A man yesterday drowned while cleaning the lagoon of Irufushi Island resort, report police.
Police reported that the man was cleaning the lagoon in an event held at the hotel to celebrate world environment day.
Police identified the man as Mohamed Saeed, 56, Alamaage of Holhudhoo in Noonu Atoll.
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(0)A visitor to Australian shores, Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, might best have exemplified what’s wrong with local politics, reports the Herald Sun in Australia.
Perhaps both politicians and the public take the nation’s democratic tradition for granted.
Mr Nasheed, from an island nation that stands to suffer immeasurable damage from climate change, launched a staunch defence of Mr Rudd and his decision to delay the introduction of an emissions trading scheme.
The first democratically-elected leader of the Maldives, Mr Nasheed, who spent much of his life a political prisoner, made it clear to journalists he wasn’t just trying to curry favour with the Prime Minister.
“I’ve spent half my adult life in jail, and I’m not a person to say things that I don’t believe in,” he said.
(0)Dislikes(0)After activating a comprehensive security cooperation agreement with Maldives, India will increase maritime cooperation with Seychelles and will help the island nation deal with the increased incidents of piracy occurring near its waters, reports the Indian Express.
While the Navy already has a warship deployed in the Seychelles since April last year — after Somali pirates shifted base near the island chain due to increased international patrolling in the Gulf of Aden — the two countries have agreed to enhance the cooperation during the state visit by Seychelles President James Alix Michel.
“India and Seychelles have agreed to work together in controlling piracy in the Indian Ocean, so that we can try to make sure that this area is safer for economic development. Both countries face the same threat from piracy,” Michel said, addressing a business meet in the capital after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
(0)Dislikes(0)Shape-shifting islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean are standing up to the effects of climate change, writes Wendy Zukerman in New Scientist.
For years, people have warned that the smallest nations on the planet – island states that barely rise out of the ocean – face being wiped off the map by rising sea levels. Now the first analysis of the data broadly suggests the opposite: most have remained stable over the last 60 years, while some have even grown.
Paul Kench at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and Arthur Webb at the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission in Fiji used historical aerial photos and high-resolution satellite images to study changes in the land surface of 27 Pacific islands over the last 60 years. During that time, local sea levels have risen by 120 millimetres, or 2 millimetres per year on average.
Despite this, Kench and Webb found that just four islands have diminished in size since the 1950s. The area of the remaining 23 has either stayed the same or grown.
(0)Dislikes(0)The President of the Maldives called for grassroots “street action” on climate change, reports the Ethiopian Review.
“What we really need is a huge social ’60s-style catalystic, dynamic street action,” said President Mohamed Nasheed, noting that the United States was the biggest obstacle to a global agreement on climate change.
Nasheed spoke via a live video link from the Maldives over the weekend with Ed Miliband, former British secretary of state for energy and climate change during the “Maldives — Dispatches from the Climate Change Frontline” event at London’s Hay Festival.
“My sense of China is that they tend to believe in climate change. My sense of the U.S. is that a fair amount of them simply don’t believe in it,” he said.
(0)Dislikes(0)A garbage truck yesterday collided with a parked oil truck near T-jetty on Boduthakurufaanu magu.
Police reported that the garbage truck, after hitting the oil truck, lost control and hit another small lorry before impacting with the wall of the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) base ‘Kalhuthuhkalakoshi’.
The oil truck then rebounded and hit another parked lorry, which hit yet another vehicle.
Police reported that the accident caused damage to many vehicles but nobody was injured.
(0)Dislikes(0)Households on islands other than the capital Male’ will not have to pay increased electricity tariffs until the subsidy scheme has been approved for the entire nation, the government has said.
The taskforce appointed by the President to assist the National Social Protection Agency (NSPA) in giving subsidies has decided that a nationwide subsidy policy will be formulated by September this year.
The National Social Protection Agency (NSPA) will determine which households in the are eligible to receive electricity subsidy before September this year, the government said.
The increment charged in the electricity bills of island households by the provincial utilities companies since April will be deducted from the next electricity bills.
(0)Dislikes(0)President Mohamed Nasheed has arrived in the Australian capital Canberra where he was greeted by a ceremonial welcome with full military guard of honour.
The President was met at the airport by Australia’s Governor General Quentin Bryce and MP Anthony Byrne, representing the Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd.
In his first state visit to Australia President Nasheed will meet with Rudd and other key Australian officials, and discuss ways of furthering the development of bilateral relations, as well as other international issues of common concern.
The President visiting at invitation of the Australian government, which is paying all expense apart from airfares.
(0)Dislikes(0)Daily news paper Miadhu has reported that an alleged missionary named ‘Thomas’, has left the Maldives along with other four Maldivians who allegedly supported Christianity.
The newspaper reported that Thomas, during his times of stay in the Maldives, met with some Maldivians who supported Christianity.
“Anti-Islamic work is becoming widespread and people are concerned that it may spread further unless the responsible sources do enough to prevent it,” Miadhu said.
Miadhu reported that missionary activities are now “widely conducted” in the Maldives.
Correction: A previous version of this article translated Miadhu’s article as saying that “many people are concerned that religious unity among Maldivians is becoming weak”. Miadhu informed Minivan News that a more accurate translation is: “Anti-Islamic work is becoming widespread and people are concerned that it may spread further unless the responsible sources do enough to prevent it.”
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