Pacific Island leaders name PNG's Meg Taylor as next Forum chief

ABC

Pacific leaders have for the first time chosen a woman to head the region's premier representative group.

Papua New Guinea's Dame Meg Taylor, a senior World Bank official, will become the next Secretary General of the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat.

Dame Meg Taylor DBE is a Papua New Guinean lawyer and diplomat. She received her LL.B degree from Melbourne University, Australia, and her LL.M degree from Harvard University, USA

In nominating her for the role in May, PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said Dame Meg had "a wealth of experience and knowledge that spanned 20 years in active service to the Government of Papua New Guinea".
Dame Meg Taylor was PNG's ambassador to the United States, Mexico and Canada from 1989 to 1994.
Pacific leaders meeting in Palau have also agreed to automatically lift Fiji's suspension from the Forum if the country's elections in September are deemed to be free and fair.
Australia will head the election observer group.

ATBC Resolution in Support of Biodiversity Education, Research and Conservation in Papua New Guinea

Association for Tropical Biology & Conservation
 

Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) forests support a disproportionate amount of species not found elsewhere on the planet. A major challenge to the conservation of Papua New Guinean biodiversity is that it remains largely unexplored and therefore under-studied.
In July 2014, the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC), the largest organization in the world for the study and conservation of tropical systems, convened in Cairns, Australia. This brought together 589 scientists and conservationists from 55 countries to Australia’s wet tropics, which is essentially, from a biological perspective, an extension of Papua New Guinean forest.
The ATBC congratulates the Government of Papua New Guinea for initiating the establishment of a biologically representative network of Conservation Areas in collaboration with the traditional landowners.  This process is essential for the preservation of Papua New Guinean biodiversity.
We call on the Government of Papua New Guinea to provide new funding initiatives to support the training of the next generation of Papua New Guinean biologists. A better system of funding is also needed if established researchers are to continue exploring the biota. These initiatives are essential for the documentation, understanding and protection of the globally important PNG biodiversity.
Therefore, be it resolved that the ATBC:

• Urges the Government of Papua New Guinea to strengthen the PNG Research, Science and Technology Secretariat and to establish a competitive funding mechanism for biodiversity research open to all Papua New Guineans from government and non-governmental research organizations.  The selection process should be based on scientific merit;
• Implores the Government of Papua New Guinea to expand the number of studentships available for postgraduate biology students;
• Urges the Government of Papua New Guinea to create a network of Conservation Areas by approving pending proposals for the Managalas, Wanang, Torricelli and Sulamesi Conservation Areas, by increasing the number of protected areas and designating, together with the landowners, additional Conservation Areas representing all principal ecosystems in Papua New Guinea.
• Exhorts the Government of Papua New Guinea to promote the effective management of protected areas and Conservation Areas.
• Encourages the Government of Papua New Guinea to compensate landowners with royalties for their conservation set-asides and assist them with sustainable development projects.
• Encourages private enterprise within Papua New Guinea to support the Government in its efforts to promote the study and preservation of the country’s biodiversity.
• Encourages the PNG government to seek international collaboration with scientists and conservationists to achieve the above mentioned goals.

(Link to PDF)

More charges against PNG lawyer Paul Paraka over government fraud case

By PNG correspondent Liam Cochrane
ABC
 

Police in Papua New Guinea have charged lawyer Paul Paraka with an additional 32 corruption-related offences, bringing the total alleged fraud to more than $AU100 million.

Paul Paraka was arrested in 2013 over 18 alleged offenses and now police have added another 32 charges (Credit: ABC)

Police in Papua New Guinea have charged lawyer Paul Paraka with an additional 32 corruption-related offences, bringing the total alleged fraud to more than $AU100 million.
Anti-corruption investigators allege the PNG Government paid millions of dollars to Paul Paraka Lawyers for inflated or invented legal cases.
Mr Paraka was arrested last year over 18 alleged offences and now police have added another 32 charges of conspiracy to defraud, money laundering and misappropriation.
The total amount allegedly defrauded by Paul Paraka is around $AU102 million.
The case has embroiled PNG's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, who is alleged to have authorised some of the payments.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Mr O'Neill.
PNG's Police Commissioner Geoffrey Vaki is refusing to enforce the arrest, sparking multiple legal challenges and a split within the police force

New Britain Palm Oils posts better first half figures

By Neil Hodgson 

Liverpool Echo 

Producer happy with pricing levels for rest of 2014

New Britain Palm Oil's dockside processing facility on Regent Road

New Britain Palm Oils (NBPO) has seen revenues and profits rise during its first half period to June 30.
The group, which produces palm oils from sustainable resources and employs about 100 staff at its Regent Road refinery, reported sales of £199.5m, up from £182.2m last year.
Pre-tax profits soared from £8.3m in 2013 to £46.2m this year.
It processed 1.3m tonnes of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) in the period, up from 1.16m, and produced 290,514 tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO), up from 254,633 the year before, as well as 29,339 tonnes of palm kernel oil (PKO), against 25,345 tonnes previously.
The average CPO price per tonne achieved in the six month period was £552.2, up from £525, and the average PKO price per tonne was £784.8, compared with £551.6 last year.
Earlier this month the business revealed that it had renewed several supply deals for its Liverpool refinery, securing contracts for “a number of multi-year supply agreements that together represent approximately 35% of utilisation”.
Chief executive Nick Thompson said: “The group’s operational performance for the first half of 2014 was very strong with record production of FFB and total oils which, together with better extraction rates, higher selling prices achieved and lower costs of production, resulted in a profit before tax of £43.2m, excluding unrealised non-cash foreign exchange gains.”
NBPO sources most of its materials from Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Mr Thompson added: “The lower PNG Kina during the period continued to mitigate some of the cost pressure on our domestic wages and locally consumed services in US Dollar terms.”
He said a decision by the Central Bank of PNG increased the value of the Kina by about 18%, which resulted in net currency gains of £1.8m, compared with losses of £8.4m in the same period last year.
He added: “Palm oil prices during the period have been trading in a broad range between £490.1 and £584.6 per tonne. While the outlook for palm oil demand remains robust, the record supply of alternative vegetable oils has resulted in current prices trading at their lowest levels so far this year.
“It also appears less likely that an “El Niño” event will have a materially negative impact on global palm oil production, as was previously predicted by climate models.
“On a positive note, increasing local consumption in Malaysia and Indonesia and a strengthening of the global economy continue to be supportive for longer term pricing.
“In the context of current prices, we are pleased to have sold or priced forward approximately 81,000 tonnes of CPO for the remainder of 2014 at an average price of £536.2 per tonne.”

PNG's Dika Toua in line for gold after failed drugs test on Nigerian

Radio New Zealand

Papua New Guinea weightlifter Dika Toua could be in line for a Commonwealth Games gold medal after Nigeria's Chika Amalaha was provisionally suspended for failing a drugs test.
The 16-year-old set a Games Record with a combined lift of 196kg in the women's 53kg category at the weekend, with PNG's Toua claiming the silver medal.
However the Commonwealth Games Federation says her 'A' sample was found to contain both amiloride and hydrochlorothiazide, which are both prohibited as diuretics and masking agents.
If Amalaha's 'B' sample also tests positive, Toua will be awarded the gold medal.

PNG's Steven Kari wins gold in Glasgow

Radio New Zealand

Papua New Guinea weightlifter Steven Kari has won the gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The Commonwealth Championships and Pacific Games champion, lifted 149kg in the snatch and 200kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 349kg in the men's 94kg division.
Australia's Simplice Ribouem finished with the same combined lift but was awarded the silver medal because of his heavier body-weight.
Samoa's Sanele Mao was ninth with a total lift of 305kg.
It's the third weightlifting medal for the Pacific on day six in Glasgow, after Samoa's Mary Opeloge and Apolonia Vaivai from Fiji won silver and bronze in the women's 75kg class.

Commonwealth Games: PNG weightlifter facing sex assault trial

Agence France-Presse 

 

A Commonwealth Games weightlifter from Papua New Guinea is to go on trial in the host city of Glasgow this week, accused of sexually assaulting another man in a supermarket toilet.

Toua Udia, 22, was arrested on July 21 following the alleged incident in a Tesco store near the athletes' village.

He appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court the following day, where he pleaded not guilty to a charge under the Sexual Offences Act.

He was granted bail after being ordered to hand over his passport, allowing him to join the Papua New Guinea team at the Games' opening ceremony on Wednesday, the BBC reported.

He also competed in the men's 77-kilogram category at the Clyde Auditorium on Sunday, coming ninth.

Following a second hearing on Monday, he is scheduled to go on trial on Friday, his lawyer confirmed.

A Police Scotland spokesman told AFP: "At around 5:10pm on July 21, police received a report of an incident at Tesco's supermarket on Dalmarnock Road, Rutherglen, Glasgow.

"A 22-year-old man has been arrested in connection with an alleged assault."

The Commonwealth Games Federation said it was aware of the allegation.