Just before the release of their film Tashan, Bollywood’s very own IT couple ‘Saif-eena’ decided to take a break from the prying eyes of the media and headed off to Maldives for a quick holiday.
Saif and Kareena seem quite relaxed and completely at ease in each other’s company. Wonder what they are looking at and smiling? Is it some cartoon flick or the promo of their latest film Tashan that they are watching as part of the in-flight entertainment?
Source: http://sify.com/movies/imagegallery
He launched a book at the UN-backed Business for the Environment conference to highlight the threat to his South Asian tropical island chain favoured by tourists for its white sandy beaches, clear waters and swaying palm trees.
"My people are blessed with one of the most beautiful settings that nature has to offer... To many people across the world, our shores have indeed become an earthly paradise. This paradise, though, is endangered," he said.
"Each year, the seas that make up 99 percent of the Maldives are rising, and, slowly but surely, engulfing our 1,192 low-lying islands and posing serious risks to the lives and livelihoods of the people."
He said he chose the title "Paradise Drowning" for his book because "it evokes an image fraught with great danger" and "most clearly encapsulates the threat of climate change and sea-level rise to my people."
Speaking to reporters later, Gayoom said the country can only adapt to the problem by relocating citizens to safer islands. Building protective walls on 193 inhabited islands would cost about six billion US dollars, which the government finds too expensive, he said.
Gayoom said the real culprit for rising sea levels is global warming and the solution lies in countries cutting the carbon dioxide emissions which have been blamed for the phenomenon.
He said it was ironic that although the Maldives accounts for only 0.01 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the country could be "possibly the biggest victim of global warming."
At the rate at which sea levels are rising, the islands would be rendered "uninhabitable in the not-too-distant future," he said.
Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said the problem outlined by Gayoom mirrors the fate of other low-lying territories worldwide.
"The challenge they are facing is one of continued existence," Steiner told AFP on the sidelines of the conference.
"In the Maldives, it is possibly losing many of its islands and even one day... losing a whole nation," Steiner said, adding that many other coastal areas are in the same predicament.
"Many of the Asian coastal zones, Africa's coastal zones, are highly vulnerable to sea-level rise," he warned.
Steiner also criticised those who argue the threat is being exaggerated.
"If you want to know what the consequences are, take a look at what the tsunami did in a few seconds and you get an idea of what destruction will arise from sea-level rise," he said, referring to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
The tsunami killed 220,000 people in countries around the region and damaged 10 percent of the Maldives' inhabited islands.
But Gayoom said there was still hope as governments are negotiating a global treaty that will succeed the Kyoto Protocol on climate change aimed at committing countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
"Ultimately, what it (the book) signals is hope -- hope that humankind will find consensus and a clear will to act. I am confident that we, the peoples of the world, will not allow this paradise to drown," he said.
More than 500 business executives, government officials, environmentalists and others from 30 countries have gathered for the two-day conference.
It is organised by the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN's Global Compact, an initiative which brings companies together with UN and other agencies to support environmental and social principles.
Source: http://afp.google.com/article
By Melanie Lee and Neil Chatterjee
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The Maldives, worried about rising seas from climate change, wants steeper cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions but is unwilling to curb its tourism industry, which is reliant on polluting international flights.
President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, in Singapore promoting his book "Paradise Drowning" at an environmental business summit, said cutting back on tourism was not the answer even though the country's survival was more important than development.
"I don't think it's a viable option for us to cut down on tourism because it's the mainstay of our economy," Gayoom told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.
Tourist arrivals grew 12 percent last year to a record in the Maldives, a chain of Indian Ocean islands known for luxury resorts, expensive honeymoons and world-class scuba diving.
Tourism contributes about 5 percent to global emissions of greenhouse gases, but this is expected to rise as more people take international flights.
Scientists say emissions from jet engines have a much greater heat-trapping effect when released high in the atmosphere than when released at ground level.
This irony was not lost on Gayoom, facing the same problem as major developing countries that do not want any global agreement on emissions to constrain economic growth. The United Nations is leading talks to try to agree a new pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, whose first phase ends in 2012.
With the United Nations forecasting aviation emissions to rise by two to five times by 2050, the European Union aims to make all airlines buy pollution permits whether they fly into or out of the bloc.VICTIMS
"It's up to the business community, the corporate community, to look at alternatives to air travel as it is now -- to have more efficient fuel, alternative methods of fuel consumption, safer methods, greener methods -- we are the victims," Gayoom said.
"For a country like the Maldives, development comes after survival," he said. "I'm not happy at all, because what the international community has agreed so far is not enough to save our country and other low-lying area countries."
A U.N. climate panel has forecast world sea levels are likely to rise by up to 59 cm by 2100 due to global warming.
Gayoom said some of his people could be moved to islands with higher ground but adaptation was not enough and it would cost $6 billion to build sea defences around the tiny Indian Ocean islands -- more than the Maldives could afford.
He said the country was not planning a levy on international tourists to help fund such a scheme, but was considering a trust fund combining government revenues and money from international donors.
The economy, which Gayoom said would grow between 6 and 7 percent in 2008, derives about 30 percent of revenues from tourism. Officials previously forecast 9.5 percent growth this year after 6.6 percent last year and a 19.1 percent post-tsunami boom in 2006.
Gayoom, 70, who has led the Maldives for three decades, said he planned to run in October presidential elections and was confident of adding to his tenure as Asia's longest-serving ruler.
"The introduction of a multi-party liberal democracy in the Maldives is going to be my legacy."
Source: http://in.reuters.com/article/southAsiaNews
Read Melanie Lee and Neil Chatterjee’s story about the problem faced by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who is writing a book about ”Paradise Drowning” but wants to keep the tourist-dependent economy going.
What should countries like the Maldives do?
Ending poverty is the overriding goal for developing nations, but how far should they take part in fighting global warming, caused by people in rich nations on the other side of the world?
Would high green taxes on visitors help? Or would that be just a symbolic pinprick in the problem of global warming that could drive holidaymakers to pick another tropical destination?
What do you think?
Source: http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/
The Maldives is not the place to go if you want to worry about facts and figures. Are there 1,196 islands? It depends on what's considered an island and who's doing the counting. Are these tiny slabs of natural perfection south-west of Sri Lanka really, as Darwin suggested, the result of little spurts from underwater volcanoes? Less beautiful theories suggest not, but you don't come to the Maldives to ponder the evolution of this ever-shifting, sparkling and temporal mass of coral atolls liberally specked with Robinson Crusoe islands.
Let's get facts and figures out of the way then. Of the however many islands, only about 200 are inhabited, and just less than half of these are the kind of places you think about when you think about the Maldives – exclusive and luxurious resort destinations. So popular has the Maldives become with honeymooners and holidaymakers that, last year, the government gave the go-ahead for another 35 resort islands to open for business over the next 25 years. As Japanese investment is pumped in to protect the environment, the Maldives tourist industry (motto: "the sunny side of life") finds itself reaching out beyond newlyweds in an effort to touch the magical 1,000,000 visitors a year mark. (It's currently about 700,000.)
But enough with the facts and figures. Because what most people do come to the Maldives for is to realise those secret dreams of the high-maintenance castaway; they come seeking that rustic, back-to-nature experience, complete with every luxury the 21st-century can offer. Here, with nothing but our rainforest showers, opulent open-air bathrooms and flatscreen TVs, we come to play out our barefoot-executive fantasies of spas, stars and the two Rs.
No problem. Except, that is, in how you might go about making all of this appeal to those crucial non-honeymooners. Well, for one, there are now two small but highly efficient fleets of air-taxi seaplanes to make hopping between islands reasonably straightforward. And with multi-location potential comes an array of skydivers, surfers and thrill-seekers from across the world. Naturally, as the reasons behind people coming here expand and vary, so do the resorts springing up to accommodate them.
Our first stop is a 35-minute speedboat hop from Malé International Airport (about £65 per person return) to Anantara, a relatively new resort consisting of two islands. The Anantara ethos is very much the "no news, no shoes" idea pioneered by Soneva Fushi in 1995. From £250 per night, you can have an understatedly luxurious beach cabin with fabulous outdoor/ indoor bathroom and secluded terrace with private beachfront. The resort offers picnics on private islands, dolphin safaris, a Padi 5 star diving centre, yoga classes and cooking lessons as well as being a base from which to arrange more adventurous activities.
A few days at Anantara and it's a short flight by seaplane to another of the Maldives' more recent additions: the Four Seasons at Landaa Giraavaru. If Anantara was all boutique-hotel good taste, Landaa Giraavaru is, as you would expect from the Four Seasons, a masterclass in exorbitantly tasteful excellence (from about £350 per cabin per night). Here, Mother Nature is discreetly picked up when she is untidy on land while a marine conservation centre invests in and protects the delicate eco-system all around. Food and cabins – there are some 50 "beach pavilions" and 38 "water bungalows" – are, needless to say, so faultless you'll want to cry when it's time to leave.
But leave we must, because the designerly decadent W brand has also opened in the Maldives recently, throwing clubbing, singles and civil partnerships into the Maldives mix. Once our guide has delicately stressed that this is not really a place for children, I take leave to sit in my private plunge pool and dry off on my round, white day bed as the ocean laps gently underneath. Yeah baby. I am the Austin Powers of the Indian Ocean. I am in pink-pound paradise (from £350 to £5,000 per night). In W world, the gym is called "Sweat"; a bar is named "Wet"; the bathmat says "Step" and rooms are "Retreats". If you're lucky, you might just escape within an inch of your lifestyle.
Meanwhile, the planners plan and the builders build the next wave of island-hotels. (Shangri-La's Villingili, the first luxury resort on the Addu Atoll in the southern Maldives, is next up later this year.) Villingili will be served by Gan airport, now cleared to land international flights, and will boast a "retail and entertainment village", a "water activity focal point" called "The Village" and tree-house villas. Unusually, the Shangri-La group is also using the fact that Villingili is surrounded by inhabited islands which visitors are can explore by bicycle as a selling point: as resorts become evermore Prisoner-like, lack of interaction with Maldivians becomes a common complaint.
Where all this leaves the Maldives, as complex and fragile a paradise as exists, is anyone's guess. It's a good thing, then, that the Maldives is not the place to go if you want to worry about facts and figures.
Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/asiaGayoom, in power since 1978, has said he will stand for re-election, defying opponents who describe the 71-year-old as a dictator who rules the island chain, famed for its luxury tourist resorts and fine scuba diving, like a sultan of old.
The constitutional assembly of the Indian Ocean archipelago voted on Sunday to hold presidential elections before October 10, 2008 and parliamentary elections before March 31, 2009.
"We wanted an election scheduled as soon as possible to renew Gayoom's mandate or to elect someone else. This way there will be a new president in office on 11th November 2008," said Ibrahim Shareef, a constitutional assembly member from Gayoom's Dhivehi Raiyyithunge Party (DRP).
The DRP says Gayoom can stand in the election for a seventh term, although the constitution sets a two-term limit, because this will be the first election under a new constitution.
Opposition parliamentarians say he cannot run again and vow to take the issue to the Supreme Court if necessary.
Gayoom first pledged sweeping democratic reforms in 2004, reacting to harsh criticism of his government's rights record in this nation of 300,000, mostly Sunni Muslims.
Opposition parties were legalised in 2005, but a new constitution for the chain of 1,200 mostly uninhabited islands 800 km off the toe of India is still being drafted.
Critics accuse Gayoom of cracking down on dissent despite his reform promises, and of stifling opposition parties to hold onto power and keep control of lucrative tourist resorts.Opposition groups, concerned the elections might not be free and fair, formed an alliance last November to press for an interim government.
"We think it will be a relatively free and fair election. But we are still concerned that Gayoom will be head of state and have an unfair advantage in the election process," said Hassan Hussein Rasheed, a constitutional assembly member from the Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).
But the government used its strength in the constitutional assembly to pass an article on Sunday allowing the president and cabinet to remain in place until elections are held.
In a referendum last year, the Maldives voted to adopt a U.S.-style presidential system, a victory for Gayoom and a defeat for the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party which wanted a British-style parliamentary system of government.
Gayoom, in power for 29 years, said after the referendum that he would run for re-election in the multi-party poll for one more five-year term.
Source: http://in.reuters.com
He also hailed the post-conference blueprint on climate change organised by the UN in Bali, Indonesia, in December, and the formation of a stronger and more diversified executive management team for the bank.
This came in a statement read out by the Finance Minister on behalf of Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, the Maldives, Oman, Qatar, Syria, the UAE and Yemen during the 77th session of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund's development committee held at the bank's headquarters in Washington.
Shaikh Ahmed also expressed in his speech the Arab countries' aspirations for further consultations and co-operation with the World Bank to crystallise goals regarding the whole region and adapting them to the countries' different needs.
Shaikh Ahmed also underlined the need to fathom the efficiency of the general structure of international aids and enhance statistic capabilities of developing countries.
Successful economic policies, positive investment climate and good management are a boost to sustainable development, the minister pointed out.
Source: http://www.gulf-daily-news.comThe delegation, led by Lu Hao, secretary of the CPC Gansu Provincial Committee, was invited by the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party of Maldives
Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english
Mr Yim Choong Hing, Senior Vice President – Regional Operations, welcomes Richard, “Marina Mandarin is a distinct landmark for our guests as the place to go for choice accommodation, excellent service and select food and beverage offerings. Richard has worked with numerous international hotel chains – with him helming the team at Marina Mandarin, we are confident that he will lead Marina Mandarin from strength to strength to further boost the Meritus brand and our trademark hospitality of Asian grace, warmth and care.”
Armed with almost three decades of international experience in city hotels as well as resorts, Richard brings with him a wealth of knowledge and will undoubtedly bring his team at Marina Mandarin to its next level of premium hospitality.
Source: etravelblackboardasia.com
When the grandfather’s clock in the boardroom of Sri Lanka’s oldest company, George Steuart and Co, chimed at 11 am amidst the rubble and injured employees minutes after the Central Bank bomb explosion on January 31, 1996, Somasundaram Skandakumar knew ‘time will not stand still, and the company will survive.’
Skandakumar, outgoing chairman of the company and a former Sri Lankan test cricketer, recalled these moments on March 31 at a press briefing where he passed the baton to his sucessor Jayantha Wimalagooneratne who then spoke of the challenges ahead including the setting up of a travel company in the Maldives and trade and investment with India and China.
Skandakumar retired after serving 34 years in the company, eight of which was as the chairman where he saw the group diversify into pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, manpower recruitment, insurance, freight forwarding, financial services and education, and also become Sri Lanka’s largest exporter of value-added tea. The outgoing chairman said the blast at the Central Bank headquarters just across the road from ‘Steuart’ House, and the nationalisation of estates were two events that shook him but saw the company recover from these tought times.
Wimalagooneratne said that the company recently set up a Steuart Centre in Galle and aimed to establish many similar centres in other parts of the country, selling the range of Steuart products.
He said with the establishment of George Steuarts Philippines Inc. in the Philippines, more than a decade ago, the group has became an international company and its focus now is to make it a ‘truly multinational one.’
Wimalagooneratne, who has been associated with the Group for 30 years since 1978, is the 21st chairman of the company. The new Board of Directors includes Group Deputy Chairman Kandiah Neelakandan, the well-known lawyer, and Group Joint Managing Directors Dubsy Kanagaratnam and Duleep Daluwatte.
Source: sundaytimes.lkAhumad Ali (49) and his family are among 44 families that have recently moved into their new homes in Fonadhoo. He said: 'The house is extremely good, much better than my old house before the tsunami. The house is bigger, stronger and comfortable. And most importantly, if there is another tsunami I am sure there will not be any damage to the structure.'
On the morning of 26 December 2004, after completing some work at the office, Ahumad came home for breakfast. One of his daughters was at the hospital about to give birth to his grandchild and only his son was at home. He came out of the house after he heard a loud noise to see coconut trees swaying and birds flying. 'I thought it was an attack from another country!'
Destruction
He ran to grab his son before running out of the house. Water was up to his waist at this point and it was getting higher and higher. The wall surrounding his house collapsed. His leg got stuck and by mistake he let go of his son's hand. Water was up to his nose and he could see his son about 40 feet away, being swept away with the waves.
Ahumad managed to pull his leg out and swam to his son. Although he tried to swim towards his relatives' house, the current was too strong and they were pushed again towards his house. By then he saw that his house was completely destroyed.
Ahumad had taken a loan of 15,000 Maldives Rufiyaa (about £590) to construct his house and had kept 4,000 MRF (around £160) in his house that was lost with the waves.
Grateful
After several years of reconstruction, Ahumad was very pleased to move into his new home. He said: 'I am very grateful to the British Red Cross. Fonadhoo has seen lots of teams come to do surveys and have heard no more. But the British Red Cross actually did a programme and has given my family a new home.'
As well as constructing houses, the British Red Cross is helping communities rebuild their livelihoods and learn how to be prepared for future disasters.
Like so many others, Boxing Day 2004 is a day the father of seven from the Maldives will never forget.
He had just prepared some salty fish and had laid them out to dry under the strong mid-morning sun when he heard a loud noise. Walking out of his house, he saw big boats coming towards him on the waves. Before long he was chest-high in water.
He remembered: "I caught on to a tree nearby and held on to it tight. I was hoping the water would subside so that I could go and look for my family. As soon as I thought it was safe to let go, something big came and hit me in the chest and once again I went under. Then a hand gripped me and lifted me up on to a higher ground."
Help
Mohamed caught sight of his beloved 25-year-old daughter Fathimath, who was in tears and lying on a wall. She shouted: "Dad, I am dying, please help."
Mohamed was lucky; he was able to help all his children. However, he had lost all his fishing equipment.
Soon after the British Red Cross arrived on Buruni island, Mohamed went to a community meeting where he heard about the Red Cross' programme helping people rebuild their livelihoods by giving cash grants. He applied and was happy to receive 25,000 Maldives Rufiyaa (nearly £1,000) for his group.
Recovery
He explained: "I had received 1,500 MRF (£60) from the government but this was hardly enough to get the business going. Only with the British Red Cross grant did I manage to fully start on the activities."
There were five members in his group and they have been able to make a good living again. In fact, Mohamed makes even more profit now than he did before the tsunami. The group's monthly average income is around 10,000 MRF (£400).
He said: "I am very much appreciative and thankful. The British Red Cross has helped strengthen our livelihoods and we are getting two beautiful houses for my large family of 18."
The British Red Cross livelihoods and disaster management projects in the Maldives have helped more than 1,100 people strengthen their livelihoods.
