Month: October 2018

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ambition of creating a “New Pakistan” has suffered a series of economic setbacks, forcing his administration to apply to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an emergency bailout of more than US$8 billion, the largest in the country’s history of indebtedness.
When talks begin in the coming weeks, the country will have to make political compromises, as with its past dealings with the IMF, according to analysts.
IMF managing director…

As the dust settles on the Indonesia 2008 Asian Para Games, there is no shortage of inspiring stories.
For the past week, Jakarta has been plastered with images of triumph over adversity as it celebrated the achievements of 2,762 athletes from 43 countries who had come to compete in 18 sports – breaking records and challenging public perceptions in the process.
Billboards celebrated athletes such as swimmer Jendi Pengabean – who lost his entire left leg aged 12 in a motorcycle…

At least eight climbers from a South Korean expedition have died on Nepal’s Mount Gurja after their camp was devastated by a violent snowstorm, officials said on Saturday.
The bodies of eight climbers – four South Koreans and four Nepali guides – were spotted among the wreckage of their camp by a rescue team early on Saturday morning, but unstable and icy conditions were hampering the search effort.
“We assume the incident happened because of a snowstorm because trees…

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un intends to abolish all nuclear weapons, materials and facilities to achieve “complete” denuclearisation, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who held his third summit with Kim last month, said on Friday.
Kim and US President Donald Trump pledged to work towards denuclearisation at their landmark June summit in Singapore, but the agreement was short on specifics. Negotiations have made little headway since, with the North refusing to declare its…

Tomorrow, Malaysian democracy icon and prime-minister-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim faces down six other candidates in the Port Dickson by-election to see who will represent the constituency in Parliament, which resumes Monday. This by-election is a stepping stone for Anwar’s move to assume premiership, as it is a requirement that the prime minister be a parliamentarian.
Although the by-election is widely considered to be a walkover for the former deputy prime minister, his return to active…

UK employers could be required to publish data on their pay gaps for workers from different ethnic backgrounds, the government has announced.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo urged global central bankers and finance ministers on Friday to guard against growing risks facing the world’s economy, as a heated a Sino-US trade war roils both emerging and developed markets.
At the plenary session of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings being hosted by Indonesia, Widodo peppered his speech with references to the HBO series Game of Thrones, where families and kingdoms battle for power in a fictional continent, to…

ANALYSIS: The UK’s new Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting framework (SECR) is being introduced from 1 April 2019.

ANALYSIS: New rules on insurance distribution have come into force that set new requirements about the way businesses in the insurance market engage with customers.

A Christian bakery’s refusal to bake a cake iced with a message supportive of same sex marriage was not direct discrimination, the UK’s highest court has ruled.