for 25 years. It is anticipated that the show will become bigger and better over the coming years. The show was held at Sumia in the Southern Highlands Province and was an initiative of the governor but hosted by the people of Sumia. The Western Province Governor opened the show.

Sir Anthony Siaguru

After a long fight with cancer of the liver Sir Anthony Siaguru passed away at the age of 57 on Friday 16 April 2004. He died at the Wesley hospital in Brisbane where he had been receiving treatment since October 2003. Sir Anthony was the founding chairman of the PNG chapter of Transparency International. He has also held many other distinguished roles in various jobs as well as holding a seat in the National Government.

Fuel Prices

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Following on from favourable rates for the PNG Kina the price of fuel has dropped. Petrol has dropped by 8.8 toea per litre and diesel is now five toea per litre cheaper. The approved maximum retail price for petrol is now K2.28 per litre and diesel K1.83 per litre. Kerosene costs K1.52 per litre. These prices are for the main ports.

Goroka vs. Vanimo

Umm, Goroka up and running and then Vanimo goes down? Not sure if it is the same equipment or not?

Quote --
Due to failure of the T-VASI lights at Vanimo, F28 flights to Vanimo are suspended indefinitely. Dash-8 flights are not affected - passengers will be re-accommodated on Dash-8 aircraft where possible.
End Quote --

The Goroka VASI system has been off the air since last year and it has just been fixed.

National Fisheries Authority

The Chief of the National Fisheries Authority has been suspended over the allegation that he received a double payment for two months work as the acting Managing Director in 1999. It is alleged that he was paid K306,800 for acting in the position in 1999 and then he paid himself again for the same two months. It is also alleged that various relationships with overseas donor agencies has suffered since the person in question took over the leadership of the Authority. -- http://pnggossip.com/news/g040416.html#nfa

National Fisheries Donors

Possibly with thanks to the suspension of the managing director of National Fisheries three donor agencies are now showing a willingness to reopen talks with fisheries. The Asian Development Bank suspended a US$35 million funding project due to problems with the management of National Fisheries. AusAID and the European Union have also shown an interest in reopening talks.

In an unrelated item National Fisheries has handed over a K10 million to the government's consolidated revenue. This is the first payment for the year out of a budgeted K18 million. Last year National Fisheries managed to handover a total of K23.25 million to the government.

Potato Blight

The PNG Government has allocated K1 million to fight potato blight to help support and revitalise the potato industry. The potato industry makes a direct contribution to the economy of many of the high altitude regions of the country.

Inland Fish Pond

The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research is set to begin an inland pond aquaculture project to help fish farmers in PNG over the next four years. Fish farmers from the Morobe Districts of Markham, Huon, Nawae, Menyamya, Bulolo and Finschaffen will benefit from the project.

Governor General Race

The race for Governor General has had a spanner thrown in the works. Sir Pato Kakaraya, the person who was elected to the position and even had his nomination sent to the Queen is now appealing against the decision of the court that his election was null and void because proper procedures were not followed. Parliament was due to sit on the 27th of April to elect a new Governor General but the pending court case has placed a cloud over that.

Madang Governor

The Governor of Madang Province will be charged over the alleged assault of a senior public servant. It has been alleged that the Governor in the office of another public servant bashed the Madang District Administrator. Police have received statements from witnesses to the incident as well as medical reports.

Southern Highlands

The Secretary of Department of Personal Management has revealed that the Southern Highlands province has a wage bill of K15 million making it the biggest employer of public servants in the country. It has been claimed that some job positions three people have been employed and that many people have been employed without going through the correct channels. The Secretary said that it is very clear that there has been a breakdown of the normal procedures and processes used to employ people.

Death Penalty

Transparency International has slammed the push by the government to implement the death penalty. The Government is studying the Singapore Republic's legislative and judicial process on the death penalty with a view to adopting it for PNG. Other states in the Pacific Islands Forum either no longer have laws providing for the death penalty or have stopped enforcing them.

Post Courier

The Post Courier has recently won a international award for an advertising campaign it has run using Stanley 'Head Hunter' Nandex. The award was for the best mono advertisement in its circulation category -- daily sales from 15,000 - 50,000) in the Pacific Area. The Post Courier web site can be found at -- http://www.postcourier.com.pg.

Highlands Highway

Without any surprise a risk analysis undertaken by independent foreign consultants has branded the Highlands Highway as a high risk. Due to the necessity of the highway linking Lae to the highlands region road users continue to operate along the road at great risk to life and property. The independent analysis was carried out on behalf of Shell PNG. Both Shell and Mobil Oil have stopped delivering fuel past Goroka causing shortages in Mount Hagen and beyond.

Internet Bandwidth

The bandwidth into PNG has been increased by another 2 Megabit but this has caused problems for some Internet users due to load balancing issues. Of course the extra bandwidth would have been used up immediately and an individual would notice little speed increase anyway.

East New Britain Phones

Negotiations for an investment partner for PNG Telikom are delaying the introduction of a mobile telephone service for East New Britain. It is hoped that once a partner is found within the next couple of months for PNG Telikom the mobile service will start.

East New Britain Escape

Five men out of a group of ten that pleaded guilty to manslaughter walked out of the courtroom and run away minutes before the judge was set to hand down the sentence. The five remaining behind have had their bail revoked and are being held in custody. A warrant for the arrest of the escapees has been issued.

Telikom PNG

The company with a monopoly over telecommunications in PNG has limited phone calls to PNG from overseas causing frustration for many people attempting to get through to PNG. Telikom PNG only has agreements with three overseas companies for calls to PNG and all calls must now be connected through those carriers. They are Singtel in New Zealand, Optus in Australia and a consortium from Hong Kong and Telstra (Australia). The problem has stemmed from the fact that people were bypassing the 'expensive' Telikom option and using cheaper operators using voice over the Internet technology. It has been alleged that Telikom has blocked the cheaper options but Telikom claim they only have agreements with those companies and those companies must be used.

Strange Meals

Thanks to Rick for the following link -- http://www.familyhaven.com/travel/melanesianman.html -- Make sure you are not eating when you read the contents of this page!

PNG Institute of Directors

The PNG Institute of Directors has revamped its website with the help of an AESOP Volunteer, Peter Griffin. It is an excellent introduction to PNG company law and related governance issues it can be found at -- http://www.pngid.org.pg

Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce

The Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce website is located at -- http://www.pomcci.org.pg

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Milne Bay

The founding Milne Bay Premier, Patrick Paulisbo, died at the Port Moresby General Hospital at the age of 64. He played an architectural role in establishing the first Milne Bay Provincial Government.

South Pacific Motor Sports Club

The South Pacific Motor Sports Club web site is located at -- http://www.spmsc.org.pg -- For information about the car club, located along Waigani Drive in Port Moresby; this is the site to visit.

Trukai Rice

The Trukai Rice company has an official website located at -- http://www.trukai.com.pg/ -- if you want to find out about what Trukai does then this is the site to visit. When you hear the name of Trukai you may think of the familiar yellow, red and green packs of PNG's favourite rice. Trukai Industries encompasses much, much more than just rice. In fact Trukai Industries has, since 1970, been a major producer and marketer of a whole range of important foods for PNG. Trukai supplies over ninety five percent of the PNG rice market.

Under 19 Soccer

The Australian u/19 female soccer team has won a three-nation challenge held at the Port Moresby Rugby League ground. The PNG team won the fairest team of the competition. The final game held on Saturday the 24th saw Australia playing PNG. Australia scored well in the first half and PNG scored its only goal through a penalty in the second half. The PNG goalkeeper had to be carried off the ground on a stretcher. The substitute goalie for PNG managed to score one past the Aussie goalkeeper. As PNG had already used up all of its substitutes it was not allowed to field its second goalkeeper and had to play with 10 players - one of them becoming the substitute goalie. The final score was Australia 14 - PNG 1. The Australian team nearly did not make it to the competition due to visa problems at Jackson's airport. The team did not realise that a visa was required for the team to enter PNG. Luckily the visa issue was able to be sorted out on the spot and the team allowed to play.

Medical Symposium

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The 40th PNG Medical Symposium will be held by the PNG Medical Society at the University of PNG between the 6th to the 10th of September this year. The Society has over 700 members from around the country.

Education Sites

http://www.pngmc.ac.pg -- PNG Maritime College
http://www.dg.com.pg/Che/index.htm -- Commission for Further / Higher Eduction
http://www.ibs.com.pg -- International Business Institute
http://www.iea.ac.pg -- International Education Agency
http://www.pngimr.org.pg -- PNG Institute of Medical Research
http://www.unitech.ac.pg -- PNG University of Technology
http://www.uog.ac.pg -- University of Goroka
http://www.upng.ac.pg -- University of PNG
http://www.workersmutual.com.pg -- Computer Training

Radio Eastern Highlands

The radio station that serves the people of the Eastern Highlands has been off the air since August 2003 due to a shortage of money. It has been reported that the Eastern Highlands provincial government has failed to fund the radio station.

Port Moresby Hospital

The Port Moresby General Hospital, the largest public hospital in PNG, has run short of oxygen. The hospital has had to suspend elective surgery until more supplies can be obtained. It has been reported that patients have died because of the shortage. New supplies are waiting at the Port Moresby wharf waiting clearance and hopefully some will be delivered before this newsletter hits your mailbox.

South America

A PNG person, Anthony Power, has landed a top job in Peru because of his experience with land tenure in Melanesia. Mr Power has published more than 20 publications since 1963 that range from philosophy to appropriate technology to development issues with a heavy emphasis on land, forestry and clan mobilisation.

Female Education

Six provinces have been selected by UNICEF to implement its campaign of accelerating girls' education. This is part of a major campaign by UNICEF, in partnership with the Department of Education, to help PNG meet the goals of gender equality in primary and secondary education by 2005. The six provinces chosen are - Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands, Simbu, Morobe, Madang and East Sepik.

PNG Media

• Post Courier Newspaper -- http://www.postcourier.com.pg
• The National Online Newspaper-- http://www.thenational.com.pg
• TreeHouse Productions -- http://www.treehouse.com.pg/treehouse__productions.htm
• PNG Tok Pisin Network-- http://www.tokpisin.net
• Chin H Meen (Music) -- http://www.chmsupersound.com
  
• EM TV (Television) -- http://www.emtv.com.pg
• Hitron (Cable TV) -- http://www.hitron.com.pg
  
• Pacific View Multimedia http://www.pvm.com.pg

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Articles for this Newsletter

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-- THE END --

• In Tok Pisin - em tasol

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Some of the ways of saying 'that's all' are courtesy of Liz and her friends at the University of Technology in Lae. http://www.unitech.ac.pg

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