The Department of Information and Communications Technology is embarking on implementing its public investment programs in 2023, which include in particular, the Cyber Security Network and the Digital Government Infrastructure and Service. This was highlighted by the Minister for Information and Communications Technology Hon. Timothy Masiu, when addressing the Commonwealth Conference on Cybercrime in the Pacific, in Port Moresby on Monday. “The Department of ICT is currently formalizing and onboarding key cyber agencies in PNG that will form a national cyber coordinating committee (N3C) which will speed up reporting, technical verification by backend technology, and cooperation with the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) Cybercrime Unit, leading to search warrants and prosecution,” Minister Masiu said. DICT has made progress so far in collaborating with the National Censorship Office in relation to addressing illicit content on the Internet being accessed within PNG’s digital boundaries. “There are also other areas such as the Dark Web which PNG needs government leadership and on the same token, I want to express my deep satisfaction that all three arms of government are deeply engaged in digital transformation and cybersecurity,” Minister Masiu added. While the PNG Constitution entrenches the principle of ‘separation of powers, each arm of government has a duty to the citizens to digitally transform the delivery of government services and to ensure that this takes place in a cyber secure environment. In the meantime, the Government has invited heads of the Pacific ICT institutions for an ICT dialogue in East New Britain province, to further deliberate amongst other issues, cybercrime and how ICT bodies can collaborate for a common purpose. “The Global future is a digital future and I look forward to the outcomes of this conference, Minister Masiu added.

Pacific Palms Property (PPP), the property division of Steamships is delighted to welcome Bill Doa Neill as the National Leasing Manager. Mr. Neill joins PPP from the Brian Bell Group where he was the Commercial Business Development Manager, bringing to the team over ten years of experience in commercial and project management. Mr. Neill has joined at an exciting time for the business, as PPP undergoes exceptional growth in 2023, with major projects; Portside Business Park, Harbourside South, and the Hagen DOBEL center scheduled to be completed by mid-2023. His knowledge of the Papua New Guinean landscape and wealth of experience both locally and internationally will bring a fresh perspective and seniority to the division. On Mr. Neill's appointment, Rupert Bray, Steamships Managing Director, says “We are pleased to be joined by another young, highly qualified and experienced manager. We look forward to Bill’s contributions to the growth and development of PPP in the years to come.” Mr. Neill was educated at Westlake Boys High School in Auckland before earning a bachelor’s degree in Marketing at the Queensland University of Technology. As a group, Steamships is committed to supporting and promoting local talent. Mr. Neill is the latest addition to the senior management team of Pacific Palms Property.

Lino Eaki is on a journey to expand her business as well as providing this vital service for many working-class parents in Papua New Guinea’s capital city. equips Steppingstone Preschool, tucked away behind a church in a suburban community has enrolled up to 10 children in its primary year of business in 2022. Lino was part of cohort of twenty-eight other women entrepreneurs that participated in a six-week Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme  (EAP) from October to December 2022. The programme was facilitated by the United Nations Development Programme and Credit Union Foundation Australia. Through this programme, 28 women across Port Moresby have gained access to vital skills to grow their small businesses and address the challenges women entrepreneurs face today. The curriculum included live instructor-led training sessions, self-paced learning, engaging speaker series by industry leaders, and mentoring sessions with private sector individuals, for additional support and networking. “I have been teaching for over 20 years, teaching from public to private school and as a mum myself saw the need for earlier learning and childcare targeting the working class.'' Previously, from the fees I collected as school fees went to paying rentals and expansion of the school. However, attending this course has allowed me to improve on my financial management of the funds and it also taught me how to market my business online with useful digital and innovative tools and ideas.” said Lino Women entrepreneurs benefited from a range of topics offered by the program, such as digital marketing, financial management, customer experience, logistics, and more. Aside from digital skills, women entrepreneurs also gained practical financial skills to better manage their businesses, forecast and budget beyond for the coming years. "I gained a lot of knowledge from this course; it has been mind boggling and as the name of my school suggests - a steppingstone. This experience gave me the confidence and the drive I needed. I am also happy to say that this has not only been a journey for me, but for my school, students and their parents - so to the organisers, I say, you have not only helped me grow but you have impacted the lives of my students and their family," she said. Since its inception, the initiative has provided more women-led Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) with the business acumen to tackle challenges and access vital skills and tools to better manage their businesses. There has been a lot of interest and requests from the general public to continue rolling out programmes like the Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme.  

Center for Excellence in Financial Inclusion is currently running its first 2023 Training of Trainers Training for Kina Bank staff. A total of 10 participants including eight women are attending the training. Following the training the Kina Bank Trainers will be required to deliver the Retail Training to their colleagues. This will be implemented through a training roll out plan developed by Kina Bank and CeFi will provide support to ensure that Kina Bank implements its training plans and training report provided to CeFi. The participants are being trained to deliver financial literacy training and taught skills on how to train a group of adult learners on Savings and Budgeting. They are also given the opportunity to practice session planning, customizing and delivery. To complete their training, the participants will be assessed on their competencies to deliver Group Based Learning for Adults. Source: Centre of Excellence in Financial Inclusion

After playing host to their Māori counterparts for the past four NRL Harvey Norman All Stars, the Indigenous squad are this week enjoying being guests in the first ever edition of the event to be held in New Zealand. Tuesday morning saw a large gathering at the picturesque Te Papaiouru Marae, situated on the active geothermal lakefront in Rotorua, to welcome both the men’s and women’s Māori and Indigenous sides ahead of Saturday’s matches at Rotorua International Stadium. “To have the All Stars over here is pretty good, and to learn about the Māori culture as well,” Indigenous back Selwyn Cobbo said from the marae. “I have never seen anything like this before, it’s a lot to take in and I love the Māori culture.” Forward Ryan James, who retired from the NRL last season but has travelled to take part in one final camp with the Indigenous side as a player, said he was in awe of the way Māori culture is embraced in Rotorua. Five years ago the city became the first in New Zealand to be declared bilingual, with road signage in both Te Reo Māori and English. “It's amazing to see how embedded the New Zealand Māori culture is here, it is unbelievable,” James said. “Even to see the kids know the language and have schools that have the language. “New Zealand are well far ahead of us [Australia] when it comes to knowing their culture and being extremely proud of who they are. “It's just one of those things where we just have to keep learning our culture. Australia has never really taught our culture, and it's something that we're looking to change. To see the pride that they have when everyone's performing is something that we strive for. Ryan James On Tuesday the men’s and women’s teams all had their first training session since arriving in New Zealand on Monday afternoon. For Cobbo, the match against the Māori is a chance to have a starting role in the star-studded Indigenous backline after coming off the interchange in last year’s fixture, while he’s also enjoying rubbing shoulders with some childhood idols. “I only finished school a few years ago and it wasn’t long ago that I was watching these boys on TV,” Cobbo said. “It’s my first camp with Latrell [Mitchell], and the boys have been looking after me and taking me under their wing. “It’s good to be back and I am proud to get picked in this team again.” Source: NRL.Com

UH Hilo Political Science major and Pi Sigma Alpha member Leoshina Kariha was selected to represent Hawai‘i at the 2023 College Student Congress organized by the Henry Clay Center. As an academic summer program, the College Student Congress is a fully funded, public-policy summer program, providing students with opportunities to research and write public policy on current national issues, meet students from across the country, develop new interpersonal and leadership skills, and interact with guest speakers in Lexington, Kentucky, and Washington, D.C. Only one student from each state and the District of Columbia is selected for this very competitive program. Congratulations, Leoshina! Source: University of Hawai'i at Hilo

It’s always best to start the year on a good note said the Acting Provincial Police Commander for Eastern Highlands Province, Chief Inspector Timothy Pomasso, when he spoke at the recent opening of the legal year parade. Pomasso, echoed keynote speaker Acting Justice Irene Mugugia’s message to the people of EHP to strive to become law abiding citizens because one of major issues that is being faced right around the country is the gap between disciplined forces, including the police to administer policing services. “The break up between both the population and the servicemen being exponentially wide, so we need to work alongside each other to combat law and order issues in the province,” Mugugia said. Meanwhile, CIP Pomasso also brought to light the news regarding the number of officers currently present on ground in the province. While working on the authorized position numbers of officers in the province, Pomasso said that on paper the official number is 308, but those on the ground number less than the figures projected. “Trying to request for additional manpower comes in two components. If we have to request for manpower, we have to have equal number of accommodation,” Pomasso said. This has raised concerns with Pomasso, who has also implied that at this point, they are in no position to request for manpower. Pomasso has spoken with EHP Governor on issues pertaining to accommodation for personnel and the response has been favorable; therefore, he hopes to be fruitful in the coming months.

The death toll from a strong earthquake in south-eastern Turkey, near Syria's border, could rise eight-fold, the World Health Organization has warned. The toll, which currently stands at more than 3,400 people, has increased rapidly since the first earthquake struck early on Monday morning. About 12 hours later, a second powerful tremor hit further north. Rescuers have been combing through mountains of rubble in freezing and snowy conditions to find survivors. Countries around the world are sending support to help the rescue efforts, including specialist teams, sniffer dogs and equipment. The US Geological Survey said the 7.8 magnitude tremor struck at 04:17 local time (01:17 GMT) at a depth of 17.9km (11 miles) near the city of Gaziantep. Seismologists said the first quake was one of the largest ever recorded in Turkey. Survivors said it took two minutes for the shaking to stop. The second quake - triggered by the first - had a magnitude of 7.5, and its epicentre was in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras province. Many aftershocks are still being felt across the region. The number of dead and injured from both Turkey and Syria has increased rapidly throughout Monday. The WHO has warned that those numbers are likely to increase as much as eight times, as rescuers find more victims in the rubble. "We always see the same thing with earthquakes, unfortunately, which is that the initial reports of the numbers of people who have died or who have been injured will increase quite significantly in the week that follows," the WHO's senior emergency officer for Europe, Catherine Smallwood, told AFP. Ms Smallwood added that the snowy conditions will leave many people without shelter, adding to the dangers. Many of the victims are in war-torn northern Syria, where millions of refugees live in camps on both sides of the border with Turkey. There have been dozens of fatalities reported in rebel-held areas. Thousands of buildings across both the countries have collapsed, and several videos show the moment they fell, as onlookers ran for cover. Many buildings that were as large as 12 storeys high are now flattened, roads have been destroyed and there are huge mountains of rubble as far as the eye can see. Among the buildings destroyed was Gaziantep Castle, an historic landmark that has stood for more than 2,000 years. The BBC's Middle East correspondent Anna Foster, reporting from the Turkish city of Osmaniye, near the epicentre, described a devastating scene. "It's absolutely pouring with rain which is hampering the rescue efforts. There is no power at all in the city tonight. "We're still feeling regular after-shocks... and there are still concerns that there may be still more buildings to collapse," our correspondent said. Turkey's energy infrastructure has also been damaged, and videos have emerged showing large fires in southern Turkey. Social media users claimed they were caused by damage to gas pipelines. Turkey's energy minister Fatih Donmez confirmed there had been serious damage to the infrastructure, but did not mention the explosions. Turkey lies in one of the world's most active earthquake zones. In 1999 a deadly quake killed more than 17,000 in the north-west. The country's worst earthquake disaster was in 1939 when 33,000 people died in Turkey's eastern Erzincan province. One Kahramanmaras resident, Melisa Salman, said living in an earthquake zone meant she was used to "being shaken", but Monday's tremor was "the first time we have ever experienced anything like that". "We thought it was the apocalypse," she said. The Turkish Red Crescent has called for citizens to make blood donations, and the organisation's president, Kerem Kınık, said on Twitter that additional blood and medical products were being sent to the affected region. Following an international appeal for help, Turkey's President Erdogan said 45 countries had offered support. UN Secretary General António Guterres has called for an international response to the crisis, saying that many of the families hit by the disaster were "already in dire need of humanitarian aid in areas where access is a challenge". The European Union is sending search and rescue teams to Turkey, while rescuers from the Netherlands and Romania are already on their way. The UK has said it will send 76 specialists, equipment and rescue dogs. France, Germany, Israel, and the US have also pledged to help. Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered help to both Turkey and Syria, as has Iran. Turkey's interior minister, Suleymon Soylu, said 10 cities were affected by the initial quake including Hatay, Osmaniye, Adiyaman, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Diyarbakir and Kilis. School has been suspended in those cities for at least a week. A volunteer with the White Helmets rescue group, which operates in rebel-controlled areas of north-western Syria, fought back tears as he described the devastation in Sarmada, near the border with Turkey. "Many buildings in different cities and villages in north-western Syria collapsed," he told the BBC. "Still now, many families are under the rubble. We are trying to save them but it's a very hard task for us. "We need help. We need the international community to do something, to help us, to support us. North-western Syria is now a disaster area," he added. The earthquake was powerful enough to be felt as far away as Cyprus, Lebanon and Israel. Source: BBC

Penrith Panthers is delighted to announce the re-signings of talented young players Jack Cole, Isaiah Iongi, Jesse McLean and Harrison Hassett. The Panthers quartet have all re-signed with the club until the end of the 2025 season. The contract extensions will see the four players train with the NRL squad on a full-time capacity throughout the 2023 season. Cole has committed to the club following a stellar 2022 season, in which he made his NRL debut for the Panthers in Round 25 against North Queensland. As well as representing New South Wales in the under-19s clash, the playmaker was named the NSWRL Jersey Flegg Player of the Year and helped the Panthers to premiership success in the NSW Cup. Queensland representative Iongi also featured in the under-19s Origin fixture in 2022 and was named the Panthers Jersey Flegg Player of the Year. The fullback played for both the Jersey Flegg and NSW Cup sides in 2022, as well as training with the NRL squad. McLean had a breakout 2022 season, which saw him named in the Australian Schoolboys side. The outside back scored a double in the SG Ball Grand Final, including the match-winning try, and claimed the Panthers SG Ball Emerging Talent Award. Hassett was also selected in the Australian Schoolboys squad and was named the Panthers SG Ball Player of the Year after impressing throughout 2022. The backrower played in both SG Ball and Jersey Flegg grand finals, and decided it would be most beneficial to develop his rugby league career at the Panthers. “It’s always rewarding to see Panthers Pathways players remain at the club despite receiving offers from other clubs,” Panthers Rugby League CEO Matt Cameron said. “Jack, Isaiah, Jesse and Harrison were all impressive throughout the 2022 season and thoroughly deserve their contract extensions.” “Not only are they talented rugby league players, but they are also great young men who are dedicated to their careers.” Source: penrithpanthers.com.au  

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has released the first draft of the National Media Development Policy for consultation. The purpose of the proposed National Media Development Policy is to outline objectives and strategies for the use of media as a tool for development, such as the promotion of democracy, good governance, human rights, and social and economic development. Minister for ICT Timothy Masiu has stated that 'it is important for the government and media organizations to work together to harness the potential of media to support development initiatives and promote a more sustainable and equitable world. The proposed policy is designed to conform to international norms and standards on freedom of expression, press freedom, and the protection of journalists, and should be designed to balance these rights with the need to protect the rights of others, such as privacy, security, and public order. The draft Policy proposes a wide range of structural reforms including: (1) Establishing the PNG Media Council through law with the mandate of functions and powers to grow and protect the professional fields within the media sector. (2) Widen roles of the National ICT Authority to regulate various aspected of media content and cross-media policy. (3) Reform and strengthen the National Broadcasting Corporations' mandate to focus on local content and the digital space. All stakeholders including operators of newspapers, radio stations, television online news, bloggers; journalist, content creators, and non-government organizations to access the draft National Media Development Policy on the PNG Department of Information and Communications Technology website and provide comments through the 17th of February 2023. In the coming months, the Department will carry out more awareness on how this policy that if endorsed, will transform the media sector in Papua New Guinea. Download the copy of the policy here: https://lnkd.in/gQFj5DJP

Tyrell Sloan walked into All Stars camp on Saturday with a vastly different mentality to when he made his debut for the Indigenous side 12 months ago. He returned to where it all began prior to flying out to New Zealand on Monday with a visit to Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation, a place he attended while he was raised by his grandmother Colleen nearby in Campbelltown. Sloan said he's come a long way to this time last year when he was pushing for a spot in St George Illawarra's top 30 before later falling out of favour with coach Anthony Griffin. He managed just eight games in total, dropped after three rounds before getting another crack at fullback in round 10 and then playing four games late in the season from the bench and on the wing. "Mentally I’ve matured a lot in the last 3-4 months, I’ve had to grow up and take advice a different way," Sloan told NRL.com during the community visit. "I’m still very young but am growing up quicker than other people. Last year I went through a patch where I was down and out but it’s all a part of my learning. "I actually thanked 'Hook' for dropping me last year, it’s made me come back stronger and be a lot happier and ready for 2023. "He’s straight-forward and I’d rather be told up front than be lied to. He’s a great man and I now see why it happened. "I was kicking stones blaming everyone else but this year I just want to take it on and handle any criticism that comes my way and lead the Red V." Sloan's chances of cementing the fullback role at the Dragons in 2023 came at the unfortunate expense of Cody Ramsey, who will miss the entire season through illness. [caption id="attachment_35722" align="alignnone" width="630"] Tyrell Sloan is welcomed back to Tharawal land on Saturday.©Supplied[/caption] "The best thing about us is we’re very close friends and he’s helping me with my game as much as he can off the field," Sloan said. "That’s with education, video and guidance. He had most games at the back last year and it means a lot that we're working together. That’s where people get it twisted, they think it’s Cody Ramsey v Sloan but we’re a team together. "He’s in my corner and I’m in his corner." Sloan was all smiles as he met with locals in Campbelltown and caught up with family he'd not seen for years with over 500 in attendance. With the All Stars clash headed to New Zealand's Rotorua for the first time in the concept's history, it was the only chance some members of the side had to connect with Indigenous communities before departing. "I was at that 50-50 mark around what I knew about my culture going into last year's match but going into camp it opens you up a lot more," Sloan said. "The whole camp is all about fun and that’s the main thing. It was surreal to come back. I remember when I was a young kid coming here and I was looked after, I felt like I belonged. "My nan always taught me respect. I was learning a bit about the Maori culture too given we're going over to their land. Their culture is dialled into schools and that’s something I wish was here more. Hopefully later on down the track it is like that." Source: NRL.Com

Minister for International Trade and Investment Richard Maru has highly commended Prime Minister James Marape and the NEC for the very bold and visionary decision to set up a Mission in Thailand amongst the four new missions to be established by the Marape-Rosso Government. The other three are Israel, UAE and Switzerland. “In my view after visiting Thailand last week on a Trade and Investment Mission, the decision by the Marape-Rosso Government to set up a Mission in Thailand this year as part of our walk across Asia strategy will in time prove to be one of the best decisions taken by any Government has taken since Independence. My delegation marveled at the sheer size and achievements of Thai industries to become world leaders and pacesetters in industries like the fish processing industry, chicken processing industry, starch from cassava, rice and sugar. They used to be third world nation producing agriculture raw materials like PNG is still doing 47 years after Independence while Thailand has transformed to become world leaders in food processing and exports,” said Minister Maru. Thailand has 40 fish processing plants and is tuna capital of the world with no local fishing industry. They are able to buy and become the leading world supplier of finished fishing products from fish supplied to them from fishing grounds all over the world including Papua New Guinea (PNG). “We visited and found out that they are major suppliers of fresh and cooked chicken products to Japan, US and the European Union after meeting Japan, US and European Union quality processing standards and accreditation. Thailand is now the world’s leading cassava starch supplier and also sugar. It’s unbelievable they also supply finished products only and do not export raw materials or semi processed agriculture products like PNG does,” said Minister Maru. “During our visit, leading Thai companies have expressed interest to invest in Papua New Guinea if we are able to provide land, electricity, good roads, wharves and all the enabling infrastructure and incentives to come and set up world class industries to mainly assist them to meet growing world demand for their quality products for countries in the ASEAN region like Indonesia, Australia and our own domestic market demand and Indo Pacific Region. By building a strong trade and investment relationship with the Government of Thailand, the private sector of Thailand, targeting potential investors and the people to people ties with Thailand, the Thai investors can help us develop our vast agriculture, fisheries and manufacturing industries into world class industries in our country,” said Minister Maru. “We were amazed when they told us that Japan has 30, 000 companies operating in Thailand and they employ over 1 million people from Myanmar to assist with low-cost labor in their manufacturing industry, to ensure they continue to be a low-cost producer of goods and services for the world. They have developed their tourism industry and today enjoy an influx of 40 million tourists a year. Thailand has moved to industrialization starting with manufacturing first all their agriculture products and now they have moved to automobile and other hi-tech industries,” said Minister Maru. “I was inspired by the trip because I envision if we follow the same path as Thailand and the same trajectory, our PNG economy can be transformed over the next 20 years if we develop a long and enduring partnership with Thailand and benefit from their business models, capital and technology, and their leading global brands and reputation and access their well-established global markets,” Minister Maru added. Minister Maru said PNG can also benefit from a strong trade and investment partnership with Thailand in areas like tourism development and developing Special Economic Zones (SEZs). “We found out from our visit to the Industrial Estates Authority of Thailand that is equivalent to our new Special Economic Authority that over the last 30 years they have built 4922 factories, built 4 international ports, accumulated over US$200 billion in Special Economic Zones and created directly 932,258 new jobs,” said Minister Maru. “The Marape-Rosso Government’s vision to anchor our future by building Special Economic Zones to drive economic growth, large scale mass employment opportunities for our people and create vast wealth creation opportunities for our people and our country is the right way to go based on global experience from countries like Thailand so opening our new Embassy this year in Thailand has to be given our highest priority,” said Minister Maru. “I am very inspired, and I have no doubt that cementing a trade and investment relationship with Thailand on a Prime Minister to Prime Minister level with a State visit this year by our Prime Minister and the opening of our new Embassy in Thailand will be one of the greatest contribution the Marape led Government will do to secure an even brighter and better future for our beautiful country,” said Minister Maru. Meanwhile, the first large scale investor that the Delegation met and have invited to come to explore investment opportunities in PNG are scheduled to arrive in Port Moresby early next month. “My Ministry and the Department will work to invite more Thai investors to come and invest in Papua New Guinea as a major focus of Marape-Rosso Government’s economic growth initiative,” said Minister Maru.