Beijing: China on Wednesday praised India for making "great efforts" to help Colombo to tide over its worst financial crisis even as it refuted Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's remarks that Beijing has shifted its strategic focus from South Asia including Pakistan to South East Asia, saying the region still remained its priority.

Colombo: Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Wednesday that he has urged IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva to "expedite" its assistance programme to Sri Lanka and underlined that no country except India is providing money to the crisis-hit island nation for fuel.

New Delhi: The destabilising and corrosive behaviour of Chinese Community Party (CCP) in the Indo-Pacific region is simply not helpful and some of the defence infrastructure that is being set up by China near its border with India is alarming, US Army's Pacific Commanding General Charles A. Flynn said on Wednesday.

Dubai: Iraq, Libya, Malaysia and Turkiye have joined over a dozen Muslim countries in condemning the controversial remarks made by now-suspended and expelled BJP leaders against Prophet Mohammad.

Indian-origin fugitive businessmen Rajesh and Atul Gupta, who were among South Africa's most wanted suspects in a corruption case that led to the removal of president Jacob Zuma from office, have been arrested by the Dubai Police, according to an official statement on Tuesday.

Amid sharp reaction from several Muslim nations over remarks by BJP leaders against Prophet Mohammed, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that we strongly encourage respect and tolerance for all religions.

United Nations/Geneva: A total of 780 laboratory-confirmed cases of monkeypox have been reported or identified since May 13 and as of June 2 from 27 countries across four WHO regions that are not endemic for the monkeypox virus, the World Health Organisation has said.