Island projects including provision of utilities services like water and electricity, establishing sewerage systems, and roads construction projects, are being hastened by public-private partnerships, said President Nasheed in his weekly radio address.
The President launched three major development projects in Kulhudhuffushi on Thursday including roads, housing and water supply projects.
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(0)More than 100 tracking tools are being installed on Internet users’ computers by many of the US’ most popular websites, according to an investigation by the Wall Street Journal.
Dictionary.com installed 168 tracking devices, and Microsoft’s msn.com, and Google both installed over 100 tracking tools each.
The online encyclopedia, wikipedia.org, installed no tracking devices.
“The state of the art is growing increasingly intrusive,” write Julia Angwin and Tom McGinty. “Some tracking files can record a person’s keystrokes online and then transmit the text to a data-gathering company that analyzes it for content, tone and clues to a person’s social connections. Other tracking files can re-spawn trackers that a person may have deleted.”
(0)Dislikes(0)“It appears that the JSC has taken it unto themselves to go ahead and appoint judges for life without laws that direct them on the standards expected of judges, or the number of courts that should be established, the jurisdicitions of various courts, the tenure of judges for the first fifteen years of the new constitution etc.” writes the chairman of the drafting committee of the current Maldivian constitution, Ibrahim Ismail, in his personal blog.
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(0)Dislikes(0)Mutilation, beatings, and oppression of women for ‘crimes’ that are not enforced for men, continues in areas of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban.
Time magazine asks whether women’s rights will be sacrificed in any deal with the Taliban.
Read more – Warning: graphic photos
(0)Dislikes(0)The Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has departed for Saudi Arabia this morning to attend a special conference to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Rabitat Al-Alam Al-Islami (the Muslim World League).
Gayoom will address the Opening Session of the conference in Mecca.
President Gayoom is accompanied by his son Mohamed Ghassan Maumoon, Former Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs Mohamed Rasheed Ibrahim, and Principal Secretary at the Secretariat of the Former President Adam Naeem.
At their departure this morning the former president had a visa issue and the airline declined to take him, however with the assistance of President Mohamed Nasheed, the delegates were able to leave on the flight.
Spokesperson for the former president, Mohamed ‘Mundhu’ Shareef did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.
(0)Dislikes(0)A crucial marine species called phytoplankton, which forms the base of the marine food chain, has declined by 40% since 1950, reports a three year study by Canadian scientists. Rising sea surface temperatures and changing ocean conditions are the most likely cause.
“What’s likely to happen is that as the oceans warm, species may move away from the equator, northwards and southwards to maintain their water conditions,” says the report’s leading author Derek Tittensor.
Phytoplankton generate around half of all organic matter on the planet and produce half the world’s oxygen.
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2009 was one of Australia’s hottest years on record
(0)Dislikes(0)Advances in air-conditioning design, and use of solar power, will mean cheaper cooling systems for buildings, according to a report in the Economist.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado is developing technology known as “desiccant-evaporative cooling” which requires little power because the hot water can be obtained from solar panels.
The process may consume only about a fifth of the energy of conventional air-conditioners, says Ron Judkoff of NREL.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Maldives is in danger of drifting back into dictatorship, writes Al-Jazeera journalist Mark Seddon on website ‘Big Think’.
“The Maldives is not only the World’s newest democracy—it is one of the World’s most fragile democracies. In recent weeks, the rule of the democratically elected President Nasheed began to look a little shaky, as elements of the old Gayoom regime coagulated under a grubby coalition of MPs and corrupt judicial figures to try and force him out.
“What had infuriated them more than anything else was the seriousness behind the intent of the Maldives to recover huge stolen assets—some $400 million, in fact, that now resides in foreign bank accounts. This grand larceny does not include the wealth already squandered on luxury yachts, palaces and all of the paraphernalia associated with bog standard dictators. It was enough to alarm Gayoom, and his close supporters and family, who it is alleged have paid off enough Opposition MPs to make the Maldives more or less un-governable.”
(0)Dislikes(0)Dubai-based airline Emirates will launch daily flights between Malé and Colombo from August 1, increasing the service to 19 flights a week.
The upgraded schedule makes Emirates one of the most active international carriers servicing the country, along with Sri Lankan Airlines.
Emirates has served the Maldives since April 1987, and also operates 14 flights a week from Malé to Dubai, connecting the Maldives to the rest of the world through the international air transit hub.
The airline’s Senior Vice President Commercial Operations West Asia & Indian Ocean, Majid Al Mualla, said the decision to upgrade the service was made because of the revival of tourism and associated economies in the region.
“There is increasing demand for seats on the Malé-Colombo sector, and Emirates is happy to be in a position to respond quickly to the emerging demand,” he said.
“The additional frequencies to and from Colombo will be welcomed by Maldivians and expatriates alike, as will the convenient departure times from the two cities.
Emirates flights EK652 and EK 654 will depart Malé at 16:30 and arrive in Colombo at 18:30. On Wednesdays and Fridays, EK654 will continue on to Dubai from Colombo.
The return flight EK653 – operating on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday – will depart Colombo at 21:35 and arrive in Malé at 22:35.
These flights will be served by Emirates’ Airbus A330-200 aircraft in a three-class configuration, with 12 seats in First Class, 42 seats in Business Class and 183 seats in Economy Class.
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