📰 Latest News

Chinese media report that Beijing’s intensified coastguard patrols and economic pressure have prompted Japanese officials to privately advise fishermen to avoid the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku waters. The episode illustrates how sustained maritime patrols and targeted economic measures can produce de‑facto control and compel rivals to change behaviour without open warfare.

A sudden surge in sales of the decade‑old iPhone 4S in China — often traded for about 55 yuan — reflects a mix of nostalgia, affordability pressures and the growing strength of the secondhand market. The trend coexists with strong demand for Apple’s latest flagships, suggesting a split in consumer behaviour rather than a straightforward downgrade.

Jensen Huang confirmed Nvidia will participate in OpenAI’s current fundraising round but denied the company would invest anywhere near $100 billion, a figure that had been reported earlier. His comments aim to reassure markets that Nvidia–OpenAI ties remain strong while tempering expectations about the scale of Nvidia’s financial commitment.

A newly disclosed full interview with former Unit 731 member Sato Hideo provides direct testimony that the unit sought to weaponize plague bacteria, produced pathogens at industrial scales, and conducted systematic human experiments. Museum curators say the account, corroborated by archival evidence and court testimonies, reinforces the view that these were organised, state-connected crimes rather than isolated abuses.

Iran’s nuclear chief said Tehran can defend itself without nuclear weapons and warned the IAEA board may refer its nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council in March. The comments signal a diplomatic standoff in which Western capitals press for accountability while Iran stresses conventional deterrence and limited cooperation with safeguards.

China’s Southern Theater Command dispatched H‑6K bombers and fighters on patrols over Huangyan Island on 31 January, a move Beijing says enforces its jurisdiction and rebukes Philippine attempts to declare nearby exercise areas. The flights reflect a broader strategy of regularized bomber presence and calibrated coercion intended to deter Manila while emphasising Chinese claims of humanitarian assistance and restraint.

An explosion was reported at a residential building in Bandar Abbas on 31 January 2026, with early Chinese media accounts offering few details and no immediate official confirmation from Iran. Given Bandar Abbas’s strategic location and history of attacks on Iranian infrastructure, the incident is being monitored for its potential to affect regional security and maritime traffic.

China staged naval patrols and armed air overflights near Scarborough Shoal after the Philippines included the feature in a declared exercise zone, signalling Beijing’s readiness to defend what it calls sovereign territory. The episode increases the risk of miscalculation and highlights the limits of legal rulings and the growing role of calibrated coercion in the South China Sea.

Survivors of Japan’s wartime system of sexual slavery in the Philippines — known locally as “grandmothers” — are dwindling, yet their demand for a formal apology and compensation persists. Activists warn that unresolved accountability, historical revisionism and geopolitical pragmatism risk allowing the memory of these crimes to be erased for younger generations.

China’s Southern Theater Command conducted sea-air combat-readiness patrols over Huangyan Dao (Scarborough Shoal) on 31 January, publishing routes that included H-6K bombers and fighters. Beijing framed the flights as both a rejection of Philippine-declared exercise zones and a demonstration of de facto control, raising the stakes in a long-running dispute with Manila.

China’s 2026 recruitment drive blends localised social-media outreach, multigenerational patriotic storytelling and career-focused messaging to attract young recruits, including those with technical skills the PLA increasingly needs. As the state readies for the PLA centenary, the campaign aims to bolster human capital for modern, information-intensive warfare while reinforcing domestic support for military modernisation.

Canada has begun coordinating with more than ten countries to create a sovereign-backed multinational defence bank aimed at raising roughly $135 billion for NATO and European defence projects. The proposal seeks an AAA rating to unlock low-cost capital but faces technical, political and governance hurdles before it can be established.

Michal Bartek, vice‑chair of Slovakia’s parliamentary Defence and Security Committee, said U.S. comments regarding Greenland threaten postwar international norms and amount to trade coercion. He urged Europe to pursue greater strategic autonomy and diversify partnerships, including deeper engagement with China.

The U.S. has approved a $9 billion sale of 730 PAC-3 MSE Patriot missiles to Saudi Arabia and a separate $6.67 billion package to Israel that includes Apaches and JLTVs. Washington frames the transfers as defensive steps to protect forces and advance regional security, but the moves carry risks of prompting countermeasures and political scrutiny in Congress.

China reports that by the end of 2025 all townships and 95% of administrative villages have 5G access, supported by extensive fibre rollout and thousands of rural base stations. The government says the build‑out underpins rural modernisation, education and telemedicine, but challenges remain around service quality, affordability and the last 5% of unconnected villages.

Zhejiang has opened a 10,000+ sqm developer centre in Hangzhou as the offline anchor for Moda, China’s largest open‑source AI community. Backed by Alibaba Cloud Valley and local government, the centre offers cheap co‑working, technical support for model deployment and a curated pipeline of industry pilot opportunities to accelerate industrial adoption of AI.

In a Qiushi essay, Xi Jinping outlines an eight‑point framework for building China into a global financial power that blends market reforms with firm Party leadership. The plan lists the institutional elements of financial strength — from an internationally used currency to robust regulation and talent — while insisting that development remain politically guided and risk‑averse.

Reports that Elon Musk is exploring tighter integration between SpaceX, Tesla and xAI reflect a strategic push to build a ‘space‑compute’ ecosystem combining satellite connectivity, vehicle and robot endpoints, and large AI models. While the business case is clear, major legal, technical and geopolitical hurdles make a full corporate merger unlikely in the near term; closer operational collaboration is the more probable path.

Chinese social‑media aggregators are amplifying claims that a newly surfaced trove of Jeffrey Epstein‑related documents exceeds three million pages and names high‑profile figures, including Elon Musk. The headlines raise reputational risks for those named but do not constitute proof of criminality; independent verification and legal assessment are still needed.

SpaceX has applied to the FCC for permission to deploy and operate up to one million satellites as an "Orbital Data Center" designed to host AI compute in space, linking to Starlink via optical intersatellite links and relying on Starship launches. The plan raises immediate questions about regulatory approval, collision risk, financing, and geopolitical and commercial consequences for cloud and satellite sectors.