Tag: maldives

Four men arrested for eating during fasting hours

Four men have been arrested after being caught eating in daylight hours during Ramadan, the holy month of fasting.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that two cases had been reported to police and four people had been arrested.

Sergeant Abdul Muhsin said two of the men were arrested near the Alimas Carnival stage last Saturday and taken to the police station, where they confessed they had eaten.

“They were released after making a statement and were given advice,’’ he said.

The other two men were arrested inside Giyasuddeen School, Sergeant Muhsin said.

“They also confessed they had eaten in the school toilets,” he said. “They have both been released now.”

Last year a man was arrested for eating in daytime during Ramadan and was sent to the Criminal Court by Prosecutor General’s office.

The Criminal Court fined the man Rf 500 and ordered to reinstate that day’s fast.

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UNICEF representative Mansoor Ali farewells President

President Mohamed Nasheed has said the government will continue the projects set in motion by UNICEF Representative in the Maldives Mansoor M Ali, on his departure.

During a farewell call to the President’s office yesterday, Nasheed observed that Ali had served in the Maldives “at an important time for the country”, and was aware of the challenges faced by the country during the transition period.

Mansoor Ali thanked the President and the government for the support he and UNCEF received during his term in office and said he was privileged to have had the opportunity to work in the Maldives.

The meeting was attended by Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Ahmed Shaheed and UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia Mr Daniel Toole.

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Government to cease issuing cargo licenses to most ports

Cabinet decided yesterday to cease issuing cargo licenses to all ports except Male’, Thilafushi and two regional ports.

The government said the decision was made in the interests of “closely monitoring items imported into the country, and strengthen cargo facilities.”

It added that for regional ports to be run sustainably, “duty on cargo imported via sea to the ports must be reduced by 30 percent.”

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If a country sinks beneath the sea, is it still a country, asks NYT

Rising ocean levels brought about by climate change have created a flood of unprecedented legal questions for small island nations and their neighbors, writes Lisa Friedman in the New York Times.

Among them: If a country disappears, is it still a country? Does it keep its seat at the United Nations? Who controls its offshore mineral rights? Its shipping lanes? Its fish?

And if entire populations are forced to relocate — as could be the case with citizens of the Maldives, Tuvalu, Kiribati and other small island states facing extinction — what citizenship, if any, can those displaced people claim?

Read more

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Kurumba staff return to work after 19 arrested

Staff at Kurumba Resort have ceased striking and returned to work following the arrest of 19 staff members on charges of vandalism and intimidation.

Almost all the resort staff have been on strike for the last three days complaining of management inaction over poor staff accommodation, food, unfair distribution of service charges and staff discrimination. Rising tension prompted management to move around 250 guests to other resorts run by the Universal group yesterday, while other visitors chose to depart the country.

Assistant Human Resources Manager at Kurumba, Ibrahim Hassan, told Minivan News that the striking staff were last night given a written ultimatum to report to duty by 9:30pm, “otherwise they would need to continue the strike elsewhere as management would not allow it to continue on the [privately-owned] island.”

“Many staff obeyed and informed HR they were ready to return to work; others were not willing  to start work but ultimately they all gave up the strike,” Ibrahim said, adding that four staff members had chosen to resign and leave the island while 19 remained in police custody.

“Management is now reviewing all the issues raised [by the strikers] and believes many are valid,” he said.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed yesterday that police arrived on the island to monitor the situation after receiving reports that management had been threatened. A door was also damaged in a staff room.

“The staff decided to cease the strike after police and management held negotiations,’’ said Shiyam today.

Mohamed Zakir, Vice President of the Tourism Employment Association of the Maldives (TEAM) alleged that staff decided to halt the strike “after police and management threatened staff that they would be terminated from their jobs and arrested.’’

The 19 staff arrested were leaders of the strike, Zakir claimed.

“There was also a riot squad on the island,’’ he claimed. “Management and police demanded staff end the strike and return to work. Most of them agreed, but four of them did not want to stop and are still on strike.’’

Shiyam claimed police “only assisted” negotiations to resolve the stand-off, after talks between staff and management reached a deadlock yesterday, “and did not threaten staff.”

Meanwhile, radio station SunFM today reported Chairman of Universal Mohamed Umar Maniku as saying that the three-day strike had caused the company a loss of more than two million dollars. He also told SunFM that bookings had been cancelled due to the strike.

Ibrahim would not comment on the financial impact caused by the strike.

Sim Mohamed Ibrahim from the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) said yesterday that the organisation was concerned that “an investment of millions of dollars can be crippled and held at ransom within a few hours by its own employees, whose grievances may or may not be real,” adding that this had occurred in several resorts.

Tourism, namely the country’s 90-odd resort islands, indirectly contributes to 70 percent of the country’s GDP.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly referenced the Chairperson of Universal as Ali Mohamed Maniku. This has been corrected to Mohamed Umar Maniku.

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Sword shipment destined for ‘Picasso Choice’ toyshop, reveals Customs

Maldives Customs Services today revealed the name of the company responsible for importing a shipment of swords and realistic-looking toy firearms.

According to customs, 260 ‘Airsoft’ pellet guns, five ornamental swords and 12 sling shots were imported to a toy shop Male’ called ‘Picasso Choice’.

Minivan News attempted to contact the owner of Picasso Choice, but the shop attendant said he did not know about the shipment and declined to give the owner’s number, identifying him only as ‘Ibrahim’.

Shortly afterwards, the same shopkeeper rang back to pass on a message from the owner, stating that as the media had not contacted him regarding the shipment until today, he did not wish to comment.

Yesterday Maldives Customs Spokesperson Ibrahim Mohamed revealed that the shipments of swords and toy guns were imported in the name of a company that was owned by a “prominent businessman”.

Customs inspectors initially discovered the swords on July 29. Later, during further inspection of the same shipment, inspectors discovered the toy guns and sling shots customs officers observed were “much more powerful” than normal toy guns.

Two men were also arrested recently at immigration after arriving from Colombo with nine black face masks and a stun gun in their luggage.

A statement issued by the customs identified the two men as Ali Nihad Mohamed, 20, of Joothyge in Galolhu district Male’, and Ahmed Farish, 25,of Konottaa also in Galolhu district.

The stun gun and five face masks were found inside the baggage of Nihad and four black masks were found in the baggage of Farish, customs stated.

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Parliament appoints CSC president and deputy

The parliament has appointed the President and Deputy President of the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

Former spokesperson of the CSC, Fahmy Hassan, was elected President of the Commission, and newly elected member of the commission Ahmed Hassan Didi was appointed the deputy president.

Out of 74 present MPs, 69 of them voted in favor of both appointments.

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Two men sentenced for kidnapping boy

The Criminal Court has today sentenced two persons for 10 years for kidnapping an 18 year-old boy, reports Haveeru.

The news paper identified the two persons as Ibrahim Haleel, 28, of Henveiru Mehelige, and Mohamed Aiman, 20, of Hudhuveli in Raa Atoll Rasgatheemu.

A total of five people were arrested in connection with the case and presented to court, but due to lack of evidence, the Criminal Court declared the rest were not guilty.

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“Woodstock of the mind” coming to the Maldives

Imagine Ian McEwan, author of Atonement, performing a reading or participating in a panel discussion on a beach in a Maldivian island.

That is exactly what Hay Festival Maldives promises to do.

Famously described as “the Woodstock of the mind” by former US President Bill Clinton, the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts is among the most famous literary festivals in the world.

And for the first time, the festival is going to be held in Maldives from October 14-17 this year.

The festival is Europe’s largest literary and arts festival, which started in the sleepy village of Hay-on Wye in Wales – a village made famous for having the highest ratio of bookshops to inhabitants with over 30 bookshops for its population of 1,846.

Over the last few years the Hay Festival has gone global and now holds Festivals each year in Lebanon, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Kenya and India, with the Maldives the latest to join the list.

Hay in the Maldives

“The Maldives has gained fame in the world for its beaches and the sea, with this festival we hope to showcase the 2000 year old rich cultural heritage of the Maldives to the world,” says Xiena Saeed, Hay Festival Volunteer.

At the press conference announcing the Hay Festival Maldives, Xiena said she hopes that the festival will help start a vibrant literary and arts culture in the Maldives.

In keeping with the Hay tradition of fostering the exchange of ideas, the festival will bring together local and international writers, thinkers, musicians, filmmakers and scientists.

An exciting line-up of local and international artists promise to make the first Hay Maldives a memorable one.

Confirmed artists so far include well known local personality and writer Ogaru Ibrahim Waheed, and Fathimath Nahula, film director and writer of several screenplays and books.

They will speak alongside internationally famous authors like Ian McEwan, and historian and biographer Jung Chang, author of Wild Swans and Mao.

With the growth of Hay Festival audience over the last 23 years from 1,000 people in Hay to 28,000 visitors on four continents each year, the festival is very conscious of the impact it has on the environment.

“In 2006 we started the Greenprint Project to audit our impacts and put in place actions to improve our sustainability,” says Andy Fryers, Project Director Hay Festival Maldives and Director of Greenprint.

The objectives of Greenprint are firstly to reduce the direct impacts of the Festival, and secondly to help the visiting public to reduce their own impacts, and thirdly, to programme debates, conversations and lectures, educating people about sustainability and stimulate action.

Andy says “the Maldives Festival follows similar lines to our other Festivals but with a stronger emphasis on the environment given the likely climate change impacts on the islands.”

This is reflected in the line up of environmental writers and campaigners like Montagu Don, Tim Smit – the businessman who founded the Eden project, the largest green house in the world – Mark Lynas, activist and author of several books on climate change including the acclaimed Six Degrees, and Chris Gorell-Barnes.

Musicians like popular band Fasy live and Mauritian-born electronic fusion artist Ravin,have been roped in to perform at the event.

As more artists are in the process of being confirmed, Xiena says “We would like to invite local writers and artists to get in touch with us if they are keen to participate in the festival.”

“This would be a good platform for local artists to showcase their talent and become known to a global audience .”

Festival Programme

The three-day festival will kick-start with a performance of live bands at Carnival grounds in Male at 7:00pm on 14th October.

It will then move on to the presidential retreat island of Aarah.

“We will start the next day’s programmes after Friday prayers at Aarah,” says Xiena.

Panel discussions and debates will take place at Aarah for the next two days. This will be a rare opportunity for the public to gain access to Aarah, as it had been used as a presidential retreat since the 50s.

“Aarah was chosen as its a suitable venue near the capital, we want to ensure that it is easy for Maldivians and tourists to to mingle freely and celebrate the arts and culture Maldives.”

On the last day of the festival on the 17th, writers and artists’ workshop will be held in schools and colleges to encourage a new generation of artists.

Later on with National Centre for the Arts (NCA), which is facilitating the holding of the festival, Hay Festival Maldives plans to develop a rolling programme of workshops for this year and next.

Xiena explains that “The workshops will teach children and young people to interview their parents and grandparents, to gather and record legends and stories and experiences of life in the Maldives over the past century.”

The stories are to be collected in a huge online library to be launched at the second Hay Festival Maldives 2011.

A limited number of tickets are being sold keeping in mind the capacity of each venue.

2000 tickets will be available for the music show that will be launching the festival.

“1000 tickets will be sold for each day at Aarah, because that is the capacity of the island,” informs Xiena.

The tickets will be sold from the first week of September at NCA, and Xiena promises “the tickets will be at an affordable price for the locals, as we want a high participation from Maldivians.”

The event will also be marketed to tourists – at a different price than locals – however with the Hay Festival being a non-profit organisation tickets will remain reasonably-priced, organisers claim.

Hay Festival Maldives promises to be an exciting literary and arts event, the first major cultural festival to be held in the Maldives in recent times, and one not to be missed.

The participating Maldivian artists are currently being programmed, if you wish to be considered please send details to [email protected]. If you would like more information about the festival please drop by the festival desk at Olympus Theater between 21:00pm to 23:00pm.

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