Seminar: Deep Sea Marine Biodiversity in PNG

Findings of a collaborative research between UPNG and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France, which proves that the deep-sea of PNG has a high biodiversity of mega faunal communities including fish, crustaceans, molluscs, echinoderms, cold water corals and other marine animals, contrary to claims that there is not much biodiversity at great depths.

 

Deep-water biodiversity will be discussed in view of mining activity, bio-prospecting and carbon storage.

 

Title: Deep Sea Biodiversity of PNG as revealed by the BioPapua Cruise 2010

Presenter: Dr. Ralph Mana, Biology Sciences, UPNG

Date: Tuesday 26 July 2011

Time: 12:00pm to 1:00pm

Venue: Science Lecture Theatre

 

Google+ throws challenge at Facebook in social network war

By MALUM NALU

Three years ago, in May 2008, EMTV featured Facebook on its popular Sunday night news programme, 60 Minutes, introducing thousands of Papua New Guineans to this website that is taking the world by storm.

But now, Facebook’s reign on the throne may be coming undone, thanks to Google’s new kid on the block social networking site Google+, which can currently only be accessed by invite.

Back in May 1988, more than 60 million people were on Facebook around the world, and by the end of that year it was 200 million.

The New York Times had declared it Google's biggest attempt to rival the social network Facebook, which had over 750 million users in 2011.

In May 2008, very few Papua New Guineans were on Facebook, unlike today when there are thousands of people with their own pages, with the very-easy accessibility to Internet these days and the wide variety of mobile devices.

I remember when I first joined in 2008; there were only a handful of Papua New Guineans, mainly students studying overseas.

All you have to do is set up a profile page about yourself.

From there you can swap news and photos with friends, track down old acquaintances, and even play long-distance Scrabble.

It can be a very useful tool, or an addictive time-waster.

Either way, Facebook has created an Internet revolution.

 It's now a multi-billion dollar business, the creation of one very young, very geeky computer whiz-kid, 26-year-old Mark Zuckerberg.

Local IT expert, Charlie Gilichibi of Nasfund, estimates that as of July 19, there were more than 41,000 PNG users of Facebook with the number growing every day.

“To get 1,500 to 2,000 Papua New Guineans going to Facebook every two weeks is truly an astounding phenomenon,” he says.

“At, this rate one can extrapolate that by 2015, we will have 100,000 Papua New Guineans on online social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

“Truly exciting times for PNG and let’s keep the momentum going playing our part in developing the ICT ecosystem in our country.”

But now, the founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, have hit back at Zuckerberg with their own social networking site Google+.

Google+ (pronounced and sometimes written Google Plus, sometimes abbreviated as G+) is a social networking service operated by Google Inc.

The service launched on June 28, 2011 in an invite-only "field testing" phase.

 The following day, existing users were allowed to invite friends, who are above 18 years of age, to the service to create their own accounts.

This was suspended the next day due to an "insane demand" for accounts.

Last weekend, a friend in Australia, David Fellows, invited me to test-drive Google+ and I was hooked after all the lack of privacy, swearing, and gossip, bastardised English, false names and sophomoric effusions of young Papua New Guineans on Facebook.

Google+ integrates social services such as Google Profiles and Google Buzz, and introduces new services Circles, Hangouts, Sparks, and Huddles.

 Google+ will also be available as a desktop application and as a mobile application, but only on Android and iOS operating systems.

On July 14, 2011, Google announced that Google+ had reached 10 million users just two weeks after it was launched in a "limited" trial phase.

 After less than a day of being live, the Google+ iPhone app has the number one free spot in the Apple app store.

 After three weeks in operation, it has already reached 20 million users.

·         "Circles" enables users to organise contacts into groups for sharing, across various Google products and services. Although other users can view a list of people in a user's collection of circles, they cannot view the names of those circles. The privacy settings also allow users to hide the users in their circles as well as who have them in their circle. Organisation is done through a drag-and-drop interface. This system replaces the typical friends’ list function used by sites such as Facebook;

 

·          "Hangouts" are places used to facilitate group video chat (with a maximum of 10 people participating in a single Hangout at any point in time). However, anyone on the web could potentially join the "Hangout" if they happen to possess the unique URL of the Hangout;

 

·          "Huddle" is a feature available to Android, iPhone, and SMS devices for communicating through instant messaging within circles;

 

·         "Instant Upload" is specific to Android mobile devices; it stores photos or video in a private album for sharing later;

 

·         "Sparks" is a front-end to Google Search, enabling users to identify topics they might be interested in sharing with others; "featured interests" sparks are also available, based on topics others globally are finding interesting.Sparks helps to keep users posted on the latest updates on the topics of their interest;

 

·         In the "Stream," users see updates from those in their circles. The input box allows users to enter a status update or use icons to upload and share photo and videos. The Stream can be filtered to show only posts from specific Circles;

 

·          Google+ has a "+1" button to allow people to recommend items;

 

·         Unlike Twitter and Facebook, there is not yet an application programming interface that enables software developers to interact with Google+ programmatically;

 

·         Additionally, Google+ presents the different icons in a graphical or pictorial manner instead of the more commonplace text written icon names;

 

·         Similar to other Google applications, Google+ provides integration with other Google applications like Gmail, Calendar, Documents, etc; and

 

·          A "Data Liberation" option provides the ability to download one's content from Google+.

 

“Google+ lets you arrange your friends into groups,” comments local IT expert Gilichibi.

“Like one doesn't want others to see their conversation between family members, their social friends etc.

“Facebook is an open platter without much privacy for your different circle of friends.

“Google+ is still project in progress and has only given access to 10 million test users.

“Already, there are raging reviews about Google+ and it seems very likely to push Facebook to cling to every one of its users as those users mean a lot to Facebook's advertising dollars which run into the billions.”

Abal: NEC to peruse report

 By JEFFREY ELAPA

PRIME Minister Sir Michael Somare is recovering well and even had a conversation with his doctor last week, The National reports.
This was disclosed by Acting Prime Minister Sam Abal after talking to Prof Isi Kevau who last week returned from visiting Sir Michael at his hospital in Singapore.
Kevau’s report will be tabled before the national executive council tomorrow.
Abal confirmed that Cabinet would “decide through the report submitted by Kevau on Sir Michaels’s health”.
He said the council had advised Kevau to travel to Singapore to assess the condition of the prime minister.
He returned with his report last week. Abal said the report had already been presented to Chief Secretary Margaret Elias.
The NEC will discuss it before it is submitted to Governor-General Sir Michael Ogio.
He said from what Kevau told him Sir Michael was recovering well and even had a conversation with him.
However, he said the recovery process was going to be very slow because of Sir Michael’s age.
“The nation has to be informed that the prime minister is doing well,” Abal said. 
“I’m happy that he is recovering but his recovery will be slow.”
Former deputy prime minister Sir Puka Temu had earlier said the law required that the head of state, acting on advice, should request the PNG Medical Board to appoint two medical practitioners to examine the prime minister and to provide him with full details of the examination and an opinion on his ability to physically and mentally carry out his duties.
He said the head of state should then decide if the prime minister was unfit to carry out his job for more than three months before advising the speaker to present it in parliament.

 

Late-comers at ministerial forum angers acting prime minister

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

ACTING Prime Minister Sam Abal was not at all impressed with the lateness of his ministers who kept him waiting for up to two hours before the ministerial forum at Waigani, NCD, last Friday, The National reports.
The forum, scheduled to start at 8am, began at 11am, with Abal reminding his cabinet ministers to be aware of timing.
Abal waited at his office for all the ministers and departmental heads to arrive.
Only Education Minister James Marape, National Planning Minister Paul Tiensten, Forest Minister Timothy Bonga, Public Service Minister Moses Maladina, Correctional Services Minister Tony Aimo, Tourism Minister Guma Wau, Transport Minister Benjamin Poponawa and Communication Minister Patrick Tammur turned up on time while three others turned up when Abal was making his statement.
“It should not be Enga time, Sepik time, Pacific time or PNG time, it must be standard time,” Abal said.
He said the difference between developed and developing countries was timing.
“One of the reasons is we do not respect time and come on time. I hope Papua New Guinea does things on time.”
He said this during a meeting between ministers and departmental heads, which was the mid-year review of implementation of core projects by each ministry and department.
“We are here to check what we have achieved in the past six months. 
“Ladies and gentlemen, we must respect time. It is almost one year before the next election and the next parliament.”
Abal said the government had been in office for the past two terms and “it must tell the people what it has achieved during that time”.
“Elections are coming up and we must go out and confidently tell our people what we have achieved,” he said.
Abal said although the country was at the crossroads, it was doing well.
“I know elections are around the corner but it is important that we maintain leadership in all sectors.
“We must not relent. The government must show to the people that we are performing and we have the ability to do it.”
Minister assisting the Prime Minister Charles Abel said Abal’s message to ministers and departmental heads was “we need to pull up our socks”.

 

MP: Review on for 70 licences

 By JEFFREY ELAPA

MORE than 70 suspicious petroleum licences have been issued over the past three years and all of them will now be reviewed, Minister for Petroleum and Energy Francis Potape revealed last week, The National reports.
He said some people owned more than one licence and most of the licences were issued for projects in the Western, Gulf and Southern Highlands.
He said the manner in which the licences had been issued was suspicious and his department “will look into and review all licences”.
He said this during the ministerial review forum at the Institute of Public Administration in Port Moresby last Friday.
Potape said many licences were issued to people and organisations that were not involved in the petroleum industry and the licence holders had not started any explorations.
He said each licensee was required to submit quarterly reports and annual reports but, in the past three years, no reports had been submitted to the department.
“I am appealing to people and firms with questionable licence holders to come forward and meet with my department,” he said.
Potape said the industry was concerned at the manner in which these licences were issued.
He said he “will get to the bottom of it to clean the mess”.
“In the petroleum industry, licensing is really important but these have been sold unnecessarily to firms and people. 
“The industry is really rotten and we have to clean the rot in the department to restore investor credibility and confidence,” he said.
Potape said many of them were “farm-in”the licence and making millions of kina.
He said although “farm-in” or trading of licences was not illegal, “the manner in which the licenses were issued is suspicious”.
“The integrity of this nation has to be maintained and should not be sold. Licences are important elements of conducting any business and should not be given away,” he said

 

Police: Force will be used

By DULCIE OREKE and JUNIOR UKAHA

 

POLICE will not hesitate to use whatever force is necessary to enforce law and order, National Capital District metropolitan commander Supt Joseph Tondop has said, The National reports.

In the wake of an incident last Friday, where police shot dead three armed men and wounded two others, Tondop said there was an increase in criminal activities in Port Moresby, making it unsafe for residents and visitors.

Tondop said it was time the police and law-abiding citizens said "enough is enough".

He urged criminals to lay down their arms and take stock of their lives, adding that there were many worthwhile activities they should engage themselves in.

Five men, armed with two semi-automatic pistols, fired at police when they were intercepted at the Courts roundabout in Gordon, NCD, by members of the Armed Robbery Unit.

Tondop said the chase began after an Asian businessman was held up and robbed at Hanuabada around 1pm.

He said the armed men were in a stolen car when they were spotted on Waigani Drive.

Tondop said the exchange of gunfire began when police officers signalled the driver of the stolen car to stop but he ignored the warning.

Police gave chase and, after about 30 minutes of exchanging fire, the driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed it into a flower bed in the middle of the road.

Police found weapons including homemade guns in the car. 

The three men were believed to be from Morobe, Eastern Highlands and Central.

Tondop said the criminals belonged to a group known to police as the "A Team" and had been wanted for a string of illegal activities.

He said two of the men had escaped while in custody at the Boroko police station in relation to robbery offences while one was believed to be the driver of the late Wong Tee Tee's killer. 

He said police were in the process of coming up with a response team targeting hotspots based on intelligence.

A doctor at the Port Moresby General Hospital accident and emergency ward, who did not want to be named, confirmed that the hospital had two injured men.

"Yes, they were hit by bullets," he said. "We will do what we can to help."

Police said the armed men had been travelling in a stolen vehicle, a grey Honda CRV, bearing the registration BDA 417, when a police team intercepted them and gave chase along Kennedy Road around 1pm.

The shootout ended at the busy Waigani Drive next to the Kone Tigers oval when police shot the driver.

Police said the driver, of highlands' origin, lost control of the vehicle and it veered off the road and hit a concrete flower bed in the middle of the freeway.

The driver tried to escape but was shot and died on the spot.

A second gang member, believed to be from Morobe, was hit and died in the vehicle.

The third man, believed to be from Central, died from bullet wounds to his chest.

Two others who tried to flee the scene were shot and arrested by police.

A senior police officer at the scene said the two guns and a large quantity of ammunition found in the car were evidence that the men had been planning a major robbery when they were intercepted. 

He told the crowd at the scene that criminals would face the same fate.

"This is to teach a lesson to you all," he said.

"If you want to steal, you will die like this."

A man, who was taking pictures of the scene using his mobile phone, was assaulted and his phone taken away by police.

He was ordered to "give the phone, shut up and drive on".

Provincial politicians call acting prime minister to fast track entitlements

By MALUM NALU

Former provincial politicians affected by provincial government reforms in 1995 have called on acting Prime Minister Sam Abal to fast track their payments.

The provincial politicians, who are fast losing their patience at constantly being given the cold shoulder by the Department of Provincial Affairs and Local Level Government, produced court and Cabinet documents approving K30 million to be paid to them

They said there was a court order in place from May, June and December 2010, however, a stay order instituted last January by the State through Peter Kuman Lawyers and Provincial Affairs and Local Level Government Secretary, Manasupe Zurenuoc, was proving to be a real stumbling block.

“This stay order by Provincial Affairs Secretary is an obstacle to the State,” they said in a letter to Abal dated July 11.

“As recipients of the said money, we feel that our basic rights are being denied by those in authority who are supposed to execute government directives.

“We are now wondering as to whose job it is to fast track this matter and settle this stay order before the court.

“We appeal to your good office to instruct the Office of Attorney General and the Secretary, Department of Provincial Affairs through Peter Kuman Lawyers, to immediately appear before the court and explain reasons of the stay order so that the high court can make decision as to how best this matter can be settled once and for all.”

Former Rabaul mayor Michael Konjib and former West Sepik assembly speaker John Wootong said their colleagues around the country were ageing and dying while waiting in vain for their entitlements.

“National Executive Council has made its decision,” Konjib said.

“However, despite the first decision being made by the NEC in 2007, we have received nothing yet.

“The secretary (Zurenuoc) says the K30m is still with him.”

Wootong said: “All we want is for our money to be paid immediately.

“Our colleagues out in the provinces are ageing and dying.

“We want the Prime Minister to intervene.”