The Maldives Marketing & Public Relations Corporation (MPRC) and the National Centre for the Arts are organising an art exhibition for World Environment Day.
The exhibition will feature works by Indian artist and environmentalist, Bipasha Sen Gupta.
The exhibition will be opened to public on June 6 from 10.00 to 16.00 and from 19.00 to 21.00.
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(0)Tiny Hearts, a local NGO helping children with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD), will launch the ‘11708’ campaign on Wednesday to raise money for surgery and other activities, reports Haveeru.
A charity football match organised by the charity last year raised Rf265,000 (US$20,500) for patients.
66 out of the the 200 patients registered with the NGO have to be sent abroad for surgery, organisers have said.
(0)Dislikes(0)The opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party’s (DRP) has appointed Villingili MP Mohamed Ramiz as the party’s Deputy Leader following the defection of Ali Waheed to the ruling MDP.
Local media had reported that Ramiz was considering following Waheed to the ruling party; however Ramiz dismissed the rumours.
(0)Dislikes(0)The political scenario was an unprecedented one, writes former Bangladeshi High Commissioner to the Maldives, Dr Selina Mohsin, for the country’s Daily Star newspaper, of her experience in the Maldives.
“The first multi-party presidential election was to be held within a few months. Events unfolded like acts in a dramatic play as we waited for the impending election. Thousands of Bangladeshi migrant workers, including illegal, unemployed and without money roamed the streets, hungry, angry and desperate. Instigated by rumours that catapulted into fears they sought help from the Bangladesh Mission. A demanding period began.
“Living in an isolated state in the Indian Ocean, the people of Maldives were unaware of the rich cultural heritage of Bangladesh. This needed to be shared, so discussions were held with the president and the vice president. As a result, on March 26, 2009, the Independence and National Day of Bangladesh, Dr Waheed announced a Cultural Agreement between Bangladesh and Maldives.
‘”I finalised the Agreement and later prepared MOUs on manpower and education after negotiations. Bangladeshi physicians were recruited for hospitals/clinics and sports promoted to develop intercultural interactions. Initial discussions were undertaken on trade and investment with exports from Bangladesh of medicines, electrical goods, non-perishable food items and others.
“During my tenure, great changes took place, opposition parties with a majority in the Parliament turned confrontational, making it difficult for the ruling party to govern effectively. Now, with the ruling MDP having a majority in the Parliament, implementation of reforms to stabilise the economy, proactive policies and positive relations with Saarc, China, and western states, Maldives will go forward as a vibrant middle income country in the world stage.”
(0)Dislikes(0)Mohamed ‘Champa’ Moosa has been fined Rf100m for alleged violations of the Environment Protection Act that damaged ecosystems around the island of Thun’bafushi in Kaafu Atoll.
Haveeru has reported that the Maldivian Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued the fine over claims that a reclamation project linked to Moosa’s business interests had caused “irreversible changes” to the marine environment of the island.
The newspaper report cited an EPA statement claiming that a fine of Rf100m had been set, despite an estimated Rf2.23bn worth of damage being found to have been caused to the local environment as part of an assessment by the government-supervised agency. A fine of Rf100m is the most severe fiscal punishment able to be set by the EPA under its own rules.
The EPA is reportedly investigating other alleged activities conducted on the island deemed to have breached the Environment Protection Act.
(0)Dislikes(0)Police last night summoned former Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Deputy Leader Umar Naseer regarding a request by the Elections Commission [EC] that he be investigated for using the DRP logo and letterhead without authority from the party.
The request from the Elections Commission came after the DRP sent a letter to the commission urging it to take action against Umar Naseer for using the logo and letterhead without permission.
Speaking to press after police released him, Umar Naseer said he was summoned and asked whether he had been using DRP logo and letterhead.
He told the journalists that he had confessed to using DRP logo and letterhead and told them he would continue using the logo and letterhead until the suit against DRP in court reached a conclusion.
(0)Dislikes(0)Indian High Commissioner Dnyaneshwar Mulay has presented Foreign Minister Ahmed Nasheem with US$46,272.65 to help fund a coastal zone management centre.
India is providing major assistance for the centre and has so far provided almost US$1.1 million in assistance towards establishing the centre.
(0)Dislikes(0)An Israeli fugitive was arrested in Thailand yesterday in possession of a fake Maldivian passport.
Forty-one year-old Levy Ben-David escaped from an Israeli prison in 2000, after being convicted for robbing and murdering the owners of a jewelry shop in Belgium in 1993.
The fake Maldivian passport Ben-David was using to evade authorities was in the name of Dmitry Milevm, according to Thai police, who arrested him in a Bangkok apartment.
An Israeli newspaper reported that Ben-David had married a Thai woman and had two children. He is due to be extradited.
(0)Dislikes(0)Cabinet has pledged to remove all import duties on vehicles powered with electrical or renewable energy sources to try and boost its own green commitments and reduce a national reliance on fossil fuels.
As part of this commitment, the government is also expected to cut import charges on solar panels and batteries that can be used as alternate energy sources for marine vehicles in the country.
According to the cabinet’s recommendations, vehicles and power sources exempt from import charges will require documents from the country’s Environmental Protection Agency to accredit any claimed eco-friendly benefits.
The move is tied to the country’s aims of trying to become carbon neutral by 2020, a goal President Moahamed Nasheed has previously claimed would be a disaster for the nation if not achieved – although the government is yet to outline the exact measures it will take to achieve these aims.
Cabinet’s decision to waive the import charges was made at a meeting held yesterday regarding funding developments to try and encourage greater use of renewable energy sources in everyday life and business. These measures include strategies such as subsidising 50 laari for every unit of electricity produced by renewable energy means.
Aside from this environmental focus, the cabinet was also reported to have taken the decision to cut duties on imports of raw materials and agricultural equipment that could be used to bolster fishing and poultry production to reduce the nation’s overall reliance on imports.
Recommendations were also put forward to develop 15,000 square feet of land in Hulhumale’ into a detoxification and drug rehabilitation centre supported from international donor aid.
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