CYBERJAYA: The Housing Loans Division of the Treasury is expected to disburse around RM6.8 billion in loans to government servants this year.

"It is higher than last year's RM5.9 billion, on the back of an increase in the maximum housing loan size, recently announced by the government," Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussein told reporters here.

HO CHI MINH City: By 2020, Ho Chi Minh City will have seven highways, two main urban boulevards, and four sky-roads with 25 tunnels and bridges, Vietnam News Agency reported quoting the city's top transport official as saying.

BEIJING: Guizhou in southwest China welcomes foreign investment in its high-speed railway construction, part of the province's massive transport network construction plan between 2011 and 2015, said governor Zhao Kezhi on Wednesday, Mar 9.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Selangor Petaling Business and Industry Association is requesting that the government consider Petaling Jaya South in the RM43 billion Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project.

JELI: Plans to widen and repave a narrow damaged road in Kampung Banggol Yek bring a sigh of relief to about 2,000 residents from three villages in Banggol Yek, Bendang Besar and Mak Jintan, near here.

The project will be implemented using an allocation provided by Jeli Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

JOHOR BAHRU: The Malaysia Budget Hotel Association (MBHA) is working to get more budget hotel operators around the country to become its member.

Its president Datuk Dr Muhamad Nasir Hamzah said the move was aimed at enhancing the quality of budget hotel services as well as to remove the negative image of budget hotels sometimes portrayed as the centres for vice activities.

HONG KONG: Surging China visitor arrivals in Hong Kong and the resulting jump in retail sales has driven prices of prime retail properties strongly higher, prompting owners to sell and take profit, according to agents.

HONG KONG: Property analysts called on the government to release new measures to cool the overheated property market, because Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah's budget failed to address the problem, they said.

SHEUNG SHUI: Residents of border town Sheung Shui are up in arms over changes to their neighbourhood brought by an increasing number of importers using flats to store goods.

HONG KONG: Living in Sheung Wan for more than two decades, Karen Lee Ka-man witnessed its gradual gentrification from an old residential district into one of fashionable offices and eateries.