Changes to life expectancy, combined with a “highly competitive” market, will continue to drive opportunities for companies seeking to transfer pensions risk to the insurance market in 2018, an expert has said.
Donald Trump boasted of ‘nuclear button’ in response to Kim Jong-un – but does he really have one?
US President Donald Trump boasted that he has a bigger and more powerful “nuclear button” than North Korean leader Kim Jong-un – but the president doesn’t actually have a physical button.
The president’s Tuesday evening tweet came in response to Kim’s New Year’s address, in which he repeated fiery nuclear threats against the United States. Kim said he has a “nuclear button” on his office desk and warned that “the whole territory of the…
The ties that bind Papua and Indonesia
Sorong is booming. With 9.3 per cent GDP growth in 2016 (almost double Indonesia’s average) and located on the westernmost point of Papua, the 300,000-strong city is fast becoming a regional transport and logistics hub, boosted by its proximity to the fabled Raja Ampat islands and the ever-elusive bird of paradise.
However, Sorong isn’t a pretty sight. In fact, the city feels as if it’s still emerging from the scrubland – its urban sprawl stretching many kilometres into…
US ambassador to UN urges harder line on North Korea amid reported new missile test plan
Washington’s Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley dismissed the utility of possible direct talks between North and South Korea, warning that a harder line is necessary in light of reports that Pyongyang might be preparing for more ballistic missile tests. “North Korea can talk with anyone they want, but the US is not going to recognise it or acknowledge it until they agree to ban the nuclear weapons that they have. We won’t take any of the talks seriously if they…
Father and son dance with danger crossing broken bridge to reach school in Malaysia
By TN Alagesh
The video of a man and his son literally putting their lives on the line by crossing a collapsed suspension bridge in Kuala Lipis in Malaysia to get the boy to his first day of school, has gone viral.
Several video clips, showing the boy and his father gingerly making their way across the side of the 85-metre metal bridge while clinging on to a cable, were posted on Facebook by the boy’s mother.
It is learnt that the boy was on his way to attend pre-school at Sekolah Batu…
Trump complains that US has got ‘nothing’ from Pakistan aid
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States has “foolishly” handed Pakistan more than US$33 billion in aid over the last 15 years while getting nothing in return and pledged to put a stop to it.
“They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
“The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing…
Thai rock star arrested after Facebook Live negotiations fail
Police entered the Bangkok house of Thai rock star Sek Loso and eventually arrested him for firing several gunshots into the air and the ground in front of the statue of King Taksin the Great in Nakhon Si Thammarat. At first Sek – real name Seksan Sookpimay – remained in his locked bedroom on the second floor of the house. The 43-year-old spoke to a police team led by Metropolitan Police Bureau deputy commander Sompong Chingduang via Facebook Live and asked them to show a search warrant…
Sydney extravaganza kicks off global New Year’s Eve parties
Australia rang in the new year on Sunday with a spectacular display of rainbow-coloured fireworks cascading from Sydney Harbour Bridge.
About 1.5 million people packed the city’s foreshore to watch the pyrotechnics light up the sky above the historic bridge and the iconic opera house, the first major celebrations worldwide after New Zealand. “This is a fabulous way to see out 2017 – the year that four out of five Sydneysiders said a resounding ‘Yes’ to marriage…
Probe into deadly fire at southern Philippines shopping centre focuses on possible safety lapses
A government investigator probing the blaze that led to the deaths of 37 people at a southern Philippines shopping centre said there are signs of fire safety lapses that may have contributed to the tragedy.
The December 23 blaze in Davao City broke out at a furniture and fabric store on the third floor of a shopping centre, the New City Commercial Centre (NCCC), and then engulfed the offices of US firm Research Now SSI on the fourth floor in choking smoke.
The only person among the 38 killed in…
North Korea celebrates year of ‘self-defence’ successes, but ties with US lowest since Korean war
In the first month of Donald Trump’s presidency, an American scholar quietly met North Korean officials and relayed the message that the new administration in Washington appreciated an extended halt in the North’s nuclear and missile tests.
But the North Koreans responded by saying the nearly four-month period of quiet wasn’t a sign of conciliation and supreme leader Kim Jong-un would order tests whenever he wanted. As if to emphasise the point, two days later Pyongyang…