The World - News from Feb. 9, 1989

Papua New Guinea approved a pay increase for soldiers after hundreds of rampaging troops smashed windows in the Parliament building and overturned cars in the capital of Port Moresby to protest a raise they regarded as insufficient. In an emergency session, the government of the southwest Pacific nation approved a 72% pay boost, to be phased in over three years. The Australian Associated Press said that an average soldier has earned the equivalent of $50 a week. It has reported that the troops had not been given a pay increase since Papua New Guinea gained independence in 1975.