Category: News in Brief

India Club blood donors collect 42.2 litres for National Thalassemia Centre

The India Club Maldives (ICM) has donated 42.2 litres of blood to the National Thalassemia Centre (NTC) at a blood donation camp on February 25.

Voluntary donors from many nationalities including, Indians, Maldivians, Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis, Nepali, Palestinians donated blood.

Acting High Commissioner of India G Narayanaswamy thanked the donors and supporters, saying that such events had much greater value than other cultural activities the India Club has conducted. Narayanaswamy also extended his thanks to Dr J.T. Rao of ADK hospital, Mohamed Zubair, Managing Director of Male Health services Corporation (MHSC), and Dr Farzana of the National Thalassemia Centre.

This is the fifth time the India Club has held a blood donation camp.

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President meets with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

President Mohamed Nasheed has met with Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh during a visit to India.

During the meeting Nasheed thanked the Prime Minister for a US$40 million credit line from India which will be used to assist the government’s housing project, donations of pharmaceuticals and sports equipment, and US$5.7 million in technical assistance for technology adaption in the education sector.

Nasheed also raised the possibility of an international ferry network connecting India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, and said that the Maldivian government would submit such a proposal at the SAARC Summit later this year.

Other topics of discussion included the potential for further development assistance from India, climate change and the global economic and political climate, especially the rise of pro-democracy movements in Middle East.

During his two day visit to India Nasheed also met with Indian External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna, Chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance Sonia Gandhi, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon and other senior officials of the Indian Government.

The focus of the discussions were around the creation of the new ferry system, the President’s Office noted.

Nasheed also emphasised the need “to get SAARC moving more rapidly and more forcefully, mainly, through empowering the secretariat and granting more powers and more leverage to the Secretary-General.”

The President was also interviewed on Indian television’s ‘Walk the Talk’ show, aired on NDTV.

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Literary icon Aminath Faiza dies aged 86

Maldivian poet Aminath Faiza died on Friday morning during treatment for a severe stroke.

The 86 year-old was described by the President’s Office as a local “literary icon”, one of the leading poets who graduated from ‘Dhivehi Lheverikamuge Bageechaa’ founded by the country’s first president Mohamed Amin.

“Aminath Faiza was also an active member of the first ever political party to be founded in the Maldives,” the President’s Office said, expressing President Mohamed Nasheed’s condolences.

Faiza served as a teacher and the Deputy Principal of Madhrasathul Saniyya, and worked for the Maldives Center for Historical and Linguistic Research for over 27 years. She was awarded the National Award of Recognition in 1980 and National Award of Honour in 1996 in recognition of her contribution to Maldivian poetry.

Faiza is survived by her three children, Ahmed Abbas, Aminath Abbas and Mohamed Hilmy.

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Adam Manik reappointed Mayor of Male’ as councils sworn in

Adam ‘Sarangu’ Manik has been reappointed as the Mayor of Male City, reports Haveeru, after eight of the 11 Male’ city councilors voted in favour of Manik.

Mohamed Samah Rasheed was appointed Deputy Mayor of Male’, with four of the 11 votes. Abdulla ‘Soabe’ Sodiq was voted Mayor of Addu City with three of six votes.

Councilors across the Maldives were being sworn in today, following the recent local council elections. 14 councils are awaiting approval from the High Court.

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Foreign Ministry loses contact with Maldivians in Libya

The Foreign Ministry has lost contact with six Maldivians in Libya, although it has not received reports of any injuries.

The situation in Libya is increasingly unstable with much of the eastern part of the country rebelling from the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi, the head of the country’s 42 year autocracy.

“We were checking on their condition until yesterday when we were unable to contact them via phone. Their phones would not ring, either,” a Foreign Ministry official told newspaper Haveeru.

“We are trying to contact them and are looking into any possible way that we could contact them through Dhiraagu. We are also trying to contact the Maldivians through an embassy in Libya of a friendly nation.”

US President Barack Obama has meanwhile broken his silence over the Libyan situation and outright condemned Gaddafi’s tactic of using violence against the demonstrators. The US President has sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Europe to attend a meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“The suffering and bloodshed is outrageous and it is unacceptable. So are threats and orders to shoot peaceful protesters and further punish the people of Libya. These actions violate international norms and every standard of common decency. This violence must stop,” said President Obama said.

Minivan News has meanwhile obtained a copy of Gaddafi’s ‘Little Green Book’, entitled “The Solution of the Problem of Democracy”, copies of which were reportedly gifted to a generation of Maldivian school students under former Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

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Expat finance study announced

A study to analyse the earnings, expenditure and lifestyle standards of expatriate workers in the country has been announced by the the planning department of the Maldives’ Ministry of Finance and Treasury, according to press reports.

Haveeru has said that the ministry last Friday (18 February) began sending officials to the residences of expatriates working within the Maldives in an attempt to ascertain their financial impact on the nation.

Planning department Assistant System Programmer Fathimath Nihan told the paper that recruitment agents were also being consulted as part of the study that it is claimed will attempt to rank possible poverty levels and differences in income of the country’s workers.

“In addition, the department will check the number of people living per household and will analyze the expenditure in the specific areas,” she was quoted as saying.

The final report is expected to accompany similar research conducted into the earnings and spending of domestic workers.

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Maldives suffers defeat in Olympic football qualifier

The Hong Kong national football team yesterday managed to make the most of home advantage to defeat their Maldives counterparts 4-0 during the first-leg match of their opening qualifier for a place in the 2012 London Olympic Games.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) reported that the home side were able to take the lead by the second minute of the match with a goal from To Hon To, though the Maldives doggedly managed to keep the deficit to a single goal until the second half.

However, the floodgates opened at the Hong Kong Stadium on the 64th minute when defender Yuen Tsun Nam added to the home side’s lead, which was extended by two further strikes from James Ha in the 83rd and 86th minutes of the match.

The Maldives have another match to try and overcome the current score line, though the momentum for a place in the next stage of the Olympic Games qualifiers will be against them in the return fixture set for Male’ on 9 March.

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Interpol Chief visits Maldives

Head of the International Police Organisation Interpol has arrived in the Maldives to visit the organisation’s bureau at the Maldives Police Service, Haveeru reports.

Police said Khoo Boon Hui, a Singaporean national, is holding discussions with local authorities to expand the bureau’s functions.

Hui has been President of Interpol since 2008.

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US$5.5 million in GST collected so far: revenue authority

The Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) has told newspaper Miadhu that it has collected US$5.5 million in Tourism Goods and Services Tax following its introduction at the start of the year.

MIRA Director Fathmath Rasheeda told Miadhu that 85 percent of tourist business had still yet to pay the T-GST.

According to MIRA, 1277 tourist businesses run by 805 parties are required to pay the new T-GST.

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