Author: Minivan News

Local NGO sues BML over inability to withdraw dollars

A local NGO hosted in Naifaru of Lhaviyani Atoll has sued the Bank of Maldives, after the bank declined to issue dollars stored in the NGO’s dollar account with the bank.

Local newspaper SunFM reported that the NGO filed the suit in Naifaru Court, and claimed that the money was aid granted by foreign parties. The NGO said it was suffering major losses and an inability to function because the bank was declining to issue the dollars.

The paper reported that the NGO had requested Naifaru Court order the bank to release the money.

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Criminal Court concludes hearing in ‘dangerous criminal’ suit

The Criminal Court has concluded hearings in a case concerning Aseel Ismail, who was listed by the police as a ‘Dangerous Criminal’.

In the suit, the Prosecutor General accused Aseel of attacking a man using a knife and disturbing the peace during an unlawful assembly.

Aseel was already sentenced to eight years after the Criminal Court found him guilty of attacking a man with a machete.

The media reported that the court had scheduled to hear the victim speak, but was unable to hear from him he had since died of his injuries.

The media reported that the judge will deliver a verdict in the next hearing.

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Sleeping man attacked, robbed of Rf 200,000

Last night a group of people entered a house in Henveiru ward and attacked a middle-aged man while he was asleep in the house, before fleeing with more than Rf 200,000 (US$13,000), a laptop and a mobile phone.

Local media reported that police confirmed the incident, but gave little information about the case.

Newspaper Haveeru reported that the man was attacked with a screw driver and suffered injuries to his head.

Police are investigating the case.

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“Copenhagen Accord was not an admission of defeat”: Foreign Minister

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Naseem has delivered a keynote address in Dhaka at the Climate Vulnerable Forum organized by the Government of Bangladesh.

The forum was inaugurated by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and attended by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

“Today, conventional wisdom suggests that Copenhagen was a failure,” Naseem said. “I beg to differ. In my opinion, the Copenhagen Accord was not an admission of defeat, but the first step on the road towards a solution – a solution based on the vision laid down in the Male’ Declaration. That vision was simple: that global warming will only be halted when States realize the futility of arguing over whom should cut emissions, and begin competing to become the leaders of the new industrial revolution – a revolution based not on the finite power of coal and oil, but on the infinite power of the sun, sea and wind.”

Minister highlighted that it was the hope of President Nasheed that this year’s meeting will achieve on to remind the world of the plight of the most climate vulnerable countries and in so doing confront the  growing sense of apathy and re-energise the international community to  act.

Naseem also called for “a strong progressive message [at] COP 17 in Durban, encouraging the UNFCCC to establish a new legal framework on climate change which encourages and helps states take positive action, in other words to invest in low carbon technology, rather than only demanding that they accept negative obligations – namely to cut emissions.”

In his statement Minister also stressed on the challenges and difficulties faced by developing countries in shifting to a low carbon development pathway, and to give guidance to the international community regarding how it can best held and support that shift.

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Remittances leading Bangladesh out of poverty

Mohammad Majnu Miah has bought some land and rebuilt his house, in which a television and CD player take pride of place, thanks to the remittances his wife and son send him from the Maldives, where they have worked for six years, writes Anis Ahmed for Reuters Africa.

“The money comes to roughly 30,000 taka($400) a month, a small fortune in a nation where one-third of the population survives on $1.25 a day – and is a big part of why some villages, like Shahabazpur, are slowly crawling out of the grinding poverty that grips 30 percent of the Bangladeshi people.

“I have to manage and invest their income here at home. Using their hard-earned money in a meaningful way is not an easy task,” Majnu said. “I plan on buying a refrigerator soon.”

Shahabazpur, which lies around 150 km (90 miles) east of the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka and about half a kilometre from the bank of the Meghna river, now has three primary schools, at least six mosques, a community clinic, and dirt and asphalt roads connecting many homes.

Most of its 5,500 residents are much better off than they were a decade ago. They grow enough rice and vegetables to feed their families, have savings to support their other needs, and dress in new clothes for festivals and social occasions.

The secret is the remittances from people working abroad, said Abdul Wahid, a village bank employee.

“The money from expatriates is the main source of income for many families,” he said. Roughly a thousand villagers currently work abroad.

They are not alone. More than 7 million Bangladeshis are spread all over the globe, doing everything from running food courts and staffing shops, to tilling land in African nations and tending fruit gardens in the deserts of the Mideast.

They send home roughly $11 billion annually, according to central bank and Bureau of Statistics data, a key earner for a nation whose 2010-2011 GDP came in at $100 billion.

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China/India Cold War warming up in the Maldives: Reuters

On the pristine equatorial shores of the Maldives, an archipelago best known for luxurious resort hideaways swathed in coral reefs and cerulean seas, India and China’s regional cold war is warming up, writes Bryson Hull for Reuters.

“Stretched across 90,000 sq km (35,000 sq m) of the Indian Ocean southwest of India, the Sunni Muslim nation of 1,192 islands finds itself sandwiched between the two Asian rivals, and both flexed their muscles at a meeting of South Asian nations hosted by the Maldives last week.

China preceded the heads-of-state meeting of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) by opening its first embassy in the Maldives, a ceremony attended by Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun.

Two Maldivian officials said China had hurriedly rented a space to open the embassy in time for the summit, while the actual embassy is being built. Officials with the Chinese delegation declined repeated requests by Reuters for comment.

“The bureaucrat in me says the timing is right. You want to open something like that when there is a big official around. But opening it right before SAARC is a way to tweak India,” an Asian diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

India’s response to China’s diplomatic display included a show of military force and political largesse.

Navy frigates patrolled off the Gan atoll, where the summit was held, to protect VIP visitors including Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held a one-day state visit to the capital island, Male.

“This is our extended neighborhood. We wish to work with the Maldives and other like-minded countries to ensure peace and prosperity in the Indian Ocean region,” Singh told the Maldivian parliament.

India extended a $100 million credit line, inked pacts on maritime and counterterrorism cooperation, and both nations agreed “their respective territories would not be allowed for any activity inimical to the other and by any quarter.”

New Delhi has long been concerned by any moves China makes to boost its presence in neighboring countries, and is worried about the so-called “string of pearls” ambition to expand Chinese maritime influence in the Indian Ocean and beyond.

China made its present felt throughout the SAARC summit. The post-summit giveaway bag included porcelain pens and diaries from the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry detailing “Five Years of China-SAARC Cooperation.” A box for a new 40-inch TV in the media center bore a sticker: “China Aid.”

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Over 240 apply for 25 housing units in Feydhoo

Some 249 application forms for 25 housing units under construction in Feydhoo, Addu City, by the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) have been submitted before yesterday’s deadline, reports Haveeru.

According to the department of business and youth development in Feydhoo, the forms are being evaluated to be sent to the Housing Ministry.

Under the points scheme for awarding the units, residents of Feydhoo aged 21 to 35 with no registered plots in the country will receive 10 points while those over 35 would receive 15 points. Applicants with three children or more receives 15 points while those with two children or less receive 10 points.

Down-payments for the units cost Rf30,000 while Rf4,500 is to be paid monthly over the course of 20 years.

Construction is expected to be complete by the end of the year, according to HDC.

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By-elections for Shaviyani atoll council, Alif Alif Mathiveri island council seat scheduled for December 31

The Elections Commission (EC) has announced by-elections for vacant seats in the Milandhoo constituency of the Shaviyani atoll council and a vacant seat in the Alif Alif Mathiveri island council for December 31.

Candidates for the vacant seats have been informed to apply to contest in the by-election before November 29.

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Government invites bids to manage Equatorial Convention Centre

The government has invited interest parties to bid for management of the newly-built Equatorial Convention Centre (ECC) in Hithadhoo, Addu City, along with the development of a 100-bed city hotel under its plans to introduce conference tourism in the southernmost atoll.

In his Republic Day address on November 11, President Nasheed said the international tender would seek parties to manage the ECC together with a convention hotel in the marshland area of Hithadhoo.

According to the Addu City Council, bid documents are available for Rf2,000 for locals and Rf4,626 (US$300) for foreigners.

Newspaper Haveeru meanwhile reported that Shangri-la resorts and Singapore’s Crescendas Group have expressed interest in managing the ECC and developing conference tourism in Addu City.

Meanwhile, the Transport Ministry yesterday invited interested parties to submit proposals for a city ferry service between Male’ and Addu City.

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