Muizzu rejected criticism of the Rasmalé waterfront and marina deal with UAE-based Eagle Hills, insisting the 99-year lease does not constitute foreign land ownership or compromise public housing pledges. Speaking on PSM’s Nation Chat, Muizzu said the other 600 hectares remain allocated for public housing plots and that reclamation – currently 70 percent complete – will finish by the end of the year. The project has faced criticism from former {resident Abdulla Yameen, Male Mayor Adam Azim and religious scholar Sheikh Fazloon. Housing Minister Abdulla Muhthalib meanwhile told Mihaaru that the government would have final say on who could lease properties at the development and who would be granted visa.
Muizzu said that MTCC had secured a dredger three times larger than its current trailing suction hopper dredger Mahaa Jarraafu and that it would arrive in Maldives before the end of the year.
Viral footage on social media shows an expatriate woman being assaulted and mugged on a road in Raa Maduvvari. Police said it received the report around 6:04 am on Thursday, but no suspects have been arrested yet.
The Singapore International Commercial Court ordered Steel SVA Holdings the majority shareholder of Soneva Holdings, to begin an open, marketed sale process for Soneva Holdings Pte Ltd by 15 November. The court found that Steele SVA holdings treated Sonu Shivdasani unfairly through the terms of debt securities issued to fund the business. Steele, an investment vehicle jointly owned by KSL Capital Partners and Singapore’s GIC, holds about 74.9 per cent of Soneva Holdings. Shivdasani holds an interest of about 24.8 per cent through SH (BVI) Ltd. In a LinkedIn post, Shivdasani said that the decision gives him and his wife “clarity about what comes next”.
The Criminal Court ordered the release of a 31-year-old Bangladesh man after initially ordering to remand him for five days for attempting suicide after jumping off the Sinlamalé bridge. The court initially ordered his detention in a remand hearing held on Thursday while he was still receiving treatment, but on Friday ordered police to release him without condition and to provide him mental health support through the relevant institutions. The order also said that there were no legal barriers to prevent police from handing him to immigration for deportation.
A 26-year-old woman who suffered critical injuries in a motorcycle accident in Malè last week passed away on Friday evening while receiving treatment at ADK hospital.
An official document locker at the housing, construction and infrastructure ministry was found opened on Friday. Police said officers attended the scene at 7:18pm following a report. Ministry officials subsequently inspected the contents in the presence of officers, confirming that no documents were missing.
Police arrested three men – two Indian and one Maldivian – for attempting to smuggle more than three kilos of drugs through Gan International Airport. Police said two of them were arrested based on information provided by Customs that drugs were found in the luggage of two people who arrived in Maldives from India last Tuesday. The third man was arrested following a controlled delivery operation. The Maldivian man was remanded by the court for 15 days while the two Indian men were remanded for the duration of the trial.
The Maldivian delegation at the UN General Assembly joined several other delegates in staging a walkout when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to the podium. In his address, Vice President Hussain Mohamed Latheef called for an end to the unequal application of International law and for the recognition of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital based on pre-1967 borders and for its full membership of the UN.
