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PAPUA NEW GUINEA FORESTRY SCANDAL UNDER
INVESTIGATION
MELBOURNE, Australia (Radio
Australia, Aug. 6, 2008) – Papua New Guinea's
Ombudsman Commission says it will investigate
allegations of millions of dollars in secret
deals between two government ministers and Asian
logging companies. PNG's Ombudsman has confirmed
it has received documents from the Post Courier
newspaper. The newspaper says it has handed over
information that it based its story on about the
discovery of US$40 million in an account in
Singapore. It reported the money was in a
government minister's off-shore bank account.
It's alleged the money was earned from a two per
cent kickback from log exports. PNG's Ombudsman
says it will study the documents before making
its own investigations. PNG's Deputy Prime
Minister Doctor Puka Temu has welcomed the move.
He says the Ombudsman and police will carry out
a proper investigation |
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SUMMER READING John Francis
Kinsella's novel, Borneo Pulp,
tells the story of how a group of
industrialists planned the destruction
of Borneo's rain forests in their race
for profits. |
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In the last decades of the
twentieth century the destruction of the
Indonesian rainforest accelerated with the
arrival of large multinational forestry industry
companies. The promoters are Europeans,
Indonesians and Taiwanese, backed by
international banks who vie for a share in the
rich rewards, in total disregard for the
destruction that will be wreaked on the habitat
of the indigenous peoples and the terrible
effect that the mill would have on the natural
environment. John Ennis arrives in Jakarta, on
behalf of the consortium formed to promote the
project, where he discovers an unexpectedly new
world. Assigned to head the development by
Antoine Brodzski the promoter and a Scandinavian
multinational, he is plunged into a conflict of
financial and political interests in Suharto’s
Indonesia, where dollars are more important than
the obliteration of huge swaths of Borneo’s
primary forests and its unique wildlife and
ecosystem. From the boardrooms of Europe to the
steaming forests and capitals of South East
Asia, John Ennis is confronted with the dilemma
of investment and employment, the motors of
development for 200 million Indonesians, and the
unaffordable cost that future generations will
have to pay. |
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EU-Russia cooperation on the world stage will
have implications for energy policy. No matter
what the EU may desire, energy relations will
never be ‘solved’ through purely legal and
commercial means, but will always take place
against a larger political backdrop. In other
words, whether or not one should be worried by
the EU’s current and future energy dependence on
Russia, it is undoubtedly true that the current
atmosphere of mistrust does not arise solely
from energy anxieties but reflects a more
fundamental discrepancy between the EU’s and
Russia’s political leanings and outlooks - by
Quentin Perret |
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The EU according to
this table is the outright medal winner
with 78 golds. The UK, Germany and Italy
alone have 40 golds. The most remarkable
is however Jamaica with a total of 5
gold medals for this small island
country, an outstanding acheivement for
Jamaican athletics and thanks to Usain
Bolt the fastest man on earth in this
Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. |
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First Priority becomes eighth
bank failure this year. Insured deposits of small
Florida bank will be assumed by SunTrust - First
Priority Bank was shut down by regulators on
Friday, making the small Florida lender the
eighth bank failure in the U.S. so far this
year. SunTrust Banks agreed to take on the
deposits of First Priority, the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation said in a statement late
Friday. The six branches of First Priority will
reopen on Monday as branches of SunTrust. |
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| Marauding
elephants, aggressive sea lions, snap-happy
crocodiles... As animal attacks on humans reach
frightening levels, scientists are beginning to
understand exactly what the beasts are thinking.
And it's not good. One of the world's
leading specialists in animal behavior believes
that a critical point has been crossed and
animals are beginning to snap back. After
centuries of being eaten, evicted, subjected to
vivisection, killed for fun, worn as hats and
made to ride bicycles in circuses, something is
causing them to turn on us. And it is being
taken seriously enough by scientists that it has
earned its own acronym: HAC - 'human-animal
conflict'. It's happening everywhere.
Authorities in America and Canada are alarmed at
the increase in attacks on humans by mountain
lions, cougars, foxes and wolves. Romania and
Colombia have seen a rise in bear maulings. In
Mexico, in just the past few months, there's
been a spate of deadly shark attacks with The LA
Times reporting that, 'the worldwide rate in
recent years is double the average of the
previous 50'. |
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There is little
disputing that Usain
Bolt is the star of
the Beijing Olympics
winning the 100m,
200m and helping the
Jamaican relay team
win the 4x100m gold
medal. |
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Russian
tanks
rolled
into
Georgia
as
Vladimir
Putin
showed
his
true
face
and
announced
that
Russian
brutality
was
still
alive,
in
fact
it
had
never
gone
away.
The
Red
Army
with
its
brutal
methods
was
true
to
form,
massive
force
and
little
care
for
civilians.
Of
course
Georgia
provoked
the
waiting
bear
and
fell
into
its
trap |
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SPANISH AIR CRASH
KILLS 150 |
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Last month
the spacecraft uncovered a
bright white layer just two
inches below the surface, which
disappeared four days after it
was exposed to sunlight, leading
scientists to believe it was
ice. After examining a soil
sample from a trench
approximately two inches deep,
the claim has been confirmed. In
a Nasa statement, William
Boynton of the University of
Arizona said: “We have water.
“We’ve seen evidence for this
water ice before in observations
by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and
in disappearing chunks observed
by Phoenix last month, but this
is the first time Martian water
has been touched and tasted.”
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Developers in
Dubai are taking
a warning about
rampant
speculative
activity across
the Emirates'
property market
so seriously
that there are
moves to
discourage and
even prevent
selling on the
secondary
market. Several
analysts have
warned that high
speed
speculation in
the market will
ultimately lead
to boom and bust
as prices are
being inflated
by short-term
buyers who are
selling on their
off-plan
properties even
before the first
installment is
due with the
sole intention
of making a
quick
profit. Banking
giant Standard
Chartered said
the Dubai
government
should take
immediate action
to stop the
practice after
Colliers
International
reported that
property prices
in Dubai rose
42%
in the first
three months of
2008, well
beyond Standard
Chartered's
forecast of 15%
for the whole of
2008. |
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| Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime
Minister, today held emergency talks
with opposition leaders in a bid to calm
some of the worst Hindu-Muslim clashes
seen in Kashmir in two decades. Tensions have been simmering in the
Himalayan region since June, when the
state government rescinded a decision to
gift about 40 acres of forest land to
Amarnath, a Hindu cave shrine that hosts
a revered stalagmite to build facilities
for pilgrims. The move, prompted by violent
demonstrations from Kashmir’s Muslim
majority, triggered furious
counter-protests from Hindus. In the riots, and running battles
with police that followed, at least nine
have been killed and hundreds injured.
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