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The National, Monday 6th May 2013
PAPUA New Guineans continue to benefit from fire services and rescue training provided by the Queensland Fire Services & Rescue Academy in Australia. Recently, six firefighters attended the training. Four were from Port Moresby, one each from Madang and New Ireland. One of the participants called last Friday to say the training was invaluable and would go a long way in assisting firefighters.
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AS one of Australia’s busiest actresses at the moment, Western Australia’s Mandy McElhinney is anxious about living below the line this week. The Logie-nominated AACTA-winning actress, best known for her roles in Howzat! Kerry Packer’s War and as Rhonda in the AAMI “safe driver” commercials, has joined celebrities in a campaign that highlights the fight against poverty. This week, McElhinney will feed herself on just A$2 (K4.52) a day as part of Live Below the Line, a campaign that aims to raise more than A$2.5 million (K5.65 million) to fund educational projects in Cambodia, PNG and Timor-Leste.
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THAILAND is trying to build business links and trade pacts with Pacific Island nations to feed its growing industrial sector with raw materials and energy. The Pacific region is becoming more important as raw materials around the world become scarce and Asia becomes the engine room of the world economy. Last month, Britain announced plans to renew relations with the Pacific and China has also been spending big in the region to gain influence. Maris Sangiampongsa, who is Thailand’s Ambassador for Vanuatu, PNG, Solomon Islands and Fiji, says trade links to Pacific nations are critical for the future of his nation. He said Thailand needed raw materials and energy because it was now in the developing stage.
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BROWN’S pademelon (Thylogale browni) is a marsupial that can be found in Indonesia, West Papua and PNG. It prefers a habitat within arid or semi-arid forests and savannahs, as well as tropical and sub-tropical shrubland and grasslands. It is thought that females give birth to one pup but there is not much information about its habits otherwise. This species is threatened by habitat loss and hunting and its population numbers are decreasing. Brown’s pademelon lives in several protected areas and appears on the IUCN red list with a conservation status of “vulnerable”.
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AN interesting comment on Facebook. Wonder if death penalty too for MPs who don’t bring measurable & tangible developments to their electorates & waste public funds, & white collar criminals … no different from criminals … remember, people especially women & children die from curable diseases or while in the process of accessing services, crossing seas and rivers, terrains & mountains … You must prove to be an MP if the government of the day wants citizens to prove themselves as law abiding!