Author: Minivan News

Cases against MDP MPs Jabir and Ghafoor to be forwarded to PG’s Office this week

Cases against MDP MPs Abdulla Jabir and Hamid Abdul Ghafoor are to be forwarded the Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office this week, Police Commissioner Abdulla Riyaz has said.

The commissioner told local media the cases to be forwarded to the PG’s Office are in regard to both Jabir and Ghafoor’s refusal to provide a urine sample after they were arrested under suspicion of drinking alcohol in November 2012.

Police Commissioner Riyaz was quoted as saying that the case against Ghafoor is also in relation to a previous occasion whereby he refused to provide urine sample after being arrested for obstructing police duty at a protest.

The Drug Act states that the punishment for a person who refuses to provide urine sample when requested by the police is imprisonment for one year, local media reported.

Jabir and Ghafoor were arrested on suspicion of alcohol consumption during a special operation carried out on the island of Hodaidhoo in Haa Dhaal Atoll. Both MPs were subsequently released by Kulhudhuffushi Magistrate Court.

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Pakistan football squad to face Maldives in preparation for tournament qualifiers

Pakistan’s national football team is to tour the Maldives in February ahead of attempts to qualify for the 2014 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup, according to media reports.

The Express Tribune news service has reported that the Pakistan squad will play matches both in Nepal and the Maldives as part of back-to-back tours later next month.  Pakistan will start its campaign to qualify for the 2014 Challenge Cup begin in Kyrgyzstan in March.

Dates for the Maldives tour are yet to be announced by the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF).

In addressing the proposed tours, PFF secretary Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi claimed that both the Maldives and Nepal would present competitive training for the upcoming AFC tournament qualifiers.

“We are expecting a good result in these international tours as the team has polished their scoring abilities,” he told the Express Tribune.

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PPM, independent candidates claim island council by-election seats

The government-aligned Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has claimed one of two vacant island council seats during by-elections held yesterday (January 26), according to local media.

Mohammed Abdul Samad claimed the vacant seat on Gadhdhoo Island Council with 879 votes for the PPM. Samad beat his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) by 58 votes, according to the Sun Online news service.

Meanwhile, independent candidate Hussain Shakir claimed the available seat on Kudahuvadhoo Island Council with 1087 votes. A rival MDP candidate received 870 votes in yesterday’s by-election, according to media reports.

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Gayoom’s half-brother Yameen “unconcerned” by other PPM candidates

Presidential prospect MP Abdulla Yameen believes no other candidate is of any concern unless his half-brother, former Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, contests the President Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) primary, local media has reported.

“People contesting in the primary are not of any concern to me. I only have to be wary of President Maumoon. And that is not because he is my brother,” Yameen said to Haveeru.

Yameen’s rival in the primary, PPM Interim Vice President Umar Naseer is facing rumors he will “step aside” for Gayoom’s brother-in-law Ilyas Ibrahim, according to local media.

Umar had said if a more capable candidate decides to contest the primary, he was ready to “step back” or “sideways,” reports local media.

Gayoom will not confirm his intentions to contest the presidential ticket until the final PPM candidates are announced and has maintained he will “not take sides” during the primary.

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Maldives to establish offshore finance center with ADB assistance

An offshore finance center (OFC) is being established with Asian Development Bank (ADB) assistance, the Ministry of Finance and Treasury has announced.

The ADB has offered its expertise to the Maldives for formulating the legal framework and building the necessary technical capacity to create the OFC, Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad told local media.

“As this is entirely new to the Maldives, we will need to build technical capacity and formulate the required strong legal framework,” Jihad explained to local media.

He further stressed that establishing a OFC would assist with developing the banking and insurance sectors and majorly boost the financial sector in the Maldives, reports local media.

Jihad previously traveled to Mauritius to discuss their country’s OFC practices with bank officials.

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Harbour construction project begins in Gemanafushi

The Maldives Transport and Construction Company (MTCC) has begun a 10-month harbour construction project on the island of Gemanafushi in Gaafu Alif Atoll.

The project aims to reconstruct a 304 metre long and 91 metre wide harbour in place of the old habour, which is in ruin and insufficient for use, local media reported.

President of Gemanafushi Council Asim Mohamed told local media that work on the project begun on January 24, adding that MTCC were given 10 months to complete the project.

Asim thanked president Waheed for starting the project soon after making a promise to do so on a recent visit to the island.

“When President Waheed visited this island a while ago, he promised that a new harbour would be constructed here. Within a short period of time, work on what will be one the best harbours in the Maldives has begun here.

“I thank President Waheed in my own name, as well as on behalf of the people of this island”, Asim was quoted as saying in Sun Online.

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Supplementary budget to be proposed in first half of 2013: President Waheed

A supplementary budget is to be proposed to parliament before the end of the first half of 2013, President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik has announced.

Speaking at Henbadhoo in Noonu Atoll, the President claimed the country’s economy “is not as bad as it is perceived to be”, adding that the decline in global economy was affecting the Maldives in an adverse way, local media reported.

Waheed stated that that priority will be given to projects such as health centres and other basic services on islands, and that he intends to make the necessary changes to the supplementary budget in order to address these issues, he was quoted as saying in local media.

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American high school teacher implementing sustainable mosquito control project in the Maldives

“For most people in Siskiyou County, mosquitoes are no more than a nuisance. But in the Maldives, where they breed rapidly and transmit painful and sometimes deadly Dengue fever, they’re much more of a problem”, Californian publication Mount Shasta Herald  reports.

“Former Mount Shasta High School teacher Trudy Rilling-Collins is working to control mosquitoes in the Maldives in an environmentally friendly way. She recently enlisted help from MSHS graduate Sydney Miller to implement sustainable mosquito control projects with local islands in the Maldives, a double chain of 26 atolls consisting of 1,200 islands off the coast of India and Sri Lanka.

Rilling-Collins hopes to create a project model that will empower the Maldivian people to effectively control mosquitoes on their own. Not only will this benefit the people – both local Maldivians and tourists – but it will also help the environment, she explained.”

To read more, click here.

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Two Pakistani nationals arrested for carrying forged passports

Customs authorities in the Maldives have arrested two Pakistan nationals for carrying two forged passports.

The two men arrived on an Emirates flight to the Maldives and were arrested based on information provided by the Immigration Department, local media reported.

Upon a security check, three more passports including two Pakistan passports and one Belgian passport were found in their luggage.

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