The Maldivian Red Crescent (MRC) on Saturday elected four members to its governing board, including Ali Nasheed of Machangoalhi Sisilfaru, Abdulla Ali from Shaviyani Funadhoo, Aishath Hussein Manik of Henveiru Reedhoo Kokaagehas.
Ibrahim Shafeeq was reelected as President, reported Haveeru.
The MRC’s Secretary General told the newspaper that while the organisation had a successful year, it had faced difficulties due to lack of finances.
(0)Dislikes
(0)Biosphere Expeditions and Six Senses properties are offering two scholarships for Maldivians with dive qualifications and English language skills, to take part in a new coral reef and whale shark study being conducted in September 2011.
Scholarship recipients will be trained in reef and whale shark research techniques and assist scientists from around the world in a study designed to provide data to the Maldivian government so that it can make informed conservation decisions.
The project, based on the liveaboard Carpe Diem cruising the archipelago, will see Biosphere Expeditions working with the Maldives Marine Research Centre (MRC) of the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture, Reef Check and the Marine Conservation Society to study and safeguard the coral reefs and the resident whale shark population.
Biologist Matthias Hammer, Reef Check trainer and Executive Director of Biosphere Expeditions, described the reefs of the Maldives archipelago and its fish population as “extraordinarily diverse and rich. They are also in a relatively pristine state and having both these factors together is quite rare. As less than one per cent of the world’s oceans are protected, it is very important that we monitor and manage areas that are doing well.”
The economy and the well-being of the entire nation, Hammer said, “is largely dependent on a healthy and sustainably-managed marine environment.”
Marine Biologist Kate Wilsonat Six Senses’ property Soneva Fushi in Baa Atoll observed that the scholarships would allow Maldivians “to work alongside and learn from some top marine biologists, enabling them to get hands-on experience of monitoring coral reef ecosystems and whale sharks in the Maldives. It is a fantastic opportunity for keen and enthusiastic divers that want to develop skills in marine surveying, enabling them to continue surveying long after the scholarship ends.”
Six Senses said in a statement that successful scholarship applicants “need to be able to demonstrate a genuine interest in the marine environment and [show] that they will use the experience to the benefit of the Maldives’ marine resources, carrying the message to other people and multiplying the effect of their experience.”
The deadline for applications deadline is July 29, with the expedition taking place in September later this year. Applicants must be 18 or older. For more information visit www.biosphere-expeditions.org/scholarships
(0)Dislikes(0)The CEO of the Pension Administration Office has attacked a proposed amendment to the 2009 Pension Act that would allow for optional payments into the scheme, claiming such a move would set back social protection in the country.
Haveeru today cited CEO Mohamed Hussein Manik as claiming that although amendments may be needed to pension payments in the country, proposals forwarded by MPs to remove a mandatory seven percent wage payment from all state employees aged between 16 and 65 years would effectively undermine the scheme completely.
The claims were made following a week that has already seen changes made to the Pension Act; an amendment passed on Monday (April 11) served to delay inclusion to the pension scheme for expatriate workers employed within the Maldives by at least three years.
The sitting also saw an additional amendment proposed by minority opposition People’s Alliance (PA) MP Ahmed Nazim to exempt MPs from the pension scheme, however this did not pass after 41 MPs voted against it, while 29 voted in favour and five members abstained.
In considering amendments to allow certain individuals to opt out of the pensions scheme, Manik stressed reservations about optional payments
The pension body CEO also told journalists that he believed considerations to allow the removal of funds from a pension scheme before an employee’s retirement would endanger the long-term stability of the national payment plan.
According to Haveeru’s report, every state employee is required under the Pension Act to be registered into the payment scheme, with an estimated 37,708 public workers currently contributing. Some 2,500 private employers have also registered to pay into the pension programme ahead of a deadline scheduled for May 1 this year.
(0)Dislikes(0)The UN security council has pushed for the formation of international courts and prisons – as well as new laws to support their formation – in an effort to combat piracy that has spread from the coast of Somalia to regions like the Indian Ocean, according to news reports.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported that the security council has this week approved a resolution forwarded by Russian delegates to try and curb huge levels of international piracy stemming from Somalia.
Fears have risen during the last year that the territorial waters of Indian Ocean nations like the Maldives could become a realistic target for pirates.
Security officials like the Maldivian National Defense Force (MNDF) last month claimed that there had been no recorded attacks by Somali pirates on vessels in the country’s territorial waters.
However, the AFP reported that the passing of UN security council resolution 1976 has led delegates to praise the initiative as a step towards installing a specialised anti-piracy court.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was also called upon by the council to prepare recommendations over the next few months on establishing a court system to focus on suspected acts of piracy.
(0)Dislikes(0)Police last night held a special function at Dharubaaruge to mark its 78th Anniversary.
President Mohamed Nasheed, Commissioner of Police Ahmed Faseeh and ministers were present at the special function.
Commissioner Faseeh pledged to control the gang violence in the Maldives if concerned authorities cooperated with the police.
Expressing concern at the number of juveniles involving in crimes, Faseeh called on parents to cooperate more with police in reforming the juveniles committing crimes.
President Nasheed also addressed the people at the function.
Nasheed urged businessman not to reject teenagers from employment for having a criminal record on their police report.
Instead he called on businessmen to give them the opportunity to work “for the sake of the nation.”
He also said that he did not wish to have “even a single Maldivian behind the bars.”
(0)Dislikes(0)A man is undergoing treatment at the Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) after he was assaulted and suffered a deep head injury, reports Haveeru.
According to Haveeru, attackers used metal bars and such other objects to assault him.
Police have arrested two men in connection with the case, according to Haveeru.
(0)Dislikes(0)The MTCC has announced that its ferry prices will be increased next month, reported SunFM.
SunFM reported that the Villingili ferry will cost Rf5 per ticket and Hulhumale’ ferry will cost Rf8 per ticket, starting from the 15th of next month.
Currently Villingili feryy costs Rf3 per ticket and Hulhumale’ ferry Rf5 per ticket.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Maldives Association for the Advancement of Science (MAAS) is hosting an event this evening (April 12) to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first many in space.
“Fifty years ago a Russian by the name of Yuri Gagarin became the first human to escape the confines of Earth’s atmosphere and to enter into orbit around the Earth in space,” MAAS said in a statement.
“Human spaceflight became a reality 50 years ago with the launch of a bell-shaped capsule called ‘Vostok 1’ on April 12th, 1961. The capsule was carrying Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who took his place in history as the first human to leave the bounds of Earth and enter outer space.”
“MAAS will join the Global Astronomy Month’s global ‘Yuri’s Night’ celebrations with a local event to mark the occasion of this landmark human achievement. There will be electronic down-tempo music played live by a group of local musicians and the movie First Orbit will be screened as part of its global premier. MAAS invites everyone to join in the celebration.”
‘Yuri’s Night’ in the Maldives will take place at Seahouse in Male’ from 8:00pm to 11:00pm, April 12.
(0)Dislikes(0)The currency peg allowed the Maldives to have some of the highest living standards in South Asia by preventing excessive deficit spending, reports Lanka Business Online.
“Currency debasement and inflation are key to expanding the state at the expense of the larger society.
The Maldives also started active open market operations recently, ostensibly to mop up excess liquidity, but it can make it almost impossible to maintain a peg.
A well functioning open market operations system automatically sterilises interventions by a central bank (dollars sales by the monetary authority) with injections of local money forcing a balance of payments crisis, even in the absence of excessive deficit spending.
In 1997 many East Asian nations which had good fiscal management ran into currency crises due to sterilized interventions by central banks.
A fixed peg can only be maintained with unsterilized interventions and no deficit monetisation.
One of the triggers of Maldives current troubles was a large increase in the salaries of state workers. However the archipelago was also hit by a tsunami in 2004 and also suffered a downturn in tourism, a key source of state revenue, amid a global recession.”
(0)Dislikes(0)