Nauru pay-out

Australia broke ranks with New Zealand and Britain yesterday by offering the Pacific republic of Nauru an out-of-court payment of 107m Australian dollars ( pounds 50m) for colonial-era mining damage, AFP reports from Nauru.

The payment, offered by Australia's Prime Minister, Paul Keating, in Nauru for the 24th South Pacific Forum, is a settlement ahead of Nauru's attempt to sue Australia at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Nauru sought up to Adollars 120m to fund rehabilitation of land mined for phosphate when Australia, New Zealand and Britain held a joint mandate over Nauru between 1914 and 1968.