The Bank of Papua New Guinea warns of economic risks, while Brazil provides some pointers to the employment of more women in the workforce.

Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat looks into the recent warning from the Bank of Papua New Guinea about the risks to PNG’s economy, with interviewees including BSP head Robin Fleming and reports on a new kind of malaria vaccine being developed at Australia’s Griffith University.

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Meanwhile the ABC’s PM program covers the withdrawal of the military contingent of the RAMSI Mission to the Solomon Islands after a decade of engagement in which the country’s fortunes have been turned around.

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The Melbourne Age reports on the wooden ceremonial sculpture from Papua New Guinea that has set a record at auction for a piece of Oceanic art. The one metre-tall ‘roof figure’, carved by the Biwat people of PNG’s East Sepik region sometime between 1600 and 1890, sold last month at a Christie’s auction in Paris for $3.5 million, smashing through its estimated top price of $1.4 million. Better check your bottom drawers.

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A recent article in The Economist on how women have prospered in the Brazilian economy might provide some pointers for PNG and the Pacific. According to the Schumpeter column, in 1960 Brazilian women had an average of 6 children and only 17% worked outside the home. Today, Brazil has a greater proportion of women in the workforce (59%) than France or Britain and a female will have ultimate oversight of 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. The article suggests one reason for this remarkable transformation is ‘progressive social policies. Brazil has had a vocal feminist movement for decades and a women’s ministry since 2003.’

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As the UK considers whether fracking can solve its energy crisis, The Guardian provides a helpful step-by-step introduction to the technology already being hailed as the saviour of US manufacturing.