Of the 1,515 students who sat for their A’ Level examinations this year, 78 percent passed in three subjects, the Education Ministry revealed at an award ceremony Thursday night to recognise top achievers.
This year’s top ten includes 188 students, 44 of whom were from atoll schools, with 15 students – a record number – achieving first place of the top ten. Two-thirds of the top ten achievers were female.
Four students received awards for achieving first place at international level while seven students earned A grade in more than three subjects.
The Chair of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Hassan Luthfy, was chief guest of the awarding ceremony.
Privately-owned radio station, DhiFM, has apologised for accidentally switching to a live feed of the MNBC One eight o’clock news bulletin on November 11.
Sun Online reported that Mohamed Jinah, head of news and current affairs at DhiFM, was questioned by police last Thursday after the state broadcaster lodged a complaint.
Jinah told press outside police headquarters that the radio station had apologised to MNBC CEO Mohamed Asif and explained how the incident occurred in a letter to Police Commissioner Ahmed Faseeh.
Jinah said he regretted the state broadcaster’s decision to file the complaint after Asif accepted the apology.
Tickets are on sale for pre-release screenings of The Island President, a documentary feature film following President Mohamed Nasheed to the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Summit.
Screenings in the Maldives will be subtitled in Dhivehi for the local audience. Director Jon Shenk will attend the premiere.
The film, which has a 9/10 rating on IMDB (Internet Movie Database) and received the People’s Choice Award for Best Documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival, will be released in cinemas across the US in February 2012.
The Island President has been warmly received by film critics overseas both for behind-the-scenes look at international climate politics, and Nasheed’s candour in his dealings with foreign heads of state.
Reelfilms criticised the film for its 101 minute length and “dry, overtly political final half hour”, but praised director Jon Shenk’s opening of the film “with a whirlwind look at Nasheed’s journey from political prisoner to public official.”
“It’s ultimately Nasheed himself who compensates for the movie’s uneven atmosphere, as the remarkably even-tempered politician comes off as a tremendously likeable and engaging figure who seems universally beloved by his people,” wrote reviewer David Nusair, following the film’s airing in Toronto.
Toronto weekly entertainment publication NOW described the film as “a fascinating look at an extraordinary personality”, with Shenk given “impressive access to this humble head of state”.
“Unfortunately, the director undermines the urgency of his material with poor choices including flashy visuals and a soundtrack featuring Radiohead that feels completely out of place,” wrote Radheyan Simonpillai.
The film was funded by several American charitable foundations, including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Ford Foundation, John D. and The Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies and the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund.
It has also appeared at the Telluride Film Festival, a documentary film festival in New York, and will be be aired at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam this week before travelling to the Maldives.
After the Maldives, the film will travel to Goa, to be screened at the International Film Festival of India.
The Island President premieres at Dharubaaruge on Wednesday night at 8:30pm Tickets are on sale at Raalhugandu point and Athena Cinema from 4:30pm to 11:00pm.
It will also be shown at 11:30pm on Wednesday, and at 8:30pm and 11:30pm on Thursday. The film will also be screened at Athena Cinema at 8:30pm and 11:30pm on Thursday. Tickets for the Athena showings must be bought from Athena Cinema.
The ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) won yesterday’s by-elections for a Faafu Bilendhoo atoll council seat and Alif Alif Himandhoo island council seat while the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) won the mid-Fuvahmulah atoll council seat.
Provisional results announced by the Elections Commission (EC) reflect party strength and margin of victory for the ruling party and opposition in the February 2011 local council elections.
In the island of Himandhoo in Alif Alif atoll – where the MDP won four out of five island council seats in February – MDP candidate Shimal Ibrahim won with 195 votes (63 percent) against independent candidate Afrah Adil who received 116 votes (37 percent).
For the vacant Bilendhoo constituency atoll council seat, MDP candidate Ibrahim Naeem came out on top with 674 votes (53 percent) against Jumhooree Party contender Mohamed Musthafa, placed second with 539 votes (42 percent).
In the February elections, the ruling party won all three atoll council seats from the Bilendhoo constituency.
Meanwhile in the mid-Fuvahmulah constituency, Abdulla Mohamed Didi – who ran as an Independent as PPM had not completed the registration process – won with 861 votes (52 percent) to the 750 votes (46 percent) for the MDP candidate, Mohamed Abdulla Didi.
Notably, the candidate fielded by the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Mohamed Ali, received only 19 votes.
In February, the two atoll council seats from the mid-Fuvahmulah constituency was won by DRP candidate Ali Faraz with 860 votes and MDP candidate Hassan Saeed with 836 votes. Yesterday’s winner, Abdulla Mohamed, contested on a DRP ticket and was placed third with 785 votes.
In May 2009, the parliament seat of the mid-Fuvahmulah constituency was won by MDP MP Shifaq Mufeed with 754 votes.
The winner of the MDP primary for the mid-Fuvahmulah Atoll council seat was meanwhile not on the ballot after failing to submit an ID card original by the October 16 deadline.
The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Independent MP Ismail Abdul Hameed could not attend parliament sittings as long as his conviction by the Criminal Court on corruption charges is not overturned.
The full bench of the apex court however ruled that the Kaashidhoo seat could not be declared vacant until Hameed exhausted the appeal process.
After the High Court upheld the Criminal Court verdict earlier this month, the convicted MP has filed an appeal at the Supreme Court, which has yet to decide whether to hear the case.
At Thursday’s hearing, Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz noted that under section 55 of the parliamentary rules of procedure, an MP convicted of a criminal offence could no longer attend sittings and participate in votes, adding that this was the norm in free and democratic societies.
The Chief Justice however stressed that Hameed had the right to appeal his conviction, with the possibility that it could be overturned.
Parliament sittings have meanwhile been disrupted and cancelled since October 24 due to a dispute between opposition and ruling party MPs over Hameed’s right to attend sittings.
The resulting deadlock has seen sittings cancelled for three consecutive weeks, excepting the week-long holiday preceding the SAARC summit on November 10 to 11.
Addressing objections of opposition MPs who insisted sittings could not go ahead with Hameed in attendance, Speaker Abdulla Shahid had said that in cases of dispute parliament did not have the legal authority to determine if an MP was stripped of his or her seat.
Shahid noted that according to article 74 of the constitution, “Any question concerning the qualification or removal, or vacating of seats, of a member of the People’s Majlis shall be determined by the Supreme Court.”
Opposition MPs however contended that there was no room for dispute as an MP with a sentence to serve could not attend parliament.
Following the second week of forced cancellations, Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) MP Ahmed Nihan told Minivan News that opposition MPs did not wish to disrupt proceedings but were objecting because article 73(c)(3) of the constitution clearly stated that MPs found guilty of a criminal offence “and sentenced to a term of more than twelve months” would be stripped of their seat.
Addu City Council will buy Rf 400,000 (US$26,000) worth of shares in telecoms provider Dhiraagu, reports Haveeru, following the company’s initial public offering last month.
Dhiraagu had earlier announced its intention to sell 11.4 million shares at Rf 80 (US$5.1).
“We’re completing the process of purchasing the stocks in order to gather funds for our activities. By the grace of God, it’ll be a successful investment,” Addu Mayor Abdulla ‘Soabe’ Sodiq was reported as saying in Haveeru.
A 15 year-old boy drowned on Saturday morning off Bilehdhoo in Faaf Atoll, reports Haveeru.
The boy, identified as Ahmed Jumaan of New York House/Bilehdhoo, was brought to Nilandhoo Atoll Hospital and was pronounced dead at 11.30am, Haveeru reported.
Police have refuted media reports of a “petrol bomb” set off under Education Minister Shifa Mohamed’s car last Thursday while she was in Jamaluddin School.
A press statement issued today explained that police received reports of a blast from a bottle exploding inside the school compound at 8:00am on Thursday.
A second bottle blew up 20 minutes later while officers were at the scene.
“The investigation so far has revealed that what exploded was a ‘PET’ bottle, there was no trace of petrol in the bottle and it was not made with any kind of explosive substance,” reads the police statement.
It added that media reports of a “petrol bomb” detonating under Education Minister Shifa’s car outside Jamaluddin School “contained false information.”
Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam told Minivan News that the substances inside the bottle produced a gas which caused the plastic bottle to burst with a bang.
“It’s the sort of thing kids do for fun,” he said. “But after the reports that it was petrol bomb we had a lot of people calling us very concerned.”
Police had no information to suggest that Shifa’s car had been deliberately targeted, Shiyam said.
Police appealed to media outlets to cover such incidents “more responsibly” to avoid unduly alarming the public and parents of school children.
The Education Minister was not responding to calls at time of press.
Addu in the south of Maldives suddenly became vibrant as all the eight heads of states and governments arrived for the Saarc Summit held on November 10 and 11, writes former Bangladeshi High Commissioner to the Maldives, Selina Mohsin, for Bangladesh’s Daily Star newspaper.
On July 28, 2011, the government of India provided a grant of US$5 million to Maldives for the Saarc Summit in Addu. In return, the government of Maldives officially handed over a plot of land in the capital for the Indian Mission. Simultaneously, agreements for the construction of a multi-disciplinary university and health centres and upgrading of an existing hospital in Laamu Gan in Addu Atoll were finalised with an Indian company.
Two earlier Saarc Summits were successfully hosted by Maldives in the capital Male. The necessary buildings and infrastructure were present in the capital so why was this summit held in Addu at such a great cost? Two reasons can be cited. The first was concern that opposition parties might create a disturbance during the Summit and the other was a preference by India in collaboration with Maldives to develop Addu Atoll. India has a particular interest in Gan island in Addu.
Gan’s strategic location in the Indian Ocean was identified by the British, who first established a base there during the 2nd World War as part of the Indian Ocean defenses. In 1956, the British took over Gan and developed a Royal Air Force base with a large runaway, jetties and a series of causeways connecting several islands in the Atoll, which served as a Cold War outpost. In 1976, the British pulled out. India had recently shown keen interest in Gan as a strategic location, but an attempt to establish a base there was revealed in the Indian media and halted after an outcry from the People’s Majlis of Maldives on issues of sovereignty.
After the Mumbai bombing, India began a project to network all the 7,500 km of its coastline with radar. India probably intends to include Maldives in its security grid to have a permanent presence in Gan for its surveillance aircraft and ships. Secondly, India would like a secure foothold in the Indian Ocean where the power of China is increasing. Beijing has pockets of influence around India with the Chinese built ports of Gwador in Pakistan and Hambatota in the southern coast of Sri Lanka. As 60 percent of Chinese oil imports come from Africa, China has to maintain its ability to protect its interests on this ocean route.
It is felt that India, by providing a grant for the Saarc Summit and by building facilities in Addu Atoll, will surely gain a strong presence in Gan.
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