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There are two links for this story. I started linking to the short video which I originally watched. It is from Asia Times. Basically it is almost an advertisement for the article. Runs about a minute and a half, although it mentions the major points from the article. Then there is an actual article in the Asia Times. I will also include a link to that article, for those who want to read the full thing.

A LITTLE NOTICED organizational change in China's maritime patrols is causing increasing anxiety among Western military officials and their allies in the region, who fear Beijing is seeking new leverage to advance its goals and raising the likelihood that an accidental encounter could escalate into conflict. The U.S. confirmed earlier this year that China has reorganized its coast guard to serve as a military branch rather than answer to law enforcement authorities. Militarizing the formerly civilian organization provides China with the firepower to harass and intimidate vessels from other countries who dispute China's claims to waterways. The change, which Beijing...

PORT MORESBY, PAPUA NEW GUINEA — For the first time in its 20-year history, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit ended in disarray Sunday when the 21 member countries could not reach consensus on a joint statement because of objections by one member — China. When the summit failed, to the disgust of the other diplomats, Chinese officials broke out in applause. But that was only the final incident in a week during which China’s official delegation staged a series of aggressive, bullying, paranoid and weird stunts to try to exert dominance and pressure the host nation and everyone else into...

Guest post by David ArchibaldWillis Eschenbach’s post on lab work on coral response to elevated carbon dioxide levels, and The Reef Abides, leads to a large scale, natural experiment in Papua New Guinea. There are several places at the eastern end of that country where carbon dioxide is continuously bubbling up through healthy looking coral reef, with fish swimming around and all that that implies.Coral Reef at Dobu Island with carbon dioxide bubbling through it (photo: Bob Halstead)What that implies is that ocean acidification is no threat at all. If the most delicate, fragile, iconic ecosystem of them all can...

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea — A strong earthquake has hit Papua New Guinea and raised the possibility of a tsunami. The magnitude 7.0 quake struck Thursday morning about 118 kilometers (74 miles) east of Kimbe, West New Britain, on the Pacific island nation. It was followed by aftershocks of magnitude 5.7 and 5.9. Just over an hour later, a magnitude 6.3 quake hit farther northeast on the island. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center oceanographer David Walsh says any tsunami from the earthquake would only affect areas immediately around the epicenter. But scientists don’t have any tide gauges close to the...

What happened to famed US pilot Amelia Earhart? A startling theory suggests Australian soldiers stumbled on the answer decades ago. In the autumn of 1945, a troop of young Australian soldiers was trudging through the muddy rainforests of New Britain, an island in the east of what is now Papua New Guinea. In that part of the world autumn is much like winter, spring and summer — it rains a lot and it’s hot and humid. The Australians of D Company, 11th Battalion, were doing reconnaissance in the mountains not far from the town of Rabaul on April 17. They...

So many questions, too many coincidences... “ In September 2016, Michael Smith, an Australian investigative journalist and former police detective, reported that this agreement opened the door to the mishandling of millions of dollars by the Clinton Foundation. According to Smith, shortly after the Memorandum of Understanding had been signed, the Clinton Foundation incorporated an entity to fight AIDS in Papua New Guinea. In July 2006, that entity, the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (“CHAI”), entered into a funding agreement with the Australian government to receive $10,000,000. Under that agreement, CHAI was to begin work in August 2006. Even though CHAI...

Citizens from more than 30 countries around the world appealed to the UN Secretary-General to suspend UN Human Rights Commissioner Zaid Ra'ad al-Hussein after calling Judea and Samaria communities a "war crime", following the latest report he issued regarding the pace of construction for Jews in Judea and Samaria. "While tens of thousands of people are being slaughtered in Syria, and while women's rights are being disregarded in Iran, the Human Rights Commissioner is issuing a report on the settlement movement in Israel, which details construction information, calling it a war crime", mentioned the letter. "The Commissioner' s obsession with...

Fascinating pictures of America's famous WW2 Black Sheep Squadron whose efforts helped win the war in the Pacific have been released in vibrant color. The series shows the squadron's commanding officer, Colonel Gregory 'Pappy' Boyington who received the Medal of Honour and the Navy Cross, briefing his men on strategy and tactics before the 17 October 1943 attack on Kahili airdrome at Bougainville island, Papua New Guinea. In this raid 'Pappy' and 24 fighters circled the field where 60 enemy aircraft were based to goad them into sending a large force. In the ensuing air battle, 20 enemy aircraft were...

In August 2016, then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton took on critics of her husband’s charitable foundation by saying the former first family “went above and beyond” to disclose their donors to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest when she served as America’s top diplomat. On the face, Clinton’s statement is true. A December 2008 voluntary ethics agreement the Clinton Foundation and incoming secretary of State executed with the Obama administration, before called for, disclosed all donors to the Foundation and its various initiatives, something normal charities don’t have to do. But over the years, the Clintons’ compliance...

Scientists studying the effects of tsunamis have now shed light on what could be the earliest record of a person killed in a tsunami: someone who lived 6,000 years ago in what's now Papua New Guinea in the southwest Pacific. Their skull was found in geological sediments having the distinctive hallmarks of ancient tsunami activity... The skull in question was found in 1929, buried in the ground near the small town of Aitape on the northern of Papua New Guinea, about 500 miles north of Australia... In 2014 Golitko and others went back to the exact place where this skull...

An earthquake measuring 8.0 has rocked Papua New Guinea sparking widespread warnings of a deadly tsunami. The quake struck 157km to the east of Rabaul this morning, according to the US Geological Survey. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a statement claiming giant waves of up to 3 metres are possible.

Canada once again backed Israel at the UN this week when it voted against the World Health Organization’s (WHO) resolution singling out only Israel for “mental, physical and environmental health” rights abuse. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government joined the Israel, the United States, Australia, Paraguay, Guatemala, Micronesia and Papua New Guinea as the only countries to vote against the resolution, which was co-sponsored by the Arab Group of States and the Palestinian delegation. …

The sickness spread at funerals. The Fore people, a once-isolated tribe in eastern Papua New Guinea, had a long-standing tradition of mortuary feasts — eating the dead from their own community at funerals. Men consumed the flesh of their deceased relatives, while women and children ate the brain. It was an expression of respect for the lost loved ones, but the practice wreaked havoc on the communities they left behind. That’s because a deadly molecule that lives in brains was spreading to the women who ate them, causing a horrible degenerative illness called “kuru” that at one point killed 2...

An aircraft with 54 people on board crashed in Indonesia's remote and mountainous region of Papua on Sunday, a government official said, the latest in a string of aviation disasters in the Southeast Asian nation. "The latest information is that the Trigana aircraft that lost contact has been found at Camp 3, Ok Bape district in the Bintang Mountains regency," Air Transportation Director General Suprasetyo told reporters. "Residents provided information that the aircraft crashed into Tangok mountain." There was no immediate word on whether anyone survived.

An Indonesian twin-turboprop aircraft carrying 54 people lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday in the remote, forested eastern Papua region, the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) said, with search efforts hampered by failing light as night falls. "We can't confirm it has crashed. We can say contact has been lost with the plane," BASARNAS chief Bambang Soelystyo told Reuters by telephone. "It's a Trigana airline plane carrying 54 people including five crew. We are working to get more details."

Jakarta: An Indonesian passenger plane carrying 54 people lost contact with air traffic control Sunday during a flight in the rugged easternmost province of Papua, officials said. The Trigana Air ATR 42 turboprop plane lost contact just before 3:00 pm (0600 GMT) after taking off from Sentani airport in Papua`s capital Jayapura on a flight to Oksibil, the search and rescue agency said on Twitter.

Long dead but little forgotten, US soldiers who disappeared across the globe during World War II are being reunited with their loved ones in a dogged push to find and bring home their bodies. From the forests of Germany to the jungles of Papua New Guinea, US experts employed by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency -- among them historians, archeologists and forensic experts -- are the main sleuths. When recovery of a body is possible, the Pentagon specialists turn the remains over to an ultra-modern lab in Hawaii for identification and then wait for the ultimate reward: bringing the bereaved...

A fleet of at least 30 fishing trawlers crewed by slaves is being hunted off the coast of Papua New Guinea as the true extent becomes apparent of the trafficking of Burmese men by a massive Thai-run criminal syndicate operating throughout the East Indies. Immigration officials have so far intercepted one of the fishing vessels, called the Blissful Reefer, and rescued its trafficked crew. Another 33 Thai trawlers thought to be crewed by slaves are being tracked in fishing grounds off the south coast of Papua New Guinea, known locally as the Dog Leg. The trawlers are thought to be...

Don and Carol Richardson and their seven-month-old son Steven left their home in Canada and moved to the jungles on Papua New Guinea to live among the Sawi tribe in 1962. The Sawi, cannibals, considered killing and treachery to be virtues. It was the Richardsons' earnest desire to share the love of God with these people, but it seemed an impossible task. They asked the Lord to make a way for them to help the people grasp it. When another tribe attacked the Sawi, the killing went on for weeks. Finally Don told the people that they would leave if...