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The emergence of hard-line Islam is a relatively new development for the Maldives. But it is stoking concern in neighboring India that it could be used as a potential base for Islamist militants. It also raises questions about the stability of a country which sits on strategically important sea lanes used to transport a large portion of the world's crude oil. And the rise of conservative Islam could have an impact on the country's tourism industry. Around 900,000 foreigners come to the country each year and the development of spas and bars to cater for them has angered some Islamist...

WASHINGTON — The United States said that a senior envoy would visit violence-hit Maldives on Saturday as it called for calm following the resignation of the elected president Mohamed Nasheed. Robert Blake, the assistant secretary of state for South Asia, will visit the Indian Ocean archipelago's capital Male on Saturday, adding the stop to a previously scheduled tour of South Asia, the State Department said. "We are urging the government and the political parties to work together to resolve this situation peacefully. And we're continuing to monitor the situation," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters. But Nuland -- who...

On the same day as the Maldives President resigned, after a coup by police, Islamic hardliners burst into the national museum and smashed Buddhist statues. Police spokesman Ahmed Shiyam told police that “A mob entered the museum yesterday (Tuesday). They smashed many statues. This included some statues of Buddha," reports Al Arabiya News. Former President, Mohamed Nasheed, blamed the attack on hardliner Muslims. There has been a debate for some weeks over statues in the Maldives. Several that had been gifted to the nation from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and other nations, were denounced by extremists as "idolatry," and as unacceptable...

The Maldives' first democratically-elected president resigned on Tuesday following a coup attempt by police officers and army troops to plunge the tropical island paradise into turmoil. President Mohamed Nasheed announced he was standing down in a televised press conference in the capital Male in which he said he was not willing to use force against protesters or call in a foreign power to prop up his government. He stood down after protesters were joined by police believed to be loyal to the country's autocratic former president Abdul Gayoom. The unrest appeared to be confined to Male and Britain's Foreign and...

At the Maldives' National Museum, smashed Buddhist statues are testament to the rise of Islamic extremism and Taliban-style intolerance in a country famous as a laid-back holiday destination. On Tuesday, as protesters backed by mutinous police toppled president Mohamed Nasheed, a handful of men stormed the Chinese-built museum and destroyed its display of priceless artefacts from the nation's pre-Islamic era. "They have effectively erased all evidence of our Buddhist past," a senior museum official told AFP at the now shuttered building in the capital Male, asking not to be named out of fear for his own safety. "We lost all...

(AFP) — At the Maldives’ National Museum, smashed Buddhist statues are testament to the rise of Islamic extremism and Taliban-style intolerance in a country famous as a laid-back holiday destination. On Tuesday, as protesters backed by mutinous police toppled president Mohamed Nasheed, a handful of men stormed the Chinese-built museum and destroyed its display of priceless artifacts from the nation’s pre-Islamic era. “They have effectively erased all evidence of our Buddhist past,” a senior museum official told AFP at the now shuttered building in the capital Male, asking not to be named out of fear for his own safety. “We...

The couple chose an idyllic resort in the Maldives as the perfect place to renew their marriage vows and pledge everlasting love. But their happiness has turned to humiliation after the wedding video was posted on YouTube and subtitles disclosed that their "Islamic blessing", which was conducted by a hotel employee in the native Dhivehi language, was in fact a stream of insults. "You are swine. The children that you bear from this marriage will all be bastard swine. Your marriage is not a valid one," he intoned as the couple held up their hands in prayer, blissfully unaware of...

(AP) COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Maldives has ordered hundreds of luxury resorts to close their spas after protesters demanded a halt to "anti-Islamic" activities. The Indian Ocean archipelago with 1,192 tiny coral islands is known for its exquisite resorts. A statement from the president's office said the government decided to close massage parlors and spas in the Maldives after an opposition-led religious protest last week called for their closure. Thousands at the protest called on the government to halt what they called "anti-Islamic" activities. Sunni Islam is the official religion in the Maldives and

You are my children of light , you are my children of light , you are my children of light , and in this season of lights , let MY Light shine through you , for MY SEASON NEVER ENDS ! Truly this is a season of lights , but we are to be lights for Christ Jesus in an open season and heaven for him ! Isaiah 60 The Gentiles Bless Zion 1 Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. 2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,...

Thousands Demonstrate in Maldives Over Islamic Law December 23, 2011 Thousands in the Maldives protested Friday, calling on the government to halt what they called "anti-Islamic" activities, including a plan to allow direct flights to Israel. More moderate supporters of the president rallied as well as debate swells over the future of the state's religion. The Indian Ocean archipelago of 300,000 Muslims prohibits practicing any other faith. The protesters want authorities to stop the sale of alcohol in the islands, shut down brothels operating in the guise of massage parlors and demolish monuments gifted by other countries marking a South...

Recent events in Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt spell a dangerous new trend in the region. There have been major developments in Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt, each of which is of tremendous importance. In Tunisia, a popular uprising fueled by unemployment, economic suffering and long-term discontent has overthrown the dictator, but not necessarily the dictatorship. In 55 years of independence, the country has been governed by two dictators, the current one being Zine al-Abedin Ben Ali, who has been president for 23 years and was a key power in the regime even before that. Is this going to spread? Does it...

The United States has signed a deal with Bhutan giving US citizens in the country immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the State Department said Tuesday. The deal with Bhutan brings to 34 the number of countries with which the United States has signed so-called "Article 98" agreements exempting US citizens from the court's jurisdiction, said Lynn Cassel, a department spokesman. Bhutan and Bosnia-Herzegovina both agreed to the pacts on May 16 but the deal with Thimphu was not announced until Tuesday. Washington refuses to support the ICC, arguing that it could become a forum for politically...

It’s all a grand charade — the matinee show put on by the Theater of Science was merely being used for the Grand Extravaganza called the Theater of Politics.Wikileaks, not surprisingly, turned up some not-so-diplomatic and not-so-scientific goings-on in the political race to steer power and dollars.From The Guardian The US diplomatic cables reveal how the US seeks dirt on nations opposed to its approach to tackling global warming; how financial and other aid is used by countries to gain political backing; how distrust, broken promises and creative accounting dog negotiations; and how the US mounted a secret global diplomatic...

Hello. It is all over the internet. I am sure you would have already seen the amateur video of the foul-mouthed wedding ceremony by now. The video shows celebrants of a muslim wedding ceremony reading some nasty stuff in local language in a prayer like fashion to the unsuspecting foreign couple in a tourist resort. Foreigners cannot get officially married in the Maldives, this was a celebration to renew vows. Nevertheless, it was a shameful and a derogatory act by the celebrants. It should not have happened. A lot have happened in the week following the release of the amateur...

"The Swiss couple who recently renewed their marriage vows in a Maldives beach ceremony can scarcely have expected the shaky handheld video of the ceremony to turn them into temporary celebrities, but thanks to YouTube, and the addition of subtitles, this is exactly what has happened.... Despite the grovelling apology issued by the Maldivian authorities, the victims in this story are not the Swiss couple but the "celebrants" who have now been arrested, and the thousands of other Maldivians who will doubtless be under harsher pressure to bite their tongues and keep smiling over the cocktails."

(Oct. 29) -- It should have been one of the happiest days of their lives. The European couple had decided to renew their wedding vows in the tropical Maldives islands in the Indian Ocean and paid $1,300 for the ceremony to be conducted in the exotic local Dhivehi language. *** The couple -- who are thought to be either Swiss or French -- hold their hands up in prayer, and glance happily at each other throughout the 15-minute ceremony, blissfully unaware of the words' true meaning. "You fornicate and make a lot of children," the celebrant continued. "You drink and...

A COUPLE who spent a fortune getting married in the Maldives were called 'swines' and 'infidels' by the staff member conducting their wedding ceremony. "You are a swine" and "the children that you bear from this marriage will all be bastard swines" are just some of the comments made during the 'traditional' Maldivian ceremony. Conducted at the Vilu Reef Beach and Spa Resort, the wedding ceremony - carried out in Arabic - leaves the western couple clueless while the 'celebrant' leading their vows announces: "Your marriage is not a valid one. You are not the kind of people who can...

A luxury resort in the Maldives has sparked outrage after a video appeared on You Tube showing members of staff abusing and mocking their guests using a language they were unable to understand. Employees at the Vilu Reef Beach and Spa resort can be seen calling an English-speaking couple ‘infidel’ and ‘swine’ and calling their guests' marriage illegal in their native Dhivehi tongue throughout the 15-minute wedding ceremony. According to the Maldives news service Minivan News, the video which was uploaded to You Tube ‘as a joke’, shows an employee named Hussein Didi conducting a service as a 'celebrant' -...

Photo 1: Snapped while orbiting over the North Pacific Ocean (latitude 1.5, longitude -114.6) on January 3, 2010 at 12:28:57 GMT. Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20061021.htm (medium, large, huge) Photo 2: Male' and the Male' International Airport, Republic of Maldives on January 12, 2010 at 08:38:57 GMT. The length of the runway is 10,499 feet (3,200 meters). Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20060917.htm (medium, large, huge)

NEW DELHI — Indian airports were on high alert Friday after intelligence services received information that Al Qaeda-linked militants were plotting to hijack a plane. Such an attack would be the first major terror strike against India since 10 militants rampaged through the city of Mumbai for three days in November 2008, killing 166 people. Aviation spokeswoman Moushumi Chakravarty said that the airports were placed on alert Thursday after the government received warnings from the intelligence agencies.(continued)

Ibrahim Didi, right, the minister of fisheries and agriculture in the Maldives, signs a document calling on all countries to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions ahead of a major climate change conference in December. (Mohammed Seeneen/Associated Press) Cabinet ministers in the Maldives held an underwater meeting Saturday to draw attention to the threat global warming poses to the lowest-lying nation on earth. President Mohammed Nasheed and members of his cabinet wore scuba gear as they arrived for the meeting in a lagoon off the island of Girifushi. They sat at a table anchored to the sand on the floor of...

Maldives Cabinet Meets Below Waves to Highlight Climate Change Threat By Steve Herman New Delhi 17 October 2009 In an effort to highlight climate change, the Cabinet of the government of the Maldives, an Indian island nation, has held a meeting under water. Meetings of government ministers can sometimes be a dry affair. That certainly was not the case during the latest gathering of the Cabinet of the Maldives. President Mohamed Nasheed and 11 of his government ministers, plus the vice president and Cabinet secretary, donned scuba gear and plunged six meters below the shimmering turquoise surface of an Indian...

Navy eyes Maldives - Counter to China’s ‘string of pearls’ plan SUJAN DUTTA New Delhi, Aug. 19: A tiny pearl of an island with a former World War II airbase in the Maldives is now the Indian Navy’s strategic object of desire. Defence minister A.K. Antony’s visit to the Maldives with a high-level team for three days starting tomorrow will not name Gan, or Addu Atoll, where the coral island is located, just south of the equator. But the navy wants a permanent presence in Gan for its surveillance aircraft, along with a presence of its ships and other aircraft...

It may be known as a tropical paradise, an archipelago of 1,200 coral islands in the Indian Ocean. But the traditional image of the Maldives hides a dirty secret: the world's biggest rubbish island. snip . . . Meanwhile, tourism has made the Maldives the richest country in South Asia in terms of GDP a head - which is around $4,500 (£3,100) - though that wealth is thinly spread. snip . . . Environment issues are a major political issue in the Maldives, not least because its 300,000 people face being the first to be submerged under rising sea levels...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2008/s08120046.htm Monday, December 8, 2008 Maldives: reform in politics but not in religious liberty By Elizabeth Kendal World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC) Special to ASSIST News Service AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- On Saturday 29 November, Maldives' Ministry of Islamic Affairs announced that it would block a Dhivehi and English language website which it claimed was promoting Christianity amongst Maldivians. When Minivan News, an independent news source in Maldives, sought to question Islamic Affairs Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari over the censorship and the contents of the website, he refused to...

The MSN has not been reporting this, however many already know about the challenge in federal court to Obama's "natural born" citizenship status. It was filed in Pennsylvania Eastern District Court on August 21, 2008. Case Number 2:2008cv04083 BERG v. OBAMA et al The information on this case can be found on justia.com, specifically: http://news.justia.com/cases/featured/pennsylvania/paedce/2:2008cv04083/281573/ Open each link from that page to download or view each pdf file. There is a youtube video out where Mr. Berg is talking about important issues in this case. His part of the segment begins after about 1:20 minutes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA6_k3NtXZs

Boy scout saves leader of the Maldives By KRISHAN FRANCIS, Associated Press Writer The president of the Maldives was saved from assassination Tuesday when a boy scout grabbed the knife of an attacker who had jumped out of a crowd greeting the leader, an official said. President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was not hurt, but his shirt was ripped when the attacker tried to stab him before the boy and security guards intervened during the event on the small island of Horafushi, said government spokesman Mohammad Shareef. "This fellow in the crowd with a knife in his hand attempted to stab...

A QUICK-thinking boy scout has thwarted an assassination bid against the president of the Maldives. Officials said Mohamed Murshid, 20, tried to plunge a knife into President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's stomach, but Asia's longest serving president was unhurt thanks to Mahamed Jaisham, 15, who wrestled with the attacker before he was detained.

U.S. to Offer Turkey Help on PKK The U.S. is to offer Turkey a package of measures to dissuade Ankara from mounting a large-scale military incursion into Iraq to attack PKK Kurdish guerrillas, who have killed scores of Turkish soldiers in recent weeks. Ahead of a meeting in Washington on Monday between President George W. Bush and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, U.S. officials said Ankara would have to get concrete American help to combat the PKK, which has bases in northern Iraq from where it frequently launches attacks into Turkey. “Erdogan has to go back with the...

While vacationing tycoons and bikini-clad Hollywood superstars blissfully sipped drinks on the Maldives' secluded white beaches, an Islamic revolution fueled by preachers trained in Pakistan and the Middle East was brewing. On Sept. 29, the two faces of the Maldives collided when a homemade bomb exploded in a park in the capital, Male, wounding 12 tourists, threatening the critical resort industry and sending the clear message that even this remote corner of paradise is not immune to terrorism. The attack, and a bloody confrontation days later between police and masked Islamic extremists armed with harpoons, stunned this Indian Ocean nation...

State-run television in the Maldives has been ordered not to employ women who cover their heads and to stop praising Palestinian suicide bombers, a government minister told AFP. The measures are part of a package of restrictions designed to stem a feared spread of militant Islam that could damage the Indian Ocean archipelago's status as a top destination for rich tourists. "We have instructed Television Maldives to stop hiring female anchors who wear headscarves and not show fully veiled women, even in news reports," Information Minister Mohamed Nasheed said in an interview late Tuesday. He said state-run television had also...

Al Qaeda 'Re-Emerging' in Pakistan Sanctuaries The U.S. military said Tuesday it expected Al Qaeda to continue its "re-emergence" in sanctuaries in Pakistan's tribal areas from where it supported attacks in Afghanistan. Sanctuary was provided to Al Qaeda and Taliban rebels after Islamabad signed a peace deal with militants in a desperate attempt to quell the unrest in its federally administered areas in September 2006, a U.S. military official said. The militants called off the deal in July this year after Pakistani security forces raided a radical mosque in Islamabad where rebels had massed. Dozens were killed in those...

Maldives clears out 'extremist' mosque By Ajay Makan in Male and Peter Foster, South Asia Correspondent Last Updated: 2:30am BST 09/10/2007 The Maldives government has moved to tackle the rising threat of Islamist radicalism as 300 troops surrounded and then cleared an illegal mosque that had been accused of fomenting extremism on the paradise islands. The move came a week after a British honeymoon couple were badly burned in the Maldives's first ever terrorist bomb attack which has threatened to damage the international tourist industry on which the islands' economy depends. A soldier was taken seriously wounded and a policeman...

“Gang Rapists” Given Eight Months Exile By Paul Roberts in London July 19, 2007 Four men who had sex with a twelve year old girl after breaking into her home in January have been cleared of rape. A judge found the girl from Kurendhoo, Lhaviyani atoll, had consented to have sex with the men after they smashed her bedroom window with an axe. The judge sentenced the four men to eight months exile from Kurendhoo for sex outside marriage. The sentence apparently contradicts a government commitment in May that child sex offenders would be imprisoned rather than banished. On January...

Aniya Arrested Over Article “Against Islam” By Will Jordan in Male' May 3, 2007 Aishath Aniya was arrested on Thursday morning in connection with an article she wrote criticising the wearing of the veil. She was apprehended by police at around 9:40am outside the offices of Minivan Daily newspaper as she parked her motorcycle. Aniya was lifted into the back of a police van and taken to Police Headquarters, before being transferred to the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs for questioning. She refused to answer questions without a lawyer present and arranged to return to the Supreme Council on Sunday...

The rally is intended to unify the region (Picture by Focusbangla) One of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's dreams came true when a South Asian car rally flagged off on Thursday from the south-east of Bangladesh.The rally - which organisers say is the first of its kind in the region - began from the resort town of Cox's Bazar. About 100 participants, including celebrities, sportsmen, government officials and journalists, packed 26 jeeps for the nearly 8,000km rally. They will travel through Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. 'Expand goodwill' The rally, which finishes in April, will take drivers...

Asia Rising Donald Rumsfeld infamously made a distinction between Old Europe and New Europe. He has been scored ever since for his sweeping and impolitic language, but he wasn't sweeping enough: In geopolitical terms, all of Europe is old, the world's most tourist-friendly museum piece. For the future of high-stakes U.S. diplomacy and of great-power politics, look no further than Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the U.S. It is Asia that should occupy an outsized place in our strategic thinking, and it is Europe that should be the relative afterthought, not the other way around. The media and foreign-policy...

MALE, Maldives (AP) - Former President Clinton has canceled his trip to tsunami-hit areas of Maldives because of exhaustion, a U.N. official said Saturday. Cherie Hart, spokesman for the U.N. Development Program and coordinator of Clinton's visit, said the former president, who underwent a heart bypass operation in September, was not sick. "He's plain pooped and he wants to slow the schedule down," Hart said. Clinton, who recently was appointed U.N. special envoy for tsunami recovery, will keep his scheduled appointments in the Maldives, but will not tour areas devastated by December's giant wave.

Kenyan newspaper lauds Pope for opposing British 'invasion' of Maldives NAIROBI, April 4 (AFP) - A leading Kenyan daily on Monday eulogized the late Pope John Paul II as a fierce foe of armed conflict, especially the war in Iraq, but raised eyebrows by rewriting history to laud his opposition to Britain's "invasion" of the Maldives islands. In an apparent computer-generated spelling error, the Standard newspaper mistakenly praised the pontiff for opposing a non-existent British war with the Maldives instead of his criticism of Britain's 1982 conflict with Argentina over the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. "He may have...

Inside a comic-book coup Why the Maldivian president needs to be eternally grateful to an unsung Indian frigate captain SHEKHAR GUPTA Posted online: Saturday, March 19, 2005 at 0213 hours IST Earlier this week some newspapers carried a small obituary notice, announcing the demise of Vice-Admiral Srinivasa Varadachari V. Gopalachari of the Indian Navy. The name, the face under the naval hat, figured in my memory somewhere and, sure enough, a little checking confirmed that he was the master of frigate INS Godavari when it went chasing the Maldives coup leaders in the Indian Ocean in 1988. He died last...

Tourists run for their lives as the first of six tsunamis starts to roll towards Hat Rai Lay Beach, near Krabi in southern Thailand. One woman runs towards the waves. Photo: AFP The woman continues to run as the wave advances.Photo: AFP With the waves engulfing boats, the woman makes contact with her group. It is not known if they survived.Photo: AFP

...Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has spent much of his 26 years in power warning of the dangers that global warming, erosion and shifting weather patterns pose to low-lying island nations like his own. ...Gayoom has appealed for international assistance. "We still face the threat of sea level rise," he told Reuters in a recent interview. "There is encroachment of the sea on many islands, there is erosion of our beaches."

We are suffering. We have many friends among the dead and missing. Pray for the dead, the dying, and the living.

MALE (AFP) - At least 42 islands in the tourist paradise of the Maldives were flattened with 117 people killed and missing after tsunamis raved the low-lying atoll nation, the president said. President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom said 75 people were killed while another 42 were confirmed missing in Sunday's devastating tidal waves that caused havoc in his nation of 1,192 coral islands. "We were not in any way prepared to deal with this disaster," Gayoom told a special session of the national parliament. The toll could be higher as the authorities re-establish contact with far flung islands, he said on...

BBC Online: Last Updated: Wednesday, 29 December, 2004, 09:25 GMT Asia quake: Trace the missing Thousands of people are still missing and millions are homeless following the Asia earthquake that has seen the death toll reach tens of thousands. Huge waves triggered by the worst earthquake in 40 years have devastated large parts of South and South East Asia. The BBC News website has received many messages from people eager to find out about the whereabouts of families and friends who live in or are visiting the region. Can you help? Or, have you lost contact with someone in the...

At a makeshift refuge camp in the capital Male, a teenager vows never to go back to his tiny coral island after Sunday's deadly tsunami lashed the equatorial nation, killing at least 55 people. Before the disaster struck, the Maldives were the picture-postcard tropical paradise many well-heeled people dreamed about, with coconut palms leaning over crystal-clear lagoons and coral reefs promising great snorkelling and diving. Now a state of emergency has been declared, throwing the classic desert islands into crisis after they were deluged by the freak waves that crippled large swathes of Asia. While the tourist industry has been...

As sad as it is, the SE Asia earthquake is not the worst natural disaster ever. In 1991, Bangladesh suffered from Typhoon that killed about 140,000 people. Before that, in 1970, the country also lost 300,000 people from natural disaster. The SE Asia disaster, however, seems to be a significant one because there are many Westerners, including 'celebrities', died in this unfortunate event. Please look at the website that list of the worst 100 natural disaster in the 20th century. They also include famine and epidemic, though.

HONG KONG - Action star Jet Li injured his foot as he protected his daughter from tsunami waves that flooded his hotel in the Maldives, Hong Kong newspapers reported Tuesday. AP Photo   Li, who played the villain in 1998's "Lethal Weapon 4," was with his daughter in the hotel's lobby Sunday when huge waves gushed into the hotel, the Apple Daily newspaper reported, quoting a friend vacationing with Li. He slightly injured his foot while picking up his daughter, the report said. Ming Pao Daily News reported Li struck his foot against a floating piece of furniture. The...

However, the government said two thirds of the capital was under about four feet (1.2 meters) of water in some areas. About a third of the country’s 330,000 population live in the highly congested capital island. Maldives is a cluster of 1,192 tiny coral islands scattered some 800 kilometres (500 miles) across the equator and is vulnerable to any rise in sea levels. The fate of tens of thousands of tourists in the Maldives was not immediately known.

HULHUMALE, Maldives (Reuters) - Life can be cramped when you live on a remote cluster of tiny coral islands in the Indian Ocean, so the Maldives has plumped for a novel if seemingly extreme solution -- build a new island from scratch. Emerging from the sea where a turquoise lagoon used to sit, man-made Hulhumale is springing to life as an overflow to the congested capital, Male, a short boat ride away. Around 1,500 people now live in a first cluster of housing erected on the 465-acre island, a giant building site to which the government hopes around 15 percent...