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China’s top court has ruled that if an employer fires an employee for sexual harassment it should not have to pay compensation to the dismissed worker – a move lawyers said would make it easier for victims to take action.The ruling was among five cases highlighted by the Supreme People’s Court on Tuesday as examples of “promoting core socialist values” in family relations, the workplace and transport.According to a document released by the court, a man surnamed Wu in the southern province of Guangdong had sued a restaurant that sacked him for sexually harassing a colleague.The restaurant’s employee handbook states…

In Chow Kit, a crowded district of Kuala Lumpur forever caught between progress and prejudice, Amy* moves quietly through narrow alleys – a transgender outreach worker tending to lives the city prefers not to see.Her evenings begin with small rituals: a backpack filled with condoms, test kits and pamphlets; a quick text to let her friends know that she is safe.Then, when she steps out, much of her work happens in passing conversations – careful not to draw too much attention.“The girls know they’re high-risk,” Amy said of the transgender sex workers she visits. “They want to stay healthy. But…

Landlords in Hong Kong and Singapore are expected to continue allocating space to flexible office operators as multinational corporations reshape the sector’s risk profile and fuel long-term demand, according to industry experts.A major driver behind this shift is the rapid change in who uses flexible workspaces. Global companies now represented 41 per cent of Asia-Pacific flex office users, the highest proportion worldwide and nearly triple North America’s 14 per cent, according to Piers Mallitte, head of Workthere APAC at Savills.This marked a departure from the early days of the sector, when operators relied heavily on start-ups and small firms, analysts…

Beijing and New Delhi have taken another step towards normalising economic ties after a five-year rift, as China moves to introduce a simplified visa process for Indian nationals that could help it tap India’s fast-growing travel market.The Chinese embassy in New Delhi said earlier this month that Indian citizens would be able to apply for visas online from December 22, sparing them time-consuming initial in-person visits to the embassy or other consular offices in the country.The move follows the resumption of direct flights between India and China in October after a five-year suspension. While the world’s two most populous nations…

A Kremlin envoy says peace talks on a U.S.-proposed plan to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine were pressing on “constructively” in Florida.The talks are part of the Trump administration’s monthslong push for peace that also included meetings with Ukrainian and European officials in Berlin earlier this week.“The discussions are proceeding constructively. They began earlier and will continue today, and will also continue tomorrow,” Kirill Dmitriev told reporters Saturday, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.Dmitriev met with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in Miami, the agency reported.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy…

KARACHI: The industrialist community has welcomed the Sindh government’s approval of historic funding for Karachi’s industrial areas as an industry-friendly move. They said that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah’s decision is commendable. Restoration of industrial infrastructure will restore business confidence and increase investment, they added. Patron-in-Chief of the SITE Association of Industry (SAI) Zubair Motiwala warmly welcomed the Sindh government’s approval of a Rs9.28 billion package aimed at reviving the infrastructure of Karachi’s industrial areas, calling it a timely and industry-friendly decision that will boost production, exports, and investment. He lauded Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah for…

ISLAMABAD: The sugar price in the wholesale market has witnessed a significant decline from Rs 9,500 per 50kg bag to Rs 7,400, reflecting a decrease of Rs 2,100 per bag or 22.1 percent within the past two weeks, as noted by Business Recorder in its weekly survey. A month earlier in some parts of the country retail sugar price even touched Rs220 per kg. Following the government’s serious curbs; however, during past two weeks sugar price in wholesale and retail market is continually witnessing a declining trend which according to traders is likely to settle around Rs7,000 per 50 kg…

Chinese archaeologists unearthing the ruins of the earliest known settlement in the Yangtze River Delta say water management may have been the origin of ancient “cities” in the area.Researchers began large-scale excavations of the Doushan site in Wuxi in the eastern province of Jiangsu in July last year, dating the city to about 6,000 years ago.Previously, the oldest urban site in the delta area was the Liangzhu culture site near Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, dating back about 5,300 years.More than two dozen experts gathered at the site last weekend to assess the progress so far and examine the extensive network…

Stand-alone flagship stores with distinctive architectural facades, long prevalent in global metropolises like Tokyo, Seoul and New York, are gradually gaining traction in China, as the country’s retail landscape undergoes a broader shift from enclosed malls towards open-air and street-facing formats.More luxury brands are setting up such flagships in places like Beijing’s Taikoo Li Sanlitun North, a trendy open-air commercial block developed and operated by Hong Kong’s Swire Properties.Multiple new stand-alone flagship stores, including those of Dior, Louis Vuitton and Tiffany, recently opened or are set to open by early next year. The Dior Maison outlet also includes the brand’s…

NEW YORK: Oil prices edged up on possible disruptions from a US blockade of Venezuelan tankers as the market waits for news about a possible Russia-Ukraine peace deal. Brent futures rose 65 cents, or 1.1percent, to settle at USD 60.47 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 51 cents, or 0.9 percent, to settle at USD56.66. That put Brent and WTI down about 1percent this week after both crude benchmarks fell about 4 percent last week. In other energy markets, a recent drop in US gasoline futures to a four-year low cut 321- and gasoline crack spreads,…