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The National, Monday June 24th, 2013
AN interesting read we stumbled across on the weekend. The separation between the North and South Pacific land masses is known as the Wallace Line, named after the naturalist who first noticed the essential differences between marsupial and non-marsupial mammals in the region.
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THE birds and reptiles of Papua New Guinea are mostly from this side of the Wallace line but the flora, conversely, is predominately Southeast Asian. But both flora and fauna in PNG have evolved over aeons to become distinct species with unique features.
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THERE are more than 700 species of birds and 150 species of mammals.
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PERHAPS the best known of all Papua New Guinea’s birds is its national emblem, the splendid Raggiana Bird of Paradise (Raggiana Paradisea).
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IN all, there are 38 species of paradise birds here, their plumage ranging from pure black to red, orange and iridescent green.
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HARDLY less striking in appearance are the more than 300 species of parrot, lorry and cockatoo. New Guinea parrots range in size from the pygmy-parrots to the huge palm cockatoo, nearly 10 times larger.
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IN marking International Widow’s Day yesterday, UN Women acting head and deputy executive director Lakshmi Puri called on the international community to end discrimination against widows so they can live in dignity and participate fully in society.
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PURI said there was an estimated 115 million widows living under the poverty line, and the 81 million who were subjected to physical abuse, often by their own family members.
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SHE underlined that widows are contributors to society as mothers, caregivers and heads of households and that their rights should be upheld by national laws and policies, guided by the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
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HOW the days fly by. It feels like we just celebrated New Year’s Day and this month, we clocked half a year.
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THIS is the last week of June before we go into the third quarter of the year.
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THE Australian Women’s Weekly has an advertisement that says: “On 1 July 2013, your super rate starts rising. The (Australian) Government is making improvements to super … Over the coming years your employer contributions will increase from 9% to 12%. Just wondering out loud, when will we in PNG be able to read a similar notice?