Dede Sophie

At RLWC2017, schoolgirl Gloria Kaupa was the youngest player in the Papua New Guinea Orchids squad and played just a handful of minutes against New Zealand in the team’s final match of the tournament. But she channeled her disappointment into motivation – and rose to become vice-captain of the team by the time of the 2019 test series against England. It has been a long journey for Goroka-based Gloria, who stars in the internationally released PNG Orchids documentary Power Meri, to persuade her community to support her playing rugby league as a woman (for religious reasons). She says the turning point was the Orchids’ match against England in 2019 in her hometown. “When we played in Goroka, it was the first time half of my church members, as well as my community came to watch…more than 50 people who knew me. After that, they were more supportive and started to take women in rugby league more seriously,” she says. Gloria has taken it upon herself to develop women’s rugby league in Goroka...

 The host nation England and Samoa head on in a sudden death semi-final match of the Rugby League World Cup tonight (12:30 am)  PNG time.  The winner of this match will meet Australia in the grand final, after the Kangaroos fought hard to win 16 – 14 over New Zealand. Full-Time : Samoa 27 England 26  Half-Time :  Samoa  10   England 6  Below is the livestream of this match. 2022 RLWC SEMI FINAL: SAMOA v ENGLAND Sat 12 November. The Emirates Stadium, London. 14:30 (GMT) Sun 13 Nov 3:30am – SAMOA Sun 13 Nov 3:30am – New Zealand Sun 13 Nov 12:30am – Brisbane Sun 13 Nov 1:30am – Sydney, Melbourne This livestream ended! Next :  PNG’s Airline Air Niugini resumes Flights

Registrations of new cars for the first two months of 2023 are up 9.4pc on the same period last year, according to figures from Ireland’s motor trade organisation SIMI, writes Brian Byrne. Within that, sales of electric cars are showing much higher growth, up 37.5pc on the 2022 first two months. Electric vehicles are now at 14.56pc of total new car registrations, led by the Hyundai Ioniq 5 (above)from the VW ID.4, the Hyundai Kona, Kia EV6 and BMW i4. Petrol cars represent almost a third of a third of engine types, followed by diesel at 23.32pc, and hybrid at 19.16pc. The top selling car brands so far this year are Toyota, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Skoda and Kia. Light Commercial Vehicle sales are up 11pc on last year. 

Readers, please join me welcoming Susan Wilson, author of One Good Dog , who’s guest blogging here today. Susan Wilson is the author of Beauty – a modern retelling of Beauty And The Beast which was made into a CBS TV movie—as well as four other novels. One Good Dog is the story of a man who is down on his luck, and a dog who is all out of chances. Together they discover the true meaning of salvation, redemption, and unconditional love. Thank you so much for inviting me to guest blog on A BOOK BLOGGER’S DIARY. I love your site and hope that this is the start of a long association. As we learned from the election in 2008, grassroots are the strongest. We’re all brought up to believe that success is measured in the New York Times Review of Books, but the truth is, it’s here, among readers who love good books and love to talk about them. My latest novel, ONE GOOD DOG, appeals on several levels: it’s a dog story, it’s a redemption story, and, ultimately, it’s a love ...