Smart Shopper PNG

Over USD 400 billion was sucked out of economies worldwide last year by ten countries alone, with India, China, and the Philippines topping the list in our region. It's a trend that has bounced back with a vengeance since the great pandemic 'reset'. For some countries, sending citizens abroad holds the key to economic prosperity. T his article looks at diasporas in our region and their economic impact. What is a diaspora? The word diaspora derives from the Greek verb “scatter”. It literally means “I sow. I scatter”. [1] A diaspora is a population scattered across regions, around the world, which is separate from its country of origin. A loose interpretation is ‘an expatriate population’, but the true meaning is a bit more complex, and the economic implications even more complex, as we will find out. According to the Migration Data Portal website [2] , a diaspora is characterized by most, if not all, of the following features: Migration, which may be forced or volun...

(by Glenn Armstrong  https://www.tlamediagroup.com/ ) Call it sport, discipline, or martial arts – when it comes to active participation and character-building, kickboxing wins hands down over every other sport in Papua New Guinea. According to Stanley Nandex, President of the PNG Kickboxing Federation , there are currently 21 provinces in PNG where kickboxing clubs and schools can be found. In Simbu province alone, there are more than two thousand active participants. In rural areas of PNG, the lives of young men and women are being transformed, providing a positive pathway for personal development. SP Sports Award  The commitment of the PNG Kickboxing Federation to providing youth with better life choices was recognised recently when it won the 2024 SP Sports Award for Community Sports Initiative of the Year . In accepting the award, PNGKBF President Stanley Nandex said “This award goes to all the hard-working people behind the scenes who give opportunities to k...

The wreckage of a plane named ‘Marge’ belonging to famous US WW2 air ace Richard Bong has been found in Madang, 80 years after it went missing. Major Richard Bong is credited with shooting down 40 Japanese aircraft during World War II. He famously plastered a blow-up of his girlfriend Marge Vattendahl’s portrait on the nose of his Lockheed ‘Lightning’ P-38 fighter plane, as shown in our main photo. During WW2, Bong shot down more planes than any other American pilot. He was awarded the Medal of Honor, the U.S. military’s highest decoration, by Gen. Douglas MacArthur in 1944. But Bong wasn’t at the yoke when his plane went down. Another pilot, Thomas Malone was flying Bong’s plane in March 1944 when it encountered engine failure over Madang, forcing Malone to bail out before the plane crashed in the jungle. Bong’s aircraft wreckage was only recently discovered, on May 15, after two days of trekking by a search team led by Pacific Wrecks Director Justin Taylan. According t...

  Papua New Guinea’s proposed entry into the NRL has caused quite a stir with the Australian Rugby League Commission Chairman Peter V’Landys now claiming that no deal has been reached with Canberra regarding the ‘rumoured’ AUD 600 million (++) of Australian taxpayer money needed for the venture. This week, NRL Clubs requested a cut of the action, with Fox Sports reporting that existing NRL clubs are seeking ‘financial incentive to back the bid’, to the tune of AUD 170 million. Meanwhile, there has been a backflip by V’landys.   “It is certainly premature. It hasn’t gone to cabinet to start with and our board hasn’t signed off on it, so there’s no agreement”, he said recently. According to Fox Sport, V’Landys says he doesn’t know where the story came from. “I was surprised as to how this speculation started, because it certainly didn’t come from the NRL, put it that way”, he said. Yet it was only less than a month ago that V’landys was quoted as saying: “What we...

Papua New Guinea is blessed with crystal clear night skies, making the SkyView Lite app a must-have treasure and marvel of modern technology. The app is both fascinating and educational, making us more aware of our place in the celestial scheme of things, and bringing the wonders of space to our mobile devices through a fun and intuitive user interface. The app helps you focus on a particular star or celestial body and provides you with everything you need to know with detailed descriptions including its name, location, and distance.     SkyView even adds soft, moody music to enhance your stargazing experience. SkyView Lite display options Among the display options on the free version of SkyView are: an augmented reality camera which combines your current position with the night sky constellation art constellation lines satellites object trajectories along with other features you can play around with to enhance your experience. Getting spaced out with Sky...