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For Xu Sihan, a literature graduate student based in Beijing, a pivotal moment came in 2024 when she compared AI translations of classical Chinese literature with the translations she had done as an undergraduate.

The Mainichi (English)

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Easy Japanese news in translation: Golden 'Fist of the North Star' statues unveiled in Nagoya

A statue of Kenshiro, the main character of the popular manga "Fist of the North Star," was unveiled on June 3 at Matsuzakaya Nagoya department store

Ars Technica

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IT/기술

Google announces Gemini 3.5 Live Translate for instant voice-to-voice translation

Voice translations preserve speaker's tone, pacing, pitch—with SynthID watermarks for security.

Rolling Stone

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문화/연예

What Were All These Rock Bands Doing at CMA Fest 2026?

Cage the Elephant, Mod Sun, New Translations, and more Nashville-based alt bands descended on Broadway for the anti-CMA Fest

The Mainichi (English)

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Easy Japanese news in translation: Red panda Futa at Chiba zoo to turn 23 in July

The male red panda Futa at Chiba Zoological Park will turn 23 in July. The oldest recorded age for a red panda in Japan is 24. The average lifespan of

Is Islamic banking Islamic?

“THOSE who gorge themselves on usury behave but as he might behave whom Satan has confounded with his touch; for they say, ‘Buying and selling is but a kind of usury’ — the while God has made buying and selling lawful and usury unlawful. … If, however, [the debtor] is in straitened circumstances, [grant him] a delay until a time of ease… .” — Surah Al-Baqarah, translation by Muhammad Asad. Islamic banking started in Pakistan in 1979 and by 1985, commercial banks had stopped using the word ‘interest’ and used ‘mark-up’ instead. But with time it was apparent this kind of ‘Islamic’ banking wasn’t really Islamic and was just a name change from ‘interest’ to ‘mark-up’. Pakistan’s modern Islamic banking began in 2002 when the first new fully Islamic bank started working. Since then Islamic banking has rapidly grown and now there are many Islamic banks. Islamic banks have turned out to be more profitable and there is considerable demand among Pakistanis to conduct their banking as prescribed by Islam. Islamic banks now have Sharia boards that rule whether any banking facility is Sharia-compatible and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) also has a Sharia advisory committee. We have also progressed from merely banking and now the government issues sukuks (long-term bonds backed by assets), we have Islamic leasing, called Ijara, and Islamic insurance, called Takaful. We should examine how close to Quranic edicts is Islamic banking. Next year as we celebrate the silver jubilee of the Islamic banking industry, we should examine how close to Quranic edicts is Islamic banking and whether it has grown closer to Islamic ideals. A company can borrow from a secular commercial bank running finance for its working capital needs and long-term finance for its project financing needs. From the Islamic bank it will get Musharakah financing or Murabaha and Istisna financing. For an example of Istisna financing assume a company wants a loan for buying cotton. The bank will buy cotton for Rs10 million and sell it to the company for Rs11m with payment due in one year, or for Rs10.5m for payment due in six months. The bank doesn’t actually buy the cotton or sell it to the company. There is, however, paperwork to pretend this has taken place. The profit the bank makes depends entirely on the policy rate set by the SBP. When the policy rate is high, the bank’s profit is also equally high. In Musharakah financing, the profit an Islamic bank charges the company also depends on the SBP’s policy rate. Typically, if the interest rate charged by commercial banks is two per cent above the SBP’s policy rate, the profit rate required by Islamic banks is also the same. If during the tenor of the loan the policy rate is increased by the SBP, the profit rate is increased by Islamic banks by a similar amount. Just as commercial banks get their interest from the client whether the company is incurring a profit or a loss, Islamic banks also have no downside when a client loses money. Except for default or restructuring, no Islamic bank has ever made a loss because its borrower was losing money. This then seems distinct from trade-based, risk-assuming lending that Islam envisions. For instance, a priori people would think that under Islamic banking’s Istisna financing if a company borrows money for buying 1,000 bales of cotton, it should return the money for a 1,000 bales of cotton, no matter what the new price of cotton is. If the value of cotton has increased, the bank will make a profit and if it has decreased, it will lose. But it will not get a fixed interest-based ‘profit’ no matter what happens to cotton prices. Similarly, under Musharakah financing people would think that if the company is making profits, Islamic banks should also make a profit but not if it’s losing money. Otherwise, it is just like secular banks with Arabic names for loans. With the current practice of Pakistani Islamic banks, the benefits of having trade-based Islamic banking are lost and banks don’t have an incentive to seek and give loans to companies that have great ideas and products. If the profit is fixed at exactly the rate of interest, like it is in commercial banks, then we lose the barkat of Islamic banking. Up until last year, the SBP required banks to give a minimum interest to depositors. But Islamic banks objected that giving fixed profits to depositors would violate Islamic principles. However, the same Islamic banks are quite happy to charge their customers fixed profits based on the SBP’s policy rate. This dichotomy meant that customers of Islamic banks were getting less profits on their deposits than those given by commercial banks even as Islamic banks made more profits than others. Islamic banks were increasing people’s cost for being good Muslims. Even today, Islamic banks give lower profits to their depositors. This goes against the Islamic admonition of exploitation. When a borrower is late in paying loans or interest/ profit, both Islamic and commercial banks charge you penal interest (which is against the ayat I quoted above) but whereas commercial banks keep this profit, Islamic banks give up that profit as charity. One has to say that the difference between Islamic and commercial banks is more in nomenclature and less in substance. Bankers and economists know this but don’t say it in the hope that Islamic banks will eventually inch closer to true Islamic banking. However, it is unfortunate that even after decades this migration is non-existent. Perhaps it’s because ‘Islamic’ banks are more profitable and don’t want to exit a comfortable business model. Islamic bankers give the example of eating beef to justify Islamic banks. They say if you eat non-zabiha beef it is wrong but the same beef is halal if slaughtered properly. The example is powerful but not applicable as Islam has not prohibited eating beef, it has just prescribed a way of slaughtering cattle. The prohibition of interest is more like the prohibition of drinking wine. It doesn’t matter whether it is consumed out of a teacup or a wineglass; the prohibition stays. Similarly, while trade is allowed in Islam, interest is prohibited even if you give it Arabic names. We must endeavour to bring Islamic banking closer to the tenets of Islam — variable profits and risk sharing. The writer is a former finance minister. Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2026

Geo News (Pakistan)

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Did Anna Faris really make fun of Cameron Diaz in ‘Lost in Translation'?

Anna Faris on mocking Cameron Diaz in 2002’s ‘Lost in Translation’ Anna Faris has addressed the longstanding rumour that she based her character in Lost in Translation on Cameron Diaz, and made clear she was never happy with the speculation in the first place. Speaking on...

The Mainichi (English)

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경제

Easy Japanese news in translation: Tokyo's Shibuya introduces 2,000 yen fine for littering

A system under which patrol officers immediately collect 2,000 yen from people who throw trash on the street began on June 1 in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.

머니투데이

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산업/기업

SCL헬스케어, ASCO서 글로벌 경쟁력 입증…임상 및 맞춤형 바이오마커 역량 선보여

SCL헬스케어는 지난 5월 29일부터 6월 2일(현지시간)까지 미국 시카고에서 열린 '2026 미국임상종양학회(이하 ASCO)'에 참가해 글로벌 임상 및 바이오마커 분석 경쟁력을 입증했다고 4일 밝혔다. ASCO는 유럽종양학회(ESMO), 미국암연구학회(AACR)와 함께 세계 3대 암학회로 꼽힌다. 올해는 '중개연구의 과학과 실천: 전 세계 암 환자의 치료 성과 향상 (The Science and Practice of Translation: Improving Cancer Outcomes Worldwide)'을 주제로 전 세계 4만여 명의 전문가들이 모여 최신 항암 연구 및 환자 치료 성과 향상을 위한 방안을 논의했다....

The Mainichi (English)

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정치

Easy Japanese news in translation: Imperial Couple welcomes Philippine president at dinner

A banquet to welcome Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his wife, who were visiting Japan, was held at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo's Chiyo

The Jerusalem Post

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'Black flag over democracy': Politicians slam haredi break in to Beit Shemesh police station

According to Democrats Party head Yair Golan, the riot was a "practical translation" of the contentious haredi draft law.

The Mainichi (English)

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스포츠

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Easy Japanese news in translation: Nagasaki Velca wins 1st basketball league title

In the men's professional basketball league (B.League), the championship game to determine Japan's top team was held on May 26 at Yokohama Arena in Ka

The Guest review – the risks of protecting refugees in the Poland-Belarus danger zone

Zvika Gregory Portnoy and Zuzanna Solakiewicz’s documentary lays bare the problems faced by refugees and the compassion of good samaritans It all begins with a knock. In a small Polish town on the border with Belarus, Maciek and his family have taken in 27-year-old Alhyder, a Syrian refugee seeking shelter from the freezing weather and police patrols. Since 2021, the area has become increasingly militarised after Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, in a purely political move, offered up the Belarussian border as a new migration route into the EU. In response, the Polish government created a 3-km zone where refugees and migrants are seized and deported back to Belarus. With humanitarian organisations also banned from the area, asylum seekers are now pawns in a political war game, with their lives continuously in danger. Laying bare the risks faced by both Maciek and Alhyder, Zvika Gregory Portnoy and Zuzanna Solakiewicz’s documentary intimately trails its subjects. Most of their conversations unfold in tense closeups, as Alhyder struggles to contact his group of fellow refugees; his host meanwhile keeps watch for the constant military presence in the neighbourhood. The film expands to take in other forms of resistance, such as a network of good samaritans who provide food, warm clothes and translation services for those hiding out in the forests. These acts of compassion shine a heartwarming light against the darkness of a humanitarian crisis. Continue reading...

Daewoo E&C launches AI translator for foreign workers

Daewoo Engineering & Construction said Monday it has developed a real-time AI translation system for construction sites, aiming to improve communication and safety for foreign national workers as it expands the use of digital technologies across its operations. The platform supports up to 180 languages and features a construction-specific glossary containing industry terminology and technical expressions commonly used at worksites, helping improve translation accuracy. The system also allows use

Geo News (Pakistan)

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How a Pakistani woman is redefining cancer research in Pakistan

A person working at a laboratory. — Author Cancer Research Centre of Lyon is a premier oncology institute established in 2011 in Lyon, France, created to foster the translation of basic research. The centre is organised into five primary interconnected categories. Sabreena Khan, a...

The Mainichi (English)

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Easy Japanese news in translation: Udon soup tap returns to Takamatsu Airport

Kagawa Prefecture is so active in making and eating udon that it even calls itself the "Udon Prefecture." At Takamatsu Airport in the city of Takamats

Global News (Canada)

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Calgary police body cameras to include tech enabling real-time translation

Calgary police say that the new feature will cost several hundred thousand dollars over the course of the five-year contract.

Russia charges philosopher with stealing Aristotle translation funds in case colleagues say is politically motivated

A senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Philosophy has been charged with large-scale fraud in connection with the alleged theft of funds earmarked for a project to translate Aristotle’s works.

The Moscow Times

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Russian Philosopher Reportedly Charged With Embezzling Public Funds Intended for Aristotle Translations

Svetlana Mesyats was detained and placed under house arrest last week following police raids at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Philosophy and the homes of several of its employees.

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Dawn (Pakistan)

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