Prime Minister James Marape has announced the transfer of Planning Department and associated functions to be under the carriage of Finance Minister Rainbo Paita. “I have transferred the Planning Ministry to be under Minister for Finance, Hon. Rainbo Paita, as we work through the restructuring of what Planning and Central Agencies Coordinating Committee (CACC) will be like next year and going forward,” he said. “In light of the 2022 and 2023 budgets, Minister Paita takes carriage of Planning until the full restructure is completed. “This restructure will not only be at Planning, but at all other national headquarter offices, as we transfer functions and staff to departments and provinces. This is consistent with our view that the National offices at Waigani should be aligned with majority of our public servants at provincial and district level.” PM Marape announced other changes beginning in 2023. “Next year, we will bring the big picture strategic planning functions under National Planning Committee to be reporting directly to the Prime Ministers Office, while all annual spending functions under Finance Ministry,” he said. “Treasury remains the warranting department of all public money. We will also resuscitate the Office of Chief Secretary to oversight a National Monitoring Authority to check out on implementation of all budgeted programmes. “These are some reforms we are doing on Waigani Central Government structure to have ease of implementation and monitoring of Government development programmes.”

Three years ago, environmental and weather factors screamed that NSW was entering a fire season on a scale unseen. Now, those same factors are stacking up in the reverse. The Bureau of Meteorology has issued severe storm and river flood warnings. I’ve been watching our rivers bleed out over the landscape, some with multiple major flood pulses along their lengths. The unpredictability of the storm system threatens areas with potential flash floods. River inundation is a slow destroyer of crops and inland towns, but flash floods are the killers. They are very difficult to spot until they actually start to happen. I’ve been attempting to follow these systems and find the storms at their most visually impressive. Areas that once looked like desert now look like oceans. The incredible fury of the water releases exploding out at Wyangala Dam sound like a steam train or a tsunami. It truly is an inland tsunami. The entire state has experienced major floods and Herald photographers, such as my colleagues Rhett Wyman and Brook Mitchell, are committed to telling the stories of people suffering in these disasters. Floods come with their own set of potential dangers that affect lives – foot infections, sunburn, dehydration, gastro and infected insect bites along with holes and submerged debris. These images are from the past few weeks and give a glimpse of the birth and growth of a slowly growing flood disaster that I fear has not peaked in its ferocity or scale. Source: The Sunday Morning Herald

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has again highlighted football’s unique ability unite the world and reiterated a plea to world leaders to begin a dialogue as a first step to bring the conflict in Russia and Ukraine to an end. Speaking shortly after addressing the assembled world leaders at the 17th Group of Twenty (G20) Summit in Bali, Indonesia, the FIFA President re-emphasised his earlier comments about the unique opportunity the upcoming FIFA World Cup™ presents. “My message is actually very simple, it's about football, and football unites the world,” the FIFA President said. “I also made a plea to the world leaders, in particular with regard to the war in Ukraine and Russia calling for a ceasefire for the duration of the FIFA World Cup at least.” Mr Infantino’s comments coincide with the launch of FIFA’s Football Unites the World campaign, within which a host of global football stars joined together and called on the global community to focus on the game’s unique unifying power. His speech to the G20 leaders also comes five days before more than two million fans from every corner of the world are expected to descend on Doha to enjoy the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. The tournament – the first FIFA World Cup™ to take place in the Arab world – will reach another five billion people worldwide. A unique opportunity, the FIFA President says, for the global community to join as one – with a platform unrivalled by any other global event. Source: Fifa.com

Prime Minister  James Marape has always been vocal about connecting the whole of Papua New Guinea by road since taking Office in 2019 and returning after the recent National General Election. Prime Minister Marape continues to speak about the Connect PNG Program of which his Government has already commenced work on and ensuring funds are available to realize his vision. The Marape-Rosso Government has now legislated the Connect PNG Program making it legally binding for the next 20 years. This will now ensure successive governments are obliged to make funding available for the program, which commenced in 2020 and will conclude in 2040. The estimated total cost is around K20 billion. This is a major public funded infrastructure development program ever undertaken in the last 47 years. This year, the people of Papua New Guinea will witness the launching of three of the six roads identified to be funded under the Connect PNG Program. They are the Manus East West Highway, which was launched on November 3, Vanimo-Wewak Coastal Highway, which was launched on November 17 and East and West New Britain Highway, which will be launched before the end of this year. During the launch of the Wewak to Aitape Road Upgrading and Sealing Project under the Connect PNG Program, Minister for Works and Highway Solan Mirisim emphasized that the Marape-Rosso Government is committed to empowering all Papua New Guineans with sustainable and improved road connectivity and accessibility to a whole range of activities including easy access to basic goods and services and access to markets for their vegetables and cash crops. “I must highlight and emphasize that the Connect PNG Programme is a National Roads Infrastructure Development Programme implemented in all regions and provinces. It involves improving existing key economic roads and constructing the missing links,” he said. “In the medium term, the programme aims to connect the Momase and Highlands Regions to the Southern Region through the Trans-national Highway by 2025. “For the long term, the programme aims to have 100 percent road connectivity from the Wutung Border Post all the way to the East Cape in Milne Bay Province. The Minister for Works and Highways said the Sepik Coastal Highway is part of a larger road network under the Connect PNG program that is considered as the Momase Economic Road Corridor that starts from the Wutung Border Post, passing through East Sepik and Madang provinces and ending in Morobe Province. “Marape-Rosso Government recognises the strategic importance of the Momase Economic Corridor Road Network and its huge potential to effect socio-economic development in the Momase Region and PNG as a whole.” Mr Mirisim said the Sepik Coastal Highway is valued at K139.85 million. An initial funding of 10 percent of the total value has already been paid to the local Contractor, Green Hills Limited and the road works will cover 40 kilometres of the 1,318 kilometres of the Momase Economic Corridor road network.

Digicel, PNG’s leading Digital Operator and Telecommunications provider is Sharing More Joy to customers across PNG with over K500,000 in cash and prize giveaways. The 2022 Digicel Christmas Promotion dubbed “Share More Joy This Christmas” will award three amazing cash grand prizes of K100,000, K50,000 and K30,000 cash to three lucky Digicel customers. Cash prizes will also be awarded to 15 lucky winners every week for the duration of the promotion. Five Digicel customers will win K5, 000 cash and 10 customers will win K2, 500 cash every week and that’s not all; Digicel customers will also win daily prizes of 1TOK Primes Bundles and Data Plans. Over 3,000 Digicel customers will become winners this Christmas in the “Digicel Share More Joy” Christmas promotion. With more prizes to win and share this Christmas, Digicel customers can qualify to win by simply topping up with K5 or more or by purchasing any 4G LTE Smartphone and will automatically get a chance to win the daily, weekly and grand cash prizes. In addition, customers who buy the WoWi 4G LTE Smartphone will receive a FREE 7Day 50GB Data plan bundle plus 60 minutes of free talk for Digicel to Digicel calls to their loved ones this Christmas. Lorna McPherson, Senior Vice President of Digicel PNG said, “It is our yearly tradition at Digicel to share more with our customers and this Christmas is no different. We are all about spreading more joy to our customers across Papua New Guinea with exciting daily, weekly and grand cash and prizes valued at over half a million kina. I am very excited that this Customers we will have over 3,000 Digicel customers across PNG becoming winners and what’s more exciting is that we have made it very easy for everyone to qualify to win. Digicel customers simply need to top up with only K5 or more or buy a 4G LTE smartphone and will instantly qualify to win any of these great prizes this Christmas. Ms McPherson continued, “By offering more cash and prizes this Christmas, we hope to share more joy across PNG where our customers and those who are lucky winners can extend this joy to their loved ones and to celebrate the festive season better”. Digicel’s ‘Share More Joy This Christmas’ campaign is officially launched today and will end onthe 31st of December 2022. Digicel encourages all customers to top up K5 or more or buy a 4G smartphone for their chance to win their share in over K500,000 cash & prizes giveaway, so they too can share more joy with their families and wantoks.

The death certificate for Shanquella Robinson has been released, but her family says it doesn’t answer enough questions about the 25-year-old’s death last month. Robinson, well known for her business braiding hair, was in Cabo San Lucas with a group of friends celebrating someone’s birthday. The 25-year-old turned up dead after just one day on vacation. The death certificate, obtained by Nexstar’s WJZY, lists the cause of death as severe spinal cord injury and atlas luxation, which is instability in the uppermost vertebrae. Robinson and her friends had rented a villa and supposedly didn’t go out that night. According to Robinson’s family, the friends told them she was drunk when she died. “They didn’t call us until the very last minute, and then on top of that, they said the maid found her,” Salamondra Robinson, Shanquella’s mother, said. “No one told the same story, so I never believed them anyway,” The section of the death certificate where police could have noted any sign of intoxication only said “person found unconscious in her living room.” The group stayed at Villa Linda 32, a property listed on CaboVillas.com. A representative of the company said the group of friends called the concierge for help on a Saturday afternoon. The concierge called a doctor, who gave CPR. Robinson died at 3 p.m., an estimated 15 minutes after her injury. The death certificate has a section that reads, “Was it accidental or violent?” “Yes,” was typed into that section, but it’s unclear which of those questions authorities were answering. WJZY obtained a list of the seven guests who signed into the villa and called the phone numbers they left with the company. Some numbers weren’t valid; others went to voicemail. “I probably won’t be at ease until someone’s arrested,” said Salamondra. The U.S. State Department previously told WJZY that Mexican authorities believe there’s no clear evidence Robinson was murdered. Source: Myfox8.com

Australia and the Western Provincial Government launched the PNGAustralia Western Province Strategy in Daru on 7 November 2022. The Strategy follows on from the memorandum of understanding signed in2021 and documents the shared vision for an inclusive, healthy, educated, stable and economically prosperous Western Province. The Western Province Strategy also reflects what was bilaterally agreed upon at the national level in the Papua New Guinea-Australia Comprehensive Strategic and Economic Partnership (CSEP) to drive growth, enhance stability and improve service delivery. The Strategy is set out along three pillars of action – improvement in human development, economic development and enabling infrastructure, stability and security – and is informed by the New Way Forward – Western Province Development Plan and PNG’s Medium Term Development Plan. Australia’s support to Western Province in recent years has already included activities related to these three pillars, such as priority upgrades at the Daru General Hospital, establishing the Mabudawan Health Centre and upgrading the Daru electricity grid. Australia has also supported the province in the face of specific health security threats, such as Tuberculosis and COVID-19 and enhanced security with strengthened border management and partnerships with defence operations. The Western Province Strategy is a feature of Australia’s support for PNG’s Medium Term Development priorities. It sets out a coordinated approach to the delivery of Australia’s development assistance across sectors, such as health and infrastructure, includes partnerships with relevant Australian Government agencies such as the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Defence Force, and capitalises on the use of local resources and knowledge for a more efficient and effective delivery of shared development goals. Launching the joint Strategy, Australian High Commissioner, Jon Philp acknowledged the collaboration with the Western Provincial Administration and Governor Taboi Awi Yoto in drafting the strategy and reaffirmed Australia’s commitment to align with the Provincial Development Plan - New Way Forward.

Prime Minister James Marape has invited the United States of America to invest in downstream processing in Papua New Guinea, especially in fisheries. He made the invitation to US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of APEC 2022 in Bangkok, Thailand, today. PM Marape said it was a privilege for PNG to have been given the honor of meeting Secretary Blinken. The bilateral also comes after the Biden administration hosted the first-ever U.S.-Pacific Island Country Summit in Washington, D.C. on September 28–29, bringing together more than a dozen Pacific Island leaders and other keyPM Marape observers to discuss areas of shared interest, including climate change, maritime security, and economic development; and as the US prepares to open its new Embassy building in Port Moresby later this month. Today’s bilateral was the culmination of a busy first day at APEC 2022 at which PM Marape had meetings with several international companies in which he invited them to invest in PNG. PM Marape was accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Hon. Justin Tkatchenko, Secretary for PM and NEC Ivan Pomaleu and Foreign Affairs Secretary Elias Wohengu at today’s meeting with Secretary Blinken. “The US pledged to engage more with us and asked us what kind of support we wanted,” he said after the meeting. “We didn’t ask them to give us more grants and aid - all we asked was for them to bring in more US businesses into PNG, particularly in the downstream sector. “We pointed them to the area of fisheries, saying that’s the best they can do for us, to economically empower us not just today, but more importantly into the future. “We invited them, as the biggest global economy, to bring in their companies and take up residence in PNG.” The meeting also touched on: • Follow-up on discussions from the Washington meeting, especially that PNG’s case was different from smaller Pacific nations; • PNG’s location in the Indo-Pacific region; • PNG’s reliance on Asia for commerce and trade; • US companies operating in PNG, especially ExxonMobil, which recently celebrated 100 years in the country; • USA inviting Pacific Island countries to the next APEC which it will host • Various other matters

National Airports Corporation (NAC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director Mr. Rex Kiponge, was re-arrested yesterday and brought in to the Boroko Police Station in Port Moresby for questioning. Police questioned Mr. Kiponge a little over 4 hours without laying any formal charges. He was later locked up in the holding cell with a charge for abuse of office and released last night on a K2,000 court bail. NAC staff in a show of unity and solidarity protested over the arrest of their Managing Director in front of the Police station while Mr. Kiponge was being questioned. They came with one strong message calling for an end to political interference in the operations and affairs of the NAC. General Manager Commercial Mr. Wali Eki, was succinct in his call to the Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation, Walter Schnaubelt. “Let us discuss in a round table meeting on the very issue at hand and stop using the police as if Mr. Kiponge was a common criminal to deserve the manner of his arrest.” He said this was the second arrest on the airport boss and the manner in which he was arrested seemed highly political. It is understood Mr. Kiponge was picked up by police from Loloata Island while at a business planning workshop with his Provincial Airport Managers and transported to the station after lunch. NAC lawyer Dan Kakaraya called on Minister Schnaubelt to man up and face call a meeting instead of hiding behind the police to solve his problems. “I call on the Minister, the Police Commissioner and CASA Director to explain to the nation why Mr. Kiponge is been unlawfully detained at Boroko.” Mr. Kakayraya claimed that those behind Kiponge’s arrest manufactured the charges just to intimidate and harass the NAC boss.

Telikom Limited launched its Christmas promotion for this festive season giving its customers nationwide many chances to win cash. The 'Krismas CASHpot' campaign officially starts today November 18th and will end on December 23rd. The Head of Sales and Marketing, Mr. Nathaniel Lepani when addressing the media during the launching stating that both mobile and fixed subscription customers are eligible to take part in this Christmas promotion. “There are two draws that customers can win in, a daily draw where 20 lucky winners will have a share in K50, 000 and the major CASHpot draw where 5 weekly winners can win up to K250, 000.” “Customers will get entries into the draw by recharging K10 or more . So, recharge amounts between K10-K19 gets you an entry, K20-K29 gets you two entries and so on.” Mr. Lepani said that if customers get the call, they must answer the call with “Merry Christmas Telikom” to win any of the cash prizes. The daily draws will be done for each region on different days of the week so that they have winners from each of the regions. Draws for each of the region is as follows: Monday – Highlands region, Tuesday – Islands Region, Wednesday – Momase Region and Thursday – Southern Region. Mr. Lepani added that during the first two weekends of the promotion, customers will receive double entries and the 3rd and 4th weekends, customers will receive triple entries. “For customers who are still using the old sims and haven’t upgraded their sims to 4G, there’s a special promotion for the first 100 entries.” Customers can check the number of entries they have by dialing *555#.

The FAO-led EU-STREIT PNG Programme continues to provide learning opportunities to improve cocoa farmers’ skills in hard-to-reach areas of the Sepik region for increased profitability and improved livelihoods of thousands of households who depend on this cash crop. In collaboration with the Division of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL) in Angoram District of East Sepik Province and PNG Cocoa Board, a total of 1375 farmers, inclusive of women and youths from three villages, were upskilled in best block management practices, and cocoa propagation techniques – critical to producing pest tolerant seedlings.   Conducted in Asangumut, Murken and Jungit villages (in Yuwat and Marienberg Rural Local Level Governments), the training sessions had lasted for three weeks, brought together 1350 participants from the three villages plus an additional 25 farmers who enthusiastically trekked from surrounding villages to join. In terms of gender and youth participation, there were 665 women and youths representing 48% of total 1375 farmers who were very keen to attend the training and learn new skills. In Asangumut Village, residents in collaboration with Manbanda Cooperative Society, assisted the Programme to organise the training which was conducted under the theme ‘Integrated Pest and Disease Management (IPDM) and focused on application of appropriate pruning methods on matured cocoa trees following the crop calendar. Pruning is an important cocoa farming activity in block management that allows for shade control for sufficient sunlight and airflow to reduce risk of diseases such as black pod and to provide more nutrients that leads to abundant flowering and hence increased fruit yields. The cocoa budding training was the focus of training sessions organised in Murken and Jungit villages, in partnership with Jangama Apaukra Cooperative Society and Jungit Cooperative Society, which pulled together 943 farmers with a high interest from women and youths numbering 487 or 52% of the participants. “I learned many good things, like how to properly look after our cocoa trees to produce quality beans that will give us more money to pay school fees for our children, buy new clothes to wear and pots to cook. Only cocoa will move us, and I want to say thank you,” said a female farmer and mother Mrs Ruta Sore form Jungit Village. Sharing on behalf of the youth, Vincent Anduare and young cocoa farmers said: “The budding skills will help us to produce CPB pest tolerant cocoas that will provide a source of income to help get rural youths out of poverty.” Commenting on the challenges people in these remote communities face and how the Programme, in collaboration with local partners, is trying to improve cash flow and economic opportunities in these rural communities, the FAO National Cocoa Production Officer, Michael Lames, said: “These are very remote and hard-to-reach communities like Jungit which is located towards Madang Province, so it was a relief to come to their aid. When these cocoa trees come into production, the income will support improve their lives in the villages.” Lames added: “It was good to see many villagers opening their bank accounts with MiBank – a partner of EU-STREIT PNG Programme – instead of taking the risk to travel long distances along the Sepik River and then onto a Public Motor Vehicle to Wewak Town and it’s good we came to them.” As is the practice in all STREIT’s implementation sites, the Programme will follow up with the distribution of agricultural inputs and materials like polybags and shade cloths to help the trained farmers in these three locations to set up their nurseries for the production of CPB tolerant seedlings. These seedlings will then be procured by FAO and re-distributed to farmers in the same area. During the gender and youth mainstreaming sessions, aimed at promoting women and youths’ involvement in decision-making processes for an increased income from agrifood value chain activities, farmers were divided into groups according to their ages and sex in a view to discussing their 24-hour activities.  Men and women, both old and young, explored their roles and responsibilities, starting from household chores to farming, in order to identify where workloads could be shared to improve production and income as well as respect and togetherness at household levels. Through this activity, participants came to the self-realisation that valued labour inputs especially by women that were neither balanced and nor recognised within family farming setups. The Gender and Youth Inclusion team will conduct regular follow-ups to ensure women and youths are included in the cocoa cooperative management committees and also to ensure the official registration and lagalisation of youth groups in these remote villages. MiBank officers under the Programme’s mandate to create an enabling environment for improved access to finance and banking services also accompanied the FAO mission team and staged multiple sessions on financial literacy awareness and opened bank accounts for the farmers and villagers.

Currently, type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented; however, evidence has shown that type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed by taking a few preventative measures, including: Weight management: Excess weight is the single most important cause of type 2 diabetes, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. Being overweight increases, the chances of developing type 2 diabetes seven-fold while being obese makes you 20 to 40 times more likely to develop diabetes than someone in a healthy weight range. Losing weight can help if your weight is above the healthy-weight range. Knowing your BMI number (Body mass index) helps to determine whether you are in a healthy weight range for your height. Talk to your doctor. Exercise regularly: Inactivity promotes type 2 diabetes. Working your muscles often and making them work harder improves their ability to use insulin and absorb glucose, putting less stress on your insulin-making cells, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. Walking briskly for half an hour every day reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 30 percent. If you are new to exercise, talk to your doctor be and start slowly. Eat a healthy diet: Eat plenty of healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, lean meats, fish, eggs, milk, cheese, yoghurt, and high fibre foods. Try to reduce packaged foods where possible and reduce your salt, sugar, and fat intake, particularly trans and saturated fats. Quit smoking: Smokers are 30–40% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than non-smokers according to the CDC. If you are having trouble quitting smoking talk to your doctor. Manage blood pressure: Exercise regularly, maintain a healthy weight, eat a balanced diet, and take any medications as advised by your doctor. Talk to your doctor: Take note of any changes in your health and schedule regular check-ups with your doctor. Source: Sir Brian Bell Foundation