IN BRIEF (Page 4)

Indonesia

Relocating capital needs up to $30B

Indonesia's plan to move its capital away from Jakarta will require investment of about $20 billion to $30 billion, a minister said on Tuesday, even though the government has yet to decide on a new location. President Joko Widodo on Monday approved a plan to relocate government less than two weeks after private pollsters indicated he had won the April 17 presidential election. Jakarta is home to more than 10 million people, but around three times that many live in the surrounding towns, adding to severe traffic congestion that the government has estimated costs $7 billion in economic losses each year. Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said the government will design a new capital to house 900,000 to 1.5 million people, mostly government employees and their families.

India

Three selfie-crazy teens crushed by train

Three teenagers were killed while taking selfies on a railway track in India, which has the worst record for selfie-related deaths. A fourth youth managed to jump to safety before the accident in Panipat city in the northern state of Haryana, a police officer said on Wednesday. "The victims were busy taking selfies and when they saw a train approaching they jumped to a second track without realizing another train was coming on that," M.S. Dabas said. "One of them saved his life as he jumped on the other side of the track." The group had come to Panipat to attend a wedding. Two of those killed were 19 years old and the third was 18. A study last year by researchers from the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences said 259 people across the world had died while taking selfies between 2011 and 2017.

Thailand

Netflix announces film deal on cave boys

Netflix is joining with the production company for the movie Crazy Rich Asians to make a film about July's dramatic rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach who were trapped in a flooded cave in northern Thailand for more than two weeks. Netflix and SK Global Entertainment said they acquired the rights to the story from 13 Thumluang Co Ltd, a company that Thailand's government helped establish to represent the interests of the boys and their coach. At a news conference on Tuesday in Bangkok, deputy government spokesman Weerachon Sukoondhapatipakat said the families of the cave survivors would each be paid $94,000.

AFP - Reuters - AP

(China Daily 05/02/2019 page4)