POP king Michael Jackson died on Thursday at LA.  Michael had come back after 10 years of break recently. The death of Jackson is bit shocking as he was just 50. The cause was cardiac arrest, lapsing into a coma, and pronounced dead at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. According to USA Today, paramedics were called at 12:30pm to the Bel Air home of Michael Jackson where extreme care was given to Jackson in cardiac arrest and rushed to the hospital in an effort to treat the immediate condition of Michael before he passed away.

The carton on New York post has created some controversies as the African Americans and others saw it as a depiction of Obama.

The New York Post has apologised to those offended by an editorial cartoon that critics said was racist because it likened President Barack Obama to a chimpanzee.

New York Post apologises over ‘racist’ Barack Obama cartoon – Telegraph

President Nasheed has appointed new Minister and the oath taking ceremony held at the President’s office. There are 14 Minsters in the Cabinet. The new ministers are as follows

1. Gasim Ibrahim  – Minister of Home Affairs
2. Ali Hashim -  Minister of Finance and Treasury
3. Dr. Ahmed Shaheed  – Minister of Foreign Affairs
4. Dr. Aminath Jameel – Minister of Health and Family
5. Ameen Faisal -  Minster of Defence and National Security
6. Dr. Musthafa Luthfy – Minister of Education
7. Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed – Attorney General
8. Mohamed Rasheed – Minister of Economic Development
9. Dr. Ahmed Ali Sawad – Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture
10. Hassan Latheef – Minister of Human Resource, Youth and Sports
11. Mohamed Aslam -  Minister of Housing, Transport and Environment
12. Dr. Ibrahim Didi as Minister – Fisheries and Agriculture
13. Dr. Mohamed Jameel Ahmed – Minster of Civil Aviation and Communication
14. Dr. Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari -  Minister of Islamic Affairs

Minister Gasim Ibrahim had served as the Finance Minister with President Gayoom, but had resigned from the post after some problems in the budget. Dr Musthafa Luthfy was the tourism Minister. Dr Ibrahim Didi who is a Dental Surgeon by profession is the Minister for Fisheries and Agriculture. All the Ministers are highly educated and hope to help President Nasheed to fulfil his promises

Bus service between Hulhumale’  and Hulhule, the Airport Island has started from 27th October 2008. Initially there will be hourly trips. This service is handled by the Maldives Airport Company . At present this service will be provided only provided to airport staff residing in Hulhumale and passengers from Hulhumale’ travelling to airport.

Right now two buses are operating and its a free service, but later from December, they will be charging MRF 15 for a trip and it takes about 15 minutes for the trip.

Today I was watching the program “Halla Bol” on Zee News and the topic was smoking in public places. Lots of people were caught live on camera smoking on public places and questioned.

Most of them were angry and questions to the anchor of the program to define public places and many were not aware of this. There were lots of police personals who need to protect the law were caught smoking. One boy told that he was caught in the morning and was asked to pay Rs 200 as fine, but he had only Rs 20. The police took Rs 20 and let him go. Some were of the opinion, that the Government should totally ban the sale of cigarettes, but the Indian cigarette industry is about 30 billion dollars and third in the world for usage.

Smoking in public places really is a concern for the people who do not smoke. This was implemented in different states like Kerala and Tamilnadu, but now its all over India. Ban on smoking in public places came into force yesterday 2nd October, following the government’s announcement in May this year of the new Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places Rule, 2008, which includes work places, hotels, restaurants, discos, bars and pubs. If you are caught smoking in a public place, you will have to pay a fine of Rs 200.

How far this restriction will stop people from smoking in public places? Will smokers stop smoking or will the Indian Tobacco Industry be effected by this new law?

Prannoy Roy is the founder and the President of NDTV, one of the top news networks in India. He was born on October 15th, 1949.

He is the recipient of the prestigious Leverhulme fellowship for his Doctorate and a scholarship to study at the Haileybury, a leading public school in England. Dr. Roy has a doctorate in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, bachelors in Economics from the Queen Mary College, London University and is a Qualified Chartered Accountant from London.
During 1985-1987, Dr. Roy was associated with the Ministry of Finance, Government of India as Economic Advisor. He has been involved with the television media since 1980 as a commentator on elections and from 1984 as one of the premier anchorpersons in India in terms of credibility, analytical depth and presentational quality. He has been adjudged the television personality of the millennium by the Indian Express poll and has contributed to various national and international publications.

He has been felicitated by many organizations. Some of the key awards received by him are:

Links You may be interested

• Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy make open offer for 20% stake in NDTV
• Interview with NDTV president Prannoy Roy
• Prannoy Roy on WikiPedia

Today Maldives celebrates its 43rd independence day. Maldives was also ruled by the Britisher’s and was granted independence on the 26th July 1965. You can find a detailed information about the Independence day here.

This year, Indians in Maldives will be celebrating its Independence day In Male on the August 15th. India Club is planning to organize some cultural programs on this occasion

Today there were a series of bomb blasts in Bangalore City. According to NDTV, the number of persons killed are two and a few injured. The bombs were not of very high intensity and were triggered using timer. Gelatin was used in the bombs. Police is on high alert. The first bomb was off at 01:15pm and all the explosions were over by then next 12 minutes.

DhiTV a private television channel was inaguated by the President of Maldives at function held at Dharubaaruge in Male’, the capital of Maldives. Champaa Mohamed Moosa is the founder of DhiTV.

Today evening, Maldives will be playing against India for the Final match in the SAAF Games. Here in Male’, the SAAF Final fever is on. We see almost every person moving around with the National Flag and they have high expectation. The match is played in Sri-Lanka and lots of Maldivians have traveled to see the match live. There were chartered flights for this Final. I appreciate the support that the Citizens have given to the team. Dhiraagu is the official sponsor for this event

Wishing all the best