Author: Mohamed Reehaan
Fullbright scholarship Maldives applications are now open. The U.S. Embassy in Malé announced this on May 3, 2026. Maldivian students have until July 16, 2026 to submit their applications. One Fully Funder Master’s Degree on Offer The U.S. government offers one fully funded Master’s degree in the United States through the Fulbright Foreign Student Program in Maldives. The scholarship covers tuition, airfare, a living stipend, health insurance, and study materials. It also includes cultural exchange opportunities. The selected candidates will begin study at a U.S. university in Fall 2027. Who Can Apply The program targets Maldivian nationals. Applicants must meet…
President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has promised a fix for the country’s medicine access problems. The solution will arrive within two months. He spoke about the issue on the “Nation Chat” programme. The government is already deep into the work. The President expects sweeping changes to the Maldives medicine supply system by June or July. Patients with chronic conditions will benefit most. They need a steady flow of prescriptions. The corporation driving the change The State Pharmaceutical and Medical Supply Corporation leads the effort. The government launched the state-owned enterprise last September. Its mission is clear: tighten the country’s grip on…
More residents are turning to the Male’ Taxi Line service for their daily travel around the capital, Chief Government Spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef has said. Private taxi operators had long struggled to keep up with demand in Male’. Some drivers were also reported to be turning down rides within the city, which added to the transport problems faced by residents. To address this, the government launched the Male’ Taxi Line service on April 2 this year. Why the government stepped in Speaking at the latest ‘Presser with the Spox’ session, Shareef noted that Male’ carries an unusually large number of…
The government has pushed back the Housing for All deadline to June 15 at 23:59hrs, giving applicants extra time to file for land and flats under the national scheme. According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development, the extension answers concerns raised by the public. Many applicants are traveling during the Eid holidays, and government offices remain closed for part of this period. As a result, several residents had struggled to collect the documents needed for their submissions. Why the ministry moved the date Officials say the earlier cut-off left little room for families juggling Eid travel and…
Foreign Minister Iruthisham Adam met departing Swiss Ambassador Dr. Siri Walt to deepen Maldives-Switzerland bilateral relations across tourism, climate policy and trade. The farewell call took place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Malé. Both sides reaffirmed their intent to widen engagement before Dr. Walt hands the post to her successor in Colombo. A diplomatic partnership rooted in 1981 Switzerland and the Maldives first established diplomatic ties in 1981, shortly after Maldivian independence. Since then, the two countries have built quiet but consistent cooperation, mainly through multilateral channels. Notably, both governments co-authored the landmark 2011 UN Human Rights Council…
The Maldives Cave Dive Recovery mission has entered a renewed and carefully reconfigured phase, with a multinational team of specialists now on the ground and a national operation that has, from its earliest hours, drawn the personal attention of the country’s highest office. The effort follows last Thursday’s tragedy in Vaavu Atoll, where five Italian visitors lost their lives during a dive into an underwater cave system off Alimathaa Island, a loss compounded on Saturday by the death of Sergeant First Class Mohamed Mahudhee of the Maldives National Defence Force during the second recovery attempt. Six lives in total are…
The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has confirmed its Eid Banking Hours for the upcoming Eid al-Adha 1447 holiday period. The authority will open for a single working day midway through what is otherwise a closed week for government offices. The official holiday calendar runs from May 24 to May 30, 2026. Within that window, the MMA will operate on Thursday, May 28, to deliver essential banking services to its institutional clients. The counter will run from 08:30hrs to 14:00hrs, giving banks and other authorized entities a shortened but workable window to handle pressing transactions before the holiday resumes. The authority…
The FSM Fuel Station Meedhoo is now open and serving the public, marking another step in the government’s push to bring fuel access at standard rates within reach of every atoll. Fuel Supplies Maldives (FSM) confirmed the launch in an announcement today, adding the Dhaal Atoll site to a growing network of regional outlets the company has rolled out under the national distribution programme. A strategic piece of a national rollout The new station forms part of a broader policy direction aimed at standardizing fuel pricing across the country. The strategy is straightforward: ensure that motorists, fishing operators, and businesses…
STO Approves MVr 85 per share in dividends for the 2025 financial year, lifting its payout above last year’s level and rewarding shareholders for a year in which the company crossed MVR 15 billion in revenue. The resolution passed by majority vote at the Annual General Meeting held on Saturday evening, at Dusit D2 Feydhoo Maldives, with 263 shareholders and proxies in the room and a clear message that the company’s run of sustained profit has reached its shareholders’ pockets. A well-attended meeting with a clear mandate The AGM drew strong participation from across the shareholder base. A total of…
The Maldives entered 2026 wearing the crown of consecutive record months. By mid-may, the crown sits askew. Maldives Tourist Arrivals 2026 reaches 839,620 tourists through 13 May, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Environment, a figure that would read as a healthy industrial performance in any other geopolitical climate. Against the 897,444 logged through the same window in 2025, however, it tells a more complicated story: one of momentum interrupted, of carefully laid plans colliding with forces no marketing budget can fully offset. The headline narrative breaks cleanly into two acts: January and February were record-setting, with February’s 247,722…