US - Atlanta will need an additional US$250m a year to fully fund pension benefits although the source of the funds has not been identified, declared city mayor Shirley Franklin.

SCHEMES could see liabilities increase by £10bn as a result of increasing numbers of smokers giving up the habit in 2007, PricewaterhouseCoopers claims.

SOUTH KOREA - The overhaul of the civil service pension scheme promised by the government is unlikely to happen until the end of 2007, local media reports have claimed.

UK - Pension funds returned a "solid, if not spectacular" 10% during 2006, according to a survey by WM Performance Services, the European performance measurement division of State Street Corporation.

THE ARRIVA Group has appointed consultancy firm Hewitt Associates as its corporate advisor.

New CBI president slates public pensions; Top takeover targets primed for seduction

THE NEW president of the CBI has called on the government to help companies that are struggling to maintain good pension schemes.

GLOBAL - Michael Hughes, CIO of Barings Asset Management, has advised institutional investors to "consider investing any spare cash" in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America in 2007.

US - California state governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has set up the Californian Public Employee Post-Employment Benefits Commission and given it one year to devise a plan to tackle the state's unfunded pension liabilities.

ACTIVE UK equity managers returned 0pc in November 2006, latest figures reveal.