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China’s market regulator summoned seven major internet platforms and released new anti‑monopoly compliance guidelines after a wave of large Spring Festival cash‑giveaway campaigns. Regulators warned against below‑cost subsidies, exclusive dealing and algorithmic collusion, signalling tighter scrutiny of promotional tactics and AI‑driven user acquisition.

Britain has deployed F-35B jets to Cyprus and Typhoons to Qatar as part of a widening coalition posture near Iran, while Tehran has reportedly fielded Chinese YLC‑8B radars that could extend detection ranges for stealth aircraft. The technical and political dynamics are increasing the complexity and risks of any air campaign, forcing greater reliance on electronic warfare, standoff weapons and crisis diplomacy.

An eight‑woman militia of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps patrols a 37 km stretch of the Pamir plateau, combining border deterrence with community aid in extreme high‑altitude conditions. Their work—more than 400 patrols and nearly 8,000 km walked over six years—illustrates Beijing’s approach to frontier governance: continuous human presence, local service provision and paramilitary organisation.

On Dongshan Island, local officials, volunteers and a company staged a New Year visit to the home of a military family, blending ceremonial warmth with practical welfare. The event illustrates how China’s local authorities use community action to support servicemen’s families, bolster civil‑military ties and demonstrate delivery of veterans’ services.

The U.S. Air Force says it stands ready to reintroduce MIRVs on land‑based ICBMs and to restore full nuclear capability to the B‑52 fleet following the expiration of the New START treaty. The move signals deterrence intent but also risks provoking reciprocal modernization from Russia and China and complicates prospects for renewed arms control.

The India–EU Security and Defence Partnership signed at the New Delhi summit creates a formal framework for cooperation across five defence domains but stops short of transferring core technologies. The pact is likely to yield limited, mid‑level collaboration—maritime information sharing, cyber cooperation and equipment upgrades—while high‑end co‑development remains constrained by European technology protection and internal divisions.

A Valentine’s Day proposal by an Air Force serviceman went viral after the full video was published by a military-affiliated outlet, highlighting the PLA’s effort to humanize its image. The clip underscores a deliberate strategy to use personal stories for morale, recruitment and public relations while posing tensions around operational security and institutional professionalism.

The Ford‑class carrier John F. Kennedy completed its first week‑long sea trial and is due for delivery early next year. The class offers substantial capability improvements — notably EMALS and greater electrical power — even as technical problems and political calls to revert to older steam systems complicate the programme and its strategic implications.

NATO launched the “Arctic Sentinel” operation on 11 February to unify allied activities in the Arctic and the High North after tensions sparked by U.S. President Trump’s remarks about Greenland. Critics argue the move is largely political symbolism intended to placate Washington and repackages existing efforts rather than creating new military capability.

The Type 052D destroyer Taiyuan intercepted and drove off a foreign warship after a high-speed approach during a distant-seas training mission, Chinese state media reported. The incident highlights the PLAN's growing reach and the use of modern surface combatants for deterrence and signalling in contested maritime spaces.

President Trump has set a roughly one‑month timeline for a U.S. deal with Iran, warning of severe consequences if talks fail. Iran says it received no direct U.S. message — only Omani notes — and both sides say they want to continue indirect negotiations while conducting internal consultations. The mix of public ultimatums, Israeli red lines and a stepped‑up U.S. military presence raises the risk that diplomatic pressure could harden stances or lead to escalation.

State media showed Chinese coast guard vessels and island garrisons celebrating Lunar New Year with red flags, couplets and greetings on disputed features across the East and South China Seas. The displays combine domestic morale-boosting with a quiet assertion of continuous administrative and law-enforcement control over contested maritime areas.

U.S. media report that Anthropic’s AI model Claude was used in the January 3 U.S. operation in Venezuela, routed via a partnership with Palantir. Anthropic has not confirmed the claim and stresses its policy forbidding uses that facilitate violence, but the allegation raises legal, ethical and strategic questions about private AI models in military operations.

At the Munich Security Conference, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged Europe to accelerate the development of strategic autonomy in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine, U.S.–China rivalry, and fragile transatlantic guarantees. The call signals a shift toward concrete investment in defence, supply‑chain resilience and industrial cooperation, while highlighting the challenge of balancing autonomy with transatlantic partnership.

An official profile of a PLA Air Force brigade dubbed the “Sea‑Air Eagle Regiment” highlights sustained, realistic training and a permanent deployment on China’s southeastern flank. The piece signals both a doctrinal move toward persistent high‑tempo readiness in a strategically sensitive region and an internal messaging effort to reinforce political loyalty and morale.

The U.S. is sending the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to the Middle East while U.S. envoys prepare indirect talks with Iran in Geneva on February 17. Washington seeks far‑reaching curbs on Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, while Tehran insists on its right to defensive capabilities, leaving a narrow path for agreement amid heightened military posturing.

President Isaac Herzog rebuked Donald Trump after the former U.S. president urged him to pardon Benjamin Netanyahu. Herzog’s retort underscored the independence of Israel’s presidential office and highlighted tensions between foreign political pressure and domestic legal procedures concerning Netanyahu’s long-running corruption trial.

Meituan disclosed a dramatic shift to an estimated 2025 net loss of RMB 233–243 billion, yet has chosen to intensify strategic investments—buying Dingdong’s China fresh‑food business and upgrading its AI assistant—to protect its instant retail and delivery moat. The move underscores a broader industry turning point from subsidy‑led growth to a capital‑and‑efficiency contest over logistics, AI and fulfilment.

A Dalian University–Sinopec team has produced 4‑methyl‑1‑pentene (4M1P) at 99.3% purity in a hundred‑ton pilot run, a milestone for domestic manufacture of poly(4‑methyl‑1‑pentene) used in ECMO membranes. The result could reduce reliance on imports for a critical medical‑device input, though commercial scale‑up and regulatory steps remain.

Savoury flavour concentrates — known locally by names such as “piaoxiangji” or “one‑drop fragrance” — are a pervasive but poorly regulated part of China’s food system. Widely used across processed foods and restaurants, the industry is large and fragmented, with weak quantitative limits, incomplete testing standards and enforcement gaps that raise safety and trust concerns.