India has embarked on a ‘massive’ operation calling up passenger jets and naval ships to bring back some of the hundreds of thousands of nationals stuck abroad due to coronavirus restrictions, the government said.

The number of people infected with the coronavirus crossed 22,000 in densely populated South Asia on Friday driven by a rise in cases in India as the tiny Indian Ocean island nation of Maldives locked down its capital.

Commonwealth nations on Saturday welcomed back the Maldives 40 months after it angrily quit the organisation over criticism of its human rights record under strongman president Abdulla Yameen.

An abducted Maldivian journalist was murdered by militants, a panel investigating deaths and disappearances under the previous government said

India on Saturday deported former Maldives vice president Ahmed Adeeb, who faces attempted murder and corruption charges at home

The Maldives on Saturday held its first parliamentary election since former strongman leader Abdulla Yameen was forced to stand down, with his arch-rival expected to make a big comeback in the vote.

Maldives authorities on Monday detained former strongman president Abdulla Yameen after he was accused of trying to bribe witnesses in his money laundering trial, officials said.

Prosectors in the Maldives on Sunday charged a top aide of former strongman leader Abdulla Yameen with embezzling millions of dollars from the tropical tourist paradise.

Former Maldives president Abdulla Yameen is under investigation for corruption, police said Sunday, after a court ordered accounts holding $6.5 million to be frozen.

Maldives strongman President Abdulla Yameen's party Wednesday filed a legal petition challenging his landslide election defeat last month despite major international pressure for him to step down.

The outgoing strongman president of the Maldives, Abdulla Yameen, faced allegations Tuesday that he received nearly $1.5 million in illicit payments just before his surprise election defeat last month.

The jailed former Maldives president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was released on bail Sunday, a week after the country's longest serving leader's estranged half-brother was trounced at a presidential election.