Male is the capital and most populous city in the Republic of Maldives. The city is geographically located at the southern edge of North Malé Atoll (Kaafu Atoll). Administratively, it is a city-class constituency and is governed by the Malé City Council. Traditionally it was the King's Island, from where the ancient Maldive Royal dynasties ruled and where the palace was located. The city was then called “Mahal”. Formerly it was a walled city surrounded by fortifications and gates (doroshi).

Gorgeous galaxies and stunning stars make up this selection of pictures from the shortlisted entries for this year’s Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year award. The winners will be announced on 15 September, and an exhibition of the winning images will be will be displayed in a free exhibition at the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Centre from 17 September. Here: “Seven Magic Points”. The rusty red swirls of the circular, iron sculpture Seven Magic Points in Brattebergan, Norway mirror the rippling aurora above. (Photo by Rune Engebø/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

The Pied Piper of Hamelin, actually city tourism employee Michael Boyer, leads local children dressed as rats through a quiet street on November 19, 2012 in Hameln, Germany. The Pied Piper (in German: Der Rattenfaenger), is one of the many stories featured in the collection of fairy tales collected by the Grimm brothers, and the 200th anniversary of the first publication of the stories will take place this coming December 20th. Boyer, a U.S. citizen who has lived in Hameln for 15 years, and city children regularly perform a reenactment of the Pied Piper tale throughout the summer months. The Grimm brothers collected their stories from oral traditions in the region between Frankfurt and Bremen in the early 19th century, and the works include such global classics as Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel. (Photo by Sean Gallup)

Groom Praem Pam Srichamnan and his bride Suriya Utai jump into a pond during a wedding ceremony ahead of Valentine's Day in Prachin Buri province, east of Bangkok February 13, 2014. Three Thai couples took part in the wedding ceremony arranged by a resort aimed to strengthen the relationships of the couples by doing fun activities. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

A mother raise her glass filled with 2017 Beaujolais Nouveau wine as she holds her child in a colored hot water “wine bath” at Hakone Kowakien Yunessun hot spring resort in Hakone, west of Tokyo, Japan, 16 November 2017, on the day of the Beaujolais Nouveau official release. With Germany and the United States, Japan is a major market for the Beaujolais Nouveau. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA/EFE)

Tourists gather to watch Mount Agung at Amed beach in Karangasem on Indonesia' s resort island of Bali on November 30, 2017. Thousands of foreign tourists were expected to leave Bali by plane on November 30 following a nearly three- day airport shutdown sparked by a rumbling volcano on the Indonesian holiday island. (Photo by Juni Kriswanto/AFP Photo)

A contestant walks the runway during 2017 Miss Great Britain competition at the Mayfair A-list venue DSTRKT on May 11, 2017 in London, England. The pageant hopefuls were battling it out to represent Miss Central London. Miss Great Britain is a female beauty pageant. It is the oldest pageant in the UK, established in 1945. Following World War Two, a number of seaside resorts around the country introduced beauty contests as attractions. (Photo by Jules Annan/Barcroft Images)

A photojournalist is silhouetted by the sunset as a lightning strike at a resort affected by Saturday's tsunami in Carita, Indonesia, Tuesday, December 25, 2018. Christmas celebrations traditionally filled with laughter and uplifting music were replaced by somber prayers for tsunami victims in an area hit without warning following a volcanic eruption, leaving hundreds of people dead and thousands homeless in disaster-prone Indonesia. (Photo by Fauzy Chaniago/AP Photo)