The University of Papua New Guinea recently took delivery of a large donation of technical publications from the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum. The publications covered areas such as geology, environmental studies, exploration, petroleum and gas, and many reports that covered a range of private company and government discussions and activities concerning the extractive industries. The donation was facilitated by the former University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Albert Mellam, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum and James Robins, Director of Public Relations at the University. “I am familiar with the areas of study in the School of Natural and Physical Sciences and acknowledge their need for a wide range of references for both students and staff,” said Professor Mellam. “These publications will be put to good use in the School’s reference library and will assist in providing sound background information on the many extractive industries and projects in Papua New Guinea,” he said. Some publications had multiple copies which will be distributed amongst the School’s staff and students, the Science Library, and the Michael Somare Library.

The Broncos have made two late changes to their team for Saturday's Round 25 clash with the Dragons in Sydney. Backrower Jordan Riki has been ruled out with an eye issue and replaced in the starting team by Zac Hosking, with emerging edge forward Brendan Piakura coming into the 17 onto the interchange in jersey No.23. Prop Corey Jensen has tested positive for Covid and has also been ruled out, replaced on the interchange by Rhys Kennedy in jersey No.22. Earlier in the week, lock Pat Carrigan – winner of the Wally Lewis Medal for Player of The Origin Series – was named to return after serving out his four-game suspension while winger Selwyn Cobbo also returns after missing last week’s loss to the Eels due to fatigue. Delouise Hoeter starts in the centres for Brenko Lee who injured his hamstring in a tackle during the second half of the Eels clash, while Tyson Gamble – a winner in all eight NRL games he has played in 2022 – replaces Ezra Mam at five-eighth. Kobe Hetherington will also sit out the game after failing to pass concussion protocols courtesy of a heavy head knock just after halftime against Parramatta.   Source: NRL.com

The University of Papua New Guinea recently received a substantial, generous donation of Covid medical masks from engineering room, Sun Engineering, to cater for the needs of the University’s many students and staff. “Sun Eng has a vested interest in Papua New Guinea and acknowledges the University’s role in developing the academic and technical work force and manpower for the nation. The company selected the University in recognition of this important contribution to the people of Papua New Guinea,” said Mr. Mark Mac Monagle, the Chief Executive Officer of Sun Eng. “The company also acknowledges the need for funding for institutions such as UPNG to ensure that the many students and staff stay protected from the Covid pandemic,” said Mr. Mac Monagle. The University has to cater for some 850 staff and 4 600 students in its five Schools and the University’s Open College. The donation will go a long way to ensuring that staff and students can follow all Covid protocols during all of its ongoing activities, and enable the University to redirect its planned PPE expenditure towards materials that will focus on its core roles of teaching learning, and research. The School of Medicine and Health Sciences expressed their appreciation of the donations as it will now facilitate the continuous supply of medical masks for all students in the School and ensure that all students who carry out their practicals in the Port Moresby General Hospital are fully protected at all times. PC: UPNG Website

The insurance business arm of BSP has been operating in the country since 2018, offering various Life Insurance products since its inception. BSP Life Mt Hagen Sales Office expansion will be its third sales office opened in the country since launch of the Port Moresby sales office in January 2020. BSP Life PNG Country Manager Nilson Singh thanked the BSP Life PNG Board for supporting the setup in Mt Hagen, and said this new office located on Level 1 of Hagen Plaza will give access to both Corporate and Individual Customers in Mt Hagen to access its products and services. “We have chosen Mt Hagen as it is the third largest city in the country and a central location for the Highlands Region, hence it was always part of our expansion strategy. This new office will be manned by two full time staff, which includes our Business Relationship Manager, Mr. Friville Dango, Business Relationship Consultant Mr. Steven Siminji and 20 independent insurance agents who will be assisting our prospective customers in signing up for our Insurance Products,” added Mr. Singh. He added: “We did a soft launch on 15 August 2022 and I am happy to share that we have already issued 3 policies and a number of prospective customers are in the process of being signed up.” “If you must know, in Papua New Guinea, less than 3 percent have some form of life insurance while others know little about the benefits of being insured. The biggest challenge in PNG is that Insurance penetration has been generally very low due to lack of market awareness and understanding the benefits of being insured. By opening our doors in Hagen today, we are committed to ensure that we also invest in awareness and educational programs on life insurance, which supports Bank of PNG’s financial inclusion programs,” he said.   BSP Life is the only life insurer in PNG that offers a Life Insurance product where you can save for the future and at the same time have life insurance protection. “Many of our working Papua New Guineans do not have a savings culture and our Wantok Delite insurance product enables customers to have some disciplined approach to savings, which is beneficial for the long term,” added Mr. Singh. BSP Financial Group’s CEO Robin Fleming began his speech by giving an account of BSP Financial Group (BSP)’s growth over 20 years since being privatized from PNGBC to BSP whilst emphasing on the fact that it is fully Papua New Guinea owned and profit that is generated goes back to shareholders . He said a lot has changed over the years for the iconic brand from just being a bank and extending into asset finance that’s BSP Finance, advisory firm - BSP Capital, and BSP Life. Mr. Fleming said, BSP Life is the largest Life Insurance business in Fiji, the second largest funds management business and own assets and returns on those assets go to our policyholders and shareholders. “We rather expand using the knowledge and experience from Fiji, in PNG, because firstly we understand the importance of Financial Inclusion in PNG, Life Insurance is a key component of financial inclusion and equally it is a long term investment that will provide a lot of future capacity to the economy of PNG. Adding, with the savings of our Policyholders, which get reinvested in profitable and economic opportunities. A long term investment which in 10 -15 years’ time will see real profits.” explained Mr. Fleming. Mr Fleming concluded by encouraging the agents to use the skills and knowledge gained from the trainings conducted to reach as many customers as they can. BSP Life offers the Group Term Life insurance product to the corporate market mainly targeting employer based groups and associations. In January 2020, BSP Life launched its Wantok Delite insurance product for individuals which is a long term savings and protection insurance product where one can choose a policy term of 15, 18, 21 or 24 years. BSP Life offers regular cash payouts every 3 years called ‘Survival Benefit’ and bonuses on maturity. The bonuses are declared every year based on investments performance and added to the sum insured on a compounding basis. In the instance, the policyholder passes away before the policy maturity, and then the full sum insured is paid out to the beneficiary

The Parramatta Eels outmuscled the Storm 22-14 at CommBank Stadium on Thursday night to climb into the top four and set up a mouth-watering qualifying final clash with premiers Penrith. Coming into the game equal with the Storm on 32 competition points but well down on for-and-against, Brad Arthur's produced their most important victory of the season to earn themselves a double chance in the finals. The blue and golds will now get the chance to avenge a controversial 8-6 loss to the Panthers that ended their season in week two of last year's play-offs. After a tense opening 12 minutes on Thursday night a forward pass by Jesse Bromwich gifted the Eels field position and five-eighth Dylan Brown capitalised with a sweet-stepping try from close range. Cameron Munster then put the kick-off out on the full and the Eels marched downfield again and looked to have grabbed their second only for Marata Niukore to be held up over the line. Come the 23rd minute and the Storm created a chance for Xavier Coates on their right edge but the winger was bundled into touch by Maika Sivo in cover. The Eels extended their lead to 8-0 in the 31st minute when a short dropout by Munster failed to go 10 metres and Moses converted the easy penatly goal from right in front. Four minutes into the second half the home side went up 14-0 when Will Penisini finished off a slick right side raid and Moses added the extras to send the raucous CommBank Stadium crowd into a frenzy. The Storm went down a man when Kenny Bromwich failed a HIA and try as they might they were unable to crack the resolute Eels defence. Eels skipper Clint Gutherson put his stamp on the match in the 61st minute when he put tryscoring machine Sivo away down the left wing with a brilliant long pass. Moses' sideline conversion made it 20-0. With 13 minutes to play the Storm opened their account when Harry Grant exploded out of dummy half and planted the ball down for his seventh try of the season. Another mistake by Munster on a short dropout gave Moses another easy penalty shot and the party was in full swing at 22-4. Munster exploded through a hole with three minutes to play to put Nick Meaney over for a try before David Nofoaluma grabbed another one but Munster missed a simple conversion to leave the final score at 22-14. Among of host of stars for the Eels, big men Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Junior Paulo ran for 401 metres between them from 41 powerful carries. "When they start really well and they play physical and they play tough, the team plays that way, and that's the responsibilty they carry," Arthur said post-match of his two bookends. "I think they're world class front-rowers and I love them as a pairing and we're so glad they're here at our club." Source: NRL.com

Leading PNG Pharmacy, City Pharmacy, has sponsored K25,000 to support the upcoming 56th Annual Medical Symposium. " City Pharmacy's various healthcare partners including the Medical Society of PNG share the same vision for a healthier and better PNG. We will keep on supporting those initiatives across the Healthcare sector that focus on education, prevention and community welfare," said Mr Pradeep Panda- Director of Pharmacy. The annual conference, hosted by the Medical Society of PNG, brings together health-care professionals such as medical officers, dentists, researchers, pharmacists and allied workers. " We are grateful of this support from City Pharmacy. We stand to provide advice on issues in the Healthcare sectors and bring to light and discuss the advancements for better Healthcare delivery and research in PNG, " said Professor Nakapi Tefuarani- President of the Medical Society of PNG. City  has been at the forefront of delivering complimentary support to its Healthcare service with programs such as its Pharmacy Scholarships at UPNG, health and hygiene awareness through communities and schools and its implementation partnerships with the PNG Cancer Foundation and Queen pads reusable sanitary pads.

Hawaiian Airlines operated their very first flight with a mother and daughter pilot earlier this week. Mother, Captain Kamelia Zarka and her daughter, First Officer Maria Zarka took flight over the Pacific. According to Hawaiian Airlines, the daughter was hired as a Boeing 717 first officer earlier this year and the mother, a Boeing 717 captain, was the first Tongan woman to captain a commercial airline. First Officer Maria Zarka says it was a dream come true. She says she has been so lucky on her aviation career so far but being able to fly right seat with her mum was an unbelievable lifetime experience. Maria says everybody always comes up to her and tells her how amazing her mum is to fly with and she got to experience that firsthand. The mother and daughter pilot duo is encouraging other young girls to follow their dreams.   Source: Fijivillage

“Work begins now.” Those were the stern words from the newly appointed Works and Highways Minister Solan Mirisim at the handover- takeover ceremony in Port Moresby last night. Minister Mirisim wasted no time in thanking Prime Minister James Marape for his trust and confidence in appointing him as minister to head the Department taking over the leadership from the outgoing and former Minister Michael Nali. He told the gathering it was encouraging that he was appointed by the CEO of the country to lead the department and he would give his utmost best to provide the leadership needed in the department while utilizing the expertise of the Department’s workforce to progress and push development agendas forward. “I am just an ordinary politician. I am here to work and provide guidance and my leadership. Work starts tonight,” said Minister Mirisim. He highlighted that his motto moving into the department was, “Connecting the unconnected; & reaching the unreached.” He said almost 85% of the country’s rural population, translating to 1.5 to 2 million people are yet to be connected by road networks. His motto during his tenure as Minister is targeted at these missing links and this will be made possible by the 5.6% monetary commitment of the Marape/Rosso government in its annual budget allocations to road infrastructures under the Connect PNG program which the department has embarked on. He thanked the former Minister Michael Nali for setting a high benchmark in the Works Department and vowed to carry on from where the former minister had left.

Penrith Panthers coach Ivan Cleary will always be grateful that he was in a position to donate a kidney to his older brother five years ago, but knows not everyone is so lucky. Back in 2017 Ash Cleary's need for a replacement kidney became urgent as he battled with kidney disease, with Ivan emerging as a compatible match following tests, and subsequently donating one of his kidneys to his sibling. Had that not been the case, Ash, like many other Australians who require organ or tissue transplants, would have relied on a non-family donation. Ahead of Jersey Day this Friday, September 2 - which aims to raise awareness of organ and tissue donation in Australia - Ivan spoke about his first-hand experience with the important cause. "The idea is they go to family first as it's much more likely to get a match, [but] there’s a list of other things they have to line up for that to happen, and that's where Jersey Day comes in," Cleary said. "It's maybe apathy, or probably something people don't really know or think about too much, but there's so many people who need them and if there are more available then the more lives that we can all enrich." Cleary said it was important to remember that organ and tissue donation wishes are not included on driver licences anymore, meaning people need to register their wishes at donatelife.gov.au. The Premiership-winning coach also spoke about the need to discuss the topic with your family, as in the event of your passing it will ultimately be your next of kin who decide whether your wishes will be honoured. “Definitely, as a family we have all spoken about it since my brother and what he went through," Ivan said. "We’re all into it. I think that it's just about awareness. It’s awareness about how easy it is to register as a donor and awareness about how you can actually help people, and the number people actually needing it." Five years on from the transplant, Ivan said he is grateful to have been able to play a role in his brother enjoying an improved quality of life, and to be able to lend his voice to the cause. "Privileged if I'm honest, [Ash] was always saying how grateful he was but I actually honestly got a lot out of it myself," Ivan said. "It was a nice experience for all of our family actually and I’m pleased to say he’s doing really well."

Australian-owned Aspen Medical has opened a new healthcare clinic on Champion Parade in Port Moresby's Central Business District (CBD) after relocating from the Sir Hubert Murray Stadium, Konedobu. Aspen Medical's Executive Chairman and Founder was at the clinic to cut the ribbon and invite partners, business leaders, government officials and the media to tour the new medical facility. The company has locked in a long-term commitment to the property and has invested several million in the fit-out at the new clinic including the latest in medical and diagnostic equipment. Aspen Medical Country Manager Gavin Whiteside said, "Our entire team are very excited to be able to deliver our world-class health services in the heart of Port Moresby's CBD. "We have been in PNG for many years now and we are continuing to invest in our presence and capability to increase the services and quality of healthcare in PNG. We are looking forward to supporting the growing number and scale of businesses in PNG, by providing quality healthcare at our new world-class medical facility." Services provided at the clinic include: • Primary healthcare • Occupational health • Visa medicals (Australia and New Zealand) • Telehealth • COVID-19 testing, vaccinations and education • X-Ray This document has been classified as Unclassified • Pathology • Pharmacy • Environmental health services The new clinic caters to walk-in patients and corporate membership accounts. In addition to its clinic, Aspen Medical provides on-site healthcare to in the Corporate sector, Government agencies and the Resources sector in PNG. The opening of the new Port Moresby clinic comes just weeks after Aspen Medical launched the new CT scanner capability in Fiji as part of a Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative with the Government of Fiji, as well as opening a new clinic in the United Arab Emirates, where it is on track to open five more clinics before the end of the year.

This business leader loves to cook up a storm, plays competitive netball and manages one of Milne Bay’s largest office and business complex portfolio. In this first-person interview, Mrs Hacy Abel shares more about herself as well as some of her insights and experiences, including her top super savings tips. I am a proud mother of three children and I have a granddaughter. I am from Milne Bay and Central Provinces. I am so passionate about netball and play in competitions, but it’s seasonal. So cooking is my other favourite thing to do. I love cooking for many people. I will often look for an excuse to cook a massive meal, especially at my fireplace in the backyard. I will cook on my own or get a group of friends to help me out. It’s fulfilling when you get the opportunity, because you are nourishing those around you. Chascorp Ltd. is a property business, which includes Chascorp Haus and Chascorp Business Centre. We are fully-tenanted, and have 28 tenants from difference sectors including government and business shop owners. We are also agents of Boroko Motors and Budget Rent a Car. When we met with Nambawan Super in 2016, we learned about how our staff could save for their retirement, and other superannuation services. I wanted my Staff to have something to lean on in the long run. Without superannuation, you can see what happens to someone who retires. They have nothing. Nambawan Super can really help staff to stay disciplined and focused. There is no card to withdraw the savings, so the money is kept safe. Many of them are happy just to check their balances and see their hard-earned cash. As Papua New Guineans, we also have so many obligations like bride price payments and school fees. Apart from Nambawan Super, Staff can also save with Nambawan Savings and Loans Society (NSLS), available at Nambawan Super offices to meet these sorts of expenses. My mother is from Bwanabwana in Milne Bay, so I have used some of my short-term savings at NSLS to build a permanent home for her. Spend less than what you earn. That’s my top tip for anyone wanting to save. Many of us tend to do the opposite. We can commit to so many expenses, yet our earnings are less and this can get you in trouble. Any Employer should consider joining Nambawan Super so their staff can benefit from savings for retirement and other superannuation services. It also gives the employees other long-term savings options like Voluntary Contributions. With Nambawan Super, you will see that you can fund anything that you’re planning. It is also important because if you are not saving, you do not have any other backup to sustain you when you retire.

The Solomon Islands government has put a moratorium on navy vessels entering its ports, saying it needs to review approval requirements and procedures. The moratorium comes amid increasing tensions between Solomon Islands and the US and its allies since the Pacific nation struck a security pact with China earlier this year. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said in a statement recent problems encountered by US and British ships docking at Honiara were due primarily to appropriate information not being sent to the Office of Prime Minister on time. "We have requested our partners to give us time to review, and put in place our new processes, before sending further requests for military vessels to enter the country," Mr Sogavare said. "These will universally apply to all visiting naval vessels," he said. The statement said foreign vessels had entered the country's waters during the year without diplomatic clearance. It added that Solomon Islands wanted to build national capacity to police the Pacific island nation's exclusive economic zones. "Once the process and procedures are in place suspension of naval vessel visits will be lifted," it said. Last week, the US Coast Guard revealed one of its vessels was unable to enter Solomon Islands for a routine port call because the government did not respond to a request for it to refuel and provision. "Unfortunately, by the time the approval was communicated on the evening of 20th August 2022, the ship's captain had decided to leave our waters," Mr Sogavare, who spoke at a ceremony to welcome the visiting US Navy hospital ship Mercy, was quoted in the statement as saying. The British navy vessel, HMS Spey, also recently failed to get clearance to dock. 'We will continue to closely monitor the situation' The US embassy in Canberra said in a statement on Tuesday it had received notification of the moratorium on all naval visits "pending updates in protocol procedures". The US embassy said Mercy had arrived for a two-week mission before the moratorium. "The US Navy ship Mercy received diplomatic clearance prior to the moratorium being implemented. We will continue to closely monitor the situation," the embassy said. The US Coast Guard vessel, Oliver Henry, was on patrol for illegal fishing in the South Pacific for a regional fisheries agency when it failed to obtain entry to refuel at Honiara, the Solomons' capital, a US Coast Guard press officer said in an emailed statement on Friday. A US State Department spokesperson said the "lack of diplomatic clearance for the Oliver Henry was regrettable", and the US was pleased the Mercy had received clearance. The Mercy's humanitarian mission, together with personnel from Australia and Japan, will include community health outreach, engineering projects and discussions on disaster relief. Separately, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said it was regrettable that "we've seen the Chinese try to bully and coerce nations throughout the Indo-Pacific to do their bidding and to serve what they believe their selfish national security interests are, rather than the broader interests of a free and open Indo-Pacific". Source: ABC news