[ad_1] JAKARTA: Indonesia is to allocate 40.6 trillion rupiah ($2.7 billion) to the construction of its new capital city in its 2024 budget and the presidential office and a dozen apartment blocks for workers should be completed next year, ministers said on Wednesday. The Southeast Asian nation announced in 2019 that it would build a…
[ad_1] SINGAPORE: Singapore police have arrested 10 foreigners for alleged money laundering and forgery offences, in a case involving about S$1 billion ($737 million) of cash, properties, luxury cars and other assets. The police conducted simultaneous raids on Tuesday across the city-state to arrest the suspects, their statement said on Wednesday. Prohibition of disposal orders…
[ad_1] DUBAI: Two years after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the United States has begun easing rules that could allow commercial airlines to fly over the country in routes that cut time and fuel consumption for East-West travel. But those shortened flight routes for India and Southeast Asia raise questions never answered during the Taliban’s…
[ad_1] COLOMBO: China has requested permission for a research ship to dock in Sri Lanka, Colombo said Tuesday, following a visit by a spacecraft-tracking vessel last year that sparked security concerns from neighbouring India. Sri Lankan foreign ministry spokeswoman Priyanga Wickramasinghe said Beijing had sought permission for the Shi Yan 6 to dock, but that…
[ad_1] BANGKOK: Thailand’s divisive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was transferred from prison to a hospital early Wednesday, less than a day after he returned from an extended exile and started serving an 8-year sentence. He had returned to Thailand after 15 years abroad on the same day a party linked to him won a…
[ad_1] COLOMBO: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has expressed hope for a reconciliation process that addresses the aspirations of the minority Tamil community in Sri Lanka for equality, justice and self-respect, as he highlighted the implementation of the 13 Amendment to the Constitution to achieve the objective. The remarks by Jaishankar came on Wednesday as…
[ad_1] KATHMANDU: The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is to halve the $200 daily fee it charges tourists in an effort to boost a sector still struggling to recover a year after the end of COVID-19 restrictions. Bhutan raised its “Sustainable Development Fee” to $200 per visitor per night, from $65, when it ended two years…
[ad_1] BANGKOK: Thailand’s new Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin will miss a regional meeting of Asia’s leaders in Jakarta next week, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.Srettha won a parliamentary vote to become prime minister last month and his cabinet was endorsed by the king on Saturday. The prime minister and his cabinet are due to…