Vanuatu

RNZ reports the former MPs were among the 14 sentenced to prison last year on corruption and bribery charges.

The charges came after the MPs were pardoned of the offences by the speaker of parliament, Marcelino Pepite, in his role as acting president.

The first prosecution' witness to appear was lawyer, Eric Molbaleh, who is alleged to have drafted the legal instrument that Mr Pepite relied on.

The Prosecution said there were five lawyers suspected of involvement in the conspiracy case, but they had now become state witnesses.

Kayla Hazeldine, 23, and Olivia Porter, 24, are seeking support to raise $6000 to travel to Vanuatu next year to complete their midwifery training. The pair are studying extramurally in Palmerston North through Otago Polytechnic. 

Vanuatu is experiencing a shortage of midwives, especially in rural areas, after Cyclone Pam ravaged the country in March 2015. The cyclone was one of the worst disasters to have ever hit the Pacific, according to the United Nations.

RNZ reports the Minister of Agriculture, Matai Seremaiah and his director general, Howard Aru will be in charge of the Management Project Unit Haos.

It will handle more than $US30 million dollars from the European Development Fund for use in the cyclone recovery process.

Mr Aru says highly qualified staff have been hired to use an independent information system to measure progress on each project which will allow donor partners to have access to information on the projects they fund, so that they know why, or if, more funding is needed.

It is the home to 9 globally endangered bird species and 9 endemic species.  Eight important bird and biodiversity areas have been identified by BirdLife.

In 2015 Cyclone Pam devastated Vanuatu and the lives of its people.  It is still recovering and this was especially the case for some of the remote villages, many in the areas where nature is most challenged.

"Flight VA171 between Brisbane and Port Vila returned to Brisbane [and] VA170 was cancelled after we became aware that the state of the runway had deteriorated," the airline said in a statement on Monday.

"A full inspection will be carried out by Virgin Australia engineers [on Tuesday] ... prior to determination as to whether services to Vanuatu can continue.

"Safety is always our number one priority and we do apologise for the inconvenience."

Malapoa College in Port Vila began its life in 1966 as the British Secondary School, or BSS.

Back then the college was reserved for expats and the staff of the colonial government but four of the country's prime ministers and scores of other prominent leaders were educated there.

As part of the celebrations more than 1,000 former students marched through Port Vila today.

Mr Salwai congratulated the former students for their contributions to the political, economic and social developments of Vanuatu.

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The country celebrated 36 years of independence at the weekend.

Charlot Salwai said these include reforms on motions of no confidence, in order to minimise instances of politicians crossing the floor for personal gain.

There had been calls for Mr Salwai to unite the English and French speaking MPs in the house.

Mr Salwai said of his reforms would have to be put to the people in the form of a referendum.

Vanuatu's prime minister, Charlot Salwai, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Photo:Supplied / Hilaire Bule

Prime Minister responsible for Public Service, Charlot Salwai in thanking everyone, acknowledged the long delay by previous governments for not settling the retirees’ severance pay for the past 36^th years. Reasons being that the budget allocated by previous parliament have not been used purposely by ministries and departments responsible and due to lack of funds.

Prime Minister Salwai thanked all for their long service provided through and under the government and also for their patience till today.

The head of the coalition government of the Republic of Vanuatu made the call after listing various challenges faced by the government and the people and his suggestions for solutions to overcome those challenges.