Nauru

Georgia's South Ossetia has held a referendum and a majority has voted in favour of changing its name to Alania.

RNZ reports Nauru is the only Pacific country to recognise the region as an independent country.

Tuvalu recognised South Ossetia in 2011 but three years later rescinded the move when an agreement was reached with Georgia to set up diplomatic relations.

Last month, Russia signed a deal with South Ossetia agreeing to integrate their military forces.

The Government of India donated AUD 500, 000 to its Nauru counterpart to help construct the 200 metre seawall on the north side of the island.

The Nauru government contributed AUD 300,000 towards the project which included expanding raised land previously eroded by ocean waves.

India’s non-resident High Commissioner to Nauru, Vishvas Sapkal inspected the project and unveiled a name board during his first official visit to Nauru late last month.

President Baron Waqa thanked the government and people of India for assisting in the construction of seawall.

Dr Edwin Kessie led the consultations in Nauru which invited various stakeholders from the private, non-governmental organisations and government.

“For Nauru to benefit from the agreement... [Nauru] needs to address supply side constraints which prevented them from taking advantage of market access opportunities to strengthen their productive capacity. So in the case of Nauru the seminar revealed that the top priority for the government is to develop their port,” Dr Kessie said.

President Baron Waqa made the comment as he met with the Australian prime minister amid questions over the fate of hundreds of refugees languishing at Nauru's Australian-run detention camp.

VOA reports the meeting in Sydney between President Waqa and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull follows fresh scrutiny of Australia's asylum-seeker policy sparked by a resettlement deal between Australia and the U.S.

Canberra and Washington have a deal for some of the refugees held on Nauru to be shifted to the US while Australia takes refugees from Central America.

Nauru's president Baron Waqa said he had not sought assurances from the Trump administration that the deal would go ahead.

While the detention of asylum seekers has been a boost for Nauru's economy, reports said Australia promised not to cut and run.

Mr Waqa said maybe other countries could send their asylum seekers to Nauru for processing.

Waqa and his wife Louisa are in Australia for a four-day official visit to Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.
 
In an exclusive interview with Sky News, he said if the deal wasn't going to go ahead the 'United States would have pulled the plug' by now.
 
“I think if the United States was serious about it they would have pulled the plug a long time ago,” he said.
 
“But we know level minded and sensibleness will prevail
 
It's the relationship between the United States and Australia that has to be maintained there.,” he said.
 

RNZ reports it was seeking expressions of interest from senior judges with extensive involvement in governance and public administration.

The Ombudsman's main role would be to enforce the Leadership Code, which would involve investigating misconduct by leaders, complaints or matters referred to by parliament and undertaking public education on the relevant legislation.

Their recruitment comes in response to a call from the Nauru Government’s Ministry of Health for Pacific Island nurses to assist in restructuring and delivering good quality nursing care to the people of Nauru at the end of last year.

The Daily Post reports the nurses include retired nurses, nurses that are on holiday and graduates from Anne’s Christian Community Health School.

Another 24 nurses are expected to leave for Nauru in the next few months.

Lomaloma was sworn in by Acting Minister for Justice Aaron Cook this month.

Magistrate Lomaloma who is from Fiji takes over from Registrar Filimoni Jitoko as acting magistrate for a period of three months until the appointment of a permanent resident magistrate.

The Magistrate comes with years of experience including as a former barrister and solicitor of various institutions including the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory and the High Court of Fiji.

“As High Commissioner of India it would be my constant endeavour to work for further strengthening and expanding the friendly relations between our governments and peoples. We also look forward to further cooperating in multilateral fora on issues of common concern.

“We share the common commitment to work for the inclusive social and economic development of our peoples. India is happy to share its developmental experiences and work with Nauru in the framework of South-South Cooperation.