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PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Department has intensified its ongoing measures for the collection of property tax, with decisive action being taken against persistent defaulters. Under the supervision of Excise and Taxation Officer (ETO-VI) Peshawar, Ejaz Khan, a vigorous operation was carried out against property tax defaulters during which multiple residential and commercial units across various areas of Peshawar city were sealed for non-payment of dues pending over a long period. According to the Excise and Taxation Department, indiscriminate action against tax defaulters will continue and no one will be considered above the law. The initiative…

MOSCOW: Russia has almost doubled exports of liquefied petroleum gas in the January – November period to ex-Soviet republics in Central Asia and Afghanistan to 1.016 million metric tons, industry sources told Reuters on Friday. Moscow has had to divert supplies of LPG, or propane and butane, from Europe, which introduced restrictions on LPG imports from Russia in December 2024 over the war in Ukraine. LPG is mainly used as fuel for cars, heating and to produce other petrochemicals. Traders said supplies to Afghanistan, as well as to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan now account for around 36% of Russia’s…

The People’s Liberation Army kicked off drills around Taiwan on Monday that it called “legitimate and necessary” to safeguard national unity.Senior Colonel Shi Yi, a spokesman for the PLA’s Eastern Theatre Command, said the exercise was a warning to “independence forces” and external interference.He said the drills – dubbed Justice Mission 2025 – were taking place in waters and airspace in the Taiwan Strait and areas to the north, southwest, southeast and east of Taiwan’s main island.Shi said the exercise was being conducted by Eastern Theatre Command troops from the army, navy, air force and rocket force.Live-fire drills would be…

The Philippines’ largest-ever education budget has been hailed by teachers and education advocates, but many have also warned that money alone cannot reverse years of weak learning outcomes and chronic teacher and classroom shortages.Last month, the Senate approved a 1.37 trillion peso (US$23 billion) allocation for education, the largest in the country’s history.It is equivalent to about 4 per cent of the Philippines’ gross domestic product, aligning for the first time with UN recommendations that education spending should consist of 4 to 6 per cent of GDP.Of that, 961.3 billion pesos will go to the Department of Education to channel…

Hong Kong’s primary residential home sales in 2026 are forecast to again reach decade-high numbers, as developers continue to clear inventory and homebuyers focus more on small, low-cost flats.Transactions next year were projected to reach about 21,000, while total home sales were expected to climb to around 71,000, up 8 per cent from this year’s forecast, according to Midland Realty.A total of 26,479 new flats were expected to be rolled out next year, spread across Kai Tak, the North district, Tung Chung and Yuen Long, the property agency said.That outlook was underscored by a sharp rebound in the city’s primary…

Hong Kong’s primary residential home sales in 2026 are forecast to again reach decade-high numbers, as developers continue to clear inventory and homebuyers focus more on small, low-cost flats.Transactions next year were projected to reach about 21,000, while total home sales were expected to climb to around 71,000, up 8 per cent from this year’s forecast, according to Midland Realty.A total of 26,479 new flats were expected to be rolled out next year, spread across Kai Tak, the North district, Tung Chung and Yuen Long, the property agency said.That outlook was underscored by a sharp rebound in the city’s primary…

The reveal exposed what was under the covers: bionic “muscles” that enable such uncanny lifelikeness, made possible by the 3D printing technology and high-performance materials from Chinese start-up PollyPolymer.Wang Wenbin, founder and chairman of PollyPolymer, told the Post in a recent interview that the company has “established joint research and development (R&D) partnerships with several leading robotics companies, including more than 20 from China”.As well as the bionic muscles for Xpeng, PollyPolymer has developed joint cushioning kits for UBTech Robotics and integrated foot kits for EngineAI.Bionic muscles for humanoid robots require a special material that “must simultaneously meet four core…

Wall Street heads into what’s expected to be a slow week — featuring the last three days of 2025 and the first trading day of 2026. The market will be closed Thursday for New Year’s Day. While there are no major earnings scheduled this week, there are three macroeconomic updates that we will be watching. 1. Housing : November pending home sales data is out on Monday morning. The sluggish real estate market has been a key concern in 2025 and will remain so in 2026. The stubbornly high cost of shelter, which makes up about a third of inflation…

Ivan Krastev is a Bulgarian political scientist best known for his work on Europe’s democratic crisis, the psychology of post-communist societies and the political legacy of 1989. He is chair of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and the author of several influential books on European politics.In this Open Questions interview, Krastev reflects on Europe’s loss of bearings in a faster, harsher world, the fading of the post-Cold War transatlantic order and the psychological shock of a US that no longer treats Europe as a priority.This interview first…

Of all the warplanes in China’s rapidly growing air arsenal, it was an older model that sent shock waves across the region earlier this month.A rare stand-off between Chinese and Japanese fighter jets took place near the Miyako Strait northeast of Taiwan. The incident brought the Shenyang J-15 carrier-based fighter jet, which has been in service for more than a decade, back into the spotlight.Japan said J-15 fighter jets, launched from the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning, twice engaged their fire control radars to lock on to its F-15 fighter jets on December 6, the second time for about half an…