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Kaspersky rates Maldives 16th on online attack threat list

Internet security firm Kaspersky has ranked the Maldives 16th in a list of countries where the highest percentage of its customer base face online attacks, placing it between Ukraine and Moldova.

The Bloomberg news agency has reported that the list found 47 percent of Kaspersky’s customers in the Maldives had come under attack from cyber criminals during 2012.

Based on internet world statistics, around 34 percent of the Maldives population – an estimated 134,860 people – were online last year, the report added.

Despite ongoing concerns about the growing threat of potential cyber crime in the Maldives, Kaspersky concluded that neighbouring countries such as India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh faced even more prevalent online threats, placing them in 9th, 8th and 7th on the list respectively.

At the top of list was Russia, with Kaspersky – founded in the country – concluding that 59 percent of its customers in the nation had faced online assaults in 2012.

At the other end of the list, Spain and the US were placed at 20th and 19th place respectively.

In December last year, the Maldives Police Service (MPS) announced it had received 61 reports of suspected cyber crime in 2012 – a second consecutive annual increase in such offences since 2010.

Meanwhile, in September 2012, the MPS announced it would be forming a special Cyber Policing Department.

Police stated at the time that three units will be operating under the new department, including the cyber crime investigation unit, cyber forensics unit and cyber security unit.

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Council will respect sister-city agreement with Taiwanese city of Kaosiung: Mayor Manik

Male City Council Mayor Ali Manik has said the council will respect its sister-city agreement with Kaosiung City in Taiwan, despite the government’s denouncement of the move.

Following the signing of the agreement in Male’ on June 9 with a delegation from Kaosiung, the Maldives’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement reaffirming its “commitment and support to China’s national unity and to the one-China Policy.”

“The Maldives’ firm conviction of one-China policy is guided by the principles of respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference in the internal affairs of states and considers Taiwan as an integral part of the People’s Republic of China,” the government stated.

“This is an agreement between cities, not countries,” said Mayor Manik. “Our constitution does not say anything about not being able to make such agreements.”

“The attorney general has said we need to get permission from the president. This is not true. We don’t have to get permission. That is not in the constitution,” he added.

Following the signing of the sister-city agreement and the delegations inspection of Male, Manik said Kaosiung would report on the kind of assistance the city would be able to provide, such as technical assistance with waste management, roads, infrastructure, education and training.

“We ask the government not to obstruct us from doing something that is for the benefit of Male. [The agreement] is not illegal,” Manik said.

The agreement came about after the council met Kaosiung officials, including the Deputy Mayor, during a local councils conference held in Hyderabad in India last year.

That led to an invitation for a delegation from Male’ City Council to visit Kaosiung in November 2012, for which the host city provided tickets and accommodation, Manik said.

Male City Council is dominated by the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the leader of which contends he was ousted in a coup on February 7 2012 by current President Mohamed Waheed. The bitter political polarisation has put the council at loggerheads with the Maldivian government for more than a year.

The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has meanwhile disputed allegations that the Maldivian government’s decision to reject the agreement was made under Chinese pressure.

During a MOFA press conference reported by the China Post, spokesperson Anna Kao noted that Taiwanese cities had established sister-city ties with cities around the world without incident, and suggested that politics should not interfere with such exchanges.

“We urge the Maldivian government to respect its cities’ efforts to advance ties and business and people-to-people exchanges with Taiwanese cities,” said Kao.

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Police arrest five people during protest over 75 laari increase in Hulhumale’ bus fares

Police have confirmed that a total of five people were arrested during a protest on Hulhumale’ yesterday (June 14), held to raise concerns over an increase in the price of bus fares on the island.

Three males, one female and a minor remain in custody today after they were charged with offences including failing to obey instructions and breaking past police lines during the demonstration. Demonstrators reportedly highlighted a number of concerns, including a decision to raise the cost of tickets on the Hulhumale’ bus service from MVR 2.25 (US$0.15) to MVR 3 (US$0.19).

The protest, which began at 3:00pm yesterday afternoon and ended roughly three hours later, coincided with efforts by the Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC) to introduce new larger buses on the island, Sun Online reported.

Ismail Fariq, an executive for MTCC’s Transport Department said today that the new buses represented an MVR 8.6 million (US$558,000) investment by the company in an effort to provide a “total improvement” in service for passengers by offering air conditioning and more seating.

“The existing buses that we have been using are almost broken down, but these new buses we hope will offer a new benchmark in public transportation services,” he said.

With the new buses coming into service yesterday, Fariq said that passengers would be able to use the buses for free until tomorrow, when the new MVR 3 fare would be implemented.

He said the increased fare was essential to cover the company’s investment in the new vehicles.

“This increase in quality comes with the change in price,” Fariq argued. “As a business we need a reasonable return on investment and I do not believe that 75 laari is a big change for these improvements.

Demonstrators opposed to the increase nonetheless yesterday gathered in the area of Hulhumale’ where the new bus service was scheduled to be introduced to voice their concerns. They also demanded improvements to the ferry boat service presently operating between Hulhumale’ and the capital, according to local media.

Improvements to the ferry service were a much more pressing consumer issue than the provision of air conditioned buses in Hulhumale’, the protesters said according to Sun Online.  The criticisms were first made after the state-owned MTCC purchased four new vehicles last month.

The company was quoted in local media at the time as claiming the news vehicles would allow it to increase the capacity of daily bus passengers on Hulhumale’ from 8,000 to 10,000 people, as well as expanding the number of services it offered on the island.

In January this year the MTCC announced it would begin charging a six percent Goods and Services Tax (GST) on all ferry and bus services that it operates as required by the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA).

The cost of a ticket for a single journey on the Hulhumale’ bus was as a result increased to MVR 2.12 at the time.

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Criminal Court 15-day recess to begin tomorrow

The Maldives Criminal Court will begin a scheduled 15-day recess tomorrow (June 16), during which no trials are expected to be conducted, according to local media.

Haveeru has reported that while the court will continue to perform administrative duties and rule on custody extensions during this period, no trials will be conducted except for emergency cases.

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US interest in Maldives affects Sri Lanka: Daily Mirror

Sri Lankan  Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has warned that any establishment of a base by the United States in the Maldives could change the complexion of the sub-continent region by aligning it more with India, reports the Daily Mirror.

The Defence Secretary pointed out that it was essential to further strengthen the existing cordial relationships with powerful nations such as China and Russia, which have permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council and could influence any international action on Sri Lanka more significantly than other nations.

“Issues between India and Pakistan, and the issues between India and China are particularly sensitive in this regard. With the rise of China as a world economic leader, there is a widespread belief that India feels insecure and is seeking to align itself with the other powers that seem similarly threatened by China’s ascendancy,” he added.

Mr Rajapaksa said although the likelihood of events such as the Arab Spring transpiring in Sri Lanka is minimal as a result of it being a democratic nation with an extremely popular political leadership that enjoys a very large electoral majority, the possible trend needs to be monitored.

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Judiciary the Maldives’ weakest link: Eurasia Review

The judiciary continues to be the weakest link in Maldives in its march towards democracy, writes Dr S Chandrasekharan for the Eurasia Review.

Except for the opposition MDP, no other political party appears to be concerned by the poor performance of the judiciary. What is more, the judicial commission, which is supposed to be the “watch dog” over functioning of the judiciary, appears to be highly politicised.

The rot started with the judicial commission allowing incompetent judges with inadequate qualifications to continue under the new constitution and the judicial commission itself is packed with representatives who had and continue to have political leanings.

On 28th of May, the Deputy leader of Jumhooree party Dr. Hussein Rasheed Hassan in one of the public meetings, defined ‘good governance’ as one where there is absolute rule of law, sound and professional, financial and political management, accountable, effective and transparent public institutions and in public spending.

But what Dr. Hassan failed to mention was that for good governance one needs a competent and independent judiciary packed with people of absolute integrity. Hassan’s own chief Gasim Ibrahim is a member of the judicial commission and is also an aspiring presidential candidate. It is no surprise therefore that there are allegations that some of the decisions of the Judicial Commission are “politically motivated”.

The case of suspension of the Chief Judge of High Court Ahmed Shareef by the Judicial Service Commission as a “precautionary” measure long after the supposed act, is yet another case and this only confirms that the rot that has set in the judicial system of the country cannot easily be eradicated.

The suspended High Court Chief Judge Ahmed Shareef filed a case challenging the suspension handed over to him by the JSC and sought an injunction. In the civil case filed, the Judge’s lawyer Husnu Suood, a former Attorney General in Nasheed’s regime has cited procedural irregularities including the presence at the meeting of the Judicial commission of a dishonoured Civil service Commission (CSC) President Mohamed Fahmy Hassan and the newly appointed Attorney General Aisahath Bisham whose appointment was yet to receive the approval of the parliament.

The High Court Judge who has been suspended had done his duty in temporarily halting of the hearings of the court against former President Nasheed who had accused the judicial Commission in exceeding its mandate in appointing the three member judges panel to the Hulumale Magistrate court that is hearing his case.

In a press conference the lawyer of Nasheed accused of the Commission of political motives behind the decision to suspend the Judge. The decision could also be perceived as a way to prevent a further delay of the case file by Nasheed.

In the same press conference, Suood further claimed that the presidential candidate of PPM, Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, the deputy speaker of Parliament and PPM MP Ahmed Nazim and reitred Supreme Court Judge Mujthaz Fahmy have long been in the business of influencing the judges and the verdicts they had been issuing.

Suood made an open accusation in the presence of the press corps that the “entire judiciary is under the influence of retired Judge Mujthaaz Fahmy. In a bid to serve the interests of two politicians ( he had named openly) the JSC was planning to juggle judges from court to court and even planned to give salary increments to certain judges.

Another instance cited by the amnesty international was the selective fast tracking of cases against the supporters of the opposition MDP. It alleged that throughout the year the authorities are said to have had “political bias” in fast tracking the procedure in the prosecution of opposition supporters accused of criminal behaviour during rallies while failing to prosecute the police and other suspected of committing human rights abuses during the same protests.

There is a fear and a justified one that some of the vested interests of present regime and its “behind the scene supporters” may ensure that the “judicial process is used to prevent former president Nasheed from contesting. This needs to be watched.

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No satellite communications, no rescue tug, contaminated fuel: the final voyage of the MV Asian Express

A Maldivian cargo ship that sunk of the coast of Kochi was on its final voyage, reports Indian media.

The 35 year-old Lily Enterprises vessel, MV Asian Express, was travelling from Port Md Bin Qasim in Karachi to Male when it encountered engine trouble, reportedly after being fuelled with contaminated oil.

“Captain Ahmed Shakir told coast guard officials that the fuel filled from Port Bin Qasim could have been contaminated, which caused the vessel’s turbocharger to pack up, resulting in engine shutdown,” reported Indian newspaper The Hindu.

“For two days we were in deep trouble,” Captain Ahmed Shakir told the Indian Express. As per the original schedule, we were supposed to reach Maldives by June 10,” Shakir said.

“Adding to his troubles was the two-to-three-metre vertical crack on the starboard side of the ship below waterline and failure of the communication system,” reported the Deccan Chronicle.

According to marine tracking reports, the Indian Coast Guard ship Varuna arrived to assist but was forced to abandon attempts to fix the engines because of rapidly deteriorating weather conditions, with wind gusting at up to 50 kilometres an hour.

Commanding officer of the CGS Varuna, K M Arun Kumar, told the Hindu the rescue effort was also hampered by heavy swell and poor visibility.

“To top it all, Asian Express had no satellite phone and a message was relayed to it through a nearby vessel, MV Golden Shui, before we reached the area,” Kumar told the paper.

“The vessel’s agent, in the meantime, informed that tug Villa-2 which had been asked to tow the vessel to safety had not yet started from Male. In any case, the tug would not have reached the site before the morning of July 14. Meanwhile, the master informed us that the three hatches of the ship were flooded up to 10 metres after a wide crack on its starboard side.

“Soon, he said they would be abandoning the vessel and was instructed to use the life boats. However, the two lifeboats were non-operational and had to be pulled manually, even as the drifting vessel and the heavy swell posed a real danger to Varuna itself. It was already dark when every crewmember of the vessel in distress was taken on board Varuna and given food and medicines.”

Instead the coast guard evacuated all 22 crew members, including 18 Maldivians and four Indian nationals and transferred them to Kochi.

Its crew rescued, the vessel sank with its cargo of 4000 tons of cement and 2400 tons of sand.

The MV Asian Express was carrying aggregate imported from Pakistan, after a shortage began impacting the Maldives’ construction industry.

Aggregate was previously imported to the Maldives from India under a special quota, however this was temporarily revoked on February 15 amid a breakdown in the country’s relationship over the government’s eviction of Indian infrastructure giant GMR and ongoing mistreatment of Indian nationals working in the country.

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Maamendhoo Island Council calls for football funding to combat violence, drug abuse

A lack of support from the Ministry of Youth and Sports for youth activities, particularly football, on Maamendhoo Island in Laamu Atoll has resulted in violence and drug use according to the island council’s president.

“The government has not provided funds for youth sports or activities here, it’s very sad,” Maamendhoo Island Council President Ali Shifaz told Minivan News, during a visit to the island.

“Football, and other sports, are very important because we need our youth to be away from bad habits,” Shifaz explained.

“Youth getting involved in drugs and fighting is a big issue, but normally football players don’t get involved in those things,” he continued. “They have no other time for drugs and fights.”

“For the last two or three months there have been no fights because of football. It’s a good way to compete and Maamendhoo is very peaceful as a result,” Shifaz noted.

Ultimately, problems ebb and flow depending on the support for youth activities the island receives, explained Shifaz.

“Eighty percent of the island’s youth play football, therefore we need to have a big effort to support them,” he added.

Unfortunately, fighting between youth from Maamendhoo with young people of nearby islands has become a problem because positive activities are not being funded and supported on those islands either, according to Shifaz.

In early 2012 Nasheed pledged to flatten football ground, put up fences, build a basketball court behind the stadium, and a bashee court for the women, explained Shifaz.

The football ground was recently built on Maamendhoo, however the island has also requested a youth centre – with ‘garlando’ (foosball) and billiards – be built so other youth who do not play football will have activities that prevent them from engaging in ‘bad habits’.

“I’m involved with an NGO here and I hate to say it but now our NGOs are not working properly, because they are not getting what they need to function in a proper way,” Shifaz lamented.

Lack of footballs

“They have very good players, I was very impressed,” former Victory Sports Club coach Abul ‘Abjee’ Jaleel told Minivan News.

“If youth team wants anything we discuss with the Island Council and they call the Ministry of Youth and Sports,” said Maamendhoo football player Mohamed ‘Kalho’ Nasheed.

“Before during [former President Mohamed] Nasheed’s time the ministry provided funding, but now we don’t get anything,” he explained.

“To buy balls the players contributed their own money. The sports team really collaborates,” he continued.

Previously the Maamendhoo football players only had one ball, but have managed to buy eight. They have also arranged a coach to come about three times a week, but there are no funds for his equipment either.

“There also used to be an atoll football competition, but this year there has been nothing,” Kalho lamented.

Youth and Sports Ministry response

“Maamendhoo happens to be the first island we helped after we assumed office early last year,” Youth and Sports Minister Mohamed Hussein ‘Mundu’ Shareef told Minivan News.

“The ministry contributed MVR 80,000 (US$5200) for the construction of the Maamendhoo football ground which was completed last year,” said Shareef. “So the allegations [that Maamendhoo is not receiving support from the Ministry] are rubbish.”

“Rather than complaining they should be pleased,” he added. “It was a long-pending pledge by Nasheed to develop the football ground which was not delivered.”

“It is a petty political problem or they have a short term memory,” said Shareef. “There are no pending requests from Maamendhoo, if there were it would be a different story.”

Shareef explained that he made it a point to review and implement all the pending pledges and corresponding paperwork for the sake of continuity.

“It’s not the fault of the youth that the government changed,” said Shareef. “We don’t differentiate between big and small islands or look at the political leanings of the island councils.”

In the past 15 to 16 months the Youth and Sports Ministry has helped 87 islands, which account for half the population, according to Shareef.

“There is not a single island we have not touched,” he declared.

The entire Youth and Sports Ministry’s budget for the past year was MVR 60 million (US$3,911,340), with MVR 20 million (US$ 1,303,780) allocated to associations – of which 19 are sports associations, according to Shareef.

Previously, MVR 2 million (US$ 130,378) was the total infrastructure budget, which the government quadrupled to MVR 8 million (US$ 521,512) this year, Shareef claimed.

Island football grounds are legally properties of the respective island councils and the Ministry funds the island councils, which are ultimately responsible for the development and maintenance of the grounds, Shareef explained.

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Religious NGO Al-Minhaj condemns Islamic Foundation President’s allegations against Sheikh Farreed

Local religious NGO Al-Minhaj has condemned allegations made by President of Islamic Foundation of Maldives (IFM) Ibrahim Fauzee that Sheikh Ibrahim Fareed had defrauded the religious NGO, reports local media.

In a statement issued to the media, Mihaj claimed the president of IFM was trying to discredit Sheikh Fareed “because he is a person respected and loved by the people”.

The NGO claimed the IFM president had misled people via the media and called on Fauzee to apologise and repent.

Fauzee recently alleged that Sheikh Fareed and Former Vice President of the Islamic Foundation of the Maldives (IFM) Mohamed Fauzee had defrauded the NGO, and claimed to have evidence he said he would provide to the media.

Following the allegations, Fareed and Mohamed Fauzee filed a defamation case at the Civil Court seeking payment of more than MVR 3 million (US$195,000) and a public apology from Ibrahim Fauzee on local media over three consecutive days.

Last Wednesday (June 12) Fauzee told Minivan News he had evidence to support the allegations including CCTV footage.

‘’They are worried because we can prove criminal charges against them,’’ he said, adding that he would release the footage to the press. “The story in the media is inaccurate.”

Fauzee said Sheikh Fareed had been dismissed from his position as Vice President of the Religious Council of IFM, and Mohamed Fauzee from the position of the NGO’s Vice Presidency following the matter.

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