Nauru

President Baron Waqa, who is also the Minister for Police, has announced a crackdown on drink driving and motorbike riders who are not wearing helmets.

“There are too many unnecessary deaths and injuries on our roads, and our government has been working closely with police and other key stakeholders to significantly reduce the road toll,” he explained. 

Mr Waqa said a country with the population of Nauru should not be seeing such a large amount of accidents.

The Pacific Labour Scheme, first announced in September and confirmed in this week’s midyear Budget update, will see up to 2000 workers from Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu allowed to stay in Australia for up to three years from July next year.

Unlike the horticultural-specific Seasonal Worker Program, employees will be able to work in other industries experiencing skills shortages in rural and regional Australia.

Approved employers will have to first advertise their jobs locally.

The objective of the campaign is to bring the community together to stop death and injuries on Nauru's roads.

Members of the community are welcome to attend the launch, which will conclude with a “Ride for Road Safety” at approximately 5:30pm.

Motorbike riders with helmets are being encouraged to dress up and meet outside Yaren Primary School from 5pm to take part in the special ride around the island.

“It’s Time to Get Serious About Road Safety”, “Don’t Drink and Drive" and “Wear a Helmet”

Photo supplied 

The governments of Fiji and Nauru have signed a memorandum of understanding for the expansion of an existing volunteer scheme.   

At a signing ceremony in Suva today, Fiji’s Roving Ambassador, Litia Mawi said more Fijian volunteers are available for Pacific countries that faced skills shortages.

Ambassador Mawi, signed a memorandum of agreement with the Ambassador of Nauru, Kim Aroi.

The MOU is the third of its kind since 2012.

The Guardian reports that about 130 people from Nauru and 60 from Manus Island will be resettled in the new year.

However, a travel ban imposed by President Donald Trump will exclude certain nationalities, including Iranians and Somalis, from resettlement.

The largest cohort of refugees on Nauru and Manus Island is from Iran.

The group will be resettled under a deal signed between Australia and former president Barack Obama in 2016; 54 refugees have alread been resettled.

The two leaders talked about maritime cooperation. "After the meeting, they agreed to cooperate on the development of maritime and marine resources," Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said after accompanying Jokowi at the meeting.

She added that the scope of cooperation included the exchange of information about illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing and finding ways to solve the problem.

The EPA and the EGFA were signed by Acting President David Adeang and the newly appointed New Zealand High Commissioner to Nauru Nicola Simmonds on the margins of Ms Simmonds presentation of credentials recently.

The EPA outlined details of the funding arrangement as well as project implementation structures and processes for New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (NZ MFAT) funded renewable energy project.

A video released by the government this week explains how phosphate mining on the island's central plateau has scarred the landscape leaving hard rock pinnacles that can't be built on or farmed.

As rising sea levels force Nauru's population to retreat to higher ground in the interior, the chairman of the Nauru Rehabilitation Corporation, Peter Jacob, says the country's future depends on remediating the land.

"That needs to leveled either through demolishing those rocks to make it smooth, or back filling with soil, or a combination of both."

A video released by the government this week explains how phosphate mining on the island's central plateau has scarred the landscape leaving hard rock pinnacles that can't be built on or farmed.

As rising sea levels force Nauru's population to retreat to higher ground in the interior, the chairman of the Nauru Rehabilitation Corporation, Peter Jacob, says the country's future depends on remediating the land.

"That needs to leveled either through demolishing those rocks to make it smooth, or back filling with soil, or a combination of both."

A video released by the government this week explains how phosphate mining on the island's central plateau has scarred the landscape leaving hard rock pinnacles that can't be built on or farmed.

As rising sea levels force Nauru's population to retreat to higher ground in the interior, the chairman of the Nauru Rehabilitation Corporation, Peter Jacob, says the country's future depends on remediating the land.

"That needs to leveled either through demolishing those rocks to make it smooth, or back filling with soil, or a combination of both."