Maldives

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Tuesday with Moosa Zameer, the foreign minister of the Maldives, despite the fact that the Indian Ocean nation has banned Israelis from entering, in a move intended to exclude Israeli Jews.

The South Asian island state of the Maldives announced Sunday it would ban individuals with Israeli passports from entering the country as a form of protest against Israel’s ongoing self-defense operations against the jihadist terror group Hamas in Gaza.

The government of the Maldives on Sunday set a deadline of March 15 for India to remove all of its troops from the island nation.

The government of the Maldives on Sunday suspended three deputy ministers for making disparaging remarks about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih revealed on Monday that the island nation could not get out of its financial agreements with China despite Bejing building infrastructure projects inside the island nation at higher prices than initially quoted.

Contents: Maldives can’t determine how much money it owes to China; Constitutional crisis continues in Sri Lanka over China-India competition

The new president of the Maldives, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, campaigned on criticism of his predecessor’s appetite for Chinese loans and investment. Solih signaled a strong desire to realign his country toward India and seek help from the India-U.S. alliance to relieve the burden of Chinese debt.

Contents: Maldives in crisis as China-backed incumbent president Yameen loses election; Yameen’s defeat is also a defeat for China’s ‘debt trap diplomacy’

The Maldives – that Indian Ocean island group allegedly most threatened by global warming –  is building a new runway at its international airport.

Contents: General warns of US security danger if China acquires Djibouti seaport; China continues influence through ‘debt trap’ policies

Contents: Maldives president arrests Supreme Court justices to get favorable court ruling; Maldives crisis pits India vs China in the Indian Ocean

After the disappearance of one journalist and the murder of a second, government officials of the once moderate Islamic Maldives island chain are worried that radical Islam is growing in strength, putting at risk the lives of millions of western tourists who go there to soak up the tropical paradise.

Contents: Qatar-Arab crisis is unlikely to be resolved soon; Differences between Qatar and Saudi Arabia run deep and will worsen

Muslim extremists murdered a Vogue cover model in Bangladesh for not wearing Islamic clothing, alleged the victim’s family after the authorities ruled the late 21-year-old’s death a suicide.

Contents: Relations between India and Pakistan continue to deteriorate; India boycotts regional SAARC meeting in order to isolate Pakistan; Terrorists attack another Indian army base in Kashmir; India and Pakistan threaten war over Indus River water rights

AFP – Mohamed Nasheed, the former president of the Maldives, has been granted refugee status in Britain, his office said Monday. The 49-year-old was jailed in the Maldives last year on controversial terrorism charges, but was allowed to travel to

The Zika virus outbreak in Latin America has governments on the other half of the globe panicking. From Singapore to Taiwan to Russia, governments are taking precautionary measures to stop the virus, which experts have linked to significant neurological defects in infants, from spreading out of tropical regions across the continent.

Jailed former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed has refused an opportunity to travel to the United Kingdom for back surgery after the government insisted on taking one of his relatives as a “hostage” to make sure he returned.

Great news from the scuba-diving tropical paradise Maldives. They’ve just opened another airport. This means that the Indian Ocean island nation now has four international airports and seven domestic ones. Quite a lot for a country with a population of

India and China battle for strategic influence in the Indian Ocean; Questions continue to swirl in Russia over assassination of Putin’s opponent