Colombo: The Sri Lankan government has decided to permit its Muslim citizens to travel to Saudi Arabia to peform Haj on condition that they pay USD 1,500 in foreign currency from abroad without affecting the nation's crisis-hit economy, according to media reports on Thursday.

A plane crashed in central China's Hubei province on Thursday, setting several houses on fire, the third aviation accident in the country in over two months.

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.