PNGBLOGS

Paul Reinbara I have been writing and posting articles in the past couple of months about the level of corruption and that the manner in which this is sprawling out of control. This young nation has been through a lot in the past few months since a major project announcement was made. There are opportunities for the country to progress forward and also to fall back on its own demise if the nation's leaders are not willing to stand up for what is right and follow the constitution. Papua New Guinea is now at a crossroad, I have been following news and events leading up to the news announcement made last week and the previous week and I am still looking at our current national leaders as mere puppets and idiots. I have been harshly criticized for pushing the limits in describing our MPs and yet I am not apologizing because everything is not okay, why do we have a rising trend in organized crime and white and blue collar crime in PNG, why is the government not doing much to restore ba

Paul Reinbara I have been writing and posting articles in the past couple of months about the level of corruption and that the manner in which this is sprawling out of control. This young nation has been through a lot in the past few months since a major project announcement was made. There are opportunities for the country to progress forward and also to fall back on its own demise if the nation's leaders are not willing to stand up for what is right and follow the constitution. Papua New Guinea is now at a crossroad, I have been following news and events leading up to the news announcement made last week and the previous week and I am still looking at our current national leaders as mere puppets and idiots. I have been harshly criticized for pushing the limits in describing our MPs and yet I am not apologizing because everything is not okay, why do we have a rising trend in organized crime and white and blue collar crime in PNG, why is the government not doing much to restore

Mathew Murphy, Sydney Morning Herald OIL SEARCH says a third processing train of liquefied natural gas at its $US15 billion ($16.7 billion) Papua New Guinea project could supply gas by as early as 2015, with a potential fourth train to follow shortly afterwards. As he released Oil Search's annual results for last year, which showed a 59 per cent drop in profit compared with 2008, managing director Peter Botten said the PNG project would reach financial close during the next month. He was confident that a final off-take agreement with Taiwan's CPC would be completed during that time and that ''two remaining issues'' would be resolved. The project, led by ExxonMobil, has attracted attention recently following the outbreak of violence between tribal groups that has left several people dead. Mr Botten said that despite an Oil Search employee being one of those killed in the violence, it had ''absolutely nothing to d

Mathew Murphy, Sydney Morning Herald OIL SEARCH says a third processing train of liquefied natural gas at its $US15 billion ($16.7 billion) Papua New Guinea project could supply gas by as early as 2015, with a potential fourth train to follow shortly afterwards. As he released Oil Search's annual results for last year, which showed a 59 per cent drop in profit compared with 2008, managing director Peter Botten said the PNG project would reach financial close during the next month. He was confident that a final off-take agreement with Taiwan's CPC would be completed during that time and that ''two remaining issues'' would be resolved. The project, led by ExxonMobil, has attracted attention recently following the outbreak of violence between tribal groups that has left several people dead. Mr Botten said that despite an Oil Search employee being one of those killed in the violence, it had ''absolutely nothing

AAP Papua New Guinea's most notorious criminal has alleged that triads are sponsoring political candidates for PNG's next elections. In an hour-long videotaped confession, seen by AAP, William Kapris tells PNG police he was a bag man for a network of Asian crime gangs and senior government ministers who planned and funded his major robberies. Kapris, who is facing trial for a series of high profile bank robberies and a jail escape, alleges syndicates such as the triads are linked to most PNG government institutions and agencies and use PNG's infamous 'rascals' for crimes. He alleges Asian mafia are funding political candidates for PNG's next elections in 2012. "There are five to ten guys like me who are now working with Asians," Kapris said. "I would help the network and prepare for (the) 2012 election. "We wouldn't remove the Prime Minister by gunpoint but th

AAP Papua New Guinea's most notorious criminal has alleged that triads are sponsoring political candidates for PNG's next elections. In an hour-long videotaped confession, seen by AAP, William Kapris tells PNG police he was a bag man for a network of Asian crime gangs and senior government ministers who planned and funded his major robberies. Kapris, who is facing trial for a series of high profile bank robberies and a jail escape, alleges syndicates such as the triads are linked to most PNG government institutions and agencies and use PNG's infamous 'rascals' for crimes. He alleges Asian mafia are funding political candidates for PNG's next elections in 2012. "There are five to ten guys like me who are now working with Asians," Kapris said. "I would help the network and prepare for (the) 2012 election. "We wouldn't remove the Prime Minister by gunpoin

Miyoko Sakashita  Center for Biological Diversity,  San Francisco, USA The Center for Biological Diversity, Pacific Environment, and Turtle Island Restoration Network have notified the U.S. Export Import Bank of their intent to sue the federal agency for financing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Papua New Guinea without analyzing the project’s environmental impacts. “If we are going to address global warming, the United States needs to stop funding new fossil fuel projects,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Instead, taxpayer dollars are financing an immense natural-gas project with adverse impacts on wildlife and habitat.”  The Export Import Bank approved $3 billion to ExxonMobil and partners to develop an LNG project in Papua New Guinea — the largest transaction in the bank’s 75-year history. Shortly after pledging to reduce fossil fuel subsidies at the G20 conference in 2009, the Obama administration gave this record-breaking L