Former President Nasheed, Malé Mayor Adam Azim, city councillors, MDP leadership figures and activists protested outside parliament against the bill letting the government remove land from council jurisdiction. The decentralisation committee, which is reviewing the amendments, gave until 2pm on Thursday for public comment and set Sunday as its deadline to finish work. If passed, land or property within a council's jurisdiction leaves the council's ownership once cabinet decides to take it for a government project. Councils would also have to hand over land the government requests before an island's physical development plan is approved. The councillors' code of conduct would require full cooperation with government projects and bar decisions obstructing them.
The bill was submitted by Thulhaadhoo MP Abdul Hannan Aboobakuru, an independent who works with PNC. A petition against it has passed 1,500 signatures. PNC parliamentary group leader Ibrahim Falah said during Monday's debate that it was not a government bill, objecting on a point of order after MDP MP Mauroof Zakir said the government had put it forward through Hannan and called for it to be withdrawn. Falah said any member may submit a bill. The PNC supermajority then voted the bill through 55-8.
The government proposed amending the foreign currency law to remove the option for category A resorts to exchange US$500 per tourist, requiring all resorts to exchange 20 per cent of monthly gross revenue instead. The central bank said high-end resorts have been using the per-head rate while smaller resorts exchange 20 per cent of revenue, costing it a substantial amount, and that the change should bring an additional US$100 million a year through the banks. MMA also wants transactions on foreign banks' POS machines to settle into Maldivian bank accounts, requiring an amendment to the National Payment System Act, and is working on a national switch to monitor all transactions. Tourism earned US$5.6 billion last year, of which US$3.2 billion entered the Maldivian banking system.
MMA increased the dollars it releases to commercial banks by 51 per cent for the next three weeks, taking the weekly allocation from about US$5 million to about US$7 million. It said the change would make foreign currency easier to obtain through the banking system and ease pressure on importers. It raised the weekly amount by 32 per cent before Ramadan this year and by 26 per cent in June.
The investigation into the December 2024 fire that destroyed the office buildings with the housing, construction and environment ministries as well as part of Malé City Council found no arson, Home Minister Ali Ihusaan told parliament. He said police investigated with help from neighbouring countries and found the fire started in air-conditioning wiring in the ceiling, and that police body-camera footage from the initial response confirms it.
Ihusaan said MDP cannot hold its Thursday night protest on Majeedhee Magu, telling parliament the road is busy at the requested time. He said permission has been given for the outer road from the artificial beach to the southwest harbour. Ameenee Magu is unavailable because of roadworks.
Seventeen measles cases were reported in the Malé area in the past week, bringing this year's total to 216, HPA said, with 14,701 people vaccinated.
President Muizzu launched PGO 2.0, a two-year programme integrating AI into the Prosecutor General's Office, with the aim of a fully digital prosecution service by 2028. AI tools are to be built into the office's case management system, including a legal document analyser, summarisation and charge-drafting tools, an identity analyser, tamper-evident evidence features and a citizen agent giving case status and procedural guidance. The PGO said it will not permit automated charging decisions, AI-fabricated evidence or legal authorities, use of AI to narrow disclosure obligations, or AI assessment of guilt or credibility from facial expression, voice or biometrics, and that it will disclose in court where AI helped prepare material.
Prosecutor General Abbas Shareef said cases would reach court 60 per cent faster, giving as an example a set of 25 files sent by the ACC that currently takes two to three months to review and which he said AI could process in a day. He said 140 of the office's 199 staff do not yet have devices to work remotely and the office has no offsite backup server, both to be addressed within 100 days. The office also launched a practitioner's guide to evidence, a new website it said brings it into full RTI compliance, the eDhoroashi portal and Lethun, an app holding laws, regulations and appellate rulings.
Police carried out 1,141 drug operations between 1 January and 31 July, searching 23,249 people and premises 7,309 times, and seized 144.3kg of drugs and 1,856 bottles of alcohol, Chief Superintendent Ahmed Muslim told the press. Some 1,875 people were arrested and 116 expatriates were handed to Immigration for deportation. Of 1,533 cases investigated, 634 have been sent to the Prosecutor General. The Drug Enforcement Department alone seized 137kg with a street value of MVR 121 million (US$7.8 million), and investigated 94 trafficking-threshold cases leading to 147 arrests. Twenty-five financial investigations and three network investigations are under way.
The cabinet approved joining a Saudi-led maritime defence coalition against Houthi attacks on shipping. President Muizzu sent it to parliament for consent to sign and ratify. He wrote that joining imposes no obligation on Maldivians. The Multinational Maritime Defence Alliance was announced on 30 July with 14 countries. Members must work against any threat or attack in the area, share intelligence and take part in joint exercises.
The waqf fund has received more than MVR3 million (US$194,550) so far this year through donation links on MIRA's website, Islamic Minister Shaheem told the media. He said the money will be spent under the fund's trust statement on building and maintaining mosques, religious education and publishing religious material. The ministry is developing waqf buildings with income from them to fund Islamic activities.
A parent's disability is not a valid reason to take a child into state care, the health and family ministry said, responding to claims on social media that a baby had been removed from its mother because of her disability. It said the claims are untrue, that a child is taken into state care only temporarily and only once it is established that neither the parents nor another family member can keep the child safe.
The Islamic ministry and the Islamic University of Maldives signed an agreement to conduct a study on the social impact of local tourism.
Maldivian signed an agreement with Canada's De Havilland to buy two DHC-6 Twin Otter Classic 300-G aircraft, the first order of the latest generation by a Maldivian airline and the first addition to its Twin Otter fleet since 2018. Managing director Ibrahim Iyas said the airline now operates 11 Twin Otters, having started its seaplane service with two in 2014, and that the new aircraft need none of the modifications earlier Twin Otters required for Maldivian conditions.
