President Mohamed Nasheed returned to Male’ last night after attending the opening of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India.
Speaking to press upon his arrival, Nasheed revealed that the Indian government has pledged to build 400 housing units in the Maldives.
During his visit, the president met with the Prime Minister of India as well as business leaders and Indian infrastructure companies.
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(0)A total of 491 students applied for the government’s Rf10 million loan scheme for Maldivian students to pursue higher education, the Ministry of Human Resources has revealed.
Deputy Minister Aminath Ali explained to newspaper Haveeru that 50 students in the country and 44 studying abroad will be chosen for the scheme, with loans ranging from Rf10,000 to Rf50,000 for the former category and Rf150,000 to Rf250,000 for the latter.
While loans were issued from the Bank of Maldives for the previous rounds of the scheme, Ali said the ministry was currently in talks with the Bank of Ceylon and hoped to process the applications within the next two weeks.
Loans amounting to Rf26 million were issued to 1,158 students in the first round.
(0)Dislikes(0)Some 522 members of the Provident Fund invested Rf10.7 million (US$832,680) in public companies following an announcement by the Finance Ministry of the opportunity to purchase government shares of listed companies during the period May-June 2010, reports Haveeru.
According to the ministry, 27,367 shares from the Maldives Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), 11,517 shares from the Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC), 10,396 shares from the Bank of Maldives (BML), and 6,969 shares from the State Trading Organisation (STO), were sold during the three months.
In September, STO revealed that 16.88 percent of its shares was now owned by the public.
In addition to investing in public companies, the Finance Ministry has invited members of the Provident Fund to purchase bonds from the Housing Development Corporation (HDC).
(0)Dislikes(0)Southern Utilities Company signed an agreement with India’s Integrity Projects Limited on Thursday to produce electricity for Gnaviyani Fuvahmulah by burning waste at high temperatures.
Managing Director Hussein Shahid told newspaper Haveeru that preparations were underway to begin the project in November.
In July, the utility company for the South Province announced a bio-mass electricity project as well as a US$40 million project with India’s Suzlon company to install wind turbines in Fuvahmulah and Addu Atoll.
Further, Southern Utilities Company also plans to build a hydro-power plant in collaboration with the UNDP and a Belgian company.
(0)Dislikes(0)The White House is going solar after all – a home improvement that carries modest energy benefits but much larger symbolic importance, writes the Washington Post.
Of course, Obama is a ways behind the Maldives president, Mohamed Nasheed, who on Thursday will put the final touches on a solar photovoltaic system on his official residence. The low-lying group of atolls in the Indian Ocean is vulnerable to sea-level rise, and Nasheed has emerged as one of the developing world’s most vocal proponents of curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Nasheed has pledged to make the Maldives carbon-neutral by 2020.
It isn’t the first time the White House has used solar energy. President Jimmy Carter put 32 solar panels on the roof in the late 1970s, but President Ronald Reagan removed them in 1986. Two grass-roots campaigns have recently been lobbying President Obama to restore them as a sign of his commitment to renewable energy.
The roof of the White House residence will get solar panels and a solar water heater, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s chair, Nancy Sutley, announced Tuesday.
“This project reflects President Obama’s strong commitment to U.S. leadership in solar energy and the jobs it will create here at home,” Chu said. “Deploying solar energy technologies across the country will help America lead the global economy for years to come.”
A campaign launched by Oakland, Calif.-based Sungevity called Solar on the White House and another by 350.org founder Bill McKibben tried to get Obama to reinstall solar panels.
“The White House did the right thing, and for the right reasons: They listened to the Americans who asked for solar on their roof, and they listened to the scientists and engineers who told them this is the path to the future,” McKibben said in a statement.
“If it has anything like the effect of the White House garden, it could be a trigger for a wave of solar installations across the country and around the world,” he said.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Civil Court has rejected a lawsuit filed today by the opposition coalition against the planned US$25 airport development fee to be charged by Indian infrastructure giant GMR, which recently won the bid to redevelop Male’ International Airport.
The coalition argue that any new tax must be approved by parliament, as per the constitution. However the Civil court dismissed the lawsuit noting that the plan had not yet been implemented.
(0)Dislikes(0)Former Qari Hussein Thaufeeq, arrested last month on multiple charges of child sex abuse, has been transferred to house arrest, reports Haveeru.
Renowned Qari Thaufeeq, Maafannu Dreamy Light, was arrested on 17 August this year and faces up to 18 years imprisonment if found guilty.
He was transferred to house arrest on Friday, as confirmed by the Criminal Court and the police.
The penalty for child sex abuse, according to the Child Sex Abuse (Special Provisions) Act, is 10-14 years but can be extended to 15-18 years if the accused was in a position of trust with the childrenhe allegedly abused.
Thaufeeq was a resource person at the Centre for Holy Quran in Male’ when the allegations were made against him.
(1)Dislikes(0)Fifty couples, more than three times the daily average, are planning to get married on Sunday the 10 October 2010, reports Haveeru.
The binary number 10-10-10 prompted many to lodge applications at the Family Court to have their marriage ceremony performed on the day. The Family Court approved 50 applications, and told Haveeru that it will try and accommodate all requests.
On average 15-20 marriages are performed daily. On dates that are easy to remember – and leave little chance of forgetting the anniversary – the average always increases manifold. 87 couples got married on 08-08-08, 56 on 07-07-07 and 63 on 06-06-06, says Haveeru.
(1)Dislikes(0)Blackmarket rates have risen and banks have imposed stricter trade limits on dollars as the country’s currency shortage resurfaces, reports Haveeru.
The rufiya is pegged to the dollar at Rf12.85, however banks regularly refuse to exchange and limit trade transactions in dollars to US$500 at a time. This has now fallen to US$200, Haveeru reports.
Companies that need to buy US dollars with local currency are compelled to use the blackmarket, which is currently at around Rf13.50-13.35 to the dollar. It reached Rf14.50 at the height of the shortage last year.
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