Vaccinated citizens, tourists and visa holders will no longer be required to present a negative PCR test upon arrival in the Maldives with effect on Saturday. Tourists who stay on local islands will not have to take a PCR test prior to departure.
Domestic travel restrictions were also lifted last month as a new wave of infections driven by the Omicron variant receded.
1,000 applications were submitted by the deadline for the 2022 higher education loan scheme.
The lease period for uninhabited islands was increased from five to 10 years. Amendments to the 2020 regulations also require design approval of mandatory living quarters for caretakers.
Sun Travel owner Ahmed Siyam Mohamed lambasted a travel ban imposed by the civil court as a “political atrocity”. The resort magnate’s passport was held last month over the enforcement of US$28 million in damages owed to Hilton. Sun’s accounts were frozen after the Maldivian courts of appeal upheld a judgment in favour of Hilton by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre. The litigation arose from Sun’s cancellation of a management agreement for Irufushi resort in April 2013.
The three-term MP for Dhaalu Meedhoo called a rare press conference after a council meeting of his largely inactive political party.
Former elections commissioner Ahmed Shareef was appointed managing director of the State Electricity Company. The move was reportedly part of a shuffle of top posts in state-owned companies. Other rumoured changes have yet to be confirmed. Former MD Hassan Mughnee was later appointed state minister of environment.
The Koagannu mosques and cemetery in Addu City were chosen among 25 sites in the 2022 World Monuments Watch, a selection of heritage sites whose “preservation is urgent and vital”. The burial site dates back to the 12th century after the conversion to Islam. Koagannu comprises 1,500 tombstones, mausolea and coral stone mosques.
The criminal court dismissed bribery charges against Youth and Sports Minister Ahmed Mahloof. The former lawmaker was accused of accepting a US$33,000 bribe to vote for the previous government’s special economic zones legislation. After preliminary hearings, the judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence to proceed to trial. While the state’s key witness was former vice president Ahmed Adeeb, the judge noted the lack of evidence to support his statement. The alleged intermediary who transferred the money to Mahloof insists that it was a currency exchange transaction.
The prosecutor general has indicated that he would appeal the decision.
The government has been under fire over Mahloof remaining in the cabinet despite a ‘zero tolerance’ policy to fire political appointees charged with corruption.
The charge stemmed from a joint investigation by the police and presidential asset recovery commission into the theft of US$90 million during the previous administration. Mahloof denied the allegations and claimed he was a “sacrificial lamb” for the corruption scandal.
Two local men, aged 28 and 31, were arrested on Shaviyani Feydhoo for allegedly spraying the opposition’s ‘India Out’ slogans on a pre-school wall.
Aminath Eman, a member of Malé’s Women’s Development Committee, passed away of head injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident in Hulhumalé on Sunday. She was 29 years old.
The parliament’s vetting process began for the president’s five nominees to the Anti-Corruption Commission. The resignation of all five members last year left an oversight vacuum. The watchdog has been unable to open investigations into new complaints until members are appointed with parliamentary approval.
More than half of births were delivered via cesarean section and 35 percent of hospital admissions were due to non-communicable diseases, according to 2020 statistics published by the health ministry.
A turtle came ashore on the only natural strip of beach in Malé. The rare sighting near the bridge in the capital’s eastern waterfront was posted online by a lawmaker, prompting speculation that it could be a female turtle returning to the place where it hatched decades ago to lay her own eggs.
A photo of a turtle laying eggs on the Maafaru island’s new airstrip went viral in April 2019.
