Villagers are pushing back against logging operations they say are encroaching on designated conservation areas. In mid-May, a bulldozer began clearing a logging road into an area of largely untouched rainforest near the village of Suburam, on Papua New Guinea’s north coast, between the mountains of the Adelbert Range and the Bismarck Sea. Towering kwila trees were among those locals say were felled by loggers. This is a coveted, high-value species that yields the rich red timber familiar in Australia as merbau. Landowners in the area say these trees are historically never cut down by them. They are considered ancestors, and the local Tivia clan say they only use the hardwood when the trees are “given”, falling naturally. Tivia means “blood”, Lawrance Omben, a clan leader from Arenduk village explains: “Blood because it is red – the tree sap is red.” Locals say the bulldozer felled 18 kwila and 100 mixed hardwoods. They say the bulldozer also levelled a sacred area – a matmat, the burial site for five generations of chiefs from three clans, surrounded by tall kwila that were the daughters of the clan’s mother tree. “Our belief is that when the masalai [spirits] … touch that sap, [humans] come out from that,” says another Tivia member, Bryan Lavate. “It is the creation of our clan.” When one of the local chiefs heard what had occurred, he says he lay down in his hut grief-stricken, and stayed there for days. [caption id="attachment_28187" align="alignnone" width="592"] Papua New Guinea landowners fight against logging –[/caption] Others ordered the young men of the clans not to retaliate with violence. Instead, on 19 May Lavate, the secretary of a collective of local clans known as the Yikmol Landowners Association, was dispatched with a letter advising the loggers they had caused damage to the external border of a designated conservation area, that they had no right to be there and should withdraw immediately. And they did. Sandu Ovot, a chief from Suburam whose great-grandfather was buried in the matmat levelled by the loggers, explains that kwila timber is imbued with spiritual powers, providing medicines and digging sticks for planting garden crops. Logs are only used for building when they are given – when trees or branches fall naturally. They are then also transformed into weapons that hold the strength of ancestors. Omben, the chief from neighbouring Arenduk village, says that since the letter to the loggers at Suburam in May, the logging crews have moved away. [caption id="attachment_28189" align="alignnone" width="775"] Bryan Lavate and Sandu Ovot, a chief from Suburam, whose great-grandfather was buried in the matmat he says was levelled by the loggers. Photograph: Supplied[/caption] Meanwhile the Tivia landowners say they have been struggling with the fallout. Because the landscape of their creation story has been desecrated, and the remains of the chiefs of three clans disturbed, it has damaged people’s physical and mental health, says Lavate. But the Tivia have continued to fight back, seeking justice of some kind, although Lavate says their loss can never be compensated. And so it is that when they hear a reporter from the Guardian is in Madang town, a delegation of 21 men, including seven chiefs, walk hours overnight to catch a ride into town and tell their story. ‘For us, forest is life’ Dubious – in some cases illegal – incursions by loggers into forests across the country are so common as to be unremarkable, according to Peter Bosip, executive director of PNG’s Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights (Celcor). “In most cases in PNG there is no such thing as due diligence, so the PNG Forest Authority will just go ahead and accept whatever application that is brought by the loggers.” He says he hears countless variations of the Tivia clan’s story – far more than his stretched team of advocates can ever take up. As extraordinary as it is, what happened in the forest near Suburam in Sumkar district appears to be an all-too-ordinary reflection of the realities playing out as global corporations push deeper into the world’s third-largest remaining rainforest. Just three weeks before the bulldozers arrived, Suburam village had been the site of a 20-clan, five-pig feast and extravaganza, as the community celebrated the creation of a conservation area covering nearly 10,000 hectares of forest. Hundreds of locals were joined by guests representing the partnerships supporting the conservation project – Australia’s Dfat, USAID, the World Conservation Society, PNG’s MiBank and Kamapim, a local sustainable agriculture project that has helped village farmers produce vanilla beans of such quality they are sought out by European chocolatiers. “The thing about vanilla is that you can grow it, make it, and it’s easy work without cutting your rainforest down, and so we can do conservation, and we can have livelihoods with vanilla,” says Lavate, who represents about 4,000 people across two language groups involved in the project. For decades, forest communities in PNG have fallen back on selling their trees as one of the only ways to earn income in a country where basic services are scarce and households struggle to cover school fees. It has rendered communities vulnerable to exploitative deals. Loggers are offering 35 kina (about $US10) a cubic metre for prized kwila trees, but often pay less, locals say. These same trees often sell in China for $US500 a cubic metre, according to a 2021 PNG government report. Rather than sell their trees, Lavate and other landowners are trying to safeguard them for future generations, negotiating fraught clan politics, agreeing terms and mapping boundaries for a patchwork of locally controlled conservation areas. All this action has unfolded remarkably quickly by PNG timelines – within two years. In a nation notionally still almost entirely held under customary ownership, wrangling over land use can take years with no resolution. “We’re not rich people,” says Lavate. “We’re not the kind of people who can pay for water, pay for our food, pay for housing. We get these things from our forest. So for us, forest is life.” ‘They feel intimidated, they feel suppressed’ According to mapping done by locals and seen by the Guardian, the logging crew that arrived near Suburam in May carved their road hard along the boundary of the new Yikmol conservation area, despite regulations requiring a 100 metre buffer zone around protected areas, before pushing inside it at least once. Perhaps they were unaware of the new conservation area, or unpersuaded of its authority. The paperwork formalising the new conservation area could not be lodged with provincial authorities because they were on a protracted strike. Meanwhile, legislation enshrining new protected areas across PNG has been stuck by political inaction for years. But there are also questions around what rights the Malaysian-owned logging company, Woodbank Pacific Limited, had to be operating in the area at all. The company has not responded to questions, and neither has the PNG Forest Authority. It appears from log export data that Woodbank’s activities in this region of Madang province rely on colonial era logging concessions called timber rights purchases, or TRPs, that expired decades ago. Created in 1951, these provided a mechanism to purchase timber rights from customary owners and control the harvesting. The Yikmol landowners delegation is adamant that the company had not been given consent to be working near or within the conservation area or the matmat. “The logging company didn’t ask us landowners,” Lavate says. “We did not have an agreement with the logging company that they could come on our land but they came in anyway.” In a soon-to-be-published analysis for the ANU Development Policy Centre drawing on 40 years of insight and data, veteran PNG forestry expert Prof Colin Filer observes that outdated TRPs have produced more log exports than any other type of licence for the clearing of PNG forests, and that almost two-thirds of exports in the past three years have come from areas where TRP agreements have expired. Filer argues these operations are all illegal, citing a 2017 PNG state solicitor’s opinion which came to a similar conclusion. Celcor’s Peter Bosip argues that if the licences are not valid, then loggers who use them should be held accountable. But he has concerns about enforceability, speaking generally and not about Woodbank, “Even when there is a court order stopping them … the court is in Port Moresby. The logger in the remote location doesn’t really tend to recognise what the court says, and keeps on cutting down trees, and this has been an ongoing issue here.” Bosip has broader concerns about the potential for corruption in the industry, saying that government officers, elected officials, from top to bottom, “might accept [a] bribe and say OK, everything is in order and issue the logging permit”, says Bosip. Again speaking generally and not about the logging near Suburam he says that if some loggers have paid police to escort them on site, landowners “might get caught by surprise, and the police go in with arms and threaten them – if you want to dispute the logging company, go to court. They realise they don’t have the money to get legal assistance. They feel intimidated, they feel suppressed, but how can they speak?” What’s missing, says Paul Barker, executive director of PNG thinktank the Institute of National Affairs, speaking generally, is a commitment to the principle of adherence to law. “There is big money to be made out of this.” This is shaping as a particularly dangerous moment for PNG’s forests, Barker warns, not least because of the growing global momentum to save the country’s vast, vanishing, wildly diverse landscape as the climate emergency escalates. Speculation around lucrative carbon markets is attracting some genuine players but also unscrupulous “carbon cowboys”. The PNG government declared at Cop26 in Glasgow last November that it would ban log exports in 2025 and end all logging by 2030. Similarly welcome promises have been made and delayed for 15 years, and while cynics anticipate they may well be pushed out again, loggers are nonetheless “under pressure to extract as many bloody logs as they can over the next two or three years”, says Prof Filer. “Logging companies are realising they need to move fast just in case some of these carbon agreements, or even biodiversity agreements, actually do get established,” says Barker. Source: The Guardian.com

New Ireland Legislative Assembly Chairperson assisting Governor in Finance Misbil Nelson on Thursday 06th/10/22 issued a public call for openness and transparency on the part of the two Open Members for New Ireland with respect to the use of millions of kina worth of mining royalty funds that have gone to the District Development Authorities since 2021. Nelson said that “New Ireland is one of the few resource-rich provinces blessed with two Gold mines. The Lihir Gold mine, in particular, pays out large sums of royalties every month, as well as contributing to the National purse at the same time. The people of New Ireland deserve to know how their mining royalties are being spent. “ Nelson noted that since a change in the distribution of Royalty payments, 80 percent of the royalties from the gold mines go directly to the districts and only 20 percent stays with the Provincial Government. She said that “In the past all the royalties were parked with the Provincial Government, and all expenditure was tied to impact projects for the districts and the People of New Ireland. Every toea of royalty expenditure was identified in the Provincial Annual Budget, as approved by the Provincial Executive Council. However, since the royalties have been paid directly to the Districts, there has been no accounting for how those funds have been spent. The two DDAs have never made their budgets public, and there is no record of expenditure by the two Districts.” Nelson revealed, “From February 2021 to August 2022, a total of over K70 million in royalty payments have been paid to the respective districts and NIPG. Broken down, the two districts have received a total of more than K28 million each, while the Provincial Government has received only K14 million. Our Provincial Budget identifies where every toea of the K14 million the Provincial Government has received has been spent. However, we have no record at all of where the K56 million received by the two districts has gone. No record at all.” Nelson continued, saying that the lack of accountability on the part of the two Districts has meant that important programmes implemented in the last fifteen years by the provincial Government – including Roof Over Heads, Old Age and Disabled Pensions, Ward Level Projects and many others – now have no funds for implementation. “These are programmes that benefit the people in the two Districts for which the Open Members are representatives. But now that the money is under the control of the Open Members, their People are no longer benefitting from that money. Where has the money gone? It has not gone to the People. It has not gone to making the lives of the people better. New Irelanders have the right to ask what the two Open MPs, who also happen to be Ministers of State, are spending the royalty monies on?” said Nelson. Nelson stressed that “To date the New Ireland Government has not received any district plans or expenditure reports from the two open MPs to determine whether the royalty monies are being spent on the intended requirements of the Lihir MOU, which was signed by Sir Julius Chan when he was Prime Minister in 1994.” Nelson said “the New Ireland Government has nothing to hide. If you want to know what we have spent Lihir Royalties on just refer back to all the budgets we have passed. As soon as the royalties hit our accounts, they always go directly to funding impact projects and our Government policies as captured in our Malagan Declaration, Malagan Declaration Forward and New Ireland Declaration. Those Budgets are made public every year.” “But, where are the Budgets of the Districts? Where are the records of expenditure of over K56 million? That money has just disappeared, and it has done nothing to help our People.” Nelson also urged the two Open MPs to contribute to the construction of the West Coast Highway project. “Our people on the West Coast also voted for the two open MPs. The cry from our West coast people is for them to have a proper sealed highway, just like the Boluminski Highway or even better. They are hardworking people and have suffered enough for many years, we must fast track the West Coast Highway. The two open MPs must live up to their mandated duties of serving the people. They were not elected to build their own empires or serve only a select few.” Nelson concluded, saying “We are not here to play around. Our Government means business and we intend to give the best to our people. We must work together for the benefit of all New Irelanders. The first step is for two Open Members to come clean. They need to tell us what they have done with all the money they have received. And they need to recognize that they have a duty to the People of New Ireland, and that we should all work together to ensure that the resources available to us are used not for the benefit of a few, but for the benefit of all the People of New Ireland.”

He's just turned 29, but Brian Kaltak is in line to make his debut as a full time pro, at last, for Central Coast Mariners in the Australian A-League. It's taken the captain of Vanuatu's national men's team a good number of years to secure a professional deal, and when his trial with the Mariners was stalled by injury he feared his big chance may have been missed. But he was invited back by the team's English coach, Nick Montgomery, and impressed him enough to win a place in the squad. Now after a career which has taken him from his native Vanuatu to Solomon Islands, Fiji, PNG, and notably Auckland City in New Zealand where he captained the side, the central defender has become the first player from his country to join Australia's professional ranks. He freely admits he wishes it had happened ten years earlier, but right now he's out to impress in the hope that other, younger island players will follow him to Australia. Source: ABC Pacific 

The annual 59th Morobe Show goers expressed gratitude over the manner this year's event was organised. Majority of the show goers mostly females and kids, said this year's show was well organised when comparing the previous years shows. One of the females Jinjin Mea said unlike in the previous shows where kids, elderly people and females have fallen victims to harassment, pick pocketing and violence cases, this year's show was more controlled and their safety was protected. She stated that in this year's event, females and kids were able to walk in and out of the show ground freely without having to worry about opportunists preying on them. The show goers commented on this year's event after witnessing a trouble free show both on Saturday and Sunday show days. This was because police, Lae City Authority and Morobe Provincial Agricultural Show committee have banned people from setting up stalls and trade of any activities outside of the show ground area. Police and PNG Defence Force at Igam Barracks that were engaged ensured that show goers and the general public complied with instructions not to trade any activities outside of the show ground. Philip Maliaki aged 12 from Wampar Local Level Government area in Huon Gulf District said because authorities have banned the trade of activities outside the show ground, people bought tickets and made their way inside the event venue and watched their favourite activities. People also behaved when they were inside the event venue. The usual exchanges of sticks and stones that occurred between security guards and the opportunists was no more this year. Most show goers recommended that the ban on trade of activities outside of the show ground must be maintained in future events to minimize petty criminal activities.

England players and officials believe the host nation hasn’t been getting the respect they deserve ahead of this weekend’s World Cup opening game against Toa Samoa at St James' Park. Canberra captain Elliott Whitehead, the most experienced forward in the England team, was among those to question after the weekend’s 50-0 rout of Fiji whether the focus would now shift from Samoa. With Whitehead’s Raiders team-mate Josh Papali’i among a host of Origin stars to commit to Samoa, there is a lot of hype in England about the possibility of the Pacific nation causing an opening game boilover. “There is a lot of talk about other nations, but people can talk as much as they like,” Whitehead said. “As a group we know what we are capable of doing and we are going to show that so they can think whatever they want to be honest. “We aren’t talking about it, we know what we can bring as a group, so if the media want to start talking about that you can, but if not, we are happy to get on with it and do what we do.” [caption id="attachment_28153" align="alignnone" width="840"] Elliott Whitehead will be hoping to produce a strong World Cup for England.[/caption] England coach Shaun Wane hoped the performance against Fiji had silenced the doubters ahead of the tournament opener on October 15. “There has been a lot of talk about every other nation so I am just glad that we went out and performed and people have seen a glimpse of what we can do,” Wane said. “I know we are going to have massive challenges in this tournament, I know what we are up against, but I am just glad that people can see that we have got a good team and hopefully people will talk about us now.” Those close to the England camp warn that the impact on the team of playing in front of English crowds can’t be underestimated and it something few players from other nations have experienced. “Any time I play for England, no matter where it is, I am very proud and honoured to pull that jersey on and I am sure I will be doing the same next week if I get selected,” Whitehead said. “Samoa have got a great side, it is going to be a tough game and very physical but I think the first 20 minutes against Fiji were a step in the right direction. “We know it is going to go for a bit longer against Samoa, but the first 20 minutes were excellent. We were very physical and that set a good platform.” Former Raiders playmaker George Williams captained the England team against Fiji and dispelled any doubts about his form for Warrington this season with a strong performance. Williams played five-eighth, with Salford’s Marc Sneyd in the halfback role and Wane is expected to go with the same halves pairing against Samoa. “I watched a few of the Warrington games and I thought George re-found his form at the back end of the season,” Whitehead said. “The Warrington team struggled a bit this year, but George is a class player and I know what he can bring. He deserved to have the captaincy and he led the boys around well. George will bring a lot to our team in this World Cup.” Source: NRL.com

It's been around 80 years since the plane it was attached to crashed. The aircraft and the four men believed to have been onboard have lain here since, undiscovered. It's estimated there are between 500 and 600 crash sites across PNG from World War II, but the locations of many of them remain unknown. After this discovery, there will be one less Australian plane considered missing in action. The long jungle trek to discover a wreck The tip-off first came from a pig hunter who stumbled across the wreckage while tracking his prey. It was up in the hills of East New Britain, outside the town of Rabaul where Willie's family lives. [caption id="attachment_28136" align="alignnone" width="582"] Willie Flinn, 15, led a group of family and friends into the jungle to find the wreck.(ABC News: Natalie Whitin[/caption] But getting to the site to investigate wasn't easy. "I collapsed on the way in, so it was pretty tough for me," Willie says. He blames himself for not eating enough before beginning the trek. "And all the river crossings going to the crash site, it was brutal, I ended up going back with a sprained ankle. "But it was all worth it." He went in with a group of family friends. They were hosted by the chief of the nearest village, Barrum, with some of the villagers accompanying the group to the site. [caption id="attachment_28137" align="alignnone" width="587"] The chief of the nearby Barrum village hosted Willie Flinn before he set off on his expedition.(ABC News: Natalie Whiting)[/caption] From the village, it takes several hours of trekking to get to the site: through the bush, across several rivers and up and down multiple mountain sides. For one stretch of the walk, the group used the river as their path, walking through the water for several hundred metres to reach the next point to climb. They used machetes to cut a rough path through the jungle as they went. Then they came across the first piece of metal debris. "I was going nuts, I went bananas. I said, 'No way, what is this bit of metal doing in the middle of the jungle?'," Willie recounts. Pieces of the plane are scattered across the hillside. Some parts look like scrap metal, but others are clearly identifiable: part of a propeller, a bit of a door, several guns. [caption id="attachment_28139" align="alignnone" width="585"] Among the debris found at this crash site were old weapons and rusted bullets.(ABC News: Natalie Whiting)[/caption] Willie and his crew had to dig to discover much of the plane which had been buried in decades of mud. "What helped identify that aircraft was a Beaufort control column," Willie says. "It was in the cockpit area, which was underground by about three metres maybe, so we dug down and took out the control column." The group could also see bones of the men who had been onboard, parts of a leather watch and the pilot's vest. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="587"] The expedition crew had to dig to discover parts of the plane long buried in the mud.(ABC News: Natalie Whiting)[/caption]   The volunteers piecing together war history Willie brought the control column and some of the rusted weaponry back to his father David Flinn to try to identify the plane. David is president of the Rabaul Historical Society and the reason Willie has such an interest in WWII history. "I used to follow him out to investigate leads that others would provide for him, and we would go and see crash sites," Willie says of his childhood. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="585"] Willie says he took an interest in World War II history thanks to his father, David Flinn, president of the Rabaul Historical Society.(ABC News: Natalie Whiting)[/caption]   Rabaul was a significant site during the war. Guarded by a small contingent of Australian troops, it was captured by Japanese forces in 1942 and turned into a major naval and air military base. It then suffered intense allied bombing until the end of the war. Across Rabaul, huge tunnels still remain that were dug by the Japanese — largely using forced labour — to hide people and materials from the air strikes. Over on the main island of New Guinea in East Sepik province, the US Embassy recently carried out their own excavations to repatriate the remains of WWII soldiers. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="585"] Divers take part in a US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency excavation to repatriate the remains of World War II soldiers.(US Embassy Papua New Guinea)[/caption]   David is among a small group of locals who volunteer to preserve the history and discover crash sites in Rabaul. He's glad to see his son take on the interest. "It's extremely important because people like us, we're at the end of our careers. I can't walk up into the bush like I used to," he says. Rod Pearce, another local and an experienced diver, has identified more than 50 crash sites — mostly underwater. [caption id="attachment_28143" align="alignnone" width="583"] Rod Pearce volunteers with David and other locals to explore and research crash sites in the region.(ABC News: Natalie Whiting)[/caption] Many families have come to Rod for help in locating relatives who were lost during the war. "I always reply but in a lot of cases it's beyond me to even start a search, and a lot of times they don't know where he went down," he explains, sitting on his boat in Rabaul Harbour. But Rod has been able to assist many families, as well as authorities from the US, Australia, and Japan, in locating sites. It involves extensive research, planning, and trawling through records. "Some of the aircraft still have [people listed as missing in action] onboard, waiting for the authorities to do the recoveries. And that's what I like [to see] — to just see closure for those airmen from WWII," he says. 'The plane was shot at': Villagers share stories of the downed aircraft The memories of the war have also been passed down in many villages across East New Britain. "Stories of the war were passed down from generation to generation," Barrum village chief Israel Joseph says. "During the war, the Japanese had killed some of locals. "Others were used as carriers, some died because of carrying heavy loads." He came across the crash site that Willie is now studying 15 years ago. He says he has heard stories of the plane being shot down. "It flew that way and crashed over there. My grandfather told me this. They watched the plane crash land from the old Vunga village." The chief has protected the site and was glad to see Willie come to document and report it, but he's worried about people from a neighbouring village coming onto his land to try to steal parts of the plane. [caption id="attachment_28144" align="alignnone" width="584"] Barrum is the closest village to the crash site, several hours' walk away.(ABC News: Natalie Whiting)[/caption] David Flinn says many crash sites are lost to people pillaging. "The single-biggest problem we have is that people believe that these wrecks are very valuable," he says. "So, they go up and smash the site to bits and by the time we get to hear about them there's usually not a lot left." There is also concern about sites being destroyed by logging companies. Identifying the plane — and the Australians onboard It's been a year since Willie first trekked out to the plane site. He recently returned to try to get more identifying information. David and Rod are working on the guns he brought back from the first trip, trying to clean them up and find serial numbers. On his second visit to the site, Willie was trying to find identifying numbers on the props and other parts of the wreckage, but the material was either too rusted or buried. Willie remains hopeful that the plane can be identified. "It would mean the world to me," he says. [caption id="attachment_28145" align="alignnone" width="589"] Willie remains dedicated to finding the answers about the plane that crashed.(ABC News: Natalie Whiting)[/caption] The team has so far been able to identify the aircraft as an Australian Beaufort, and based on records of that type of plane and the area it was found in, the team believes there are two likely options. "It could be one of two — I wouldn't like to speculate who it is, simply because we haven't done enough investigation on it yet and it could take another year before we really find out who is in there," David says. Also, they think four airmen would have been onboard, based on the type of plane. The Australian Defence Force was informed when the site was found last year, but they haven't been out to visit yet, so there hasn't been an official identification. "In light of the eased COVID-19 related travel restrictions, further investigation of this remote crash site is planned in 2023," a spokesperson said in a statement. There is a small team within the Royal Australian Air Force tasked with investigating wreckages like this one. The defence spokesperson said RAAF has provided guidance to minimise disturbance to the site to ensure the best chance of positively identifying the aircraft and recovering any human remains. "Defence is committed to the recovery, identification and burial of its men and women who died while serving their nation," the statement said. David says he's hopeful the authorities will soon be able to make the trip, in order to finally bring closure to the families of those who went down with the plane. Source: ABC Pacific News

At around 11:30am Sunday morning, the 111 ambulance operations center received multiple calls about a motor vehicle incident on the Hiri-Tano Hwy about 100m west of Laloki hospital. Five ambulances, including a paramedic unit, and two emergency nurse units were dispatched to the scene. A total of 7 patients required treatment including four with serious injuries. All patients were transported to Port Moresby General Hospital. A total of 4 patients were the transported to hospital by St John and 3 by ambulance of Laloki hospital. However, it was frustrating for ambulance crews when bystanders forcefully remove patients from a vehicle that are trapped. People can die as a result of worsened injuries when bystanders try to remove patients from a vehicle. Leave the patients in place until ambulance professionals are at the scene.

Report any illegal power connection, either done by individuals in residential areas or done by business houses and get rewarded for reporting it. That is the word from PNG Power Limited (PPL) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Obed Batia when announcing the power company’s new initiative that would work both ways; reward people that report illegal connection and safeguard the power company from more illegal activities that drain its revenues. The new initiative- the External Reward Program called ‘Pawa Tokaut,’ will see PPL reward any individual who reports any illegal power connection with cash rewards. Mr. Batia said the new initiative is a follow on from the Amnesty Exercise that ran from June to September this year. “The Amnesty Exercise is enforcing the PNG Power revenue, a protection strategy part of the three-year corporate plan aimed to combat the revenue leakage, maintain existing revenue and see a growth in revenue through more new customer connections,” said Mr. Batia. He said other initiatives, like the new Pawa Tokaut, need to work hand in hand with the Amnesty Exercise. “It (Pawa Tokaut) will enable the public to come forward, report illegal connections and in return, the person reporting them will get cash reward.” For the cash rewards, the CEO said its K250 cash reward for reporting on illegal connections in domestic and residential areas. The second reward is 10% of the monthly billing of a business or company that is found guilty of making an illegal connection, be given to any individual who reports that business house or company that is doing so. “In addition, PPL will charge and prosecute and apply appropriate penalties to the offenders,” said the CEO. He also assured the public that the identity of the person reporting the illegal connection will be kept confidential and therefore, he is encouraging the public to come forward and report by calling the toll the free number 116. “PPL sends out a strong message as well to those that are illegally connected that this initiative will see you charged and prosecuted under the current Electricity Industry Act and the Criminal Code,” he said. This new initiative has already started and will run from October to December 31st, 2022, and is piloted in three urban centers, Port Moresby, Lae, Madang, and Kokopo. The CEO added that eventually, this program will go out to other provinces under phase two of the arrangements.

NCD Metropolitan Superintendent Gideon Ikumu said two people were reportedly killed in a fight between the Helas and Eastern highlanders in Erima yesterday. Mr Ikumu said, the two groups mobilized and exchanged projectiles resulting in some injuries, before police intervened and stopped the fighting. He said the NCD Homicide unit is now investigating these reported killings, but the community leaders must also step in to assist the police in their investigations. Mr Ikumu said the leaders on both sides of the conflict must identify the suspects involved in the killings and bring them to the police. The Metsup and his men spoke to the Helas underneath the Kookaburra Fly over before meeting up with the Marawaka community at Erima Mambu settlement yesterday. In these meetings, the Metsup appealed for calm and said the police will do everything within its means to stop the fight from re-occurring.

City Pharmacy Limited (CPL) is proud to support the national women’s rugby league team, the Santos PNG Orchids in their World Cup campaign with a donation of health and hygiene packs. As the country’s largest retail organisation, CPL started its journey as the City Pharmacy chain providing primary healthcare support to communities across the country. Head of Pharmacy Mr Pradeep Panda when presenting the hygiene packs to the team said: “We all know how vital good health and hygiene is for everyone and especially for female athletes. CPL therefore prides itself on supplying only the best healthcare products,” said Mr Panda “Our donation of health and hygiene packs for the national women’s rugby league team is also in line with our community investment priorities which include sports development and women’s empowerment. To join Santos and the PNG Rugby Football League invest in the development of women’s rugby league and in the empowerment of women is something we are very proud of.” Okaro Yogi, Chairlady of the Santos PNG Orchids when acknowledging CPL said: “We are indeed fortunate to have the support of City Pharmacy. Their kind gesture reaffirms their commitment to helping our people live healthier and better lives. These care packs will go a very long way for our female athletes. Thank you, City Pharmacy.” CPL continues to partner with several leading brands including Jack’s of PNG and Fresh Express to bring new products and services to the people of PNG and is excited to become a sponsor of the national women’s rugby league team.

In a major blow for Russian President Vladimir Putin, a huge explosion early Saturday severely damaged the only bridge connecting the annexed Crimean Peninsula with the Russian mainland, crimping a key supply route for Moscow’s faltering war in Ukraine. The blast collapsed part of the roadway on the Kerch Strait road-and-rail bridge – opened by Putin himself in 2018 – images and video from the scene showed. At least three people were killed in the explosion, Russian officials said, citing preliminary information. The exact cause of the blast at Europe’s longest bridge is yet to be confirmed. Russian officials said a truck exploded, causing Crimea-bound sections of the bridge’s roadway to fall. A subsequent fire engulfed a train of fuel tanks on a separate, adjacent rail portion of the bridge. Putin ordered a “government commission” to examine the Kerch bridge “emergency” in Crimea, Russian state media TASS reported. Also on Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the appointment of a new commander for what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine, according to Russian state media. The new commander, General Sergey Surovikin, first saw service in Afghanistan before commanding a unit in the second Chechen war. He has commanded several motorized rifle divisions and was instrumental in Russia’s operations in Syria, and while there, was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. His appointment is the latest promotion in a military career that began in 1983 but has also led him to be sanctioned this year by the European Union. The long-term effects on the use of the bridge weren’t immediately clear. Russian officials said a limited amount of car traffic had resumed on undamaged sections of the bridge’s roadways by Saturday evening and that train services were resuming on the bridge’s railways. The first passenger train resumed travel across the bridge on Saturday evening, traveling from the Crimean peninsula to Krasnodar Krai in southern Russia, Russia’s Ministry of Transport said in a statement late Saturday. “Double-decker train No. 28 departing from Simferopol [en route] to Moscow passed through the Crimean bridge. It became the first train to pass through the bridge after the emergency. Train No. 28 left the capital of the Republic of Crimea on schedule at 17:10 and has already passed through the bridge,” the statement reads. But trucks were being asked to take ferries across the strait, state media reported. The damage to the roadway appeared to be severe, with westbound lanes crippled in at least two places. Video and images from the 19-kilometer (11-mile) bridge appeared to show a portion of the roadway had fallen into the water. Crimea raised its terror-threat level to yellow on Saturday across much of the peninsula after the explosion, according to the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, Sergey Aksenov, in a statement on his Telegram channel. Aksenov also said that the ferry service in Crimea will operate free of charge and will be subsidized from the state budget. He added that all local hotels have confirmed free accommodation for tourists who were unable to leave the peninsula on Saturday. The first ferry with passengers left the port in Kerch for the coast of Kuban, a region in southern Russia separated from the Crimean Peninsula by the Kerch Strait. The lights on the bridge are set to be restored over Saturday night so that repairs can be carried out around the clock, according to a statement published on the website of the Russian Cabinet of Ministers, citing Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin. According to the statement, divers will start their work on Sunday morning and check all the supports of the bridge. Once all results are received, a decision will be made to open traffic on the bridge for buses and heavy vehicles. For now, supply trucks and buses cannot use the bridge to travel from Crimea to Russia. Supply trucks and buses will instead travel from Crimea to Russia via ferry service, and not the bridge, Askenov said. An official in Crimea blamed “Ukrainian vandals” for the explosion. Some Ukrainian officials gloated over the incident without directly claiming responsibility – even announcing commemorative stamps will be made. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that “the reaction of the Kyiv regime to the destruction of civilian infrastructure testifies to its terrorist nature.” The bridge is strategically important because it links Russia’s Krasnodar region with the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014 in a move condemned by the international community. It is a critical artery for supplying Crimea with both its daily needs and supplies for the military. Over the last few months, dozens of Russian military convoys have used the bridge, carrying vehicles, armor and fuel. If the Russian military’s use of the bridge is hampered, its supply lines to forces in southern Ukraine would become more tenuous, especially when combined with Ukrainian advances southward into Kherson region, north of Crimea. Russia has used the Crimean railroads to ferry supplies to forces in Kherson, and several rail hubs in both Crimea and Kherson have been attacked by long-range Ukrainian rockets. Preliminary information indicates three people were killed in the incident, “presumably the passengers of a car that was next to the blown-up truck,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said on Telegram. At least two bodies, that of a man and a woman, were recovered from the water, and their identities were being established, the investigative panel said. Records indicate the truck that exploded belonged to someone in Russia’s Krasnodar region; investigators are checking the owner’s home and trying to determine the truck’s route, the investigative committee said. The bridge spans the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov, on which sit key Ukrainian ports, including Mariupol. For Russia, the bridge symbolizes the physical “reunification” of Crimea with the Russian mainland. No further details on the timing or scope of the commission have been announced. RIA Novosti said that there are “no projections for the timing of the restoration of the Crimean bridge yet,” citing Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov. An official in Crimea placed blame on “Ukrainian vandals.” “Ukrainian vandals somehow managed to get their bloody paws on the Crimean bridge. And now they have something to be proud of, in 23 years of their economic activity, they did not manage to build anything deserving of interest in Crimea. But they did succeed in damaging the roadbed of the Russian bridge,” Chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea Vladimir Konstantinov said. “Such is the whole essence of the Kiev regime and the Ukrainian state … Of course, the causes of the accident will be investigated, and the damage will be repaired swiftly,” he added. CNN cannot independently verify Konstantinov’s claim. Ukraine reacts to explosion Ukrainian officials taunted Russia over the explosion without directly acknowledging that Ukraine was responsible for the attack. “Air defense of the Russian Federation, are you sleeping?” the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Facebook, alongside a video showing a section of the bridge’s road that had been completely destroyed. “Russian illegal construction is starting to collapse and catch fire. The reason is simple: if you build something explosive, sooner or later, it will explode. And this is just the beginning,” David Arakhamia, the head of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s party in parliament and a member of Kyiv’s negotiating team with Russia, said in a Telegram statement about the incident. A senior Ukrainian official, Oleksiy Danilov, posted video of the damaged Kerch bridge alongside a clip of Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday, Mr President,” which Monroe performed for President John F. Kennedy in 1962. Putin turned 70 on Friday. The Ukrainian Postal Service will issue stamps featuring the damaged bridge, its CEO said Saturday. “I will not wish you a good day, because it is already wonderful. The Kerch bridge is done,” the official, Igor Smelyansky, said. On Thursday, Oleksii Hromov, a senior official with the General Staff, said that since September 21, Ukrainian troops had managed to advance 55 kilometers in the north-east, “establish control over 93 settlements, [and] take control over more than 2,400 square kilometers.” Hromov appeared to be referencing gains in Kharkiv region that were made before September 21 but only confirmed later. In an interview in August, a senior Ukrainian military commander said the Kerch bridge was a legitimate target. “This is a necessary measure in order to deprive them (Russia) of the opportunity to provide reserves and reinforce their troops from Russian territory,” Maj. Gen. Dmytro Marchenko said in an interview with RBC-Ukraine. Russia’s bridge to Crimea The Kerch bridge is able to handle 40,000 cars a day and to move 14 million passengers and 13 million tons of cargo per year, state news agency RIA Novosti reported when Putin opened the bridge in 2018. Russian special forces masked in camouflage without unit insignia seized Crimea in a lightning operation in February 2014. Initially, Russia denied that its troops had carried out the mission. Later, it acknowledged that the so-called “little green men” were indeed Russian units. The West responded swiftly with crippling economic sanctions. Russia constructed the bridge after the annexation, spending an estimated $3.7 billion. The damage done Saturday will be a psychological blow to Moscow – the bridge was the physical expression of Putin’s objective to bind Ukraine to Russia. The day it opened in 2018, he led a triumphant convoy over the bridge, driving a truck festooned with flags. Analysis: What the bridge explosion means for Putin and his war effort After the bridge opened, the United States condemned its construction as illegal. “Russia’s construction of the bridge serves as a reminder of Russia’s ongoing willingness to flout international law,” according to a US State Department statement at the time. “The bridge represents not only an attempt by Russia to solidify its unlawful seizure and its occupation of Crimea, but also impedes navigation by limiting the size of ships that can transit the Kerch Strait, the only path to reach Ukraine’s territorial waters in the Sea of Azov.” Ukrainian officials echoed those sentiments following the explosion. “Crimea, the bridge, the beginning. Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled,” Mykhailo Podoliak, who is an adviser to Ukraine’s leader. Train hit in eastern Ukraine Meanwhile, a cargo train in Ilovaisk in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region was hit by a “powerful explosion” Saturday morning, according to the adviser to Mariupol Mayor Petro Andrushenko. “Not only Crimea. Not only fuel tanks. There is also a cargo train in Ilovaisk. Locals report a rather powerful explosion and subsequent detonation at night. The occupiers now have big problems with supplies from both sides,” Andrushenko said. Pro-Russian authorities in the self-declared republic of Donetsk confirmed the cargo train incident, releasing video Saturday showing the fire’s aftermath at a local railway station. Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said on Telegram that shelling “by Ukrainian militants” caused the fire. CNN cannot independently verify the claim. On Thursday, US President Joe Biden expressed caution about the dangers stemming from Putin’s nuclear threats as his military continued to experience military setbacks in Ukraine. “First time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have a direct threat of the use (of a) nuclear weapon if in fact things continue down the path they are going,” Biden warned Thursday evening during remarks at a Democratic fundraiser in New York. He added: “I don’t think there’s any such thing as the ability to easily (use) a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon.” Source: CNN

A fire has damaged the enigmatic statues on Easter Island, with some of the charring said to be irreparable. An unknown number of the stone-carved statues have been affected by the blaze, Chile's cultural heritage undersecretary said. Easter Island has nearly 1,000 of the megaliths, known as moai. They have oversized heads and generally stand about 4m (13ft) high. They were carved by a Polynesian tribe more than 500 years ago. The fire, which broke out on Monday, affected nearly 60 hectares (148 acres), cultural heritage official Carolina Perez Dattari tweeted. It is reported to have been started deliberately, and is centred around Easter Island's Rano Raraku volcano - which is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Easter Island lies 3,500km (2,174 miles) off the coast of Chile. It relies on tourism and reopened just three months ago following its closure during the Covid-19 pandemic. The site has now been closed again while a conservation team examines the extent of the damage. The island's Mayor, Pedro Edmunds, told local media: "The damage caused by the fire can't be undone." The are some 1,000 giant stone statues and carvings on Easter Island, the largest of which weigh 74 tonnes and stand 10m tall. The figures were carved by the indigenous Rapa Nui people sometime between the years of 1400 and 1650, and positioned to form a ring around the island, facing inland. They were figures of spiritual devotion for the Rapa Nui, embodying the spirit of a prominent ancestor. Each one was considered to be the person's living incarnation.     Source: BBC