With its balmy beaches, laid back lifestyles and holiday vibe, the tropical paradise of Bali has much to offer any world weary traveler – let alone those fleeing a war zone. So perhaps it should be no surprise that since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Indonesia’s most famous holiday island has once again become a magnet for thousands of Russians and Ukrainians seeking to escape the horrors of war. Some 58,000 Russians visited this Southeast Asian idyll in 2022 following its post-Covid reopening, and a further 22,500 arrived in January 2023 alone, according to the…
Author: PNG Haus Bung
Violet Frank’s two grandchildren serve as reminders of her missing daughter-in-law. It is feared her name will be added to those of more than 300 who died when Cyclone Freddy struck Malawi at the beginning of the week. The youngsters had gone to stay with Violet just days before and escaped the fate of their mother, who fell victim to the unforgiving power of a landslide. “She was with my son in their matrimonial home in Chilobwe. He stepped outside their home when he heard neighbours screaming and things falling with a loud bang outside their house,” Violet said. “Luckily,…
It’s been five years since Taylor Swift last went on tour, during which time she’s released four albums, including the Grammy Award-winning Folklore. Her live absence – enforced by the pandemic – was clearly a source of frustration, because her first show back was a three-hour, fifteen-minute extravaganza, including 44 songs from across her career. “I can’t even go into how much I’ve missed you,” Swift told fans, as she took to the stage for the opening night of her Eras tour. The star had promised the show would be “a journey through all of my musical eras” and the…
The government, in its effort to properly implement development and service provision to the people, introduced a new bill that is now before parliament, to increase the number of Cabinet ministries from 32 to 38. Prime Minister (PM) James Marape introduced the Bill recently to amend the Prime Minister and National Executive Council (NEC) Act to bring up the number of ministries because of increased workload and to cater for the addition in the number of electorates in recent times. PM Marape said more ministers were needed to manage key sectors and address pressing development issues to keep up with…
The Broncos set up a top of the table showdown with the Dolphins after piling on four tries in nine minutes to beat the Dragons 40-18 at Suncorp Stadium. The Broncos trailed 16-8 at halftime and the scores were locked at 18-18 until the 71st minute but they finished too strong to ensure an epic build up to the historic clash with their new cross-town rivals on Friday night. However, a two-point field goal on the last play of the first half by Broncos captain Adam Reynolds narrowed the deficit to 16-8 at the interval and it was a different…
Lance Reddick, an actor in the popular HBO series The Wire, has died aged 60, according to US media outlets. Reddick was also known for starring as Charon in the John Wick action-thriller movie franchise. The musician and actor died suddenly of natural causes on Friday in his Los Angeles home, his publicist said. Police were called to the actor’s house around 09:30 local time (16:30 GMT), the publicist told US media. “Lance will be greatly missed,” his publicist, Mia Hansen, said in a statement. “Please respect his family’s privacy at this time.” Reddick had been in the middle of…
The Titans emerged 38-34 winners over the Storm on Saturday afternoon in a contest which saw 12 tries scored in sweltering conditions on the Gold Coast. The Titans trailed 24-18 at the break before overcoming the error-prone Storm in the second 40 minutes, with star off-season recruit and chief playmaker Kieran Foran impressing, despite spending 24 minutes on the bench after being substituted in a surprise move by coach Justin Holbrook. Even in his more limited role, Foran set up a try and laid on two line breaks, which included helping rookie winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira to a first-half double. While…
Five tries between wingers Tesi Niu and Jamayne Isaako lifted the Dolphins to a 36-20 victory over the Knights on Friday evening, which saw them become just the third expansion team to win their opening three games. Niu scored twice in the first half before his third with 12 minutes to go looked to have put the result beyond doubt, only for Felise Kaufusi to then be sent to the sin bin for a late tackle which saw him put on report for the second time in the game at McDonald Jones Stadium. It set up a nervous finish, before…
Jaxson Paulo played a leading role in the downfall of his former club on Friday night, scoring twice to help the Roosters beat the Rabbitohs 20-18 in a typically fierce encounter between the great rivals. A second-half double from Paulo helped lift the Tricolours to victory, but only after they survived a wild finish which saw the Rabbitohs score with two minutes to play, setting up a hail Mary two-point field goal attempt from Latrell Mitchell which fell short of the posts. Earlier South Sydney raced out to a 10-0 lead after 15 minutes and dominated the opening proceedings at…
OpenAI has released GPT-4, the latest version of its hugely popular artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT. The new model can respond to images – providing recipe suggestions from photos of ingredients, for example, as well as writing captions and descriptions. It can also process up to 25,000 words, about eight times as many as ChatGPT. Millions of people have used ChatGPT since it launched in November 2022. Popular requests for it include writing songs, poems, marketing copy, computer code, and helping with homework – although teachers say students shouldn’t use it. ChatGPT answers questions using natural human-like language, and it can…