Indonesia arrests key leader in al-Qaida linked group
Indonesia’s elite counterterrorism squad has arrested a convicted militant and suspected leader of an al-Qaida-linked group that has been blamed for a string of past bombings in the country, Indonesia police said Monday.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo held his first cabinet meeting in his planned new capital, Nusantara, on Monday, as the outgoing leader seeks to reassure investors his $32 billion mega-project remains on track before he steps down this October. Years after announcing his flagship infrastructure project, intended to ease the burden on congested, sinking and overpopulated Jakarta, Nusantara has faced multiple problems, including construction delays and a lack of foreign investment.
Kathmandu: Several foreign dignitaries are slated to attend the unity convention of Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal. The party disclosed that delegates from Malaysia, Azerbaijan, Spain, and Indonesia are scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu today for the Unity General Convention, which commences on June 10th in Janakpur.
Arjun Thapa, the head of the foreign affairs department of JSP-N, stated that Indian guests will travel to Darbhanga in Bihar before proceeding to Janakpur by road. Among the notable guests are Nur Rahim Bin Nisar, a young leader of the Democratic Action Party of Malaysia, and Dr. Sunilam, a prominent figure in the...
NUSA DUA, Indonesia, Nov 14: Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden met on Monday for long-awaited talks that come as relations between their countries are at their lowest in decades, marred by disagreements over a host of issues from Taiwan to trade.
NOV 14: US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are due to meet in Bali.
It comes at a time when relations between the two superpowers have soured.
Taiwan is expected to top their agenda - Beijing claims the self-ruled island as part of its territory, Taiwan sees itself as distinct.
Biden says the two leaders will "lay out what each of our red lines are" over Taiwan.
The leaders are in Indonesia for the G20 meeting, which starts on Tuesday.
The meeting will be their first in-person encounter since Mr Biden took office in 2020.
Biden is making conciliatory noises ahead of his meeting with Xi - but the backdrop is a marked chill in relations.
China faces an ongoing trade war with the US and a fresh attempt to deny China access to high-end American chip-making technology that, according to some commentators, is designed to slow China's rise "at any price".
Beijing argues that the chill is being driven by America's desire to maintain its position as the pre-eminent world power.
President Joe Biden's National Security Strategy defines Beijing as a bigger threat to the existing world order than Moscow. And Washington has begun to talk about a Chinese invasion of democratic Taiwan as an increasingly realistic prospect rather than a distant possibility.
This is a long way from the days when both US and Chinese leaders would declare that mutual enrichment would eventually outweigh ideological differences and tensions between an established superpower and a rising one. (with inputs from BBC)
AUG 19: "Xi Jinping will come. President Putin has also told me he will come," Mr Widodo, also known as Jokowi, told Bloomberg News in an interview.
This is the first confirmation that both leaders will attend the summit.
It will be the first global summit since Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the heightened tensions over Taiwan.
It would also be the first time Mr Xi has left China since January 2020 when the country shut its borders at the start of the Covid pandemic. Since then, he only left the mainland to mark the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China on July 1 this year.
The November summit will be much-awaited given that US President Joe Biden is also expected to attend - it's unclear if he will meet Mr Putin.
But reports have hinted at the possibility of a face-to-face meeting between Mr Biden and Mr Xi soon - ahead of the summit or on its sidelines.
Relations between Washington and Beijing have soured over human rights, trade and most recently US politician Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan - the historic trip prompted China to conduct nearly a week of military drills around the self-ruled island, which it claims as part of its territory.
The US condemned the drills, which Taiwan described as a rehearsal for an invasion, as "irresponsible".
The summit is also happening in the wake of China and Russia declaring a "no limits" strategic partnership even as much of the world condemns Mr Putin's decision to invade Ukraine.
Washington earlier called for the G20 to remove Russia's membership and withdraw Mr Putin's invitation to the summit over the Ukraine war.
Indonesia, meanwhile, has positioned itself as a peacemaker between the countries.
"The rivalry of the big countries is indeed worrying," Jokowi told Bloomberg News in the interview. "What we want is for this region is to be stable, peaceful, so that we can build economic growth."
Earlier this week, the Indonesian leader said both Russia and Ukraine had accepted his country as a "bridge of peace".
In June, he was the first Asian leader to travel to Kyiv and Moscow to meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Mr Putin. During the meetings, he called for an end to the war and solutions to the global food crisis.
Southeast Asian leaders demanded an immediate end to killings and the release of political detainees in Myanmar in an emergency summit Saturday with its top general and coup leader, Indonesia's president said.
