Allianz Q2 profits up 27%

GERMAN insurer Allianz says net profit rose 27 per cent in the second quarter, as one-time expenses fell and its basic property insurance business improved.

Net profit rose to 1.58 billion euros ($A2.35 billion) on revenues that rose 6 per cent to 26.8 billion euros.

Allianz said on Friday it overcame 330 million euros in net losses for claims paid to victims of the June flooding in central Europe. It also had to weather very low interest rates that reduced returns on invested premium money.

Its property insurance business benefited from higher premiums in Australia, France, Germany and the US.

Earnings from its asset management business rose 39.8 per cent thanks to higher fee and commission income as money under management increased 6.6 per cent.

00.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mum, two kids die in Darwin crash

THREE people have died and two others remain in hospital following a crash outside of Darwin.

A 22-year-old man was driving with his wife and three children along Girraween Rd in Darwin's rural area at around 5.50am (CST) on Friday when it veered off the road and hit a pole near the intersection of Azure Court and Girraween Road.

His four year old son and 18-month-old daughter were killed.

A police spokeswoman told AAP it was believed the children were not wearing seatbelts.

The man's 22-year-old partner was critically injured and later died, said Senior Sergeant John Worrall of the Major Crash Investigation Section.

The man and his three-year-old son have been taken to Royal Darwin Hospital in a serious condition.

Investigators are working to establish the exact circumstances surrounding the crash, and police will prepare a report for the coroner.

00.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

NAB boss: rate cut may not help economy

ANOTHER cut to interest rates may not help the economy, but it won't hurt it either, the boss of National Australia Bank says.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to cut the cash rate to a record low of 2.5 per cent when it meets next week.

But Cameron Clyne, the chief executive of NAB, says a rate cut may not provide much of a boost the economy, given the low confidence levels of many businesses.

"If I talk to Australian businesses about why they don't want credit at the moment, I've had virtually no one say its because of the level of interest rates," Mr Clyne told a business lunch in Sydney.

NAB is Australia's largest business lender, with more than $122 billion in loans to corporations.

But Mr Clyne said the RBA should cut next week, and NAB expects a further quarter of a percentage point cut later in the year.

"I think that while inflation is under control then an interest rate cut can't hurt," he said.

"Because while it might not necessarily be stimulatory, what it does do is provide repayment relief to businesses and consumers that may require it."

Mr Clyne also said the federal government should be looking to go deeper into debt in order to fund infrastructure projects that will lift productivity and help the economy to grow.

"Australia has a debt problem: we don't have enough," Mr Clyne said.

There is an estimated backlog of infrastructure projects worth between $600 billion and $700 billion, and the current political aversion to debt was hurting the nation's ability to tackle the issue, he said.

"We are having a very immature debate around debt in this country at the moment," Mr Clyne said.

"We have a unique window as a AAA rated nation to issue that debt and convert it into productive infrastructure."

00.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Housing muscling up to fill mining vacuum

New data has revealed that house prices have continued to climb with record low interest rates. Source: AAP

THE housing sector is looking increasingly like the industry that is going to replace the vacuum left by a fading mining investment boom.

New data shows house prices have continued to climb with record low interest rates, while new homes sales have grown for four consecutive months.

In contrast, another report showed manufacturing stumbling in July, to record its 25th month in contraction.

"The housing sector is the sector most likely to take the baton from mining and drive the economy forward over the coming year," Commonwealth Securities chief economist Craig James said in a note to clients.

The federal government and the central bank are concerned the transition from the mining sector to non-resource economic activity is unlikely to be seamless.

Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens said this week that a stronger trend in non-resources business investment looks like it is a while off yet.

He indicated the central bank will need to cut the cash rate again, a reduction financial markets are heavily predicting to occur at next Tuesday's monthly board meeting.

Mr James believes if the housing recovery broadens, this could very well be the last reduction.

The RP Data-Rismark Hedonic Australian Home Value index of capital city home prices rose by 1.6 per cent in July, to be 4.9 per cent higher than a year earlier.

At the same time, the Housing Industry Association (HIA) said new home sales rose 3.4 per cent in June.

Additionally, the Genworth homebuyer confidence index soared from a record low of 93.4 points in March to 100.1 at the end of July, the highest level since it was first calculated in 2007.

However, conditions in manufacturing are far less rosy.

The Australian Industry Group's performance of manufacturing index fell 7.6 points in July to 42.0, remaining firmly below the 50-mark that separates contraction from expansion.

"While the fall in the Australian dollar and the May interest rate cut have been extremely welcome, they have not yet been enough to turn around a very challenging business environment," the group's chief executive Innes Willox said.

Meanwhile, there was a mild positive for the federal government as Treasurer Chris Bowen puts together an economic statement with the nation's terms of trade stabilising in the June quarter after a general rapid decline over the past two years.

Official data showed both export and import prices eased 0.3 per cent in the June quarter.

"This is a mild near term positive for nominal GDP growth," National Australia Bank senior economist David de Garis said.

Nominal GDP provides a gauge to company profits, and in turn government tax revenue.

00.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Taiwan indicts 18 over conscript's death

TAIWANESE prosecutors have indicted 18 military officials over the death of a young conscript who had been subjected to "cruel and abusive" punishment, in an incident that has sparked widespread anger.

Corporal Hung Chung-chiu died of heatstroke on July 4, just three days before the end of his compulsory year-long military service. His family said he was forced to do excessive exercise as punishment for taking a smartphone on to his base.

Chief military prosecutor general Tsao Chin-sheng said Hung, 24, suffered from heatstroke after being subjected to "exercises that were unbearable, cruel and abusive" that resulted in his death from multiple organ failure.

"I am sorry that the case caused public anger and shook confidence in the military. Our only goal is to find the truth, to give the public an answer and hope Chung-chiu can rest in peace," Tsao said on Wednesday.

Among those indicted, Chen Yi-hsun, who oversaw Hung's punishment while in solitary confinement, was charged with abuse that led to the conscript's death by imposing excessive exercise on him.

Major General Shen Wei-chih, the former commander of Hung's brigade, deputy commander Ho Chiang-chung and four others were charged with "collectively imposing illegal punishment on a subordinate" and offences against personal liberty.

Ten other officials were charged with involuntary manslaughter for not noticing that Hung's health was failing and not taking necessary measures during his time in solitary confinement to prevent his death.

One official was charged with transferring Hung to solitary confinement without authorisation.

Prosecutors did not specify what jail terms they were seeking. Legal experts say the most severe charge is of abuse leading to death, which is punishable by life imprisonment.

Hung's family have said that he had previously filed complaints about other abuse meted out by his superiors.

Defence Minister Kao Hua-chu stepped down this week after the case triggered demonstrations outside the defence ministry and other allegations of abuse and misconduct in the military.

Both Kao and President Ma Ying-jeou, whose approval ratings have plummeted in recent months, have apologised for the incident, vowing to investigate the case and punish those responsible.

Currently four military officials have been detained by authorities on abuse charges in connection with the case, while punitive measures have been imposed on 26 others.

00.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Greens 'compassionate' plan to stop boats

THE Australian Greens believe their "compassionate" plan to boost Australia's humanitarian intake will stop asylum seeker boats.

The party's leader Christine Milne says it's time for Australia to do what's right in the vexed policy area and provide safer options for would-be refugees.

"Deterrence has not worked," she told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.

Her plan calls for processing centres on Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island to be closed and for Australia's humanitarian intake to be lifted to 30,000 from 20,000.

That would include an emergency intake of 10,000 people "from the region" who are classed as refugees by the United Nations.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the plan risked turning Indonesia into a magnet for asylum seekers.

The Greens plan comes as the immigration department prepares to transfer the first group of asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea under Labor's tough border protection policy.

The group was due to arrive at PNG's Manus Island on Wednesday morning, but was delayed due to poor weather.

The department won't say when the transfer might occur but insists it wants it as soon as possible.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young was asked whether her party's plan to accept 10,000 approved asylum seekers from the region would discourage people from taking dangerous boat journeys.

"Let's try the emergency intake of 10,000," she told ABC television.

"I think that will stop boats."

The Greens say their plan to raise Australia's humanitarian intake was costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office and works out to be cheaper than Labor's offshore processing policies.

The party says Labor's policies will cost $7.2 billion over four years while the Greens measures will cost $2.5 billion.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had questions to answer about how Mr Morrison funded his Nauru trip this week.

Mr Morrison used his trip to the tiny Pacific nation to announce coalition plans to build a new 2000-bed processing facility for asylum seeker boat arrivals.

He took an empty seat on an already scheduled flight chartered by Toll Group, which has been working on multi-million dollar government contracts to upgrade Australia's Nauru processing centre since late 2012.

Mr Morrison says he declared Toll's role on his parliamentary register of interests.

"It is not the first time we've had privately funded trips to Nauru," he told ABC radio.

00.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bushfire fallout tests kids' mental health

EXPERTS have found around 10 per cent of children who experienced Tasmania's devastating bushfires are showing signs of mental health problems.

A team coordinated by mental health organisation beyondblue has screened 212 children, finding 26 would benefit from more treatment.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression have been identified among the children, some who had to flee for their lives with their families or who saw animals being burned alive.

Professor Brett McDermott, a co-founder of the program also used successfully after the Brisbane floods, said the smell of barbecue smoke or the sound of a siren could still be terrifying years later for a child.

"They might have nightmares and flashbacks and feel like it's happening all over again," Professor Brett McDermott told AAP.

"Or a reminder which might be real, like barbecue smoke, or symbolic, like an ambulance, can bring it all back to them."

As well as PTSD symptoms, parents, teachers and mental health workers are on the lookout for children who appear to show an emotional numbness or have developed phobias to things like fire or wind.

Professor McDermott said the younger the children, the less able they were to process the circumstances of the disaster.

"Some of these kids have had extremely frightening situations where they've been evacuated through very dense smoke and through fire," he said.

" ... Some kids saw animals that were burning.

"These are really frightening kinds of things."

Children in every school affected by the fires have been through a two-stage screening process, while parents and teachers have received training as part of a $650,000 project also involving the Tasmanian government and the Red Cross.

Children needing treatment will receive a form of cognitive behavioural therapy, where they confront and train their thoughts about their experience.

An important part of that was children being able to tell their story, professor McDermott said.

"It was so frightening that they won't tell anyone about it or it comes out in nightmares and dreams which isn't helpful," he said.

"We get them to tell their story several times until it doesn't have any power over them any more.

"The whole emotional burden of their story is diminished."

Professor McDermott said the figure of around 10 per cent was consistent with research from other bushfires.

The flipside of the finding was that most parents were being reassured their children were coping well, he said.

00.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

US chopper crash kills child, four adults

A HELICOPTER crash in a rugged, wooded area of Pennsylvania has claimed the lives of five people, including a child, officials say.

The crash happened on Saturday night after the pilot told air traffic controllers he was losing altitude, according to the county coroner.

Wyoming County coroner Thomas Kukuchka said the pilot contacted a nearby tower around 10.30pm local time saying he would attempt to return to another airfield nearby.

Although the names of those on board have not been released, Kukuchka said three men, a woman and a child were on board.

"It appears to be a father and son, a father and daughter and the pilot," he said.

Kukuchka did not release the ages of the victims. He said his office was trying to reach family members of the deceased in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

State police and FAA personnel were still on the scene on Sunday evening, according to Trooper Adam Reed, a state police spokesman. Additional details will be released as the investigation progresses, he said.

Although it was not clear if weather played a role in the crash, Kukuchka said there were severe thunderstorms in the area on Saturday night. The coroner and police said rough weather contributed to the difficulty of the search; the wreckage was located shortly before 2pm local time on Sunday.

The FAA said the helicopter was bound for Jake Arner Memorial Airport in Lehighton.

The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation, the FAA said.

00.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Rudd defends PNG deal as more boats arrive

A new Galaxy poll shows PM Kevin Rudd is leading the opposition leader on the asylum seeker issue. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has refused to say when his hardline plan to banish boat asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea will work, as another refugee vessel is intercepted en route to Australia.

Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare on Sunday confirmed a boat with 83 passengers was spotted on Thursday northeast of Christmas Island.

That takes to 17 the number of boats that have been intercepted since Mr Rudd's declaration on July 19 that new arrivals will never be settled in Australia and will instead be sent to PNG for processing and possible resettlement.

The new approach is aimed at discouraging people from taking dangerous sea voyages to Australia.

Repeatedly pressed on whether he expected the PNG deal would slow the boats before the federal election, Mr Rudd has refused to bite.

"It is the implementation of that policy direction over time, resolutely, which will yield results," he told Network Ten's Bolt Report.

"In the interim, people smugglers will test your resolve."

The prime minister said he had always expected people smugglers to test the government's resolve on its new PNG arrangement.

"(But) we are not for turning. Our policy is very clear," he said.

"Our policy is very clear ... you will not be settled in Australia."

A Galaxy poll published by News Corp Australia found people rated Mr Rudd better than Opposition Leader Tony Abbott at handling the asylum seeker issue, 40 to 38 per cent.

The poll was taken between July 23 and 25, within a week of Mr Rudd's PNG announcement.

Labor frontbencher Kim Carr said Australians had very strong views on asylum seekers.

"They've got a right to have those attitudes," Senator Carr told Network Ten.

"We are, however, concentrating on stopping people from drowning."

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the real test for the PNG arrangement would be whether asylum seekers would be resettled in that country.

"I know people want to believe that this thing is the answer," he told ABC television.

"But the truth here is there is a long way to go both in the implementation and legal issues."

Mr Abbott said it had taken Mr Rudd five years and almost 50,000 people arriving by boat to support offshore processing.

"This government is all announcement and no delivery," he told reporters in Sydney.

"It's all talk and no action."

Meanwhile, the immigration department says it's ramping up efforts to expand Australia's processing centre on Manus Island.

The department on Sunday released photos of a cargo plane touching down in Port Moresby to deliver supplies for the facility.

00.51 | 0 komentar | Read More

Spanish judge to question train driver

Spanish police announced they have identified all 78 victims of the nation's deadliest train crash. Source: AAP

THE driver of a train that hurtled off the rails killing 78 people in Spain is to appear before a judge for questioning, facing possible charges of reckless homicide.

Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, 52, refused to answer police questions Friday from his hospital bed, and the case was passed to the courts.

He was taken to a police station on Saturday after being discharged from hospital and will appear on Sunday before a judge who will decide whether to press formal charges.

Under Spanish law, a suspect can be detained for a maximum of 72 hours before being heard by a judge.

Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz told reporters Saturday that Garzon Amo faced possible charges of reckless homicide. He was speaking during a visit to the northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela where the crash happened.

The train was said to have been travelling at more than twice the speed limit on a curve when it was flung off the rails on Wednesday and slammed into a concrete wall, with one carriage leaping up onto a siding.

Regional authorities now say that 78 passengers died and 178 were injured in the accident.

It was Spain's deadliest rail accident since 1944 when hundreds were killed in a train collision, also between Madrid and Galicia.

Regional health officials said 71 people were still in hospital, including 28 adults and three children in a critical condition.

Eight foreigners were among the dead - a US citizen, an Algerian, a Mexican, a Brazilian, a Venezuelan, an Italian, a national of the Dominican Republic and a Frenchman.

Spanish media published photographs of the man they identified as Garzon Amo after the crash, with blood covering the right side of his face.

The driver should have started slowing the train before reaching a bend that train drivers had been told to respect, the president of Spanish rail network administrator Adif said Saturday.

"Four kilometres before the accident happened he already had warnings that he had to begin slowing his speed," Gonzalo Ferre told Spanish public television TVE.

Daily newspaper El Mundo, citing sources close to the investigation, reported Saturday that the driver was speaking on his mobile telephone at the time of the accident.

Another daily El Pais, citing unidentified sources in the investigation, reported that the driver, while still trapped in his cab, told railway officials by radio that the train had taken the curve at 190km/h. That is more than double the 80km/h speed limit for that section of track.

State railway company Renfe said the driver had been with the firm for 30 years, including 13 years as a driver.

He had driven trains past the spot of the accident 60 times during his time with Renfe, company president Julio Gomez-Pomar told private television Antena 3.

Some media reports described Garzon Amo as a speed freak who once posted a picture on his Facebook page of a train speedometer at 200km/h.

A caption read: "I am on the edge, I can't go faster or else I will be fined." The page has since been taken down.

00.51 | 0 komentar | Read More