Looters ransacked Chinese-owned businesses in Papua New Guinea’s second-largest city of Lae during riots in which one young man was reportedly hacked to death, the country’s media reported on Friday.
Thousands of men and boys stormed Chinese shops in the main business district of Lae on Thursday, bringing the entire city to a standstill and catching police off guard, reports said.
The National newspaper reported that police did not know the cause of the riot, although anti-Chinese sentiment has been growing among indigenous Papua New Guineans. Chinese immigrants own many small businesses in Lae and the capital Port Moresby.
ATTACKS
The National said one Chinese shop in Lae was attacked by a gang of youths angry it was operating there and demanding businesses be restricted to Papua New Guineans. A young man in another group was chopped to death and another hospitalized after trying to break into another Chinese-owned shop, it said. It was unclear from the report if the dead person was Chinese or Papua New Guinean.
The Post-Courier newspaper said a man was shot in the leg by police while trying to steal from another shop.
Local authorities could not be reached for comment.
MINE TROUBLE
Last week, construction of a nickel mine and processing plant was stopped after a fight between about 70 Papua New Guinean and Chinese workers.
The mine’s part-owners, Australia’s Highlands Pacific Ltd, said on Friday that work had resumed on the US$1.7 billion project. Fighting had broken out between workers and villagers angry at Chinese managers over an industrial accident.
The project is mostly owned by China Metallurgical Construction Group Corp. Local workers protested last year over working conditions at the remote site.
A mountainous nation of some 6 million people north of Australia, Papua New Guinea is rich in a variety of minerals and other resources but has significant crime problems. About 85 percent of its people eke out subsistence lifestyles in mountain villages.
BEYOND WASHINGTON: Although historically the US has been the partner of choice for military exercises, Jakarta has been trying to diversify its partners, an analyst said Indonesia’s first joint military drills with Russia this week signal that new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto would seek a bigger role for Jakarta on the world stage as part of a significant foreign policy shift, analysts said. Indonesia has long maintained a neutral foreign policy and refuses to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict or US-China rivalry, but Prabowo has called for stronger ties with Moscow despite Western pressure on Jakarta. “It is part of a broader agenda to elevate ties with whomever it may be, regardless of their geopolitical bloc, as long as there is a benefit for Indonesia,” said Pieter
US ELECTION: Polls show that the result is likely to be historically tight. However, a recent Iowa poll showed Harris winning the state that Trump won in 2016 and 2020 US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris courted voters angered by the Gaza war while former US President and Republican candidate Donald Trump doubled down on violent rhetoric with a comment about journalists being shot as the tense US election campaign entered its final hours. The Democratic vice president and the Republican former president frantically blitzed several swing states as they tried to win over the last holdouts with less than 36 hours left until polls open on election day today. Trump predicted a “landslide,” while Harris told a raucous rally in must-win Michigan that “we have momentum — it’s
TIGHT CAMPAIGN: Although Harris got a boost from an Iowa poll, neither candidate had a margin greater than three points in any of the US’ seven battleground states US Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL) in the final days before the election, as she and former US president and Republican presidential nominees make a frantic last push to win over voters in a historically close campaign. The first lines Harris spoke as she sat across from Maya Rudolph, their outfits identical, was drowned out by cheers from the audience. “It is nice to see you Kamala,” Harris told Rudolph with a broad grin she kept throughout the sketch. “And I’m just here to remind you, you got this.” In sync, the two said supporters
Pets are not forgotten during Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebrations, when even Fido and Tiger get a place at the altars Mexican families set up to honor their deceased loved ones, complete with flowers, candles and photographs. Although the human dead usually get their favorite food or drink placed on altars, the nature of pet food can make things a little different. The holiday has roots in Mexican pre-Hispanic customs, as does the reverence for animals. The small, hairless dogs that Mexicans kept before the Spanish conquest were believed to help guide their owners to the afterlife, and were sometimes given
RSS