Author: HeraldStar

By Qaiser Nawab, Chairman BRISD In a remote mining community in northeast Nigeria, tuberculosis screening no longer begins in a hospital. It begins outdoors, where workers line up beside an ultra-portable X-ray machine and health staff read the images with the help of artificial intelligence. The device was supplied by a Chinese medical AI company. This is one instance of a wider pattern. Chinese medical AI is becoming visible in parts of the global south. It is screening: sorting large populations for probable disease, flagging who needs further testing, operating at volumes no human workforce can match on the budgets…

By Qaiser Nawab As the conflict in Iran intensifies following the U.S. and Israeli strikes that began on February 28, 2026, the region faces profound instability. The situation remains fluid, with implications extending to neighboring countries, including Pakistan’s Balochistan province, which shares a 900-kilometer border with Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan region. Balochistan, already navigating its own developmental and security challenges, is witnessing direct consequences from the unrest in Iran. Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti reported that nearly 2,000 individuals had entered by early March 2026, with provincial authorities on high alert and providing necessary assistance. The United Nations has cautioned that prolonged…

By Qaiser Nawab, Chairman BRISD On March 6, 2026, during a press conference on the sidelines of China’s National People’s Congress, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao announced a significant economic achievement: measured by purchasing power parity (PPP), China’s consumer market has become the largest in the world over the course of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025). PPP adjusts for differences in price levels and cost of living across countries, providing a more realistic comparison of what consumers can actually buy rather than relying solely on nominal exchange rates. In nominal terms, China’s retail sales of consumer goods exceeded 50 trillion…

By Qaiser Nawab, Chairman BRISD Beijing’s annual Two Sessions, comprising the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), have once again captured global attention as platforms for setting the nation’s socioeconomic agenda. On March 5, 2026, Premier Li Qiang submitted the Government Work Report to the NPC, outlining a comprehensive review of the past year, achievements over the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), and ambitious yet pragmatic goals for the year ahead and the forthcoming 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030). With a GDP growth target set at 4.5-5 percent for 2026, the document reflects a flexible approach…

By Qaiser Nawab, Chairman BRISD Humanoid robots have often been viewed as novelties, be it mechanical performers dancing at the 2026 Spring Festival Gala in Beijing, or sparring for applause at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Now comes a more consequential question: is the dream of embodied intelligence finally ready to step off the stage and into everyday life? From Stages to Assembly Lines For decades, the humanoid robot was the holy grail of robotics, somehow technologically mesmerizing but commercially elusive. However, 2025 marked a year of rapid acceleration for China’s humanoid robotics sector. In a…

By Qaiser Nawab, Chairman BRISD Against the living canvas of the dark night, horses galloping above the sky of Hefei, the capital city of Central China’s Anhui Province. What distinguishes this Guinness-World-Record-breaking performance is not only the sheer grandiosity, but the performers: drones. This impressive snippet on China’s Spring Festival gala last month offers a glimpse of this rapidly expanding industry in China, dubbed as “low-altitude economy”, which refers to low-altitude flight activities integrating drones, eVTOLs, helicopters, and related infrastructure. As application scenarios extend into county-level regions and infrastructure improves, the size of this strategically sector is projected to surpass…

By Qaiser Nawab, Chairman BRISD Five years post-spinal injury, a patient is back on his feet. The NeuCyber Matrix BMI System (Beinao-1) made it possible. Through brain-controlled rehabilitation, the patient graduated from total paraplegia to walking with crutches. Once confined to laboratories, BCIs are now entering clinical and commercial pathways. For countries with aging populations and significant neurological healthcare burdens, BCIs represent a medical-technology opportunity grounded in real healthcare demand, core technological challenges, and long industrial cycles. In China, they have also become a clearly defined future industry, embedded in long-term national planning and backed by an expanding ecosystem of…

By Qaiser Nawab “For the foreseeable future, China will continue to be the growth engine of the world,” Erik Solheim, former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations said.According to a government work report submitted Thursday to China’s top legislature for deliberation, the country targets an economic growth of 4.5 percent to 5 percent this year and will strive for better in practice.This figure surpasses the IMF’s growth projections of 3.3% for the global economy and 4.2% for emerging and developing economies in 2026. “Number is one thing, and quality is not to be overlooked. As China transitions toward high-quality development, it…

By Wania Tahir The Middle East has long functioned within a tense but familiar pattern of confrontation and caution. That pattern now appears under severe strain. Recent military exchanges and the reported targeting of senior Iranian figures suggest that relations between Washington and Tehran are moving beyond the era of “managed escalation”. The mechanisms that previously limited confrontation seem weaker, while the risks have grown correspondingly higher. For a region already fatigued by decades of violence, this moment carries a heavy, destructive weight. The consequences of these disruptive operations are no longer confined to diplomatic rhetoric. They touch maritime security…

By Qaiser Nawab Global market valuation of virtual currencies has surged to an unprecedented $2.73 trillion. To put this into perspective, the collective value of these decentralized assets now represents nearly half of the world’s total gold reserves. Yet, for millions of investors, the promise of “decentralization” is being eclipsed by a grim reality: virtual assets are increasingly at risk of being lawfully confiscated without a whisper of prior notice. The foundational appeal of virtual currency has always been its perceived immunity to state intervention. The blockchain was designed to be a vault without a central key. However, the period…