Woman in murder case changes alibi

By JAYNE SAFIHAO

CATHERINE Mal, the woman accused of inciting a fight at the Madang market resulting in a death, has apologised to the court for changing her alibi, The National reports.
She faces a charge of murder with her son, Emmanuel Ong, and her two nephews Lotivi and Moses Mal.
The four took the witness stand to give oral evidence.
State witnesses claimed that her son and nephews along with her younger brother Onnen, and other members of the Mal family were present during the fight at the four-mile junction on Friday Feb 28.
But the four denied having been physically in a fight in which Daga Nanas died.
Catherine denied inciting the fight by using the words “kilim em kilim em” (kill him, kill him).
Senior public prosecutor Anthony Kupmain asked why anyone would lie to the court about them using alleged weapons at that time of the murder of Daga Nanas.
But they denied having used any weapons or having any on them at the time.
Catherine even denied ever using the words of incitement claiming that she had twice gone to Jomba Police station seeking help but no one was on duty. She said she gave K20 to an ununiformed policeman at a service station.
The court was told that the killing of Nanas happened after a series of long standing arguments and fights between the neighbouring household belonging to Kelly Sakel and his family and the Mal family over land.
Catherine said: “Coming from a family of all girls, my father had entrusted in me the duty of representing him in court over these issues and as such have been the vocal one and the one financially supporting the family in court.
“There is so much hatred between these two groups. There are always fights and arguments between us that sometimes stem from something rather than land disputes.”
Counsel for the accused, Mwawesi Mwagawa asked the court for an adjournment to today to call a witness who Catherine said was with her the whole time.
Mwagawa intends to call other witnesses before he closes his case this afternoon.

Youths promise to quit marijuana

By ELIAS LARI

MORE than 90 youths from Minj district in Jiwaka, Western Highlands, publicly declared last Friday that they had quit smoking marijuana, The National reports.
The youths declared in public they would refrain from engaging in other criminal activities from now on.
The surrender programme was organised by the Lose Hope Youth group from Minj, an initiative of a youth group to help change the lives of their peers.
During a ceremony held at the Minj road junction, many councillors, village chiefs and other people were pleased with the programme initiated by the youth group.
They said drug abusers caused many social problems in their communities but they were now happy that many of those users had quit their bad habits.
Youth group chairman, Bata Kip Ape said the youths decided to do away with their drug habit “is to find a better way of life”.
Ape said they saw that the government was not doing anything to help them and that was why they were trying to find ways to help themselves and live a good life.
He said their local MP and Health Minister Jamie Maxtone-Graham did not want to support his group.
He said the important thing was they managed to change some drug addicts and showed them the way to live a
good life and contribute meaningfully to the developments in the district.
Ape said youths were the backbone of the nation’s development and he urged the government to provide help so that together they could change the lives of the youths involved in bad habits

Court summons Namah and Marat

By SAMUEL RAITANO

ACTING Prime Minister Belden Namah and Attorney-General Dr Allan Marat will today appear before a Supreme Court five-man bench hearing their application to set aside their contempt charges, The National reports.
“Where are they?” Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia had asked state lawyers John Griffin and Manuel Varitimos yesterday after noticing that Namah and Marat were not in court.
The five-man bench headed by Sir Salamo adjourned the application hearing to today, saying Namah and Marat should be present in court.
Acting Police Commissioner Tom Kulunga confirmed that Namah and Marat had “voluntarily surrendered” to police.
Their urgent application was to set aside contempt charges as ordered by Supreme Court judge Justice Bernard Sakora last Friday.
This was because the two had allegedly orchestrated the suspension of the chief justice while a court ruling on the East Sepik special Supreme Court reference was pending.
The five-man bench, headed by Sir Salamo, is to rule on Dec 9 on that reference.
Sakora ordered that Sir Salamo be reinstated as the chief justice after the National Executive Council suspended him last Thursday on allegations of misconduct.
Sir Salamo said the court order “speaks for itself”. The arrest of Namah and Marat were returnable to the court by Dec 12.
The ruling on the East Sepik provincial executive’s special Supreme Court reference, questioning the constitutionality of the O’Neill government, had been scheduled for Dec 9.
The hearing of the alleged contempt by Namah and Marat will follow three days later.
Yesterday, when the bench headed by Sir Salamo found that the two were not in court, Griffin and Varitimos were asked if they wanted to take their (Namah and Marat) places.
The lawyers declined to replace the contemnors.
A source in the East Sepik provincial executive said an application would be made in court this week to have the NEC members arrested for contempt as well.

Four female prisoners dash for freedom

By ZACHERY PER

FOUR female prisoners have escaped from Bihute Jail outside Goroka in Eastern Highlands, The National reports.
Two of the escapees face a murder charge and were awaiting their case to be heard in the Goroka National Court.
They are Belinda Ben from Gumine, South Chimbu, and Ake Peter from Lufa district, Eastern Highlands.
The other two are serving prison terms for causing bodily harm to others. They are Lisa Kutsie from Okapa who will complete her jail term in May 2013, and Angie Andrew of Lufa who should be completing her jail term in September next year.
They made their dash for freedom during the wee hours of last Thursday when there was a power outage at the jail.
A Bihute prison officer who did not want to be named confirmed the escape and blamed the officers on duty for allowing the inmates to leave the prison.
“It’s only through pure negligence by prison warders on duty that enabled them to escape.
“An investigation will be conducted and those found to be responsible will be disciplined,” he said.
The officer also blamed the long hours of power blackout for aiding the escape.
Bihute jail does not have a stand-by generator to maintain a consistent power supply.
He appealed to the public in Goroka, Kainantu and Chimbu province to be on the alert and be wary of any strange-looking females in their respective communities.
“If you see any new faces in your community, you can report it to the police or correctional officers at Bihute,” he said.
It is believed that the women walked through the main doors and gates of the female prison compound which were not locked.

Namah, Marat out on OR bail

By JUNIOR UKAHA

ACTING Prime Minister Belden Namah and Attorney-General Dr Allan Marat were arrested and charged by police yesterday for contempt of court, The National reports.

Acting Prime Minister Belden Namah is escorted out of the Boroko police cells by a security personnel after spending a few minutes inside the cell blocks while waiting for his lawyers to sort out his "own recognizance" bail. Also locked up briefly yesterday was Attorney-General Dr Allan Marat.-Nationalpic by EKAR KEAPU

Both men presented themselves to Police Commissioner Tom Kulunga at the police headquarters at 10.30am.
They were accompanied by Internal Security Minister John Boito, National Planning Minister Sam Basil, Finance Minister Don Polye, Works Minister Francis Awesa, Health Minister Jamie Maxtone-Graham, NCD Governor Powes Parkop, Koroba-Lake Kopiago MP John Kekeno and Ijivitari MP David Arore.
Kulunga instructed the two to present themselves at the Boroko police station for an interview.
They then drove there under police escort where formal charges were laid against them by police at about 11.30am.
Namah and Marat later “walked” into the cell and stayed there for three minutes before being granted bail on their own recognisance (OR).
NCD metropolitan commander Supt Joseph Tondop said the leaders were granted OR bail because of their status.
At the police station, The National saw other cabinet members and Parkop following Namah and Marat into the cell to be locked up for three minutes before walking out again.
Kulunga refused to comment on the charges but said they were following the Supreme Court order issued last Thursday.
The order had instructed that “Namah and Marat be arrested and detained by police forthwith” for “contempt of the Supreme Court”.
The contempt allegation was based on an NEC decision (Gazette No.G316) last Thursday to suspend Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia on the grounds of double-dipping, gross mismanagement of court finances and contempt of court charges.
Kulunga said police acted on that order and laid charges.
He said as per the same order, Namah and Marat would appear in the Supreme Court on Dec 12 to answer to the charges.
Kulunga said he was satisfied that police had effected the arrest and charge within the seven-day deadline as directed by the courts.
He said the work of police was made easier when the two leaders voluntarily fronted up at the police headquarters.
Kulunga could not comment on the allegations raised against the chief justice

APEC’s ultimate goal: a seamless regional economy

APEC Leaders resolve to support sustained, balanced growth

  

Issued by the 19^th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting

Honolulu, United States, November 13, 2011 – Today US President Barack Obama hosted leaders of the of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Honolulu, Hawaii.
With the adoption of the “Honolulu Declaration,” leaders agreed to take concrete steps toward building a “seamless regional economy” that will generate growth and create jobs in three priority areas: strengthening regional economic integration and expanding trade, promoting green growth, and advancing regulatory convergence and cooperation.

Photos and video are available from the meeting.

Leaders agreed to address two key next generation trade and investment issues facing the region. They committed to help small and medium-sized enterprises grow and better plug into global production chains. They also committed to promote effective, non-discriminatory and market-driven innovation policies, including by not conditioning government preferences on commercial goods and services on the location of the development or ownership of intellectual property.
Economies agreed to develop by 2012 a list of environmental goods that contribute to green growth and sustainable development on which economies are resolved to reduce applied tariff rates to five percent or less by the end of 2015. Economies will also eliminate non-tariff barriers, including local content requirements that distort environmental goods and services trade. The APEC economies also decided to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, setting up a reporting mechanism to track progress, and raised their APEC-wide energy intensity reduction target, to 45 percent by 2035.
Leaders committed to take specific steps by 2013 to implement good regulatory practices in their economies, including by ensuring internal coordination of regulatory work; assessing regulatory impacts; and conducting public consultation.
Leaders also expressed deep concerns regarding the impasse confronting the Doha Development Agenda.
“Fresh thinking involving innovative approaches is required, including possibilities that involve advancing specific parts of the Doha agenda where consensus might be reached on a provisional or definitive basis,” Leaders said in their Declaration.
Given the precarious position of the global economy, Leaders also shared their views on the state of the global economy, the sources of global growth, and what it means for job creation.

                                                                                        # # #

For more information, contact:  Augustine Kwan +65 9831 0717 at ak@apec.org or Trudy Harris +65 98983710 at th@apec.org or Michael Chapnick +1 (202) 664 6245 at mc@apec.org.

Details about APEC meetings, events, projects and publications can be found at www.apec.org or www.apec2011.gov. You can also follow APEC on Twitter and join us on Facebook.

Lawyers to seek stay on ‘arrest’ orders

By JULIA DAIA BORE

LAWYERS for acting Prime Minister Belden Namah and Attorney-General Dr Allan Marat will today apply to a three-man Supreme Court bench to set aside orders for their arrest and detention on contempt charges, The National reports.
The Supreme Court’s interim order issued last Thursday by Justice Bernard Sakora for their immediate arrest and detention until Dec 12 for contempt of court has not been acted on yet.
The National and Supreme Court registry yesterday confirmed that Namah and Marat’s lawyers, Young and Williams Lawyers, had filed documents yesterday morning, seeking to set aside the warrant for their arrest.
Registry officials confirmed that the lawyers had sought an immediate hearing by a single Supreme Court bench to set aside the orders for their arrest and detention.
But, because of the unavailability of judges for the hearing, the matter was set for hearing today before a three-bench Supreme Court.
Police spokesman Supt Dominic Kakas said Namah and Marat would hand themselves over to police “in the coming day”.
He was quoted by the Australian Nine News network as saying: “Both parties have reached an understanding. I can say it will happen in the coming days.”
Last Friday, police issued a brief statement confirming receipt of the interim court orders with the warrant to arrest the two political leaders.
That same day, Namah and Marat reportedly flew to East and West New Britain provinces for official engagements.
Marat told The National by phone at about 1pm last Friday that he was attending a school classroom opening ceremony on Matupit Island, East New Britain.
The attorney-general confirmed that he was aware of the warrant for his arrest but he was already in Rabaul,
conducting pre-arranged “normal official business”.
He said he flew out at about 6am to Kokopo’s Tokua Airport.
The National was told last Friday that Namah was supposed to fly out at about the same time to Kimbe but, because of delays, he left for West New Britain at about 10am on a charted Air Niugini flight accompanied by a number of policemen as bodyguards.
The National reporter Jeffrey Elapa, who was invited to be on that flight to cover the events they were travelling for, was at the airport.
Elapa said due to the unavailability of space on the flight, because of the number of policemen accompanying Namah and his officials, he was told at the last minute he could not travel with them.
The Supreme Court’s orders last Thursday were that, until further orders of the court:

• Pending formal charges of contempt being laid by the registrar of the Supreme Court against Belden Namah and Dr Allan Marat, that they both be arrested and detained by the police forthwith and produced to the court on Monday, Dec 12, at 9.30am;
• The registrar of the Supreme Court shall file and serve the charges on the two alleged contemptors – Namah and Marat – within seven days, such charges to be made returnable on Monday, Dec 12 at 9.30am;
• The said decisions of the National Executive Council are hereby stayed and that the NEC, by its servants and agents whosoever including Namah and Marat, are restrained from implementing the said decisions; and
• The registrar shall file an affidavit of service and execution of these orders forthwith.

The orders stemmed from the Supreme Court’s content of the order stating that the NEC decision and actions “amount to contempt of the Supreme Court” of the pending SC Ref 3 of 2011, which concluded on Friday, Oct 28, and its decision is scheduled for Dec 9.