It sounds like the plot of a science-fiction movie...but a "second sun" might be on its way this year, as the red supergiant Betelgeuse, which is part of the Orion constellation 640 light years away from Earth, is nearing the end of its life and is ready to explode.

When Betelgeuse does explode, it will be so bright it will appear that the Earth will have two suns from one to two weeks.

So brace yourself for two suns, my friend, as Betelgeuse is slated to explode any time from now...to a million years in the future.

MALE, January 18 (HNS) - VB Sports Club goalkeeper Imran Mohamed has renewed his contract with the club despite speculations that he was going to accept an offer to join New Radiant.

VB CEO Gahthan haleem also confirmed the report.

“Today [Monday] he extended his contract to one year. We have offered him the deal even earlier. But we don’t know why it took so long him to confirm it. Maybe he needed time to think about the offers from other clubs,” he said.

The National Team’s player ended his nine-year career in Victory Sports Club and joined VB last year, helping the club win Dhiraagu Dhivehi league and President’s Cup.

Asked why VB Captain Ali ‘Dhagandey’ Ashfaq was not participating in the training sessions, Gahthan said Ashfaq was out of Male but added that he would join the practice yesterday.

VB started its training last week with Turkish coach Bahtiyar Can Vanlı who led the club to last year’s success.

VB has also signed Shamweel ‘Bonda’ Gasim, Mohamed ‘Baka’ Arif, Ismail ‘Issey’ Mohamed, Ismail ‘Messi’ Easa and Farhad ‘Farey’ Ismail.

The club has decided to bring two Brazilian defenders and Sierra Leonean winger Abu Desmond Mansarey. However, the club will not bring Dutch midfielder Cengiz Hussein who played a vital role in its midfield last season.

Meanwhile, 2008 Maldivian Footballer of the Year Muhkhthar ‘2kilo’ Naseer has decided to stay in Victory.

Muhkhthar, who is in his native island on vacation, told Haveeru that he will renew the contract as soon as he reach Male.

Victory will announce its new signings before starting its practice on Thursday.

Haveeru has also confirmed that Mohamed ‘Kudatey’ Shifan has renewed his contract with Victory and former New Radiant forward Fauzan Habeeb has joined the reds.

Johannesburg: South African cricketer Morne van Wyk feels the close One-day series against India has helped them prepare well for the tough World Cup battle ahead.

South Africa won the series 3-2 after winning the decisive fifth match, in which van Wyk scored a crucial half-century for his side.

"The victory definitely boosted our confidence, but even if we lost, it would not have been the end of our Cup chances. It`s better that we had to struggle rather than win the series 4-1 or 5-0, because in that way we have been forced to find answers to some tough questions," Van Wyk told a channel on Monday.
However, the wicket-keeper batsman says past results won`t count when the ICC flagship event begins next month in the Indian sub-continent since there are many contenders for the title.

"The tournament is something completely different and each of the teams starts on an equal footing, irrespective of their recent results," he said.

van Wyk is aware that he may not feature in the playing XI regularly since experienced Jacques Kallis will return to side after recovering from his injury but is still in positive frame of mind.

"Jacques is the kind of player that no team can afford to leave out. Of course I don`t wish injury or poor form on any of my team-mates, but it`s a long tournament and anything is possible," he said.
"I don`t care where I have to walk out in the batting order, and whether I have to stand behind the wickets or in the field. I have even started working on my bowling again just in case the team may need me in that role," he added.

This weekend, I took Manchester City to task for not finding a way to beat Aston Villa, and I praised Manchester United for getting the business done. Well, the Red Devils did it again on Tuesday against Blackpool. After a lifeless first half in which the back line was crumbling under the pressure of Charlie Adam & Co., United rallied to blow the home side away 3-2, marking a remarkable comeback. Read More

MALE, January 20 (HNS) – The most prestigious sports awards ceremony in the Maldives, Haveeru Sports Awards ceremony will be held on January 28.

This year Haveeru is to give a record number of awards to the top players from various sports. With 13 new awards, Haveeru will present 23 awards with cash prize this year.

A Haveeru official said the organisation is trying its best to organise a colourful event.

“All the things in this year’s award night will be perfect. This year, our advertising partner, Think Associates will prepare the stage set, lighting, and sound. Entertainment items will be performed at the award ceremony,” the official said.

Haveeru will also present its special prize this year.

Twenty-three awards will be given in 2010 Sports Awards, including the golden boot being awarded to the top scorer since 1994. The prize money was also increased to Rf250,000 from 2009’s Rf142,000 given to 11 awards.

While Dhiraagu, SIMDI, and Maldivian are the official partners of Haveeru Sports Awards 2010, Happy Market, Sonee Sports, and Allied Insurance are the associate sponsors.

Meanwhile, Haveeru has revealed Footballer of the Year award nominees on the countdown show aired last evening on MNBC One.

Five players nominated to the Footballer of the Year award include VB Sports and national team captain Ali ‘Dhagandey’ Ashfaq, Mohamed Umair, Akram Abdul Ghanee, Mohamed ‘Bakaa’ Arif and Ibrahim ‘Oppo’ Fazeel.

Nominees to the U-21 Best Footballer award are Maziya’s Ali ‘Kalhey’ Nafiu, Valencia’s Ahmed ‘Naatey’ Nashid and Assadulla Abdulla.

Dhagadey has won Haveeru ‘Golden Shoes’ for the fifth time this year after netting 30 goals throughout the season. Haveeru presents Rf20,000 cash prize with the ‘Golden Shoes’ trophy.

VB’s Turkish coach Can Bahthiyar Vanli, Victory’s Ali Suzain, who won the Coach of the Year award last year, and New Radiant’s Mohamed ‘Mohan’ Shiyaz were nominated for Coach of the Year award. Haveeru presents its trophy and Rf15,000 cash prize for the award.

Nominees for the Referee of the Year award include Ahmed Ameez, who won the award for the last two consecutive years, Ali Saleem and Ali Adil.

President Mohamed Nasheed has informed Department of Immigration to halt the border control system project.

According to the President’s Office, the president asked Immigration Controller Ilyas Hussein Ibrahim to follow Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)’s order to halt the project being carried out with Malaysia’s Nexbis Limited to develop the border control system.

In the note sent to Controller Ilyas, President Nasheed said all the government authorities should respect ACC, which is an independent legal body.

President Nasheed earlier requested government authorities to follow ACC’s orders to delay or halt a project carried out by the authority.

ACC earlier ordered the department to halt the project claiming that the department handled the project in a way that could lead to corruption. However, the department said it would not stop the project unless asked by the president.

President’s Office said last evening that President Nasheed does not believe that the project involves corruption.

Immigration Department signed a 20-year build, operate, and transfer (BOT) concession contract with Malaysia’s Nexbis Limited on October 17, 2010.

Under the Rf500 million project, an electronic border gate system would be established in Male International Airport. The system will be equipped with fingerprint technology to identify the immigrants and an integrated system, which would provide instant access to travel document records, passport, and visa and fingerprint database.

The government should repay the initial investment of the system which would cost about US$39 million (Rf501 million) within 20 years. A US$2 fee is to be charged from every foreigner entering the country and US$15 has to be paid for work visa.

Nexbis is required to pay five percent of its profit to the government as royalty.

The graduation is based on three factors which are gross national income (GNI) per capita, human resources (health, nutrition, education and adult literacy) and the economic vulnerability.
With the graduation, the particular country is bound to lose trade preferences and aid that it received as one of the world’s poorest nations.
However, the Maldives has voiced concerns over the matter citing its economic vulnerability.
In December 2010, Maldives Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Iruthisham Adam told the General Council that despite the graduation, the Maldives remains acutely vulnerable at economic, commercial and environmental levels.
She said then that the UN had decided to remove the Maldives from the list of LDC countries on the basis of its strong socio-economic development over recent decades, but that in-so-doing the UN had ignored the issue of vulnerability.
In response, some key partners in the global trading system, offered support to the Maldives to adjust to the loss of LDC special preferences.
The Maldives with many other Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are vulnerable to external economic and environmental shocks such as the oil and financial crisis and the 2006 Tsunami.
Many of the LDCs are also Small Island Developing States also known as SIDS.
In October last year, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the Maldives, Ahmed Naseem told a UN panel of experts that the Maldives needs support despite the graduation.
“He spoke of the small island paradox facing the Maldives: relative prosperity versus extreme vulnerability,” UN reported on the meeting.
“The Maldives is too vulnerable to be graduated,” he said, calling for special measures to be put in place to protect Small Island developing Nations as they graduate from the LDC category.
He pointed out that SIDS have neither the resources nor the experience to deal with globalization but their right to exist must be recognized by the international community.
There are 49 countries classified as LDCs and these nations have been identified as those suffering most from profound structural impediments to growth and prevalence of acute poverty. While they are home to some 800 million people (about 12% of the world’s population), they account for just 2% of global wealth (world GDP) and 1% of global trade in goods.
The Maldives apart, the other two countries that have graduated from LDC status so far are Botswana (1994) and Cape Verde (2007) since its establishment in 1971

Speaking in Kurendhoo of Lhaviyani Atoll, on the government’s social security programme, President Mohamed Nasheed has said the aim of the programme was to ensure that every citizen of the country led their lives with honour and dignity.

He said broadening Madhana health insurance scheme to include the entire population was aimed at making available healthcare facilities affordable for all, especially the poorest sections and the most vulnerable, in order to safeguard the dignity of citizens.

“We don’t see how a citizen can maintain her dignity and honour while going from one business man to the other with the prescription [asking for help to buy medication]”, the President said.

Acknowledging that the quality of available healthcare was not up to par with people’s expectation, he underscored that one third of the country’s population, who were below the poverty line could not afford even these inferior healthcare facilities.

“A country would not develop when its population live in poverty…We cannot develop this country when one third of its population live in poverty”, He added.

Continuing in this regard, he said the government pledged to make healthcare accessible and affordable, and to establish a social security programme to eradicate poverty.

Addressing in Kurendhoo, the first leg of the tour of Lhaviyani Atoll that he began this afternoon, the President also highlighted the development programmes planned for the development of the island.

He revealed that a telemedicine system would be established at Kurendhoo this year, and the work of the island’s harbour would begin this year.

Later this afternoon, the President has arrived in Hinnavaru of Lhaviyani Atoll after concluding his Kurendhoo visit.

Weather and climate

The islands of Maldives appear in-between the trading route of the Indian Ocean. Thus settlers, and visitors from neighbouring regions and around the world have come in contact with the islands for as long as history has been recorded. Such is the to-and-fro flow of people and their cultures, that a marked effect has been left in the Maldivian people, the language, beliefs, arts, and attitudes.

The looks of the Maldivian people may differ from one atoll to the other, attributing to the genes passed on by South and Southeast Asians, Africans, and Arabians. The language, Dhivehi, differs in dialect in some regions in the south of Maldives, possibly due to the secluded nature and subsistent ways of island life. Maldivian beliefs have been very much based around religion and superstition, often used together in matters of significance but given separate positions in society. In matters of faith, Islam dominates, but influence of the supernatural still continues to play a major role in most island communities, possibly giving credit to the folklores and Buddhist traditions of the islands’ first settlers before conversion to Islam in 1153 AD.

The mixing of cultures is very much seen in Maldivian arts. The music played with the local bodu-beru (big-drum) resemble that of African drumming. The dhoni (a unique Maldivian sailboat) is an art form itself built with skilled craftsmanship, with significant similarities to the Arabian dows. The fine artistry of Maldivians, seen in the intricate details on wooden beams in antique mosques, represents what we have gained from Southeast Asian architecture. Then there is the undefined: the distinct geometric designs used in mats woven from local materials, the embroidered neckline of women’s traditional dresses and their ornaments too, expose another story brought in from an unknown culture that has seeped in to Maldivian society.

Maldivians are quite open to adaptation and are generally welcoming to outside inspiration. The culture has always continued to evolve with the times. Locals still eat fish and fishermen still spend days out at sea, but tourism now takes a standing prominence. Most Maldivians still want to believe in upholding unity and oneness in faith, but recent waves of reform in the country have created a whole new culture of new ideas and attitudes. The effects of the modern world are now embraced, while still striving to uphold the people’s identity, traditions and beliefs.

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