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The Trump administration’s post‑2025 campaign of withdrawing from dozens of international organisations marks a strategic pivot from multilateral stewardship toward selective engagement and parallel institution‑building. The policy mixes large exits from soft governance bodies with sustained or increased investment in hard security instruments, producing greater fragmentation, trust deficits with allies, and a more contested global governance landscape.

The 62nd Munich Security Conference exposed widening fissures in transatlantic relations: conciliatory rhetoric from the United States masked hardline policy demands, while European leaders signalled growing interest in strategic autonomy — including preliminary talks on nuclear deterrence. The old post–Cold War order that sustained U.S.–Europe cooperation is fraying, forcing Europeans to weigh deeper defence integration against continued reliance on American security guarantees.

An Israeli airstrike on Feb. 15 hit a vehicle near the Syrian border in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, killing at least four people. The IDF said it targeted Palestinian Islamic Jihad members in Majdal Anjar, a development that raises the risk of wider escalation in a fragile border zone.

Ahead of the Lunar New Year, Beijing is seeing a surge in demand for domestic services that has driven up wages and exposed a shortage of workers. Platforms and provincial governments are stepping in with mass recruitment, training and subsidies to stabilise supply for the holiday peak.

Search interest for delivered and takeaway New Year’s Eve dinners in China surged in early February, with several hundred-percent jumps across related search terms. Restaurants and platforms are responding with dedicated delivery services, extended logistics into rural areas and new seasonal product offerings, reshaping how families consume the Spring Festival reunion meal.

Netherlands defence official Gijs Tuinman suggested F-35 software and its cloud logistics could, in theory, be "jailbroken" to accept third-party updates, invoking a smartphone metaphor. The comment highlights tensions between partner sovereignty and the US-managed F-35 sustainment model, with legal, technical and diplomatic risks if operators try to modify systems outside approved channels.

Hong Kong equities closed early on Lunar New Year’s Eve with the Hang Seng up 0.52%, led by strong performances in AI-related names, semiconductors and miners. Seasonal demand for gold and a renewed technical lift in the Hang Seng Tech Index supported a rotation into cyclicals, while Zhipu’s push for a STAR Market listing underscores continued capital-market diversification by Chinese tech firms.

China's Ministry of Finance listed RMB 14 billion of sovereign bonds in Hong Kong across five maturities, reinforcing Hong Kong's role as the main offshore hub for RMB assets. The issuance arrives against a backdrop of sustained growth in the offshore RMB bond market and efforts by the exchange to attract more listings.

Shiyao Group has won FDA permission to begin US clinical trials of a long‑acting peptide that acts on both GLP‑1 and GIP receptors for weight management in people with obesity or overweight plus comorbidities. The clearance permits investigational trials but falls short of marketing approval; success would boost China’s ambitions to compete in the lucrative obesity‑drug market dominated by Western firms.

Spot gold fell below $5,000 per ounce and silver dropped over 2% on Monday, reversing recent gains as traders engaged in profit‑taking and repositioned amid a stronger dollar and firmer yields. The move raises questions about the durability of safe‑haven demand and could exert pressure on miners and commodity‑linked economies if it persists.

At Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting, Warren Buffett outlined ten practical principles for investors and citizens: beware trade protectionism, guard against inflationary fiscal policy, be modest about technology you do not understand, favour patience plus decisive action, and protect reputation. His remarks stress long-term compounding, vocation, curiosity and the role of trust in sustaining markets as he phases in succession at Berkshire.

China’s Spring Festival Gala has been repurposed into a high‑stakes marketing and technical showcase for AI firms, with Alibaba, ByteDance, Tencent and Baidu spending heavily on sponsorships, hongbao and live technical support. The central question is whether holiday‑driven spikes in downloads and engagement can be converted into lasting user habits and commercial ecosystems.

ByteDance has temporarily suspended Doubao’s video‑call feature, reflecting concerns about moderation, privacy, and operational costs tied to real‑time generative audiovisual interactions. The pause signals how Chinese tech firms are balancing product innovation with regulatory compliance and reputational risk as they race to match advanced Western AI models.

OpenAI has hired Peter Steinberger, founder of the open‑source AI agent project OpenClaw, and will place OpenClaw under a foundation supported by OpenAI. The move underscores OpenAI’s bet that multi‑agent, action‑oriented systems are the next major product frontier, while rekindling concerns about whether corporate sponsorship will erode open‑source independence.

Elon Musk announced that Starlink will soon operate beyond Earth, signalling SpaceX’s intention to make its satellite broadband an integral part of lunar and interplanetary missions. Realising that ambition will require technical changes, regulatory coordination and the maturation of SpaceX’s launch capabilities, while raising strategic questions about spectrum, debris and military use.

China Coast Guard vessels, including the ship Yongshu, remained on patrol across the South China Sea during the Lunar New Year, conducting drills, evidence-gathering with drones and long deployments without shore contact. The missions blend operational preparedness with domestic political messaging about defending maritime rights while crews endure weeks away from home.

Soldiers from the late Wang Zhuoran’s unit visited his parents over the Lunar New Year, offering practical help, reading letters from comrades and joining distant colleagues by video. The visit combined private consolation with public commemoration, reflecting how the PLA and state media use personal stories to reinforce morale, legitimacy and civil-military ties.

Toshio Motoya, founder and CEO of APA Hotels and a prominent funder of Japanese ultranationalism who drew global condemnation for placing books denying the Nanjing Massacre in hotel rooms, died at 82. His death raises questions about the future of the networks and institutions that promoted historical revisionism and a more militarised Japan.

The PLA garrison in Hong Kong released a Lunar New Year video that frames soldiers' holiday duty as an act of companionship and civic service. The clip is a targeted soft‑power effort to humanize the military presence in the city and to normalize its role amid ongoing political sensitivities.

Israel’s attorney-general, Gali Baharav-Miara, said she has not yet reviewed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pardon request and will follow standard procedures in examining it. The decision now turns on legal advice to President Isaac Herzog and could have major implications for Israeli institutions, public trust, and political stability.