Dede Sophie

TELSTRA, Australia’s leading telecommunications and technology company, today announced it has officially acquired Digicel Pacific in partnership with the Australian Government. Telstra will continue to invest in and operate the business across its six South Pacific markets – Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Nauru, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu. Photo: Collin Stone, Digicel PNG CEO Oliver Camplin-Warner, Telstra International CEO, said the deal was an exciting milestone for the Digicel Pacific business and its customers in Papua New Guinea. “We’re very pleased to welcome Digicel Pacific into the Telstra family. The Digicel Pacific team in PNG have amazing local expertise and are leaders in digital experiences for their customers. Together, we’ll work to ensure Digicel Pacific remains the top provider in PNG,” he said. Mr Camplin-Warner confirmed there would not be any local job losses in the Pacific as part of the acquisition and the current Digicel Pacific team would continue the day-to-day running

The Royal Papua New Guinea (RPNGC) is responding to confirmed reports of people being detained by armed criminals in the vicinity of Fogoma’iu Village, Hela/Southern Highlands provinces. Police Commissioner David Manning said he has been updated by Deputy Commissioner and Chief of Police Operations, Dr Philip Mitna, on negotiations to secure the release of the people that have been taken captive, with police authorised to use all necessary force to free those being held. Commissioner Manning said, “I have been briefed on the situation in which one foreign national and three PNG university students are being held by criminals in the border region of Southern Highlands, Hela and Western Provinces. “This is a delicate situation and police, in coordination with other security elements, are engaged in an operation to enable the safe release of the people involved. This is a remote area and air support has been approved.” Commissioner Manning said police are authorised to use the full force

Author of the New York Times bestseller Alexandria and internationally acclaimed Falco novels, Lindsey Davis brings us a new work of historical fiction, Rebels and Traitors (St. Martin’s Press; February 2010). Set against the backdrop of the terrifying English Civil War, Rebels and Traitors shows the internal struggles of English citizens of all classes during this historic era of change. Gideon Jukes and Juliana Lovell, on opposite sides of the struggle, meet during one of the era’s most crucial events. After adversity and loss, their mutual attraction may one day bring the comfort and companionship for which they both have yearned.  But the flowering of radical thought collapses; its failure leads to endless plots and strange alliances.  And shadows from the past threaten them individually and together in their hard-won peace. Like Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind and John Jakes’ North and South , Lindsey Davis brings to life a turbulent time through the stories of those who