President Joe Biden on Friday dug into Republican opposition to advancing federal voting rights legislation during a commencement address at South Carolina State University. His remarks came ahead of a renewed push on voting rights, even as he acknowledged Thursday night that another major legislative priority of his administration, the Build Back Better social spending bill, will need to wait until 2022. “I’ve never seen anything like the unrelenting assault on the right to vote. Never,” Biden said Friday during his address to the graduates. Showing some clear frustration, Biden said, “We have to protect that sacred right to vote,…
Author: PNG Haus Bung
The major sponsor for match officials of the Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League (PNGRFL) has condemned the violence against referees and touch judges last weekend. Motor Vehicles Insurance Limited (MVIL) denounced the violence and called on PNGRFL to take appropriate actions in imposing strict penalties on those involved in humiliating the standard of rugby league in the country. MVIL Managing Director, Mr. Michael Makap, said first and foremost, the match officials are human beings who deserve to be treated with decency and respect. They play a crucial role in ensuring that the game is played in a spirit of…
It was a forlorn hope, perhaps, but after a second year of pandemic-era monotony — pat your pocket for a mask; yep, there’s the QR code; ooh, the text says we’ve got another parcel coming soon — a few of us had hoped the Ashes might occasionally offer something exciting and unexpected. Maybe exciting wasn’t the word for it, but on day three in Adelaide, it was certainly novel that England went the entire first session without losing a wicket. Joe Root and Dawid Malan, their country’s first and last batting defence in this series, put on 123 runs in…
Hong Kong holds elections for the city’s legislature on Sunday — the first for the Legislative Council since the central government in Beijing led an overhaul of Hong Kong’s electoral process this year. An analyst who spoke to CNBC predicted less interest in the polls this time, because those electoral changes have “narrowed” the choices for voters. The amendments that were introduced as part of the electoral overhaul mean there will be fewer directly elected representatives, and more Beijing-approved officials. Kurt Tong, partner at The Asia Group, expects voter turnout at the polls to be “rather low.” “Really the choices are quite…
The future of bitcoin is anyone’s guess, but one academic has warned that the world’s most popular cryptocurrency could fade out in the near future. Eswar Prasad, senior professor of international trade policy at Cornell University, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” earlier this month: “Bitcoin itself may not last that much longer.” Bitcoin’s price has been highly volatile over the last few years and in the last month the price of one coin has fallen from around $58,000 to less than $46,000. At 10:15 a.m. ET on Friday, the price of a bitcoin was $45,637. While there used to be just a…
The Biden administration said Thursday it imposed trade restrictions on more than 30 Chinese research institutes and entities over human rights violations and the alleged development of technologies, such as brain-control weapons, that undermine U.S. national security. The Commerce Department accused China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences and 11 of its research institutes of using biotechnology “to support Chinese military end uses and end users, to include purported brain-control weaponry,” according to a notice in the Federal Register. The notice does not elaborate further on the alleged brain-control weaponry. “The scientific pursuit of biotechnology and medical innovation can save lives. Unfortunately,…
Well over 2000 Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have applied for loans under the National Government supported loan facility, the SME Credit Enhancement Scheme Loan (SME CESL) through BSP Financial Group Limited (BSP) with over K115m funded as at 15th December 2021. Of the 2100 SMEs that have applied for loans through the SME CESL facility, over 50% have been successful, with close to 30% of loans in the application stage and 20% have been declined through the Bank’s normal credit assessment process, according to BSP Group CEO Mr Robin Fleming. Mr Fleming added that BSP Financial Group Limited has…
Adolescents from Buna and Kokoda in Oro Province recently graduated from Kokoda Track Foundation’s (KTF) Kicks 4 Kokoda sport for development program. To great excitement, 168 students from schools in Kokoda (116 participants) and Buna (52 participants) from age ranges of 12 to 19 years, graduated from this health awareness and soccer-based skills training program. After a nine-week program of activities focused on topics ranging from gender equality to changing adolescent bodies, the graduation of participants took place on the 27th and 28th of November in the respective locations of Buna Primary School ground and Kokoda Primary School ground to…
PNG Motors representatives handed over the keys of a brand new Hyundai Mighty Dump Truck to representatives of the Mt Hagen Urban Youths United Volunteer Association this week at the headquarters of Western Highlands Province . The truck will greatly assist the 4000 plus volunteer “army” in their mission to clean up Mt Hagen. “The Association is a part of a changing trend in Western Highlands Province which is seeing people ‘doing it for themselves’ rather than sit back and wait for Governments to do it for them,” said PNG Motors Marketing Manager, Stephen Lane, at the handover. “We are…
Police in the Nations Capital, Port Moresby will continue with an eviction exercise that started this week at the Garden Hills removing illegal settlers. In a statement, police said they were acting on a legally obtained court order which must be respected unless there is a restraining order preventing the eviction. “Anyone who attempts to or stops an eviction exercise based on court orders is liable to be held for contempt of court.” The statement said. This is the stance the NCD police command is taking at the back of an attempt by Prime Minister James Marape to halt the…