Two veterans sealed a season of hope with for the SP PNG Hunters with a try to end a quality 30-18 Intrust Super Cup victory over finals-bound Tweed Seagulls at Bycroft Oval today. Prop Stanton Albert had three Tweed tacklers hanging off him in the 71st minute when he freed his arm to pass to playmaker Ase Boas for a try that pushed the Hunters clear of the Seagulls. The visitors gained a late try but this was a game that belonged to the Hunters. Gilmo Paul and Emmanuel Waine scored in the opening 15 minutes to lay the foundation for a Hunters team desperate to finish strongly in a season that has featured the Intrust Super Cup debut of 12 players. That experience will stand the Hunters in good stead next season with the green shoots coming through in impressive wins in recent weeks over Northern Pride and Tweed, which both entered the last round in the top eight. The Hunters brought the strong crowd to their feet today with some classic moments of flair. Boas chipped and regathered in the 60th minute when Tweed expected him to drive a clearing kick down the field. He found a flying Wane for a try that will be among the season’s highlights. Boas also landed a rare 20-40 kick that caught Tweed by surprise while another raid through the centre of the field, including two regathered chip kicks, almost resulted in a try. This was the Women in League round and PNG coach Matt Church paid tribute to the wives and partners of his players who have remained at home while the Hunters have been based for almost seven months in Queensland. “There has been a lot of sacrifice this season from everyone involved with this campaign including those who remained at home,” Church said. “I couldn’t be prouder of this team for how they finished off the season. We spoke about wanting to get on the plane home being proud of how we finished the season. We did that today by playing probably our most complete game of the year. “So much has happened and we’ll take a lot of benefit from this season.” The Hunters applied pressure through a kicking game highlighted by Boas’ 20-40 kick which was believed to be the first of the Intrust Super Cup season. The ball rolled to the Seagulls’ 20-metre line such was the length of the kick. The Hunters also caught the Seagulls by surprise on the stroke of halftime with a clearing kick that would have put them in prime attacking position if not for the siren. “We wanted to apply that pressure today and we managed to do that at important times,” Church said. “And there were also some great moments of attack that helped us. We tend to play well in front of big crowds and we had plenty of supporters today that we wanted to thank.” The Seagulls entered the game as one of four teams tied in places second to fifth, desperate to win to claim a top-four berth. They trailed 20-4 at halftime but clawed back the margin with a try in the 53rd minute. But Wane’s try from Boas’ chip-kick gave the Hunters a handy margin and a chance to take a deep breath as their season wound to a close. SP PNG HUNTERS 30 (Emmanuel Waine 2, Gilmo Paul, Epel Kapinias, Solo Wane, Ase Boas tries, Boas 3 goals) bt TWEED SEAGULLS 18 (Lee Turner 2, Lamar Manuel-Liolevave, Will Brimson tries, Tevin Arona goal) at Bycroft Oval.

The Grand Papua Hotel in Port Moresby is a proud winner of two International Hotel Awards in the Asia Pacific region for 2021/2022. The Asia Pacific Hotel Awards recognizes and celebrates the hotel industry worldwide, with votes cast by travelers, guests, and industry players. It is the first year the Grand Papua Hotel has entered the Asia Pacific Hotel Awards and we are proud to have been awarded the following: Best City Hotel for Papua New Guinea Highly Commended Award for Luxury Hotel category for Papua New Guinea “It is a prestigious milestone for the Grand Papua Hotel to be recognized as a world class Upscale Hotel providing a high-end product and services in Papua New Guinea”. Says Robert Cohen – Hotel General Manager of the Grand Papua Hotel. Grand Papua Hotel is situated in Port Moresby’s Central Business District, and offers 161 upscale guest rooms, suites, and residences. The Hotel was built in 2011 and continues to provide a high standard in its products and services for business travelers and corporate guests who want an upscale hotel experience with friendly service. The Hotel General Manager Robert Cohen explains: “We continue to take pride in giving our guests reasons for coming back not only to Grand Papua Hotel but also to Papua New Guinea and Port Moresby – this award is dedicated to all our employees and guests” The Grand Papua Hotel boasts an upscale setting and guest experience with the Grand Brasserie, 15th Floor by Chef Krisna, Grand Bar, and Grand Café, Grand Spa, and the Executive Lounge located on the 15th Floor.

The Gerehu Secondary School will be hosting an inhouse pre-independence celebration on Wednesday the 15th of September to mark the country’s 46 years of Independence. Expressive Arts teacher Ms Elizabeth Tandoa said the event will not be opened to the public as in the previous years due to the COVID-19 restrictions they must observe for this year. “This event is only for the students from this school, however we can make an exception for parents to join us but it won’t be open to the general public.”  Ms Tandoa said her expressive arts students will also be performing a unique dance among other activities planned for the day. “My expressive arts students, we have decided to come up with a piece titled “United Rhythm” showcasing Papua New Guinea.” “Basically, in the dance piece, there are 22 provinces accommodated in the choreography and each student is depicting a dance from each of the provinces.” She said the dance will represent the four regions of Papua New Guinea with “Unity” being the main message behind the dance.

The Lae Snax Tigers created history this afternoon at the Oil Search National Football Stadium in Port Moresby when they added yet another Digicel Cup title to the club’s winning history thus crushing the JPG Waghi Tumbe's dreams of a historic Grand Final win. The boys from Asa Sumba land came out in the first half with a mindset on winning and did not waste time in bagging the side’s only three tries in the first half which saw them walk away with their 4th championship title since entering the Digicel Cup in 2013. 3 minutes into the first half, the Tigers first try was scored by half-back Jerry Teme with a failed conversion by five-eight Jamie Mavoko thus opening the scoreline at 4 points to nil. As the Tumbes looked into efforts to even up the scoreline, the Tigers through winger Max Vali scored their second try in the 13th minute with a successful conversion by Mavoko, bringing the score to 10 nil. The Stanley Tepend coached side capitalized on their excellent set plays and ball handling with the forward packs making the hits through the Tumbe’s defense which saw their side scoring their last and final try of the 2021 season in the 17th minute through centre Lynol Molpoya. The Waghi Tumbe came up fighting with a first grand final try 25 minutes into the first half by half-back Job Kar with a missed conversion locking in the points at 16 points to 4 in favor of the Lae Snax Tigers. For the remaining minutes till half-time, it was a tussle between the oldies and the newbies as the young Waghi Tumbe side did all they could to close in on the gap thus were rewarded in the dying seconds of the first half, with a try by centre Valentine Wamdi and a successful conversion by David Joseph. At half-time, the scores were locked in at 16 points to 10 with both sides unable to score further tries in the second half as the ball was tussled to and from each of the try lines. In the end, it was the Tiger’s experience campaigners in the likes of Junior Rop, Rex Yallon and Roy Kela that put in the hard yards in ensuring that the defense line for the Tigers was dead set thus giving the Tumbe’s no opportunities to even the scoreline. When the full-time siren went, the boys from the Lae Biscuit Sponsored side had the last big dance as they re-claimed the cup from last year’s cup holders, the Kroton Hela Wigmen. This by far will be the Tiger’s highest winning scoreline compared to their 15-4 win over the same team in the 2019 Digicel Cup Grand Final. The Tigers have won 2 other Grand Finals over the Agmark Rabaul Gurias in 2016 and 2017 with scores of 14-8 and 11-10 respectively. Coach Tepend who was overjoyed at his team’s victory said that this year’s competition has been the most satisfying in that most of his boys left for Hunters duties however, he is so thankful for the boys that stayed who have worked hard towards achieving this premiership win. “Most of the boys left for the Hunters however, I am happy with how the boys have worked hard to get this far in winning the premiership title.” Tepend said overally, he is pleased with the boys’ performance this year and is looking forward to what next year will bring for the team.

Britain's Emma Raducanu has completed a Grand Slam fairytale, with the 18-year-old becoming the first ever qualifier to win a Grand Slam title. She beat Canadian Leylah Fernandez 6-4 6-3 in the battle of the teens to be crowned U.S. Open champion. Raducanu is the first British woman to hoist a major trophy since Virginia Wade triumphed at Wimbledon in 1977. The first Grand Slam final -- men or women -- to be contested by two unseeded players was an improbable matchup that no one could have predicted, featuring 150th-ranked qualifier Raducanu and little-known Fernandez, ranked 73rd. All the more remarkable was that Raducanu's march to the title required 10 matches, including three wins in qualifying, and she did it without dropping a single set along the way. Raducanu threw herself to the floor in disbelief as she fired down an ace to conclude what has been the most remarkable journey. Raducanu served for the match at 5-3 but cut her leg as she went break point down, leading to a medical time-out and a clearly irritated Fernandez expressing her frustration to the match official. However, Raducanu shrugged off the delay, saving a further break point before closing out her third championship point. The two shared a warm hug before Raducanu headed up the stairs at Arthur Ashe Stadium to celebrate with her support box. She will take home $NZ3.5m in prize money, rise to 23 in the world rankings and will become the British number one on Monday. SOURCE: RNZ NEWS

Cases that made news headlines involving crimes against women and children that were either dismissed or given compensation payments as a form of sentencing by the courts will be reviewed and appealed before the Supreme Court. Justice Minister Bryan Kramer made this known in Parliament on Thursday when asked by Oro Governor Gary Juffa. Governor Juffa in his series of questions asked Minister Kramer if the Department of Justice is considering conducting reviews in the criminal prosecution and the justice system amidst the growing trend of what he called “the breakdown in justice system.” Minister Kramer in response said even though the Public Prosecutors Office lies outside of the Justice Department’s jurisdiction, they’ve had talks to review those cases and establish the reasons. “ The reviews are to establish if it was a case of poor investigations, insufficient evidence or possibly an error in the judgement,” Mr Kramer said. “From there, considerations will be made for those cases to be brought back to the Supreme Court for appeal.” Kramer added that there are reforms currently undertaken by the police minister and the Justice Department to align their work in addressing those issues however specific details will be made known in other sessions of Parliament.

The National Government has been called on to ensure the National Parliament is given its share of funding in the upcoming national budget. National Parliament Speaker Job Pomat sounded the call on Thursday in Parliament in light of a request for a parliamentary committee to immediately commence investigations into the procurement of a controversial medical drug that has resulted in several fatalities last month. Mr Pomat said in his last four years as Speaker, successive governments continue to overlook the Parliament’s budget that he presents in the annual budgets. “Over the years, the Parliament’s budget that I present to the executive government annually according to law were never met,” Mr Pomat said. “All the Parliamentary Committees are not functioning because of this reason.” “I’m asking that the upcoming budget must be inclusive of Parliament’s share as it is an arm of the government, in fact the first arm of government,” Mr Pomat stated.

Students from the Buk Bilong Pikinini (BbP) Learning Centre at 6 Mile celebrated the International Literacy Day on Wednesday by thanking PNG Air for their support for the last 3 years. The students presented “When I grow Up” books to the PNG Air Team. “PNG Air assists with the re-establishment library kits where schools across Papua New Guinea have received books for their libraries,” said the Executive Officer, Ms. Leanne Reeson. Ms Reeson said that so far 68 schools and learning centres across the country have received over 40, 000 books. She added that not only does PNG Air support BbP with freighting the library kits, they also support with the training and up skilling of the BbP staff from the outside provinces. Meanwhile, the Acting Chief Commercial Officer, Ms Nancy Nakikus thanked BbP for allowing PNG Air to partner with them. Ms Nakikus said PNG Air likes to encourage young people to aspire to reach their goals. PNG Air will be delivering the “When I grow Up books” to over 24 destinations that they cover with their air services.

The Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee (PNGOC) is now inviting organisations from both the public and private sector to register and field Teams for the annual Prime Minister’s (PM’s) Golf Challenge 2021. With the start of registrations early this month, PNGOC Secretary General Auvita Rapilla re-iterated this call with reminders on the closing dates for both chapters of the challenge in Lae, and Port Moresby, Mrs Rapilla said, “With the current challenges due to the coronavirus, we are hoping that we will get a good number of teams to participate similar to last year’s turnout in both Lae and here in Port Moresby. “Under PNGOC’s new strategic term 2021 to 2024, we have 4 Games on the calendar for Team PNG, which includes the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games in the United Kingdom and the 2022 Saipan Mini South Pacific Games, in the Northern Marianas, 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara, Solomon Islands and 2024 Paris Olympic Games in France. A mammoth task indeed for PNGOC”. “With registrations now opened, we welcome all organisations to take part and support our national Team”, she said. Chairman of Fundraising Committee Michael Henao acknowledged the continued patronage of our current annual PM’s Golf pool of sponsors The National, Ela Motors, Theodist Ltd, Media Partners, Brian Bell Group and SP Brewery. “We grateful for your myriad contributions and immense support over the years, including invaluable support during and through the pandemic. The on-going support from Team PNG’s current partners is a source of renewed strength in the organisation’s capacity as a valuable agent for positive change for Papua New Guineans”. “As partners of the PNG Olympic Committee, you are important stakeholders that provide significant support to achieve our goals and objectives, you all play an important part in nation building and uniting our country”. Registrations will close on October 01st for Lae while registration for the Port Moresby will close on October 26th, with competitions dates scheduled for October 3rd for Lae and October 22nd for Port Moresby respectively.

President of the Papua New Guinea Chamber of Mines and Petroleum, Anthony Smaré, has applauded the Marape-Basil government, Petroleum Minister Kerenga Kua, ExxonMobil PNG, and their joint venture partners for agreeing to reengage in negotiations on the P’nyang project in Western Province. Mr. Smaré said “In light of the extremely challenging economic conditions in PNG, the P’nyang and Papua LNG projects, are projects that are desperately needed to be kick-started to kick-start the country’s stagnant economy creating jobs, bringing in foreign exchange and providing opportunities for PNG businesses, particularly SMEs in the impacted areas”. “I congratulate the Prime Minister, Minister Kua, the SNT and Exxon Mobil and its partners for restarting these negotiations, and strongly encourage them to secure a win-win outcome that sees the progress of the P’nyang project in the near term, and in turn helping PNG and our people.” In making the announcement of re-engaging in negotiations on P’nyang, on August 20th, Petroleum Minister Kerenga Kua highlighted the economic importance of these two projects alone. “The benefits of phasing the construction of both Papua and P’nyang projects over an eight year period shall be a substantial boost to the economy and the country. “This tremendous investment would extend our gas pipeline infrastructure into the country’s Western Province and have a meaningful and lasting economic impact for Papua New Guinea and its people,” Minister Kua said. He also announced that there would be a series of workshops regarding the development of the P’nyang Gas Fields, and if these continued unhindered, an expected signing of a P’nyang Heads of Agreement could be expected by end of this month, with a Gas Agreement to follow. “While there continues to be misinformation on the true impact of resource projects in the country, the government remains fully aware that projects which remain in the pipeline, will not be able to effect much financial benefit, until they are negotiated and commissioned. “This announcement by government of re-engaging with ExxonMobil PNG and its joint venture partners on the P’nyang project, is an extremely positive step in the right direction,” Mr. Smaré said.

The PNG National Research Institute’s Economic Policy Analysis Course (EPAC) can open the way for participants to go on to do post-graduate studies. This is one of the values of the course that the participants can gain from, as highlighted by the Papua New Guinea National Research Institute (PNG NRI) Acting Director, Dr. Osborne Sanida in his address to the 2021 intakes on Monday 6 September 2021. “The curriculum is unique in its conception and presentation… A lot of you can go on to do post-graduate studies. EPAC is the stepping stone to it,” Dr. Sanida said. A number of graduates, who are part of the EPAC alumni, have testified of the Course assisting them to pursue post-graduate studies after completing the EPAC program. Other areas participants can expect to gain from the course are: skills to analyse data and design policies; it sharpens thinking; informs decision-making, especially decsions to improve the welfare of the people; and, promotes time management. The course aims to promote the candidates’ knowledge on government development policies, comprising government economic policies and other major public policies with implications for economic growth and national development. Dr. Sanida said the program attempts to present the analysis of major government policies and their impacts on income creation, employment generation or retention, and development. “No other research Institute or educational institution in PNG is better placed to offer the EPAC than the PNG NRI which has been mandated to inquire, inform and influence development policies.” The course is offered for middle and senior management executives and promising bureaucrats in the public and private sectors and leaders interested in government and public policymaking. The EPAC continues to be very popular and has trained many Papua New Guineans holding high positions in the public and private sectors; and it is also in high demand.

One of Papua New Guinea’s commercial banks has come to the aid of the National Control Centre for COVID-19 by donating laptops. In response to a request from NCC, the Kina Bank agreed to donate 10 laptops, two of which were presented to NCC this morning by the bank’s Chief Financial Officer Chetan Chopra and Executive General Banking Lesilie Taviri. The two senior officers said the remaining eight laptops will be given next week. Deputy Controller of the National Pandemic Response Dr Daoni Esorom thanked the bank for the donation and said NCC needs such donations to be able to do  its work. “We work very hard.  We work long hours, 24/7, at weekends as well so we need all the help we can get,’’ said Dr Daoni. Dr Daoni also reminded the two bank senior officers that the bank staff were essential workers and hoped that they were vaccinated to protect themselves against COVID-19. In response, Mr Chopra thanked Dr Daoni and staff for the work they are doing. “You work is very important. It gives us confidence that we are safe,’’ said Mr Chopra. There are seven clusters within NCC health operations and the 10 donated laptops will go a long way in supporting and maintaining data.