Press Freedom Day, Sri Lanka visit and dredging complaints

The Maldives Journalists Association staged a silent protest outside the President's Office on World Press Freedom Day – leaving a coffin marking the death of press freedom from 2008 to 2026, which was later taken away by police – and issued nine demands to the government. The demands include repealing the media regulation law in favour of a self-regulatory system, dropping all criminal charges against Adhadhu, returning their seized equipment, lifting travel bans on Adhadhu's editors, ending criminal investigations targeting journalists, and publishing the findings of the commission that investigated the disappearance of Ahmed Rilwan and the murder of blogger Yameen Rasheed. The MJA also called for transparent state media grants, stronger source protection laws, and guaranteed safety for journalists covering protests. In his address on the occasion, President Muizzu announced that a Media Village will open soon and defended the allocation of funds from the government budget to private media outlets. He condemned the killing and persecution of journalists worldwide and warned against the growing use of deepfakes and AI as tools of disinformation.

President Muizzu and First Lady Sajidha Mohamed arrived in Colombo for a four-day state visit to Sri Lanka at the invitation of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. The visit will cover bilateral cooperation in education, economic ties, and governance, with several MoUs to be signed. The trip comes as the two countries mark 60 years of diplomatic relations.

The Environmental Regulatory Authority published a gazette notice flagging a surge in complaints about dredging and reclamation projects, including conducting work without completing environmental impact assessments, failing to install silt screens, extracting sand from unauthorised areas, and continuing operations during yellow weather alerts. The ERA ordered contractors to comply with permit conditions, including maintaining a 500-metre buffer from inhabited islands and resorts when extracting sand, and warned of legal action for violations. It also urged extra caution over the next 12 weeks due to heightened coral bleaching risk.

MDP confirmed three candidates for its June 12 chairperson election: former President Mohamed Nasheed, MP Meekail Ahmed Naseem and Ibrahim Mohamed.

A postmortem was conducted on a 45-year-old Maldivian man who died at Malé Custodial last month with his body returned to the family, police confirmed. The man died on April 24 while in police custody on a court order to be produced before a judge. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at hospital. Police have not released the postmortem findings.

The infrastructure ministry announced Sultan Park will close daily from 6pm for ongoing renovation work, weeks after reopening for Eid al-Fitr following an earlier closure last August.

MTCC appointed Ahmed Mubeen as deputy managing director, the latest in a series of leadership changes at state-owned enterprises following the ruling party's poor showing in last month's local council elections. Mubeen previously served as managing director of Regional Airports Company under this government, resigning as the company was being merged with MACL.

The housing ministry updated the application form for its housing scheme to allow people registered in Malé for less than a year to apply, provided they have lived continuously in Malé for 15 years and can document both their residency period and their Malé registration date. The deadline to apply for plots and flats under the scheme is the end of this month. The scheme covers 15,000 plots across Greater Malé and Rasmalé, along with 7,900 flats.

The Maldives Meteorological Service forecast above-normal rainfall and above-normal minimum and maximum temperatures across most of the country between June and September, in its monthly climate outlook for the southwest monsoon season. The forecast, based on April climate conditions, will be updated monthly as conditions change.