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China’s top defence university is piloting a scheme that allows PhD students to graduate with a product or design instead of a thesis in an effort to solve “bottleneck” engineering problems amid the tech race with the United States.Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) – dubbed one of China’s “Seven Sons of National Defence” because of its contributions to defence research and technology – is exploring new approaches to fostering engineers. These include removing traditional academic papers as a mandatory degree requirement, according to a report by the China Science Daily last week.In September, Wei Lianfeng, an engineer-turned-doctoral candidate, became the…

Japan’s plan to significantly increase the price of residency visas for foreigners to match the rates in the West has divided the expatriate community, which fears the move would further worsen the country’s persistent labour shortages.The additional revenue will be used to “improve conditions for the rapidly growing foreign resident population” and enhance efforts to deport illegal immigrants, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Thursday, citing government sources.A bill to amend the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law will be submitted to the Diet next year.The proposal, which comes amid growing concern in Japan over rising numbers of immigrants and overtourism,…

Prime office rents in Hong Kong and Singapore are expected to reach parity within two years, driven by diverging dynamics in demand and supply for office properties in the rival business hubs, according to CBRE.By the fourth quarter of 2027, tenants in premium office spaces in Hong Kong were set to pay just over US$122 per square foot per year, while those in Singapore would face slightly higher costs at about US$123 per square foot annually, said Ada Choi, head of research for Asia-Pacific at the consultancy.The trend would close the gap that Hong Kong office landlords had enjoyed since…

PESHAWAR: Prices of essential food commodities remained steady in the retail market. A weekly market-survey conducted by Business Recorder here on Sunday revealed the prices of vegetables, flour, sugar, pulses, live chicken/meat and others were unchanged as consumers have complained authorities failed to ensure implementation of the official price-list in the market. Prices of vegetables are sky-high in the open market. Once again the price of tomato has increased, as available at Rs 200 per kg against the price of Rs 100-120 in the previous week as compared to preceding week. Likewise, ginger and garlic remained unchanged as being available…

Hong Kong’s push to establish a tokenised financial system is poised to attract more companies to set up treasury centres in the city, which would give investors broader options while reducing transaction costs, according to market players.Both corporations and individuals stood to benefit from increased tokenisation of money and assets, which could make financial services faster and more efficient and accessible, said representatives from Standard Chartered, China Asset Management (Hong Kong) and government agency InvestHK during a briefing on Friday.As government-led tokenisation and digital asset initiatives, such as Project Ensemble, gained traction, more commercial applications were expected to emerge, according…

HEYBELIADA, Turkey (AP) — As Pope Leo XIV prepares to embark on his first trip abroad with a visit to Turkey to mark a key event that shaped the foundations of Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, there has been a surge of renewed optimism over the possible reopening of a Greek Orthodox religious seminary that has been closed since 1971.The Halki Theological School has become a symbol of Orthodox heritage and a focal point in the push for religious freedoms in Turkey.Located on Heybeliada Island, off the coast of Istanbul, the seminary once trained generations of Greek Orthodox patriarchs and clergy.…

When activist Sudirman Arshad walked into a Kota Kinabalu police station last month, the 22-year-old expected to file a routine report after a minor traffic accident. Instead, he was held for hours and questioned under Malaysia’s Sedition Act over a rally he had helped organise.The experience left him shaken, but also confirmed a nagging suspicion: Sabah’s political establishment has finally realised that Gen Z is no longer content to sit quietly on the sidelines.His brush with the law came as Sabah prepares to head to the polls on November 29, with nearly 500 candidates contesting 73 state seats in a…

LAHORE: The Modeling Lab at the Lahore School of Economics has released its annual GDP growth estimates for Pakistan’s fiscal year 2025-26, projecting a modest growth rate of 2.4 percent based on macroeconomic variables observed during the first quarter from July to September. This figure represents no improvement from the previous fiscal year 2024-25, which also recorded a growth rate of 2.4 percent. The report, titled State of the Pakistan Economy, Growth, and Inflation in Pakistan Financial Year 2025-2026 (Q1), was written by Dr Moazam Mahmood, Professor at the Faculty of Economics, Dr Azam Amjad Chaudhry, Professor and Dean of…

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has urged the international community to ensure rapid, grant-based and predictable financing for climate-vulnerable developing countries, warning that repeated extreme weather events were deepening debt distress and slowing development progress in nations least responsible for global emissions, said a statement issued here on Sunday. The call was made at a high-level side event titled “Operationalising Loss and Damage: Financing Resilience and Recovery in Vulnerable Countries” organised jointly by the Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Ministry and UNICEF at the Pakistan Pavilion on the sidelines of the UN climate summit (COP30) in Belem, Brazil. In her keynote address, Secretary…

LAHORE: Chairman of the FPCCI’s Businessmen Panel (BMP), Mian Anjum Nisar, has reacted strongly to the IMF’s governance and corruption diagnostic report, terming it “an alarming charge-sheet against Pakistan’s governance system” after revelations of Rs5.3 trillion in irregularities. He said the business community was shocked not only by the magnitude of leakages but also by the institutional weaknesses highlighted by the IMF. At the same time, he said the economic improvement Pakistan has witnessed in recent months—especially in exports, small entrepreneurship and workplace productivity—has been “largely driven by women’s increased participation in the economy,” emphasising that Pakistan must now supplement…