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News Archive February 2003 - April 2003 Links Yemen rediscovers Maldives Migrating Worlds 'He once a great soldier himself he owned even a camel and a gun. It was he who would tell me again about Maldive islands. About Arab islands out there in the Indian Ocean, beyond the Arab Sea named Dhibat AlMahal, as the Arabs used to call Maldives'...[more] and Yemeni photos Maldives travel information Special SARS reports from Haveeru news 'People are being more apprehensive than the real threat'...[more] ABC Australia - Health homepage The Facts about SARS 'About SARS.. The Bug.. The Outbreak.. The Panic.. Symptoms & Treatment.. News & Links'...[more] New research from UK Royal Society Fish feel pain 'This is the first conclusive evidence indicating pain perception in fish. It has previously been established that birds and mammals are capable of experiencing pain'...[more] Poem While the Eagle Waits 'The new world gave water and game For the creation of a mighty Eagle'...[more] Email Maldives Chief Justice defended 'the High Court of the Maldives is the highest court of the country, but decisions of the High Court can be petitioned to a committee which sits in the Office of the President'...[more] ABC Australia report on coral sex research Hard Core Spawn 'All of a sudden, millions of tiny cells began spewing out of the living corals. They poured into the water column like champagne bubbles, floating to the surface and forming a thick, pink 'slick'. The researchers had witnessed coral spawning, an annual event, which occurs in all coral reefs around the world'...[more] From the MaldivesCulture news archive Polluted seas around Ari atoll resorts? Luthfee's letter to the justice minister Islamic trial or Hindi raga? 'trial judge Abdullah Areef is under someone's control... facing pressure from a person with power and influence'...[more] Links Reporters Without Borders French site – available in French, English and Spanish versions: Editors of an electronic newsletter sentenced to life in prison in Maldives The Island Sri Lanka daily Response from the High Commission of the Maldives in Colombo: 'The article published in The Island newspaper on 18 February 2003, under the heading "Editors sentenced to life in Maldivian prison" is factually wrong, misleading and defamatory to our nation'...[more] Union Territory Of Lakshadweep National Information Centre Majid's Maldives Royal Family Minicoy Poetry (in Dhivehi and English) Communal organisation on Minicoy Bad service in Maldives? Blame the foreigners! A word for travellers to Maldives 'If a powerful Maldivian is found to be wearing a pair of stolen shoes, consider it an honest mistake'...[more] Luthfee's letter to the attorney-general No Legal Weight 'Police brutality is not new to you sir. I remember very well what you said to me, in reference to police brutality, during the few meetings we had. In this situation, I am surprised and stunned by the fact that you prosecute me based on reports from investigations of this type'...[more] Latest from Majid The BaAlawi of Hadramaut: Statesman, scholars and traders of the Indian Ocean 'The BaAlawi diaspora took the clan far and wide in the Indian ocean periphery and beyond. Today long-established BaAlawis can be traced in India, Burma, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philipines East Africa and the Maldives'...[more] Sri Lankans protest false charges and torture in UN funded Maldive jail 'On separate occasions, the Maldive police and immigration authorities laid a trap for Australian and Russian expatriates. The Australian High Commissioner in Colombo intervened and saved the expatriates, and the Maldive government received a serious warning. The Russian authorities arrived in a warship and anchored on the high seas and asked for their people. The Maldive police were frightened, and immediately handed over the Russian prisoners'...[more] Maldive high officials and Majlis members told of prison and police abuses three years ago Ibrahim Luthfee's 1999 letter to President Maumoon Gayyoom 'What lays in front me is fear and menace, pain and suffering. I am in constant fear of being arrested at any moment and put in a prison that is full of abusive practices. I raise my voice in calling to the whole country for a law that would save me from this horror. If such a procedure or law cannot not be found, then I leave it with the Lord of the universe'...[more] Chief Justice anticipates the Day of Judgment The seven loved by Allah 5. A man who says, 'I fear Allah', and distances himself, when his heart is overwhelmed by a beautiful woman who asks for an act not permitted by Allah...[more] New ideas, new leadership for Maldives 2003 'When we buy something, don't we check how much it is, and whether it is worth the money we are paying, or if it is over-priced? The Maldives national budget is a collective version of that. Its earnings (income) and its spendings (expenditures) have to be made known to public and understood thoroughly by all Maldivians'...[more] NSS police beat 19 year old Malé man to death 'President Gayyoom visited the house of the dead boy where he was ordered to leave by the women of the family who accused him of being personally responsible for Ali Shaahir's death because he was in charge of the police'...[more] Translation from the famous Maldive history compilation - Dhivehi Tarikh The reign of Mohamed, the son of Haaji Ali Thukkalaa 1692-1701 'Then Hassan Thaajuddheen prohibited the employment without pay of free women as if they were slaves. Before this, the aristocracy made people work without payment, and sold them just like slaves'...[more] 'Without You' soundtrack and documentary preview released in Malé ''We are advertising the film,' says director Nahula. 'and using a cd because any scene in which Niuma appears, cannot be shown on Maldive television'...[more] From purdah to permit in 1959 A group of Maldive women go shopping in the bazaar 'It is not right to follow people and stare at them with a shocked expression, regardless of whether the people are Maldivians or foreigners one has never seen before'...[more] Majid names names Sri Lankan naming conventions and links to Maldive customs 'This naming format is remarkably similar to the traditional Maldive format in which there was an actual person called Kaasilabbage Kaluhuttu. The seemingly indispensable house names (usually ending with -ge) as part of a person's identity in the Maldives of today may be related to this naming heritage'...[more] Fanditha spell to Dhaalum 'Dhaalum may refer to the jinn known as Dalhan, a colourful spirit believed by some to inhabit islands in the Indian Ocean'...[more] New links from Majid's maldivesroyalfamily.com Maldive Refugees in the UK 'The Maldivian asylum applicants will have to show that they meet the criteria laid down in the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees'...[more] Anti-Semitism and Europhobia 'One of the most ridiculous "reforms" was to change the academic weekend from Friday and Saturday to Thursday and Friday because Friday and Saturday was the Israeli weekend'...[more] Maldives and the British Commonwealth of Nations 'Her Majesty Elizabeth II by the Grace of God of New Zealand and of Her Realms and Territories beyond the Seas, Queen, Defender of the Faith, Head of the Commonwealth is, in a manner of speaking, nominally (for want of a better term) "suzerain" over the Maldives'...[more] Maldive Ingratitude to a Hero 'Ibrahim Nasir Rannabandeyri Kilegefan is a living Maldive treasure - the only Maldivian of that calibre now alive. Without a doubt, he was the mega Maldive personality of the 20th Century and the only one of his kind since the 18th Century. Arguably he was the personality of the last millennium'...[more] Teaching to Cheat 'Often jealous parents lay in wait near schools for a talented student in their child's class to come out. When she or he does, the parent and their adult friends will verbally abuse and bully the poor child in front of jeering parents and children'...[more] Poem After the Rain 'Sleep refuses to stay; the roof choir just drifted away'...[more] Keyothi makes his millions Fanditha Inc. a meeting with the Blood bodun 'You'll see the happiness and fruitful development of your beloved country, and experience the love and affection of the heroic Keyothi. What more do you want?' I ask. 'Fat Swiss bank accounts and retirement houses for our wives in London and Singapore,' they sing together in perfect harmony.'...[more] about maldivesculture.com 'It began about three years ago, providing information on Maldives to people via the Internet, and in the hope of attracting communication from people around the world who were interested specifically in Maldivian history and culture'...[more] No future in the desert Sharia law in the modern world 'in Maldives, we seem to have focused on using physical space to strengthen government power and influence. The absence of land ownership laws, labour laws, a people's constitution, and modern financial systems are all barriers to development of the country'...[more] Maldives Presidential election — democracy or farce? 'It was said by the people closest to President Gayyoom, that he would transform the Majlis into a democratic parliament. But we see him controlling the country as his own invented 'unique democracy' which has one party ruling, and the Majlis remains a timid advisory committee and obedient rubber stamp for his regime'...[more] Monday Times banned and editor charged 'Monday Times has been a lively publication which serves 'short eats' of Maldivian life for English readers. It has functioned under one of the world's most arbitrary and fickle censorship systems'...[more] Poem Welcome 'Reality takes to the water Where truth lies, warm and tender' ...[more] Maldivian Women fashion changes in time Photos by Moosa Ismail and others, from a 1997 Maldives calendar published by Cyprea Print [photos] News Archive November 2002 - January 2003 top

Maldives Culture is an independent internet magazine of Maldivian cultural issues.
Editors and translators: Michael O'Shea and Fareesha Abdulla, Australia
We invite contributions from Maldivians and others interested in Maldives.
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