If there was an annual prize for journalism about Papua New Guinea, Jo Chandler would already have it in the bag for a stark feature on her first-hand experience of Western Province’s tuberculosis epidemic.

Meanwhile, questions are being raised about the management of the tens of millions of dollars in aid that Australia is providing to fight the disease.

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Australia’s Fairfax Media has obtained documents suggesting that a certain high profile Papua New Guinean has been regularly transferring large sums of money to Australia and says the Australian Federal Police are investigating.

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The Economist magazine’s Shumpeter column points out that, although emerging markets have yet to make significant inroads in Interbrand’s respected best global brands top 100, this is set to change with Chilean wine, Brazilian beauty products and Emirates airline leading the charge.

It made us think what PNG’s best brands might be …

Around the Pacific

Pacific Beat interviews Vanuatu’s Acting Reserve Bank Governor Peter Tari about the country’s investment climate.

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The latest verbal assault on Fiji’s Frank Bainimarama is a posthumous one.

Former New Zealand High Commissioner to Fiji Michael Green passed away last year, but his book, Persona Non Grata: Breaking the Bond, New Zealand and Fiji 2004-2007 is due to be launched this week.

According to Pacific Beat, it alleges that coup leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama personally threatened ‘to get him’ and describes the regime as one characterised by intimidation and thuggery.

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Tahiti’s soccer team must have been pinching themselves as they lined up against some of the stars of the world game in the Confederations Cup in Brazil last week. Although some pundits bemoaned the presence of the Pacific minnows in a tournament that is effectively the dress rehearsal for next year’s World Cup, others noted that they had qualified by right (by winning the 2012 Oceania Football Confederation Nations Cup) and praised their bold counter-attacking moves.

Meanwhile Vanuatu will be confident of representing Oceania in 2017, after appointing former Spanish international Roberto Lopez Ufarte as coaching mentor.