Dede Sophie

 Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape says his bilateral meeting with France President H.E. Emmanuel Macron is very good for relationships between France and Papua New Guinea. He said this after the two leaders met in Libreville, Gabon, on the sidelines of the ‘One Forest Summit’ on Thursday, March 2, 2023. It was President Macron, in fact, who invited PM Marape to attend the ‘One Forest Summit’ in Gabon – its former colony – during their last meeting at APEC 2022 in Bangkok, Thailand, last November PNG PM James [L] meets with France President Macron [R] PM Marape said the meeting covered matters of sustainable logging, climate change and France  assistance to PNG in other matters. This includes defence cooperation, especially in areas of training, between the two countries. “I am hoping for a partnership with the France Government to see similar projects like what is being done in Gabon, including downstream processing of logs,” PM Marape said.  “The Government of France ...

There is so much more to India’s rich festivals than wearing new clothes, eating good food and catching up with family and friends. While all of these are feel good factors of our festivals, there is so much richness and culture in our festivals. And unfortunately, this culture is not easily seen in our cities. To see this, we have to head to rural India where the people still keep this richness alive.  Luckily for me, I was at a traditional village called Kallidaikurichi in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu a few weeks back during the festival of Shivaratri. Unlike the festival of Pongal which is very vibrant in the villages of Tamil Nadu, the festival of Shivaratri is more subtle or at least that is the case during the day time. The day starts as usual with a bath in the Thamarabharani river, offering prayers at the nearby temple and then heading home. Most people either opt to keep a full fast or at least stay on a liquid diet. The whole day is spent chanting hymns of Lord S...

The Hyundai Ioniq 6 is the overall winner of the World Car of the Year Awards 2023, writes Brian Byrne. It was in against the BMW X1/iX1 and the Kia Niro.  In categories, the Lucid Air electric car produced in the US won the World Luxury Car accolade, against the BMW 7 Series/i7 and the Genesis G90. Kia’s EV6 GT took the World Performance Car title, against the Nissan Z and the Toyota GR Corolla. The Ioniq 6 also won the World Electric Vehicle title, from the BMW i7 and the Lucid Air; and the World Car Design of the year, from the Range Rover and the Lucid Air. The Citroen C3 won the World Urban Car slot, from the ORA Funky Cat and the Volkswagen Taigo. The World Car Awards are decided by more than a hundred jurors worldwide and this is the 19th year. The 2023 awards were announced last week at the New York Auto Show.