papua new guinea

After a successful election petition by the seat's runner-up, Alfred Manase, the court yesterday ruled that five ballot boxes in Mr Polye's Kandep electorate were not properly counted by the Electoral Commission.

RNZI reports Sam Basil is to be the new opposition leader after Mr Polye yesterday announced he respected the court decision and would step aside.

Both elections will be held concurrently.

The theme of the elections is 'Your Choice, Protect the Democracy - Election 2017'.

The Governor General approved the dates as per the Electoral Commissioner's recommendations.

The Issue of Writs and Nomination will open on Thursday, 20 April, 2017. Nominations close 27 April, with polling to start on 24 June and will end on 08 July.

Return of Writs is on or before July 24. For the LLG Election, the return of Writs is August 07.

Arron Culling, a New Zealander working in Papua New Guinea, said he found the turtles at the local market, waiting to be sold for their meat.

He decided to buy them, and simply drove to the nearest beach, approximately five kilometres away, and released the beautiful creatures back into the ocean.

Culling posted photos of the rescue to Facebook, which have so far been shared over 30,000 times on social media.

Much of the Highlands region has been affected by drought and frost which have destroyed food gardens.

The PNG Government started rolling out food aid several weeks ago but the Chimbu Governor Noah Kool says it is not enough.

He says Port Moresby has to under a proper assessment of the number of people affected and the help they will need for a drought expected to extend into 2016.

The RI-PNG border remains prone to drug smuggling, although some suspected individuals illegally crossing the border have been arrested.

Security officials have frequently arrested people possessing marijuana while attempting to illegally cross the PNG border to enter Jayapura, Papuas provincial capital; however, drug smuggling activities continue to thrive along the border.

For the past month a 20 strong contingent of New Zealand army engineers and tradespeople has been mentoring PNG soldiers in road building techniques.

The gravel road, from the highlands to the north coast, will link over 100 remote mountain villages, cutting through dense forest and crossing the Bismarck mountain range.

Lieutenant Leroy Judge says the team has been teaching road building techniques, basic maintenance, and safety procedures.

Phil Shearman from the University of Papua New Guinea's Remote Sensing Centre says satellite imagery is showing numbers not seen since the drought of 1997 and '98.

Dr Shearman says the current dry period has led to a high fire risk.

"It's possible to set fire to things that weren't able to set fire to before so we've been seeing in the last three months a five-fold increase in the number of fires that are occurring. Judging by what happened in the '97-'98 El Nino period you would be expecting to see an increased expansion of that."

The leaders of Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea and Fiji have expressed hope that Mr Turnbull, who was this week sworn in as prime minister after ousting Tony Abbott as Liberal Party leader, could be a champion for Pacific countries battling rising sea levels and intensifying weather systems.

The change in Canberra came a week after the Pacific Islands Forum meeting highlighted a growing chasm between the Pacific countries and Australia and New Zealand on the issue of climate change.

And already, the host country Papua New Guinea has refused entry for West Papuan activist, Benny Wenda, an indication of the controversy that surrounds the issue ahead of the 46th annual summit of Pacific Leaders in Port Moresby.

In Fiji, the Secretary General of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, Octovanius Mote was ‘quietly’ asked to leave the meeting of the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF).

Cook Islands won the biennial event two years ago but will not defend their title, choosing to focus their limited resources on November's Olympic Sevens Qualifier.

Newcomers American Samoa open proceedings against Solomon Islands at Sir Hubert Murray Stadium, followed by hosts Papua New Guinea against Tahiti, in the first round of matches.

The General Manager of Rugby PNG, Frank Genia, says pride and silverware aren't the only things on up for grabs.