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Chinese media and imagery indicate accelerated construction of a large fourth carrier, 004, at Dalian with a reported waterline wider than the US Ford class and likely nuclear propulsion. Fitted with four EMALS and expected to enter service in the late 2020s, the ship is portrayed domestically as a capability to extend China’s reach beyond the first island chain and contest US maritime dominance in the Western Pacific.

US deployments of A-10s, F-15Es and supporting assets to the Middle East have intensified after stalled Oman talks with Iran, signalling a retained option for military action. Tehran's consultations with China and Russia, combined with Israeli pressure and US economic tightening, raise the risk of broader regional and geopolitical escalation rather than a contained strike.

China’s military media released footage of troops singing a patriotic song tied to Korean War hero Qiu Shaoyun, blending historical martyrdom with contemporary calls to “fight and win.” The portrayal is a deliberate mix of morale-building and political signalling as the PLA modernises and faces more frequent regional tensions. The episode highlights how Beijing fuses cultural programming with force development to shape troop identity and communicate resolve to domestic and international audiences.

Singapore has publicly criticized what it sees as the risk of a resurgent Japanese militarism after a commanding LDP election win, invoking wartime memories of the 1942 occupation. The response blends historical grievance with contemporary defence preparedness and sends a wider diplomatic signal about regional stability and the preservation of the postwar order.

The United States has redeployed aircraft and defensive systems closer to Iran and extended troop rotations as indirect nuclear talks with Tehran begin in Geneva. The concurrent build-up and diplomacy constitute a coercive strategy that raises the risk of miscalculation and could escalate regional instability if negotiations fail.

A Feb. 17 video from China Military Video Network profiles women soldiers serving at high altitude, using emotional storytelling to humanize the PLA. The piece serves domestic legitimacy, gender messaging and strategic signalling by showcasing resilience and readiness in geopolitically sensitive plateau regions.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned Israel’s cabinet approval to restart systematic land registration in parts of the West Bank, saying it risks dispossessing Palestinians and undermines the two-state solution. The move, the first large-scale registration since 1967, could convert wide areas to state land and deepen international concern about de facto annexation.

Staff at a retired cadres rest home in Lanzhou spent Lunar New Year's Eve providing companionship, dumplings and a space for veterans to recount wartime memories, turning the holiday into both a moment of personal care and an instance of state-backed "red education." The episode highlights how local veteran welfare initiatives intersect with broader political efforts to preserve revolutionary memory and shore up social cohesion amid demographic change.

Apple has scheduled simultaneous, in‑person “Apple experience” events in Shanghai, New York and London for 4 March, emphasizing hands‑on media engagement while offering no livestream or product clues. The company is also grappling with setbacks to a major Siri upgrade, which may push flagship AI features out of the March iOS 26.4 update into later releases.

SpaceX and xAI have entered a Pentagon $100 million prize challenge to build voice‑controlled autonomous drone swarms, joining a small group of competitors. The move highlights the US military’s reliance on commercial innovators while raising technical, legal and geopolitical questions about autonomy, oversight and proliferation.

Energy Singularity’s HTS tokamak, Honghuang‑70, has achieved successive long‑pulse plasma runs — culminating in a 1,337‑second steady state — demonstrating engineering reliability in a privately built device. The results strengthen China’s private fusion push amid rising investment and new national law support, though net energy gain and reactor‑scale engineering remain unresolved challenges.

Exposure on China’s Spring Festival Gala produced a sharp, short‑term surge in robot interest on JD.com — searches jumped over 300%, inquiries rose 460% and orders climbed 150%, with several models selling out within minutes. The event demonstrates the Gala’s power to convert cultural visibility into commerce, but sustaining demand will depend on scaling production, lowering costs and building service networks.

Galaxy General Robots showcased a humanoid, "Xiao Gai," at China’s Spring Festival Gala performing dexterous household tasks and claimed its AstraBrain system made real-time autonomous decisions rather than running pre-scripted routines. The demonstration signals strides in embodied AI and serves as a high-impact marketing moment, but independent verification and real-world robustness remain open questions.

OpenAI has hired Peter Steinberger, founder of OpenClaw, to lead development of its next‑generation personal agents while converting OpenClaw into an independent non‑profit foundation sponsored by OpenAI. The move aims to close gaps in usability, local execution and multi‑agent coordination that have limited agent adoption, and it escalates competition among major AI players for talent and platform dominance in 2026.

UN Secretary‑General António Guterres condemned Israel’s decision to resume systematic land registration in Israeli‑controlled parts of the West Bank, calling it illegal and warning it threatens Palestinian property rights and the two‑state solution. The Israeli cabinet approved the first such registry initiative since 1967, provoking Palestinian rejection and raising the risk that administrative steps could entrench territorial control.

China’s 2026 Spring Festival Gala became a de facto showcase for humanoid robotics, with four domestic firms presenting polished acrobatics, coordinated dance and domestic task demonstrations. The broadcast signalled that motion control and embodied intelligence are maturing, while shifting investor attention from hardware to the ‘brain’ — large embodied models and task‑general AI.

A Xinjiang border company staged a Spring Festival‑style gala that blended family performances, music from a joint military band, and celebration of recent training successes. The event served to bolster morale, underscore multi‑ethnic cohesion and link an isolated outpost symbolically to the national centre while reaffirming the company’s operational readiness on a strategically sensitive frontier.

Eighteen US F-35A fighters have flown from RAF Lakenheath to the Middle East with tanker support in one of the largest recent single movements of the type, a deployment CCTV links to tensions with Iran. The dispatch is a calibrated demonstration of deterrence, enabled by allied basing and long-range logistics, but it carries risks of escalation and sustainment challenges for US planners.

The Japan‑UK‑Italy Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) has been set back after the planned 2025 contract between its international government body and the trilateral joint venture was delayed for reasons tied to the UK. The postponement imperils the programme’s 2035 deployment goal and raises wider questions about governance, cost‑sharing and strategic timelines in multinational defence projects.

US forces boarded the Panama‑flagged tanker Veronica III in the Indian Ocean after tracking it from the Caribbean, in a manifestation of Washington’s enforcement of a December 2025 blockade on sanctioned Venezuelan shipping. The move raises legal questions under the law of the sea, practical risks for shipping and insurance markets, and potential diplomatic fallout with flag states.