Category: News in Brief

Police seek private party to conduct drug tests

Police are seeking an independent private party to conduct drug testing on urine samples taken from suspects.

An announcement by the National Drug Agency (NDA) explained that the Drug Act requires urine samples to be divided into two and for the second sample to be tested in a private laboratory.

The independent laboratory would be contracted for a five-year period.

The drug law stipulates that the private party would be assigned in accordance with regulations enacted by the NDA.

According to the NDA, the announcement seeking a private party is being made for a third time after no interested parties came forward following the first two announcements.

Under the landmark Drug Act, the NDA was designated the lead agency dealing with all issues related to drug prevention, harm reduction, and treatment.

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Court cancels hearing of suspects charged with terrorist attack on Gan police station

The Criminal Court has today cancelled scheduled hearings into the case against suspects charged with an arson attack on Addu City Gan Police Station on February 8, 2012.

The hearing was cancelled as the Prosecutor General’s Office was unable to summon the witnesses to court.

The suspects have been identified by the court as Ahmed Rasheed of Beachflat house in Maradhoo, Ali Rimaz of Liverpool house in Maradhoo, Hussein Zuhair of Heaven in Hithadhoo and Hassan Naeem of Sunshine in Hithadhoo.

In August 2012, terrorism charges were laid against over 40 individuals accused of setting the Seenu Gan police station on fire, including Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Mohamed Rasheed and Addu City Councillor Ahmed Mirzadh.

On 10 November 2014, eight police officers testified at the Criminal Court against the accused.

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There’s nothing more conservative than conserving the planet, Nasheed tells Huffington Post

“[T]here’s nothing more conservative than conserving the planet, and if you want to deconstruct what conservatism is, that very much maps onto good environment living and issues and policies,” former President Mohamed Nasheed told the Huffington Post.

“I would argue again and again with conservative politicians as well, that if you look into the economics of it, this makes far more sense than what we are doing now. And another very important issue is, we will soon have millions of people on the move because of climate change and as climate refugees.”

Nasheed was interviewed during a trip to the United States where he received the Sylvia Earle Blue Mission award in recognition of his climate change advocacy and efforts to raise public awareness.

“There’s no plan B, even if we wanted to leave people will not leave. We are not only talking about the Maldives, Manhattan is as low as the Maldives. Now, can you see all these people leaving this island? No, I can’t see that. And in my view they would go in for more adaptation measures, so we must be looking at more technology for adaptation.”

Read the full interview here.

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Budget committee meets MMA governor behind closed doors

In an unprecedented move today, pro-government MPs on parliament’s budget review committee voted through a motion to exclude media from a meeting with Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) Governor Dr Azeema Adam.

The central bank governor was due to give her professional opinion on the 2015 state budget.

Article 85(b) of the Constitution states that the People’s Majlis could exclude the public and the press from committee meetings “if there is a compelling need to do so in the interests of public order or national security.”

However, Article 85(c) states that parliament could specify “additional reasons” for closed sessions.

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Victim of motorcycle accident in Addu City dies

A 33-year-old man died Tuesday night (November 11) in Addu City while undergoing treatment for injuries sustained in an accident on the Hithadhoo main road, reports local media.

Three men were injured when two speeding motorcycles collided on the main road around 7:30pm.

The deceased was undergoing treatment at the Hithadhoo regional hospital when he passed away.

In September, two men died after their motorcycle collided with a pickup on the link road of Addu City.

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Bank of Maldives to introduce US$ ATMs

The Bank of Maldives Plc Ltd (BML) on Tuesday (November 11) announced plans to introduce ATMs to withdraw and deposit US dollars.

At a press conference, BML CEO Andrew Healy said that the ATMs would initially be installed at the ground floor of the bank’s main headquarters in  Malé.

“The introduction of US Dollar ATMs will represent an obvious and important way of tackling those queues and will provide a convenient way to access dollars for our customers,” he told the press yesterday.

“I expect the service to be very popular. Our first dollar ATM will be up and running in our Headquarters building before the end of the year.”

He added that BML customers could also deposit, make payments, pay utility bills and make loan or credit card payments from existing ATMs.

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Vnews editor arrested for assault gets fired

Vnews editor, ‘Mundu’ Adam Haleem has been terminated from his post after police arrested him for assaulting a female colleague, local media reports.

A statement released by Vmedia said that Haleem was dismissed from work after a thorough investigation which proved that the assault had occurred due to personal reasons.

CCTV footage of the assault surfaced on social media showed Haleem grab and shove the female employee before being restrained by others at the scene.

The female employee reportedly sought treatment at ADK hospital for minor injuries.

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Budget debate begins in parliament

The budget debate began in parliament today with opposition MPs criticising higher taxes and pro-government MPs praising planned capital investments.

Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) MPs contended that the budget would bring “revolutionary” changes to the economy and spur growth, noting that recurrent expenditure of MVR15.8 billion (US$1 billion) would be covered by government income or revenue of MVR21.5 billion (US$1.3 billion).

The MVR6.3 billion (US$408 million) allocated for the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) – 24 percent of the budget – would see an unprecedented number of infrastructure projects launched in 2015, the ruling party MPs said.

Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs, however, questioned whether MVR3.4 billion (US$220 million) anticipated from proposed new revenue raising measures could be realised in full during the year.

MDP MPs also argued that the public would have to bear the burden of higher prices caused by import duty hikes and claimed the budget was “discriminatory” as constituencies represented by opposition MPs were ignored.

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Nasheed’s awards brings honour and prestige to Maldives, says MDP

Former President Mohamed Nasheed’s awards and international recognition for climate change advocacy brings honour and prestige to the Maldives, the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has said.

The opposition leader returned yesterday after a visit to the United States to receive the ‘Sylvia Earle Blue Mission’ award for 2014 at a ceremony in St Petersburg, Florida, on November 6.

Nasheed – also the party’s president – was greeted by throngs of supporters at the jetty in Malé.

The MDP noted in a press statement today that St Petersburg’s Mayor Rick Kriseman also presented Nasheed a key to the city at a ceremony in his honour.

Nasheed also addressed students of the Earth Science Faculty of the University of South Florida and gave interviews to several American newspapers and websites such as the Huffington Post during the visit.

The MDP said Nasheed has become a global icon for his advocacy on climate change and global warming, which has brought attention and international repute to the Maldives.

After serving on the jury panel of judges of the Zayed Future Energy at Abu Dhabi in October, Nasheed delivered the keynote address at the International Bar Association ‘annual conference showcase session on climate change and human rights’ in Tokyo last month.

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