A staff of Ramu Agri Industries is the Lucky winner of Air Niugini’s return trip tickets picked during the major draw raffle at the end of the 46th National Games Fishing Titles in Lae. The promotion for the raffle ran for a week at the Lae Yacht, giving both the participants of the National Game Fishing titles and the public the chance to participate before the winner was announced. Harry Kaisa won himself two Lae/POM/Singapore return trip tickets after he purchased five raffle tickets for K50 each during the week leading up to the commencement of the National Games Fishing titles. Kaisa tried not to be over excited when he first received the text message to advise him about winning the prize because he thought it was a scam. “However, after getting a call from Air Niugini, I was jumping up and down, had to very quickly relay the good-news to my daughters.” “My daughters, Kymorah is in grade 9 and Herrietta is doing grade 5.” “One of the girls will use the second return ticket while I purchase the third one so that the three of us can go together.” “What a great way for the girls to spend their school holidays.” “We are all excited and cannot wait.” Kaisa has never been to Singapore and was grateful for the free airline tickets. He plans to take a trip during the third term school holiday with his daughters.

Alotau Soccer Associating kicked off their preseason over the long Easter Weekend with over 20 clubs taking part. Week 1 games started on Saturday 08th April and ended on Monday 10th April with Joma leading in Pool A, Gelagela leading the Pool B, KB Wanderers leading Pool C and Yele Footy in the top spot in Pool D. Alotau Soccer Association Vice President, Mr. Jeffery Feeger said they had some wash out games and some teams had to forfeit, but they had a good weekend of soccer. “The draws for week 2 of the preseason is already out for the clubs to prepare themselves for this weekend’s games.” “We don’t have a set date yet for when the proper season will begin, but we are hoping mid-May.” He added that they have updated the results for last week and also the current ladder on the Alotau Soccer Facebook Page. They will be putting up updates on their Facebook page as well for people to see.  

Five (5) year old Yaom Sani from Hote Village in Salamaua, Morobe Province has been living with an enlarged growth on her shoulder for three years now. She lost her mother in 2020 and soon after started having the growth on her shoulder. In 2022, the growth grew very large that her father, Sani Matayam took her to the local aid post but it was unfortunate that there wasn’t anyone to help her medically or give her a diagnosis of her medical condition. In search of proper medical care and assistance, Yaom and her father travelled to Lae city, to have specialist doctors and nurses at Angau Memorial Hospital conduct tests to identify the cause of her illness and provide treatment. Sani Matayam said that the doctors had performed Xray’s and Scans on Yaom, however they said she needed a CT Scan to be done on her before they can give her a proper diagnosis and start her on treatment. “We have been referred to Lae International Hospital for a CT Scan however we do not have the funds.” “It normally costs K1,600 for the CT Scan but since we had a referral letter from Angau, they charged us K960. So far all the that the doctors told us is that Yaom has a swollen gland.” Yaom isn’t on any medication at this time. They are unable to go home to the village because it is far from the city and Yaom needs to get the CT Scan done sooner. He and Yaom are now living with friends while they figure out ways to raise funds for little Yaom. Mr Matayam is appealing to anyone who wishes to donate in cash or kind to assist Yaom can reach out to him on his number 72456062.

The University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) West New Britain Students Association (WNBSA) held their first fundraiser for the year over the weekend at the National Football Stadium to start raising funds for their end of the year programs. The UPNG WNBSA President, Mr. Michael Jr Reu said that they need to raise over K30, 000 to support their end of year programs in West New Britain. “We plan on conducting an open forum at the end of the year at Bialla and Kimbe towns where we will talk about the law and order issues in the province.” “We will also be carrying out surveys in 3 or 4 hospitals in the province to find out what they don’t have and what we can do assist them in providing a better service to people.” “We will also be conducting Financial Literacy Training for small business owners in the formal and informal sector in Talasea district and Nakanai district as well.” Mr. Reu said that they have more fundraising activities coming up before the end of the year. Their major fundraiser will be a West New Britain Night fundraising dance; however, they haven’t finalized the details yet. He added that apart from those awareness and education programs, they will also have a cleanathon in Bialla and Kimbe town as part of their program. He also thanked the executives and committee of the student association for working hard to make sure the first fundraiser was a success.

The residents of Lae city and the surrounding areas are experiencing total power outage since yesterday due to a fault between Munum Independent Power Producer (IPP) Power Station and Taraka Substation and Power Station. The fault is affecting the supply of electricity into Lae city from the Mumum Power Station and the Ramu Grid. Most of the transmission lines between Munum and Taraka run through the thick bushland so line patrol conducted yesterday afternoon was called off when it got dark and will continue today. At this stage, Taraka Power Station is only able to supply 1.4 Megawatts (MW) which can't cater for the whole of Lae City. Milford Power Station is on forced outage for generator maintenance. For more information and clarification, residents are advised to contact the National Call Centre on Toll-Free 116, Email callcentre@pngpower.com.pg and on WhatsApp 70001009. PNG Power Limited sincerely apologises for the inconvenience caused during this time.

Safety is a top priority at Air Niugini and they pride themselves on maintaining the highest safety standards. Because of this, there have been occasions where unscheduled maintenance events have affected their operating schedule, causing disruptions to customers travel plans. Air Niugini want to assure their valued customers that they have a robust maintenance program and their highly skilled staff work day and night to ensure that the aircraft are safe and reliable. Air Niugini acknowledges the support of external stakeholders particularly CASAPNG and the Director and his team as well as AIC and Niusky Pacific Limited and their respective teams. The Fokker fleet have served well; however, it is time to replace them with more modern aircraft and selection process is underway to acquire 11 new next generation jet aircrafts. These aircraft will be larger and more fuel efficient than the present fleet and will expand the schedule and increase frequency. In the meantime they will have more capacity by September with additional Q400 Turboprop and Boeing 737-800 aircraft. This will improve Air Niugini’s schedule integrity, until the new regional jets arrive. Acting Chief Executive Officer Gary Seddon apologized for the disruption to customers travels plans in the lead up to Easter and over the long weekend. “The current situation is not representative of the premium carrier that Air Niugini strives to be.” “We have accelerated plans to bring on additional fleet.” “This provides more schedule reliability, and greater value to our customers.” “We have also engaged plans to increase our staff complement to handle passenger volume growth more effectively.” Seddon added that they understood that air travel can be a significant expense and they are committed to being transparent and providing a range of fare options to meet travel needs and budgets. For those whose travel plans are impacted by the unscheduled maintenance event, they will be accommodated on the next available flight. He encouraged customers to sign up for email newsletters and follow Air Niugini on social media to stay up to date on latest promotions and offers.

Veterans Jordan Rapana and Josh Papali'i stood tall as the Raiders handed Brisbane their first defeat of the season with a 20-14 triumph at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night. Coming off a 41-point drubbing at the hands of Penrith last week and with only one win on the board in 2023, the Green Machine restored pride with a gritty defensive display. It was clear from the outset that the Raiders were up for the fight and they opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Jamal Fogarty, Corey Horsburgh, Seb Kris and Matt Timoko combined to put Rapana over in the corner. The Broncos hit back in the 16th minute when Selwyn Cobbo produced a freakish putdown in the corner despite the attention of two Raiders defenders. On the half hour mark Rapana made it a double when he jumped into dummy half and carried three Broncos over the line with him to give Canberra 12-4 lead. Raiders playmaker Brad Schneider made a mistake from the kick-off and the Broncos should have made them pay but Reece Walsh chose to try and flick the ball to Cobbo when he could have scored himself. An offside penalty against the Broncos in the closing minutes of the half gave Jarrod Croker an easy shot at goal and the Green Machine led by 10. The Broncos needed just three minutes in the second half to find their groove with Jordan Riki grabbing a try after Albert Hopoate made a mess of an Adam Reynolds grubber kick. On the back of a Zac Woolford burst out of dummy half the Raiders marched down field and grabbed their third of the game when Hopoate flew high to bring down a Fogarty kick and plunge over wide out. Croker converted from touch to make it 20-10 to Canberra. A lost ball by Hopoate 40 metres out from his own line put the Raiders under pressure but their defence stood tall even in the face of three consecutive six-again calls for Brisbane. With eight minutes to play the Broncos set up a grandstand finish when Ezra Mam delivered the final pass for Jesse Arthars to cross in the corner with a spectacular finish. The Raiders lost Rapana with three minutes to play when he copped an accidental knee to the head from Martin Taupau after taking a bomb. Rapana suffered a bad head cut and was taken from the field on a medicab, leaving his teammates to put the finishing touches on their first win over the Broncos at Suncorp since 2010.   Source: NRL.com

A dazzling four-try haul from fullback Dylan Edwards led the Panthers to a 44-12 win over the Sea Eagles at BlueBet Stadium on Saturday night. Edwards got the ball rolling in just the fifth minute and had a hat-trick by half-time as the premiers sent an ominous warning to the rest of the competition with their second big haul in as many weeks. After Edwards had crossed, a penalty against Panthers hooker Mitch Kenny for a steal gave the Sea Eagles a chance to hit back immediately but Jason Saab was denied by a desperation cover tackle from Sunia Turuva. Sea Eagles hooker Lachlan Croker produced a 40-20 in the 11th minute but the visitors were unable to capitalise on the opportunity and six minutes later the Panthers were in again when Stephen Crichton delivered a superb pass out of dummy half to put Brian To'o over in the corner. An offside penalty against Kelma Tuilagi handed Nathan Cleary an easy shot from close range and the halfback knocked it over for a 14-0 lead. Come the 29th minute and Edwards had a double after he put some footwork on Kaeo Weekes and cruised over to make it 20-0 with Cleary's conversion. Edwards had a hat-trick soon after when Soni Luke, Isaah Yeo and Cleary combined to set the fullback up and back-rower Scott Sorensen made it 32-0 at the break when he capitalised on more skilful lead-up work by Luke. A horror start to the second half for Manly with Daly Cherry-Evans kicking out on the full but a timely intercept by returning winger Jason Saab defused the danger. The Sea Eagles made it over the line in the 51st minute through Ethan Bullemor but the bench forward was penalised for a double movement. Two minutes later the Panthers exploded from 40 metres out when Crichton found To'o who found Edwards looming in support for his fourth try. To the Sea Eagles' credit they refused to lie down and came up with a try through Saab off a neat Cherry-Evans grubber to make the score 38-6. The Sea Eagles made it over the line in the 51st minute through Ethan Bullemor but the bench forward was penalised for a double movement. Two minutes later the Panthers exploded from 40 metres out when Crichton found To'o who found Edwards looming in support for his fourth try. To the Sea Eagles' credit they refused to lie down and came up with a try through Saab off a neat Cherry-Evans grubber to make the score 38-6. Luke continued his impressive night when he darted out of dummy half and earned Penrith a repeat set with a well weighted grubber kick but Manly held on. With seven minutes to play the Sea Eagles worked their way upfield on the back of a penalty and Tom Trbojevic grabbed a four-pointer after Crichton had spilled a bomb. Cherry-Evans' converted for 38-12. A try to Cleary in the final minute off a Luke grubber put the icing on the Panthers' third win of the season.   Source: NRL.com

Separatists in Indonesia's Papua region who took a New Zealand pilot hostage in February have told authorities to stop searching for him, and to start negotiating. Philip Mehrtens was kidnapped after landing his plane in Papua's remote mountainous province of Nduga. He is being held by West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) fighters. "The pilot is still with us," TPNPB spokesperson Sebby Sambom told BBC Indonesian in a message. "The Indonesian government has to be bold and sit with us on a negotiation table and not [deploy] military and police to search the pilot," he added. He denied reports that the group was prepared to drop a demand for the Indonesian government to recognise Papuan independence before they could consider freeing him. The Reuters news agency reported on Thursday that Mr Sambom indicated this could be the case. "The demand for Papua's independence has already conveyed from a long time ago. That demand will not be perished, that's the main demand of Papua nation," Mr Sambom said. Previously a Dutch colony, Papua declared independence in 1961, but Indonesia took control two years later. The resource-rich region has been caught in a battle for independence ever since it was brought under Jakarta's formal control in a UN-supervised vote in 1969. Mr Mehrtens was kidnapped after his small passenger plane, which belongs to Indonesia's Susi Air, landed in Nduga in early February. His plane had departed from the Mozes Kilangin airport in Central Papua, and was meant to return a few hours later after dropping off five passengers. But shortly after landing, rebels stormed the single-engine plane and seized the Christchurch native. The TPNPB later told BBC Indonesian that Mr Mehrtens had been moved to a stronghold district for the group in a remote area, and he would be used as "leverage" in political negotiations. The group said the pilot was being held because New Zealand co-operates militarily with Indonesia. The other passengers, who were indigenous Papuans, were released. Around a week later the separatists released video footage of Mr Mehrtens reading a prepared statement in which he repeated the rebels' demands. Papuan rebels seeking independence from Indonesia have previously issued threats and even attacked aircraft they believe to be carrying personnel and supplies for Jakarta. Conflicts between indigenous Papuans and the Indonesian authorities are common, with pro-independence fighters mounting more frequent attacks since 2018. The region is divided into two provinces, Papua and West Papua. It is separate from Papua New Guinea, which was given independence by Australia in 1975.   Source: BBC

East Sepik Provincial Police Commander, Superintendent Christopher Tamari, said that this long Easter weekend has been quiet so far. “The people took part in the Way of the Cross yesterday (Good Friday).” “We only had one minor incident at Yangoru where a family of a deceased retaliated and attacked the family of the accused. The boys (police officers) went up and helped a peace mediation between the families and sorted out the issue.” Tamari said that the highway communities were also quiet with no major incidents reported. The week before they did have some disturbances from school children after the closing of Term 1 where they were involved in drinking homebrew and smoking marijuana. Tamari added that they had issued a liquor ban for the long weekend where liquor shops closed on midday Thursday 06th April and will reopen on Tuesday 11th April. Meanwhile, Tamari mentioned that as part the new PPC for the province, he plans on improving road safety in the province. He said that he has seen a lot of un- roadworthy vehicles on the road and therefore, he will be calling on District Administrators along with the provincial Road Traffic Authority, to meet and discuss what to do next regarding this issue.

The latest Queensland derby produced an exciting encounter, with the Dolphins putting in an impressive first half to outpoint the Cowboys 32-22 in North Queensland. While both sides were missing some of their major stars due to injuries and suspension, it did not stop fans flocking to sell out the stadium with 22,811 on hand to see the Cowboys go down to the NRL's newest club. After a steady start to the game, the Dolphins got the ball rolling on the scoreboard in the eighth minute when Jamayne Isaako finished off a well-worked scrum play. He was in again soon after with an impressive effort - outleaping Cowboys makeshift winger Brendan Elliot to reel in an Isaiya Katoa kick and push his side to an early 8-0 lead. However, the Cowboys were not out of the game, with Kyle Feldt crossing for the home side's first try, in a scrum set-up that was remarkably similar to the Dolphins opener. Throughout the game and in the first half especially, former Cowboys fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow proved a threat, helping set up a try, scoring two of his own and making 11 tackle breaks by the end of the match. The former Queensland Maroons representative was the next to score and showed what he could do with a try that showcased his tackle-busting ability. Isaako then completed his first-half hat-trick, with the try followed in quick succession by a four-pointer to another former Cowboy in Tom Gilbert. This saw the Dolphins rush out to a 26-12 lead at halftime, with Feldt sneaking in one more for the home side just before the break to give the Cowboys fans some hope. While the locals lifted a notch to start the second half, and kept the Dolphins scoreless until a late penalty goal to Isaako in the 75th minute, the damage had been done. Centre Valentine Holmes tried to will his team to turn around the result with a strong second half, which despite making a crucial error where he passed the ball off the ground, saw him also score a try which brought his side within touching distance of the visitors. However, they were not able to capitalise on their opportunities with the ball and gave up too much to the Dolphins in defence, especially in the first half and to rub salt into the wounds, the homecoming Hammer sealed the win with a late try to consign the Cowboys to their fourth loss. Source: NRL.com

Latrell Mitchell celebrated his 150th game in style scoring his first hat-trick for the Rabbitohs as the Bunnies started the Easter long weekend with a 50-16 win against the Bulldogs. The win meant the Rabbitohs kept their stellar Good Friday form intact, with the Bulldogs unable to beat them on the public holiday since 2017. However, the match started well for the Dogs who scored the first try with a lovely play from the scrum, sending the ball out wide to the right where Jake Averillo ran almost the length of the field, bringing the ball down under the posts to open the scoring. However, things turned sour for the Dogs soon after, when Josh Addo-Carr left the field in just the 10th minute, clutching at his leg after getting caught awkwardly on the turf. While fans held grave fears initially of a possible ACL injury, it was later reported he had suffered a syndesmosis injury. His departure opened up the attacking options for the Rabbitohs who then made a concerted attack on the Bulldogs’ left edge where Addo-Carr would normally defend and ran in four first half tries, including two back-to-back to Mitchell. The Dogs struggled to regain their early composure and went into the break trailing 26-6. In the second half, the Dogs composed themselves early to stem the bleeding and were even the first to score after the break. They thought they had a try when Matt Burton ran through a gap to set up his outside men, but the Bunker found that Josh Reynolds had stopped in the line and prevented Davy Moale from making a tackle. There was no question about their next attempt however and were on the scoreboard after Reed Mahoney put a kick through the line for a chasing Burton who found Mitchell out of position to score the try. However, they were their own worst enemies again, giving up the ball to release pressure with another error. The Rabbitohs made them pay, scoring five second half tries to bring up their half century, with both Mitchell and Campbell Graham posting hat-tricks. Source: NRL.com