A 30 year old Chinese tourist staying at a guesthouse with his wife in the island of Fulhadhoo in Baa Atoll drowned on Tuesday morning.
Police have stated that the man was already dead when taken to the Fulhadhoo Health Centre.
They were made aware of the drowning after his wife had sought help from the island community on Tuesday, mid-morning.
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(0)President Abdulla Yameen yesterday instituted an eight-member parole board under the recently ratified Prisons and Parole Act – he also appointed a commissioner of prisons.
The members appointed to the parole board were Fauziyya Ali from the Education Ministry, Mohamed Rasheed from the Health Ministry, Deputy Counsel General Khadeeja Shabeen from the Attorney General’s Office, Mohamed Shah from NGO Irama Youth Association, Chief Superintendent of Police Abdulla Ahmed, Dr Ahmed Ziyad from the Islamic Ministry, Dr Mohamed Habeeb to represent the medical community, and Dr Shanooha Mansoor as a psychiatrist.
President Yameen also appointed Moosa Asim, of Henveiru Dhiyadhoo, as the commissioner of prisons at the Maldives Correctional Service.
Asim previously served as deputy superintendent at the now-defunct Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Service.
Additionally, President Yameen also appointed Abdulla Ahmed, of Dhevinage in Gaaf Dhaal Thinadhoo, as a deputy minister at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
(0)Dislikes(0)Two men and one minor were stabbed in Malé City’s Maafannu ward on Monday evening.
According to the police, an 18-year-old male was stabbed before dusk near the Mary Brown restaurant on the southwest corner of Malé. He suffered injuries to his right arm and ribs.
Shortly afterwards, another 18-year-old male was attacked by two individuals on motorbikes near Maafannu Yagoothuge.
A 17-year-old male was also attacked near Ace hardware store. He was stabbed in the back.
None of the victims suffered serious injuries, the police said.
(0)Dislikes(0)The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has announced the winners in primaries for six parliamentary constituencies today.
Incumbent MP Nazim Rashad won the party ticket for Thulhadhoo constituency, while Ismail Ahmed won the Dhuvaafaru constituency.
Mahmood Idris won the primary for the Maamigili constituency and Ismail Gasim (Souvenir Isse) won the Vilifushi constituency. Abdulla Afeef won the ticket for Gemanafushi and Ahmed Ibrahim Didi (Campus Didi) secured the ticket for Fuvahmulah Medhu constituency.
Meanwhile, Abdulla Nafiz has secured the party ticket for Fuvahmulah South without a vote after his opponent pulled out of the primary today.
Of the 85 People’s Majlis constituencies, the party ticket was initially granted to 27 candidates without a primary due to a lack of contenders.
The party had scheduled primaries for the remaining 58 constituencies, but called off polls due to administrative and voter registry issues.
Voting has now been completed for 25 constituencies. Polling for Baarashu constituency will be held tomorrow,and the MDP expects to hold voting for 30 constituencies during the upcoming weekend.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Capital Development Market Authority has today announced amendments to the Corporate Governance Code, mandating all publicly listed companies to have at least two female board members.
Local media has reported that just three of the seven companies currently listed on the Maldives Stock Exchange have any female board member, with just two of these having the required number.
The governance code had also been amended to include a Comply or Explain clause which requires all boards to have one third female board members
(0)Dislikes(0)Indian High Commissioner Rajeev Shahare has announced that all visa restrictions on Maldivians travelling to India have been lifted.
Local media reported Shahare as saying that Maldivians could now get a 90-day visa for medical visits to India.
“This is a very very privileged aspect of visa, we have not granted to any other country. Other nationals are required to have a cooling-off period of two months. Maldivians will not have, because this is a very privileged, special relationship that we have between India and Maldives,” he said.
Coming at the end of a week-long celebration of Indian-Maldivian ties, the move represents a further thawing of relations that had become strained under the previous administration.
Visa regulations were tightened just weeks after the premature termination of a US$500 million airport development deal with Indian infrastructure giant GMR. Indian authorities at the time claimed the decision to have been intended to draw attention to the Maldives’ treatment of expatriate workers.
In an interview with Haveeru yesterday, Attorney General Mohamed Anil suggested the government had a strong case in the arbitration proceedings that have followed GMR’s expulsion.
Following an official state visit to Indian earlier this month, President Abdulla Yameen and Indian leaders were reported to have discussed the potential of reaching an out of court settlement.
(0)Dislikes(0)Police have arrested a 48 year old male from the island of Goidhoo in Baa Atoll on charges of engaging in the crime of human trafficking. In addition to him, seven expatriates were also arrested under the same case.
According to police, six of the seven expatriates had been working without work permits, and the remaining one had been in hiding from the sponsor who had initially brought him into the country.
The seven expatriates – who had previously lived on the island of Fehendhoo in Baa Atoll – had been taken to Goidhoo after a notice had been released to take them under police custody.
The trafficking arrest is the first made after the ratification of the Anti Human Trafficking Act last month.
(0)Dislikes(0)Saudi Arabian organisation Al Hayat al Alamiya li Tadabbur al Quran ul Karim has decided to run a program to promote Quranic studies in the Maldives.
Delegates from the organisation signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs on Sunday night, under which they have pledged to spend MVR1.6 million for related projects.
According to Islamic Minister Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, the organisation will assist the Maldives in the field in numerous ways – including the establishment of a distance study program at the Centre of Quran and the establishment of a system where modern facilities can be used to research Quranic disciplines.
Providing information about the visit of the eleven delegates from the Saudi organisation, Shaheem stated that they have pledged to further develop the “Kulliyath Ul Madhrasathul Dhiraasaa” in the Maldives and to translate their literature into the Maldivian Dhivehi script.
(0)Dislikes(0)“The US has not and is not considering a permanent military presence in the Maldives. We continue to share a close bilateral defence relationship on areas of mutual interest,” Pentagon spokesperson Lt Col Jeffery Pool has told the Press Trust of India.
The comments come after President Abdulla Yameen was reported to have told Sri Lankan media that he had opted against a status of forces agreement (SOFA) with the US.
“There have been discussions before… we are not going to pursue it,” Yameen was quoted as telling media in Colombo.
Minister at the President’s Office Mohamed Hussain Shareef has told media the agreement was rejected for fear of upsetting both Sri Lanka and India.
“We have told them that we can’t do it because both India and Sri Lanka are also not happy with it,” Shareef was quoted as saying.
US officials have repeatedly denied any intentions to establish a base in the Maldives – long associated with military strategists’ ‘String of Pearls’ theory for Chinese military expansion in the Indian Ocean.
The initial document – leaked in April last year – proposed a ten-year agreement which would grant the US unspecified access to facilities within Maldivian territory, with the right to “undertake new construction works and make alterations and improvements.”
The US would also be granted access to and use of “aerial ports, sea ports and agreed facilities for transit, support and related activities; bunkering of ships, refueling of aircraft, maintenance of vessels, aircraft, vehicles and equipment, accommodation of personnel, communications, ship visits, training, exercises, humanitarian activities,”read the leaked draft.
US officials argued that it had around one hundred similar agreements with friendly nations in support of ongoing operation.
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