​Acting Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Hon. John Rosso has condemned the tragic killing of a woman in Bulolo District, Morobe Province, after she was accused to be a witch by ‘Prayer Warriors’.
”I am deeply saddened and angry to learn of the tragic and senseless killing of Lorna Nico, 39 from Sohe in Oro Province who was married and lived in Bulolo District, Morobe Province,” Rosso said.
The Acting Prime Minister said Lorna lost her life under circumstances that are both heartbreaking and unacceptable especially in Morobe.
Reports indicate that she was accused of being a witch by individuals who referred to themselves as "Prayer Warriors."
Rosso said, such accusations, followed by acts of violence, have no place in our society and our country, and go against the principles of justice, humanity, and compassion that our nation upholds.

​FOLLOWING the beginning of the discharge of wastewater from Japan’s Fukushima power station, Papua New Guinea Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources, Jelta Wong, released measures to ensure the safety of PNG’s sovereign waters.
Wong foreshadowed the introduction of monitoring and testing for hazardous material in PNG’s water with funding to be requested from the Government of Japan, and the need for more stringent ship ballast water discharge regulations.
“The fact is that the release of the wastewater has begun, it is incumbent upon all countries and global agencies to stringently and independently monitor water quality,” Wong said.

​ABOUT 3,000 trainees from the Papua New Guinea's 10 Morobe districts were certified on Friday, to prepare them for seasonal work in Australia under a labour mobility programme.
The Morobe government, under Governor Luther Wenge, has pledged support for them by committing K1 million to help send them to Australia.
Wenge said the country was in a stage where it could not provide employment for its people and the unemployment rate was high.
He said due to the shortage of employment, people were doing nothing on the streets.
“Australia needs labourers, and we (PNG) are hardworking people,” Wenge said.

​THE Bank South Pacific Financial Group Limited (BSP) will upgrade all its merchant services to make banking easier, says deputy retail general manager Peter Komon.
Komon said BSP operated the largest ATM (automatic teller machines) – with 321 – and EFTPoS (electronic funds transfer at point of sale) network in PNG with more than 10,000.
“These merchant services provide a convenient way to access funds in your bank account using your BSP KunduCard, BSP Visa Debit Card or Corporate Visa Card,” he said.
Komon said upgrading the machines would add functionality and capability to accept American Express (Amex) cards to access cash and make purchases using the BSP services.“Diversifying our services to facilitate transactions has been our main priority,” he said.

THE Nambawan Super Limited (NSL) initiated a member detail update campaign last month to have an accurate record of its members and improve its services.
Some members lacked details such as contact, date of birth and a list of nominated beneficiaries.
NSL chief executive officer Paul Sayer said it was important to update members’ data.
“The NSL aims to encourage members to update their details regularly, especially when their circumstances change,” he said.
“The member detail update campaign aims to also improve the fund’s accurate member data, as nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of deceased members between 2021 and 2022 had no designated beneficiaries, and almost half (45 per cent) of active members have not listed beneficiaries.”

​PAPUA New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority aims to make Port Moresby a tourism destination hub, according to its chief executive Eric Mossman Uvovo.
Uvovo highlighted this during a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the atuhority and the National Capital District Commission (NCDC) in Port Moresby on Friday.
“The achievement we’ve never had before, will serve as a force to drive tourism development in the city,” he said.
Uvovo said the authority aimed to work with the limited resources it had to ensure the objectives of the MoU were achieved.
“We believe we can achieve a lot,” he said.
City manager Ravu Frank said Port Moresby had always served as a regional hub for events and eco-tourism for other regions, the MoU was to highlight tourism branch for Port Moresby.

​AN aircraft’s landing gear collapsed upon landing at the Papua New Guinea's Jackson Airport in Port Moresby at 12.51pm on Saturday, according to the PNG Accident Investigation Commission.
Commission acting chief commissioner Captain Aria Bouraga said the Beechcraft King Air B200C aircraft had seven persons on board – two crew members and five passenger.
No injuries were reported.
He said the aircraft was operating an Instrument Flight Rules passenger flight from Tari Airport to Jackson International Airport.
Captain Bouraga said: “The commission was notified by one of its employee of the accident through a phone call at 12:58pm following the accident.”
The crew reported that they became aware of an unsafe landing gear condition in flight and in coordination with ground services, attempted to rectify the issue, but the issue persisted.

​Port Moresby - Papua New Guinea, 3 Sep 2023: Papua New Guinea reggae singer and songwriter, Anslom has bagged two more American music awards - weeks after winning The Band of Year award at the International Singer-Songwriter Association annual ceremony in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Los Angeles-based InterContinental Music Awards recently announced its 2023 winners via Zoom by ICMA Founder and Executive Director Shahed Mohseni Zonoozi.
Anslom won ICMA's annual prestigious ICon Award that includes $1,000 prize money.
This award is the highest honor in ICMA’s global music community and is given to one artist or band deemed to have made the strongest overall impression on ICMA judges.

Statement
I would like to reiterate my earlier statement on the slow progress of Mendi to Nipa Road project and call on the National Government through Department of Works and Highways (DoWH) to immediately nominate an independent team to also audit some failed or incomplete projects by Construct Oceanic Limited (COL) in Southern Highlands Province.
From the outset, I place on record that COL’s arrogance is palpable as it has a very bad record of delivering, not only road projects but other important projects as well for the people of Southern Highlands. 
We have an undelivered Mendi Town sealing for K23 million since 2020. When queried, COL Director and Owner Mr Sape Molumi is quoted and I quote: “COL does not have the equipment to do this work. However, he happily got K10 million from SHPG for the same contract without doing any work. 

​PAPUA New Guinea will next week open an embassy in Jerusalem when Prime Minister James Marape visits Israel.
Marape, also the foreign affairs minister, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
But his office confirmed that the embassy is expected to be opened on Sept 5.
Marape’s visit is from Sept 4 to Sept 6.
According to the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he is scheduled to meet with Marape on Sept 5.
PNG does not have an embassy in Israel but maintains a consulate near Tel Aviv. But most diplomatic correspondence are handled by the PNG high commission in Australia.