The PG office pressed charges against two organisers of youth-led protests arrested during a police crackdown. Shiman Ahmed, 19, was charged with obstruction of police duty, an offence that carries a prison sentence of nearly five months. Abdulla Mahzoom Majid, 28, faces one and a half years in prison on an assault charge for allegedly pushing a police officer. The pair refused to sign a conditional cautioning agreement with the admission of guilt as a condition for avoiding jail time. Shiman accused the PG of failing to offer a “proper” agreement. The MDP chairman slammed the charges as "a pathetic attempt by the government to muzzle the expression of discontent by the youth."
Discussions are underway on a 25-year lease of the Velana International Airport’s VIP terminal and private jet services to Dubai’s Jetex, Dhauru reported, citing a proposal for a revenue-sharing deal with a US$ 25 million investment.
Police rescued a Bangladeshi man who was held captive in a house in Malé. In a separate incident on the same day, police rescued a 44-year-old Maldivian man who was forcibly detained inside a Malé residence. A 48-year-old Maldivian man was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and torture.
The MDP national council approved a 33 percent quota to field young candidates in the upcoming local council elections, along with a new vetting process to bar candidates accused of domestic violence, child abuse and drug trafficking from contesting in primaries.
After a parliamentary committee report warned that the debt-ridden MMPRC was on the brink of bankruptcy, the government’s tourism promotion company blamed its financial situation on losses of MVR 203 million (US$ 13 million) incurred during the previous administration. Citing mismanagement, the SOE committee meanwhile recommended the dissolution of the loss-making Maldives Integrated Tourism Development Corporation.
MDP briefed the European Parliament on what the opposition party called the "accelerating democratic breakdown" under the Muizzu administration, highlighting the removal of Supreme Court justices and the deactivation of a whistleblower social media account.
Hassan Mamdhuh, who was detained on June 23 for trial over the fraudulent sale of apartments from the K-Park Residence in Hulhumalé, was granted a conditional release.
Citing insufficient evidence, police declined to seek charges over the fraudulent registration of a former state minister to the PNC with a forged membership form. The fingerprint on the form did not match any on the official database, according to the police, which informed Mohamed Thoriq that the ruling party had been fined MVR 5,000 by the Elections Commission. But since it bore the signatures of witnesses and a PNC official who verified the form before submission, Thoriq alleged political influence and asked the PG office to order the police to reopen the case.
More than 500 students applied to join a new school under construction in Hulhumalé phase two, the education minister told Mihaaru, after inspecting progress on the site.
At the request of the new administration that took office in November 2023, the World Bank cancelled 60 percent of funding under a US$ 16.5 million disaster preparedness project, an audit report revealed.
The new Islamic library due to open at the King Salman mosque in Malé will have over 15,000 books, the Islamic ministry said.