Papua New Guinea

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---The Papua New Guinea Government has been called on to consider imposing the highest penalties on people involved in corporate fraud.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Bougainville is yet to show it can generate its own revenue before becoming independent, president John Momis says.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- The Autonomous Region of Bougainville stands ready to become an independent state. That has been obvious since the day the PNG Parliament approved the region’s constitution.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- Australian Governor General Quentin Bryce has laid a flower at the grave of the first Australian fighter killed in World War I during her state visit to Papua New Guinea.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- Twenty more foreigners have been apprehended by the Papua New Guinea Immigration Task Force Team as operation “O Rise” continues in Lae city.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Papua New Guinea Treasurer, Don Polye says it's a shame for the country not to have used allocated funds from the World Bank for the improvement of the country's economy.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- The resource rich province of Hela in Papua New Guinea is sitting on a time bomb unless the National Government intervenes and takes immediate action in relation to the situation of lawlessness on the ground.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- The resource rich province of Hela in Papua New Guinea is sitting on a time bomb unless the National Government intervenes and takes immediate action in relation to the situation of lawlessness on the ground.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- South Pacific SP) Brewery New look Niugini Ice beer launched recently will hit the shelves of bottle shops, canteens to black market soon.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- A national day of mourning, a haus krai (house of mourning), will be held on May 15 to highlight the violence and suffering of women in Papua New Guinea through allegations of witchcraft, rape, and murder.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Giving low risk prisoners access to their wives will enable them to release their sexual frustrations and decrease Papua New Guinea’s sex crimes, says Community Development Minister Loujaya Toni.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Landowners of the Panguna Mine in Central Bougainville have reaffirmed their stand that they want the mine to be reopened.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Papua New Guinea's deputy Opposition Leader Sam Basil says the nation is attracting bad publicity around the world over its lack of interest in protecting vulnerable persons who are being killed and tortured on accusations of being sorcerers.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Papua New Guinea's Community Development Minister Loujaya Toni has come under stinging criticism over her suggestions to allow low risk prisoners to have sex with their wives in a bid to tackle the rise in sexual offences.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- The Papua New Guinea Government is studying a report into the current boycott of classes at the University of Natural Resource and Environment, Popondetta campus, and is expected to respond soon.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- The Papua New Guinea Government has declared Sandaun or West Sepik province “a disease area” following the detection of the contagious Newcastle bird disease in the PNG-Indonesia border villages of Wutung and Musu and the provincial capital Vanimo.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has declared war on the escalating law and order situation which in recent weeks had brought great shame and international condemnation to the Pacific island nation.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has expressed concern over threats by Hela Governor Anderson Agiru to stall the PNG LNG project over claims of unresolved issues, including financial payments.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has expressed concern over threats by Hela Governor Anderson Agiru to stall the PNG LNG project over claims of unresolved issues, including financial payments.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Fijian company Flour Mills Fiji (FMF) Ltd is looking at increasing the size of its products in the PNG market after the two governments have agreed to strengthen trade relations.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Papua New Guinea's Attorney General and Justice Minister Kerenga Kua has told Indonesia that an extradition treaty should be ready for signing next month.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Papua New Guinea's National Executive Council (NEC) yesterday approved a legislative action plan to address rising community concerns about high levels of violent crimes in the country.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- The Catholic Church strongly opposes the death penalty and prefers life imprisonment as an alternative punishment for perpetrators of serious crimes.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- The women of Papua New Guinea will take to the streets in two weeks time to voice their anger and frustration at the lack of government action in the face of rising violence against women.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard will visit Papua New Guinea, a PNG government source told The National newspaper.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- The Papua New Guinea prime minister wants a reduction in the mountain of paperwork his people face when they try to visit Australia.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Papua New Guinea's National Executive Council (NEC) has revoked the appointment of Lucy Bogari as acting secretary for Foreign Affairs and appointed William Dihm as new acting secretary of the department.

PORT MORESBY, PNG -- The international aid agency Oxfam says the flooding situation in Papua New Guinea's East Sepik province has now reached crisis point.

PORT VILA, Vanuatu -- The West Papua National Coalition for Liberation says there is only one member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group left to lobby over its membership bid.

PORT MORESBY, PNG -- The Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) will soon be engaged with the Fiji Military Forces in overseas peacekeeping operations and training programs.

PORT MORESBY, PNG--- Health training institutions need manpower and resources to provide quality training to midwives, president of the PNG Midwifery Society, Dr Nancy Buasi, says.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- The efforts of staff and EMTV newsroom team in the last few months had paid off with a successful transition into a program.

HONIARA, Solomon Islands --- The conviction of a Solomon Islands MP for misusing public funds is seen as sending a strong message to other members of parliament

PORT MORESBY, PNG (POST COURIER) --- Mobile phones can be deadly like what happened in Mt Hagen, Western Highlands province, when a young woman was brutally mutilated and murdered an hour after she had met a ‘phone friend’.

PORT MORESBY, PNG-- Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has announced that a special meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) approved callout and immediate deployment of the Defence Force to restore normalcy on the Highlands Highway.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- An Australian study will examine why Papua New Guinea mothers are 80 times more likely to die in childbirth than mothers in Australia.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- An officer from Israeli Agri industry company, the LR Group is in Milne Bay province on a fact finding mission.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Prime Minister Julia Gillard has paid tribute to Australia and Papua New Guinea's (PNG) abiding friendship, as she highlighted some significant challenges during her first speech on her first official visit to the island nation.

PORT MORESBY, PNG -- Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard will not visit the Manus Island processing centre during her visit to Papua New Guinea this week, but the fate of asylum seekers living in military tents at the facility will be high on the agenda when she meets her Papua ...

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Australia is universally opposed to the death penalty but a decision by the O’Neill-Dion government and Parliament to implement the death penalty in PNG will not affect Australian aid or overseas development assistance to PNG.

BUKA, PNG --- The Buka District Court in Bougainville has been issuing more Interim Protection Orders (IPOs) in recent times than previously.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- Papua New Guinea's Opposition Leader Belden Namah says he's pleased with his meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.

PORT MORESBY, PNG -- Australia has agreed to help Papua New Guinea improve its policing as the two close neighbours aim to broaden their relationship to accommodate a "modernising" PNG.

PORT MORESBY, PNG -- IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Australian government will support Papua New Guinea’s private sector to establish Women in Business Initiative which will facilitate connections between businesses to demonstrate through policy, practice and profit that women’s economic empowerment is smart economics.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Almost all of the 22 provinces in the country are preparing for a nationwide ‘Haus Krai or House of Mourning, today aimed at bringing the issue of increasing violence to the attention of government.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Papua New Guinea's National Executive Council (NEC) has thrown out a request by six highlands provinces to be exempted from directly electing their Local Level Government (LLG) Presidents in the upcoming provincial elections.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- A two-day Papua New Guinea/Queensland Business Cooperation Group (BCG)meeting gets underway in Port Moresby today.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- India requires the support of small growing countries like Papua New Guinea to further develop its nation and people.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Papua New Guinea's Correctional Services Commissioner, Martin Balthazar says investigations is underway into claims of security breaches at Bomana prison outside Port Moresby, saying there is an organized network inside involving his officers.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- A 19-year-old Indonesian man is receiving treatment for gunshot wounds after he alleged five PNG military soldiers allegedly opened fire on him and two others.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Tokuluma mine in Papua New Guinea's Central Province is likely to be taken over by OK Tedi Mining Limited.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Prime Minister Peter O’Neill yesterday assured hundreds of people who packed Port Moresby’s Sir John Guise Stadium that their “call to action” petition would be addressed immediately.

NUKUALOFA, Tonga --- Diabetes cannot be cured, Tonga's King Tupou VI said today and expressed concern that an increasing number of youth are being diagnosed with the disease in Tonga. "Young people are being removed from school because of diabetes and more than half of the case studies have lost ...

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- PAPUA New Guinea and Queensland have signed a deal in Port Moresby on Tuesday to grow business links and opportunities between them. Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Queensland Premier Campbell Newman signed the agreement at the Grand Papua Hotel.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- The country’s first isolated maximum security prison will be built on Manus, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill told Parliament last Friday.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Airlines PNG (APNG) is investing heavily in safety, engineering, booking systems and customer services to support the increase in direct link services, chief executive Muralee Siva says.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Haroon Ali has been appointed the chief risk officer for the Bank South Pacific Group to replace Robin Fleming.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- A controversial Papua New Guinean businessman has been charged with more fraud offences after returning from an extended stay in Australia.

PORT MORESBY, PNG (THE NATIONAL) --- POMIO MP Paul Tiensten has called on the government and the people to support deep sea mining in the New Britain waters.

PORT MORESBY, PNG (THE NATIONAL) ---- Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says there are good opportunities along the border areas to develop relations between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, particularly at Wutung, West Sepik

PORT MORESBY, PNG (THE NATIONAL) ---- Bogus farmers swindled up to K300 million (US$143 million) from the National Agriculture Development Plan fund from 2009 to 2011, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has revealed.

PORT MORESBY, PNG (THE NATIONAL) ---- Papua New Guinea deputy Prime Minister Leo Dion’s recent trip to Vanuatu to attend the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Melanesian Spearhead Group is not in breach of the government’s ban on overseas travel.

PORT MORESBY, PNG (THE NATIONAL) ---- Papua New Guinea Opposition leader Belden Namah has issued a stern warning to MPs to reject the extension of the government’s grace period to avoid regrets in future.

PORT MORESBY, PNG (THE NATIONAL) ---- Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says he will not be pushed by either BHP or PNG Sustainable Development Program (PNGSDP) into extending the mine life for Ok Tedi mine.

Former Bougainville Revolutionary Army commander Sam Kaona has warned Australia not to meddle in Bougainville affairs.

Police investigations into the mv Rabaul Queen disaster will find out exactly how many people went missing and how many were on board, the director for Criminal Investigative division Peter Guiness said.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- The PNG LNG project operated by Esso Highlands Ltd was 75% complete at the end of last year and is on target for first LNG sales in 2014, Oil Search Ltd managing director Peter Botten said.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- Safety and security of air travellers are compromised at major airports throughout PNG, according to a confidential brief.

PORT MORESBY, PNG---- An international consortium of scientists say they have collected 1.5 million specimens of wildlife in an unprecedented mission to document the biological treasures of Papua New Guinea.

**PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- The winner of a PNG media anti-corruption award says online media has the potential to inform and mobilise PNG's people.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Churches in the country fear there will be more deaths in sorcery-related crimes if the government does not pass a sorcery act soon.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- The Papua New Guinea government will legislate to ensure free education is compulsory, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says.

PORT MORESBY,PNG --- Papua New Guinea deputy Chief Justice Gibbs Salika dismissed an election petition against the Treasurer and Kandep MP Don Pomb Polye Monday for non-compliance of court directions by the petitioner.

PORT MORESBY,PNG --- Papua New Guinea deputy Chief Justice Gibbs Salika dismissed an election petition against the Treasurer and Kandep MP Don Pomb Polye Monday for non-compliance of court directions by the petitioner.

PORT MORESBY,PNG --- Papua New Guinea deputy Chief Justice Gibbs Salika dismissed an election petition against the Treasurer and Kandep MP Don Pomb Polye Monday for non-compliance of court directions by the petitioner.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says he wants to improve all services throughout the country after 37 years of neglect to impact the lives of the people.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ----The entry of a new player and an increasingly assertive stance on consumer rights protection by Papua New Guinea’s (PNG’s) telecommunications regulator bode well for competition in the sector. However, a continually evolving playing field and objections to new policies from telecoms operators may create considerable challenges ...

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- PNG Forest Products (PNGFP) managing director Tony Honey says the company is growing “very fast” and is diversifying into other areas, including mining and a hotel venture.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ----Papua New Guinea's first female judge Justice Catherine Davani will be among dignitaries in the capital of South Australia Adelaide today to join celebrations this week marking International Women's Day.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ----GlobalFund has made an interim grant allocation of US$13 million (K27.6 million) to PNG for the transition period from 2013 to 2014 for the national tuberculosis programme.

PORT MORESBY, PNG---- The Papua New Guinea government’s political will to improve the public welfare and investment climate should boost the confidence level in the economy, ANZ Bank’s Pacific quarterly report released Thursday said.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says the government will continue to stimulate the growth of the economy through infrastructure development.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- A lack of tertiary institutions and vocational training schools for Papua New Guineans living in border regions has forced students to seek education in Indonesia.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Papua New Guinea's Defence Force says a draft of its White Paper is scheduled to be presented to the government by the end of next month.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- A Papua New Guinea (PNG) study released today calls for condoms to be made more widely available in prisons.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- Papua New Guinea Trade, Commerce and Industry Minister Richard Maru has announced that the National Government, through the Department of Trade, Commerce and Industry (DTCI) will fund a comprehensive study into the viability of establishing a Dairy Industry in the Mul-Baiyer Electorate of Western Highlands Province ...

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- Another gruesome sorcery-related killing, has been reported in the Papua New Guinea’s province of Madang.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- A Minister in Papua New Guinea government was on Saturday arrested and charged with bribery and corruption in relation to last year’s national elections.

BUKA, PNG ---Arawa-based self-styled Me’ekamui general Chris Uma has bluntly told the Post Courier news paper that Panguna Mine is non-negotiable till after referendum and Independence.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Thousands of people are now displaced and thousands of Kina worth of property destroyed after police rampaged through a community in Lihir a few weeks ago.

SUVA, Fiji ---- The manager of the Pacific Heritage Hub has called on the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) countries Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the Kanaks of New Caledonia to involve young Melanesians in promoting their culture and heritage.

PORT MORESBY, PNG--- Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neil has announced that Treasurer Don Polye will be acting Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology.

BUKA, PNG --- More than 5,000 people in the Rorovana Village of Central Bougainville are in dire need of food supplies.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- An inquiry will soon be conducted into the joint venture investments between the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and two other business organisations.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- Early last Friday morning, eight 10-seater police vehicles loaded with drunk policemen from Chimbu Province, trespassed former Chuave MP, Jim Nomane’s yard in Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province and raided his area without a search warrant.

TOKYO, Japan ----- Japan has signed away K125 million (US$58.2 million) as loan to Papua New Guinea to help its Ramu Power improve the overall capacity of its current transmission system.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has agreed to grant natural gas concessions to the Thai private sector during talks with his Thai counterpart Yingluck Shinawatra.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- The Japanese government has been given the assurance that the PNG LNG project is on schedule with the first sale of gas by next year.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- A Papua New Guinean non-government organisation is calling for online signatures to protect historic caves in East Sepik province from mining exploration.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- Papua New Guinea and Thailand have moved to strengthen business partnership between the two countries.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Twenty four people were killed Wednesday at Murip village in the Baiyer district of Western Highlands when the bus they were travelling in ran off a cliff and plunged 50m into a river.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Six women and a man accused of sorcery were tortured and burnt as Easter sacrifices to eradicate the practice in Merep village in Nipa district, Southern Highlands, last Thursday, it has been claimed.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- A Papua New Guinea Government minister, speaking as a private citizen, has said it is time PNG made a bold stand for the independence struggle of the mostly Melanesian indigenous of the Indonesian province of West Papua.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- The Papua New Guinea Law Society is cracking down on non-admitted foreign lawyers practising in the country.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Central Bank Governor Loi Bakani WEdnesday painted a rosy picture of PNG’s economy despite projections for growth to slow down from 9.2% to 4% this year.

PORT MORESBY, PNG---- The killing of two women suspected of sorcery in South Bougainville last week has triggered more support for the death penalty to be implemented in the country.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---– The Australian Federal Police (AFP) will continue to support the PNG police, AFP assistant commissioner Mandy Newton says.

BUKA, Bougainville --- Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) announced yesterday that it is ready to re-open the Panguna mine in Bougainville at its annual general meeting (AGM).

PORT MORESBY, PNG----Bank of PNG deputy governor Benny Popoitai is confident that the sovereign wealth fund (SWF) will be up and running before first LNG exports next year.

PORT MORESBY, PNG--- All paper banknotes in circulation in the country will be withdrawn by the Bank of PNG by June 2013, after which they will not be accepted as legal tender.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Political parties, which win less than five seats following a general election, will be required to amalgamate with larger parties under revised laws presented to PNG cabinet.

PORT MORESBY, PNG -- Australian High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea Deborah Stokes says there is a special relationship between both countries, despite growing Asian influence in PNG.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Papua New Guinea's cabinet has rejected a proposal by the nation's registrar of political parties that would force small parliamentary parties to amalgamate with larger ones.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --A new report on human trafficking in PNG has found adults and children are being pushed into sexual exploitation, forced labour and domestic servitude.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- All firearms stolen from the police registry headquarters in Port Moresby early Monday morning have been recovered.

Honiara, Solomon Islands—Global UK-based telecommunications giant Vodafone will inch closer to its market ambitions in the motherlode of the Pacific mobile and data market with a historic deal set to take place in Port Moresby today.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---Reaffirming the strong relations between Fiji and Papua New Guinea is the expected outcome this week as Fijian Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama led a state visit to PNG beginning Monday, the Fijian government said.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---World Vision CEO Tim Costello is calling for more young Australians to visit Papua New Guinea to improve relations between the two countries.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Papua New Guineans have allowed imported processed foods to dominate their diets with serious consequences, especially of obesity and increasing rates and fatalities from lifestyle diseases, according to the World Health Organisation PNG office.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have given the thumbs up to Papua New Guinea as one of the emerging market economies of the Asia-Pacific region during its meeting in Washington over the last weekend.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Students from Papua New Guinea's University of Natural Resources and Environment's Popondetta campus will continue to boycott classes despite a notice from the administration advising them to return to class.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill, has told Australian business leaders he is determined to transform his country's economy.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---The government of Papua New Guinea will continue to push for Fiji’s memberships in all organisations.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---Fiji and Papua New Guinea have agreed to hold annual or biennial meetings on bilateral issues.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- The Papua New Guinea Opposition has welcomed the Prime Minister’s determination to fast-track the passing of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) Bill and the establishment of the anti-graft body.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Aids transmission through rape can be prevented if victims are taken straight to the family support centre at the Angau Memorial Hospital in Lae, a workshop was told yesterday.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- Fiji has been offered the top post of Director-General in the Pacific group of African, Caribbean Pacific group of States (PACP) Secretariat.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---Vodafone Fiji will take over management of PNG mobile phone carrier BeMobile, as the nations' leaders announced closer economic ties.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill says he is angered by the murder of an Australian tourist in Mt Hagen.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- Papua New Guinea's grant of more than $A20 million for Fiji to hold democratic elections is in line with an agreed regional approach to the dictatorship, Australia says.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- The Government of Papua New Guinea has opened its investment doors to Fiji.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- More police reinforcements including Correctional Service officers are being sent to Karkar Island in Madang to help catch suspects involved in last week's sexual assault of an expatriate woman.

PORT MORESBY, PNG ---- A Papua New Guinea court has jailed a man for 30 years for killing his aunt he accused of practising sorcery.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Australian Governor-General Quentin Bryce will visit Papua New Guinea this week to participate in various ANZAC Day celebrations.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- United States says it's concerned with the high incidence of gender base violence in Papua New Guinea.

PORT MORESBY, PNG --- Investment opportunities in Papua New Guinea was the flavour of the week at the various business-related conferences in Port Moresby but deteriorating infrastructure continues to be an obstacle to development.

A surge in sorcery and witchcraft related murders in Papua New Guinea has drawn widespread condemnation from international groups such as the United Nations and Amnesty International. A growing culture of insecurity and fear has been blamed and there are concerns it will impact on the country’s economic development.

A rare known fact about Papua New Guinea (PNG) is that, over the past ten years, it has been one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Thanks largely to a protracted mining boom and what appears to be a decent future in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), optimism surrounds ...

Early in the term of Papua New Guinea’s new government—which has ensured, by a constitutional amendment, that it will be in power at least until this time in 2015 – it is facing some complex challenges, especially around the country’s biggest revenue earner, mining. There’s a common view, even in ...

An offshore investment made by pension funds in the Pacific does not only have to mean diversifying to the more developed Western or Asian economies.

Low productivity in state-owned enterprises is inhibiting growth in the poor islands countries, a leading regional development assistance advocate has cautioned.

PNG government’s determination to push ahead with the development of the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) is likely to cause a clash amongst landowners if outstanding issues are not adequately addressed.

Nauru, an island nation spanning 21 square kilometres located on the equator and in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, is a desolate place to a foreigner.

After a few years when Papua New Guinea and its neighbour and former coloniser Australia seemed to have drifted apart, recently the relationship has intensified immensely.

Papua New Guinea experienced yet another year of high growth in 2012: GDP growth over the past 10 years has averaged close to 6 percent.

Between World War II and Papua New Guinea’s independence in 1975, the best of a generation of Australians, some still teenagers, travelled to the remotest corners of their country’s big tropical colony to administer vast areas and populations of PNG as magistrates, police chiefs, road and bridge builders, health and ...

Canberra began 2013 by restoring full diplomatic ties with Suva and urging Australian businesses to capitalise on impending boom in Papua New Guinea. Several senior Australian government ministers landed in PNG last month on separate occasions seeking closer ties.

Fiji and New Zealand handed Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) a severe blow in their 2012 profit results with both countries noticeably losing sales and demand for alcohol and beverages due to economic slowdown.

Last month, Sir Mekere Morauta launched a new website, calling for public submissions into his review of the Pacific Plan. Over the next eight months, the former Papua New Guinea Prime Minister will lead a team around the region to look at the plan, which is supposed to set priorities ...

The issue of privatizing government services—or allowing competition—in the Marshall Islands has been debated on-and-off for two decades with little result.

As more and more weather systems develop over the next few months with potential to become full-blown cyclones that can ravage vulnerable islands countries in the Pacific and do untold damage to properties and lives, the importance of disaster preparedness is as critical as ever.

Capacity, Capability and Collaboration will prominently feature in this month’s Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The US$1.5 billion Ramu Nickel Mine in Madang, PNG, was commissioned last month amidst rising concerns about pollution in the province’s sea.

Costs up. Foreign dollars up. Forecast profits up. Landowner issues up. Work stoppages up. What’s next for the region’s biggest ever single commercial project as it nears its last quarter of completion in Papua New Guinea?

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill is upbeat about creating thousands of new jobs for Papua New Guineans in the coming years.He, according to the PNG’s private sector, seems think he has the right recipe to create more jobs for young Papua New Guineans leaving the school system.

Could these be the twilight days of “regional integration” rhetoric in the Pacific? Where “regional integration” can truly move from being a political dream to a tangible state of free trade and free labour movement in the region?

There is an unmistakable push by Papua New Guinea into neighbouring economies in the Pacific region to invest and operate businesses there.

PNG’s biggest port project now underway in Lae will see its wharf extended to cater for the increasing shipping traffic in the nation’s industrial city.

While climate change fears and migration are causing grave concerns of de-population in parts of Polynesia and Micronesia, another part of the region is being cautioned about over-population.

Papua New Guinea has made a remarkable progress in its response to the HIV epidemic with much of that progress occurring in the last five years, according to the man who has been at the forefront of the country's national response.

Papua New Guinea's new government has raised fresh concerns over shareholding issues relating to its joint venture arrangements with Canadian-listed pioneer seabed minerals miner Nautilus Minerals Inc.

Papua New Guinea is enjoying a fresh start after a mostly grim 12 months.

The new PNG Government of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill plans to make the fight against corruption central to its new set of development policies which it will pursue over the next five years.

Not all mineral prices suffered as much hiding as nickel did in the wake of the global financial recession of the last four years.

Lobby groups are crying out describing it as harsh but the Australian government argues it is the only way to deter foreign refugees from finding easy passage into Australia.

Merge the worthiness of the world's two mega-huge economies—the United States and Japan—and you won't still collect A$20 trillion.

Not many tourists associate the sport of cricket with Fiji. To most ‘outsiders,’ sport in the Pacific usually refers to rugby or to a lesser extent football.

Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders meet is due to take place in Rarotonga, the capital of Cook Islands, from August 28 to 31st. Who exactly will be representing Papua New Guinea, the second most populous nation within PIF, remains to be resolved.

PNG had its national election last month. The results are probably out by now. And the new government will be taking office anytime soon. Here, I report on my week-long observation of the election campaign in the highlands of this colourful country.

Solomon Airlines will play a part in developing health facilities in Honiara as part of its community focus for its 50th anniversary.

Discussions between Nautilus Minerals and the state of PNG have failed to resolve a dispute that has halted the progress of experimental Solwara 1 seabed mining in PNG waters.

The Australia-PNG Business Council (APNGBC) held its 28th Business Forum on the theme “Today’s Opportunity: Tomorrow’s Prosperity” in Brisbane from May 13-15.

The Chief Justice of Papua New Guinea Sir Salamo Injia was forced out of the Supreme Court building in Waigani, Port Moresby, by police in a scene never before seen in PNG.

The Rabaul Queen was a vessel doomed to die. When it finally turned turtle, it took more than 200 people—mostly children and students —down with it, mostly trapped in overcrowded cabins, down to the 3,000-metre depths where it now lies.

When you launch a mega-size project of US$15.7 billion, you can expect snag after snag before it takes off. The project with a potential to rake in billions of kina in two years into the developing economy of Papua New Guinea has been no exception.

Economic conditions in Europe and North America remain volatile. It is uncertain economic times and there is little hope of conditions improving soon. The only certainty is that the volatile conditions are likely to remain for the rest of 2012 at least.

Forget China. The next best thing, if you want a new market brimming with more opportunities than you can swallow, is much closer to home than you think.

Not many tourists associate the sport of cricket with Fiji. To most ‘outsiders,’ sport in the Pacific usually refers to rugby, or to a lesser extent football.

Banana trees in the garden, leafy greens for lunch, Lisa Hilli’s childhood was like many others in the Pacific. Only she grew up in the Queensland capital Brisbane, hundreds of kilometres from her ancestral home in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea’s convulsive politics continues to dominate all other areas of public life, including economic development, as the timing of the five-yearly election due in June, and the autonomy of the courts, became central issues in March and April.

PNG Maritime College, the Pacific’s premier maritime institution, is steaming ahead with the opening of new facilities to lift the standard of seamen training in the region.

The inquiry into the drowning of more than 100 Papua New Guineans -- mainly students -- in a ferry disaster on February 2 is set to drive big changes in PNG’s passenger shipping industry.

A report on the development of the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) in Madang has recommended that further studies be carried out on the experiences of Special Economic Zones (SEZ).

After nearly three years of official censorship in Fiji, the veil was suddenly lifted in early January followed by a snowballing of activity towards a new constitution and a general election promised for 2014.

Papua New Guinea’s Council of Churches dedicated February 5 as a day of prayer for the country’s constitutional crisis to be overcome.

Resource area landowner companies generally have a bad name in Papua New Guinea.

The boldness, the pace, even these days the stakes, of politics in resource-rich Papua New Guinea are breathtaking.

I bought a banana in Canberra last weekend. The one single banana cost me two Australian dollars. For the same money, I bought two dozen sweet bananas in Honiara (the Solomon Islands) a month ago.

Papua New Guinea’s current political stability—the key to its unprecedented economic growth among other positive indicators under its founding father Sir Michael Somare—is under threat of crumbling.

It took almost a century for Tommie Seriate to open her first bank account. Prior to walking into a branch of Nationwide Microbank in May 2011, this 49-year-old subsistence farmer from the rural Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea kept her earnings buried in the ashes of the fireplace ...

For the past several years, a small group of Papua New Guinean researchers, led by an Australian scientist, has been working on developing a new treatment for one of PNG’s most neglected public health problems.

Many people who have been long fascinated by the story of the gold rush days of the 1930s in Papua New Guinea feel that history is being rewritten with the resumption of Air Niugini flights to Bulolo on May 16.