Noor in venture to open Islamic bank in Maldives

	Noor Islamic Bank

Noor Islamic Bank on Tuesday said it had entered into a joint venture to establish the first Islamic bank in Maldives.

The new entity, to be named Noor Maldives Islamic Bank, will be a joint venture between Noor Islamic, the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of Maldives and the Investment Corporation for Development of the Private Sector, an affiliate of Islamic Development Bank.

The agreement was signed in Maldives by Dr Ahmad Al Janahi, deputy group CEO of Noor Islamic, Wasim Ebrahim, Maldives' Minister of Finance and Treasure and Basel Haj-Issa, director of Unit Investment Fund, Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector.

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A new shop which specializes in selling Puma brand of sportswear and equipments has opened in Male’.

Seven Continents Pvt. Ltd, the authorized distributors of the Puma goods in Maldives, informed that Puma items will be sold at affordable prices and that the objective of shop is to facilitate Puma goods at affordable prices to the people. MD of Seven Continents, Ahmed Azeez Haleem said that the newly opened shop will have a large stock of Puma items and that the national soccer team goal keeper Imran Mohamed is the Ambassador of the company in Maldives.

The company Puma was formed in 1924 in Germany and produces Puma goods in 40 factories world wide. More than 80 countries have special shops established to sell Puma goods. The opening ceremony of the new shop was participated by key foot ball personalities.

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Dhiraagu, the national telecom service provider, in collaboration with Bank of Maldives, has introduced ATM pre paid recharge service.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of the service, Dhiraagu’s Chief Executive Officer Ismail Rasheed said that the service is a 24 hours service and will prove extremely useful to customers as they can easily get their mobiles recharged via ATMs even when all the shops close. CEO Rasheed revealed that that service was user friendly and can be easily obtained in any part of the Maldives using special debit cards provided by the bank.

Speaking after the launch of the service Dhiraagu’s Manager Marketing and Communications Manager Mohamed Mirushan said the service can obtained from any ATM in the country and that neither the bank nor Dhiraagu would charge any extra fee for the service.

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Cinnamon Island Alidhoo, Maldives has been named the Grand Award winner in the ‘Education and Training’ category of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) 2008 PATA Gold Awards programme. Epitomizing the theme, ‘We shared and we cared’, the Cinnamon Island Alidhoo award-winning project is a new School of Hospitality at its premises.

The initiative began as an energetic local recruitment drive and gradually snowballed into an unprecedented opportunity for the women and young people of Barah and Utheem islands in the Maldives to transform themselves into well-trained hoteliers. Starting this year, the resort’s parent company, Keells Hotel Management Services Limited, invested to operate a hotel school in which the curriculum is focused on providing the youth of the islands neighbouring Cinnamon Island Alidhoo with skills that would equip them to enter the industry.

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Iru Fushi Beach & Spa Resort, which opens late summer 2008, recognizes how important sleep is to its guests and is to launch the first Sleep Spa concept in the Maldives. In collaboration with Sun Spa, the programme, entitled Sweet Dreams, has one main goal - to help adults and children relax and to catch up on that much needed sleep that many of them can only dream of doing whilst on holiday.

A holiday is something to look forward to, however, the stresses of modern day life can often take their toll and the sheer effort of getting away from work, let alone packing a suitcase and coping with any airport dilemmas, can often be quite traumatic. So much so, that even whilst away in the most tranquil of surroundings, it can take some the entire holiday to begin to relax and catch up on their sleep.

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From 1 August, the luxurious Over-Water Spa at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island will introduce a new menu of colour therapy and holistic rituals using exclusive Dorissima products. With a philosophy based on the body’s seven Chakras or energy centres, the Dorissima range will offer guests a choice of seven unique rituals (one for each Chakra). Each of these is associated with a different colour, crystal, essential oil, massage and tea.

Beginning with a foot cleansing ritual, a face care experience and a specially blended herbal tea, the experience continues with a series of massage, exfoliation and body wrap therapies, enhanced by the use of coloured lighting and aromas in the treatment suite. To enhance the meditative qualities of the ritual, guests repeat a positive affirmation throughout the treatment, whilst the use of crystals helps to absorb and emit energy and bring about balance.

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Ingredients
- 1 tsp poppy seeds
- Zest and juice of 2 limes
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 small fresh coconut
- 200g top quality yellow fin tuna in brine, drained
- 2 large carrots, peeled
- 1 yellow pepper, deseeded
- 200g pink radishes, trimmed
- 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
- 1 green chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
- Wholemeal chapatis or pitta breads, to serve


Directions
1- Pour the groundnut oil into a small saucepan and sprinkle over the black mustard and poppy seeds. Heat the oil until the seeds start to pop, then pour into a heatproof bowl and cool slightly. Whisk in the lime zest and juice with seasoning to taste and leave to cool completely.

2- Meanwhile, prepare the salad ingredients. Pull away any long hairy bits from the coconut shell. To crack the shell open, pierce the eyes at one end by tapping the pointy end of a skewer through with a cleaver or hammer. Drain off the watery juices from inside the shell. Next, place the coconut on a solid board and tap the coconut with the cleaver or hammer around its middle, turning it as you tap, until it breaks in two.

3- To extract the flesh, insert the blade of a small knife between the flesh and shell. Move it about to loosen and remove chunks of the fruit. Taste a piece of the coconut to check that it is fresh. If it tastes good, continue to extract the coconut, then peel away the dark skin with a knife or vegetable peeler. Grate half of the coconut coarsely using a hand-held grater or food processor.

4- Put the tuna in a mixing bowl and flake finely with a fork. Toss through a third of the dressing and check for seasoning. Shred the carrots and pepper into fine matchsticks and slice the radishes thinly with a knife or mandolin. Put the coconut, carrot, pepper, radish and chillies in a bowl and toss through the remaining dressing with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the salad to a bowl, then scatter the tuna over. Serve with chapatis or pitta bread.

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July 31st – August 14th

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