Category: News in Brief

Maldives WTO representative presents credentials

Permanent Representative of the Maldives to the UN Iruthisham Adam has presented her credentials as the Maldives representative to World Trade Organisation (WTO).

During a meeting with Director General of the WTO Pascal Lamy, Iruthisham highlighted the impending
graduation of the Maldives from the list of Less Developed Countries (LDC), and requested to host a workshop assessing the impact of the graduation on the Maldivian economy.

The Maldives is due to graduate to a middle income country on 1 January 2011.

The Director General welcomed the Ambassador on her appointment and reiterated his
commitment to work with the Ambassador and the Government of Maldives, especially in the
process of graduation from the LDC status.

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Media receives government subsidies

The Finance Ministry has begun distributing Rf4 ($311,000) million in subsidies to private media organisations allocated by Parliament’s finance committee following its review of the 2010 state budget.

VTV, owned by businessman Gasim Ibrahim, received the highest amount (Rf1,060,000), followed by DhiTV (Rf820,000) and DhiFM (Rf434,000).

Other recipients were Radio Atoll (Rf 294,000), Faraway FM (Rf 252,000), Haveeru Daily (Rf 246,000), Aafathis (Rf 162,000), FutureTV (Rf 120,000), Miadhu Daily (Rf 102,000), Haama Daily (Rf 90,000), and HFM (Rf56,000).

Minivan News has not applied for subsidies.

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Convicted pedophile arrested after reoffending

A man who served an eight year sentence of banishment for abusing a child on Naifaru in Lhaviyani atoll has been arrested again after allegedly molesting another two children, Haveeru reports.

Haveeru reported that the man was banished for eight years, but was later offered clemency and had his sentence reduced to five years.

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Lashkar not operating in the Maldives, says President

President Mohamed Nasheed has refuted claims reported earlier this year in the Indian media that Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is present in the Maldives.

The isolation and strategic location of the Maldives make it a tempting target for groups such as Lashkar, which India has identified as responsible for the attacks in Mumbai on 26 November 2008, in which gunmen entered the city by sea and killed at least 173 people and wounded 308.

India’s Sify News reported Nasheed as stating that while the  LeT had no presence in Maldives, there were “serious” issues concerning the emergence of some radical groups with members trained in Pakistan.

Nasheed ruled out the possibility of any terror group using Maldives route to attack India, saying the country had sound border control systems.

A spokesman for the Indian High Commission previously told Minivan News that defence agreements between India and the Maldives were “a continuous arrangement” and not specific to a particular incident or group.

He acknowledged that there was “support for fundamentalist groups” in the Maldives but would not speculate on who those groups were or defence arrangements between the two countries.

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Endorsing of cabinet scheduled for Wednesday

The parliament has scheduled the  formal endorsement of cabinet ministers for Wednesday.

President Mohamed Nasheed’s cabinet ministers resigned earlier this year in protest against what they claimed was the opposition-majority parliament’s obstruction of their constitution duties.

They were reappointed shortly afterwards, but this has not yet been formally approved by parliament, as required.

Speaker Abdulla Shahid announced that the parliamentary committee findings would be presented to the parliament Wednesday.

Haveeru cited Parliamentary Committee Chair Hussein Mohamed as saying that the cabinet ministers did not cooperate with the parliament procedure.

“So we decided that the parliament would decide on the matter. We did not get their cooperation. The committee concluded its work and sent the report to the parliament last term. I am sure that the matter will be scheduled soon,” he said.

The opposition-controlled committee decided to interview each minister separately.

The government however insists that parliament is required to endorse the cabinet as a single unit, and not ‘pick and choose’ ministers. President Nasheed has stated that cabinet ministers will  respond to parliament enquiries only under articles 98 and 140 of the constitution.

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Speaker terminates session until MDP MP Nasheed leaves

The Speaker of the parliament Abdulla Shahid has terminated today’s session until Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Mohamed ‘Colonel’ Nasheed leaves the chamber, reports local newspaper Haveeru.

Haveeru reported that speaker ordered Nasheed to leave the chamber claiming today’s session was heated when Nasheed raised a point of order and spoke against the report of Financial Committee while it was read.

According to Haveeru, Nasheed said the Financial Committee’s report was wrong and raised his voice against it.

This triggered an uproar inside the parliament chamber, according to Haveeru. The speaker is presently waiting to restart the session when Nasheed leaves the chamber.

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Eight foot long ‘cross’ discovered on uninhabited island

A eight foot long ‘cross-shaped’ object have been discovered on an uninhabited island in Gaafu Alifi Atoll, reports Haveeru.

Haveeru reported that the object was discovered by a group of people who visited the island.

According to Haveeru, Councilor of Gemanafushi [an island nearby], said the item “is a cross. But the lessee claims that it was an instrument used on speedboats. But I do not see another use of it.”.

The police are now investigating the case.


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MNDF discovers lost canoe, but no sign of children

Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) has recovered a lost canoe, but there was no sign of the three children who may have been in it.

Three children from Hulhudhufaaru in Raa Atoll were reported lost in a canoe two days ago.

MNDF said its search team was still searching for the missing children.

The team has so far searched 2000 square nautical miles by air, 635 square nautical mile by sea and 500 square meters by diving, the MNDF said.

There was 14 year-old boy and two nine year-old boys aboard the canoe when it left the island, according to police.

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Speaker defers approval of Auditor General

Parliament has postponed approving the appointment of Anti-Corruption Commissioner Ali Rasheed.

This morning Speaker Abdulla Shahid cited ‘procedural issues’ for the delay and scheduled the matter for tomorrow, if the Finance Committee resolved the issues.

Haveeru reported that Committee Chair Ahmed Nazim said the decision was made because Rasheed did not receive the required marks for the position.

The former Auditor General Ibrahim Naeem was dismissed in a no-confidence motion by the opposition-majority parliament earlier this year, shortly after he demanded a financial audit of all government ministers past and present.

An investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission reported that Naeem had paid for travel and a tie on a government credit card.

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