Latest news with #examinations
Japan Times
7 days ago
- Business
- Japan Times
Japan marks lowest level of competition on record for civil service applicants
In fiscal 2025, one out of 2.9 applicants passed employment examinations to enter Japan's career-track for national public servants — marking the lowest level of competition, known as the competition ratio, on record — the National Personnel Authority said Tuesday. A total of 8,815 people passed the exam, up 1,258 from the previous year when one in 3.2 applicants passed. An NPA official attributed the dip in competition to "the number of successful applicants rising in line with an increase in the number of planned hires by each ministry and agency." The number of applicants who passed under a new entry track established in fiscal 2025 to examine judgment and thinking ability came to 1,763, making up around 20% of all successful applicants. Women made up a record high of 47.1% of all successful applicants, up from 43.0% in the previous year.
The Guardian
13-06-2025
- Climate
- The Guardian
Weather tracker: Europe and China in midst of record-breaking heat
Temperature records for early June are being broken across large parts of Europe, with the mercury reaching 40.5C (104.9F) in Mértola, Portugal, on Sunday. On the same day, several weather stations in Spain recorded temperatures in excess of 42C, with dozens of sites at record levels for early summer. Across the Balkans, temperatures reached 37C. On Monday, 37.6C was recorded in Tirana, Albania, while in Greece night-time minimum temperatures have stayed mostly over 30C for much of this week. Hot conditions are to intensify across central and western Europe over the next few days, with temperatures across large parts of France, Benelux, Italy and west Germany expected to reach the low to mid 30s celsius. Highs of up to 35C are expected in Paris on Friday, with up to 38C forecast in Rome. Conditions will ease somewhat, but a heatwave will soon develop across Iberia, with Madrid expected to reach the high-30s celsius each day next week. Meanwhile, parts of China have also been in the midst of brutal heatwave conditions. Temperatures in northern China rose to 46.8C on Sunday at Mangxiaohu in Xinjiang province. Temperatures also hit 45.5C in Toksun. China's meteorological authority issued the first high temperature heatstroke alert for the year at the start of the week, issuing yellow alerts for large parts of the country. The national college entrance examinations are currently taking place and forecasters have urged students to take precautions to protect against the heat. By Monday, temperatures across the north of the country had risen further, with the city of Turpan in Xinjiang reaching 44.8C, while the weather station at Mangxiaohu reached 47.1C. It follows one of the warmest springs on record: China's average temperature for the March-May period was 11.8C, the fourth highest in history. Temperature records were broken at nearly 300 weather stations. In Canada, the military were forced to evacuate a remote Indigenous group on Monday as wildfires spread. More than 3m hectares (7.4m acres) of forests and hundreds of buildings have been destroyed so far this year. The wildfires moved from the Prairies region into Ontario, the country's most populous province, and continue to rage.
Bloomberg
09-06-2025
- Bloomberg
Alibaba, Tencent Freeze AI Tools During High-Stakes China Exam
China's most popular AI chatbots like Alibaba's Qwen have temporarily disabled functions including picture recognition, to prevent students from cheating during the country's annual ' gaokao ' college entrance examinations. Apps including Tencent Holdings Ltd. 's Yuanbao and Moonshot's Kimi suspended photo-recognition services during the hours when the multi-day exams take place across the country. Asked to explain, the chatbots responded: 'To ensure the fairness of the college entrance examinations, this function cannot be used during the test period.'
Bloomberg
06-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Singapore's Private Tutoring Boom Reveals the Hidden Cost of Success
Three minutes was all Leshane Lim gave herself to scarf down food as she rushed between private tutoring classes. In the midst of school-entry examinations, the then 16-year-old Singaporean was cramming feverishly, scheduling three after-hours sessions every day, back to back. With her options for future schools and ultimately her career path on the line, the stakes seemed high. 'I used to think it was the end of the world,' said Lim, now 18. 'I put myself in that position because I wanted to do well.'
