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MoroccoKing Mohammed VI hosting Iftar in honour of Jared Kushner.MoroccoKing Mohammed VI hosting Iftar in honour of Jared Kushner.US: US President Donald Trumpson-in-law Jared Kushner is visiting the Middle East, the White House said Tuesday, signaling a fresh push on a long promised but yet to be delivered peace plan for the region.

The trip comes amid a flurry of other administration moves to shore up alliances with Arab allies against Iran and the deployment of warships and bombers to the region. Kushner is accompanied by Jason Greenblatt, Trumpspecial representative for international negotiations, and Brian Hook, the special US representative for Iran, the White House said.

They &will travel from May 27 to May 31 to Rabat, Amman and Jerusalem,& a White House official said on condition of anonymity. The pair shared an iftar dinner -- the traditional meal to break the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan -- with MoroccoKing Mohammed VI, Crown Prince Moulay Hassan and Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita.

&Thank you to His Majesty for a special evening and for sharing your wisdom,& Greenblatt tweeted. &Morocco is an important friend - ally of the United States.& The Trump administration is expected to unveil the peace plan -- after numerous failures by its predecessors -- possibly as early as next month, but the Palestinians have already rejected it as heavily biased in favor of Israel.

Washington has yet to commit to an exact timetable with respect to the political aspects of the plan.Kushner is the chief architect of the proposals and Greenblatt, a longtime Trump lawyer, has served as his right-hand man on the Middle East initiative. Upon his arrival in the White House more than two years ago, Trump proclaimed his ambition to secure a final accord ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But the odds of his succeeding where every previous US president -- Republicans as well as Democrats -- have failed appear particularly low. Palestinians have boycotted the process since Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December 2017.

The US is expected to roll out the economic aspects of the peace plan at a conference in Bahrain on June 25-26. Co-hosts US and Bahrain have billed it as &a pivotal opportunity to share ideas, discuss strategies and galvanize support for potential economic investments and initiatives that could be made possible by a peace agreement.& But Palestinian political leaders say they will boycott it and Palestinian business leaders said they won&t go either, raising further questions about the planviability.

&Any economic project without a political solution is selling an illusion,& said Arafat Asfour, chairman of the Palestine Trade Center.Among those declining an invitation was Bashar al-Masri, a high-profile Palestinian businessman who worked with international partners and in cooperation with the Israelis to invest $1.4 billion in the new Palestinian town of Rawabi.

Kushner, who will join up with Trump in London after going to the Middle East, has been evasive about the US plan, which has been shrouded in secrecy.While promising new ideas to revive a moribund peace process, he has refused to talk about a two-state solution, the formula that has long been at the heart of international efforts to achieve peace and also the official US position.

Instead, he has looked to an alliance with the Saudis against Iran as a way to gain Arab support for his plan. Three days before Kushnertrip, Trump authorized $8.1 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other Arab allies, bypassing Congress.

Arms sales to the kingdom were frozen after the assassination of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in October and in response to mounting concerns over the human toll of a Saudi-led armed campaign in Yemen. - AFP

Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) said that due to the severe hit on tourism industry following Easter Sunday attacks, it has decided to remove the minimum room rate (MRR) imposed on Colombo City Hotels effective immediately.

The Ambassador of Switzerland to Sri Lanka, Hanspeter Mock today said that Switzerland no longer advised to avoid unnecessary travel to Sri Lanka. However, he said that travellers should maintain a high level of personal security during their stay here. The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) updated the Switzerlandtravel advisory on Sri Lanka on Monday.In its summery statement, the FDFA said there is still a risk of terrorist attacks throughout the country.

BELGAUM, Monday - Sri Lanka A suffered an innings and 205 runs defeat at the hands of India A in the first 4-day unofficial test played at the Union Gymkhana grounds here on Monday.Facing a huge Indian first innings score of 622-5 declared, Sri Lanka batsmen succumbed to the leg-spin of Rahul Chahar who ended with match figures of eight for 123 to be bowled out twice after following-on for scores of 232 and 185.