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Seedance 2.0, a Chinese generative video model, can produce hyper-realistic footage by integrating image, motion, audio and text, lowering the barriers to making sophisticated video. Its realism has sparked copyright backlash and deepfake concerns even as China’s large user base, open-source releases and supportive AI policy accelerate development and adoption.

Huawei has announced a wide-ranging Lunar New Year promotion on its official site, cutting prices across phones and other devices with headline discounts stated to reach up to ¥4,000 when combining model reductions, trade-ins and finance offers. The campaign aims to boost short-term sales, clear inventory and reinforce Huawei’s device ecosystem amid tougher market conditions and fierce domestic competition.

Henan Mining Crane Co. announced Rmb180 million in year‑end bonuses — two‑thirds of its Rmb270 million profit — and staged a public cash‑counting event that distributed Rmb60 million on site. The spectacle mixes staff incentives, PR and political signalling, but raises practical questions about tax compliance, fairness and sustainability.

A major Chinese AI startup raised over $700 million in a round led by Alibaba and Tencent, valuing it above $10 billion. The founder — a post‑1990s entrepreneur — said the company holds more than ¥10 billion in cash and is not pursuing an IPO, highlighting a shift toward long‑term, control‑oriented growth amid an intensely competitive AI funding surge.

The PLAN’s carrier Fujian released a New‑Year photograph of its full crew delivering a holiday greeting that doubles as a slogan of leadership. The image underscores both the symbolic role the ship plays in China’s naval modernization and the gap that remains between symbolic displays and sustained operational capability.

ByteDance has started a limited rollout of Seedance 2.0, a next‑generation video‑generation model, inside its Doubao AI assistant app. The grayscale test lets select users try the new model while ByteDance evaluates performance and safety before a wider release, with implications for creators, platform engagement and regulatory oversight.

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.

The yuan climbed past 6.90 per dollar on February 12, reaching levels not seen since May 2023 as both onshore and offshore markets rallied. The move reflects softer dollar dynamics, renewed foreign inflows and cautious central-bank guidance via a conservative midpoint setting, but risks from U.S. policy shifts and domestic growth surprises remain.

Inferact, founded by the creators of open‑source vLLM, raised $150 million in a seed round at an $800 million valuation led by Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed. The deal signals strong investor conviction in companies that can commercialize efficient LLM inference, but Inferact will face competition from cloud providers and specialized rivals as it seeks to translate open‑source credibility into enterprise revenue.

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.

Apple’s ambitious upgrade to Siri, built on its own model platform and integrating Google’s Gemini, has hit new testing problems that may delay key features previously slated for iOS 26.4 in March. Core capabilities such as expanded personal‑data search and advanced app voice controls are the most likely to slip into later iOS releases, underscoring the engineering and strategic challenges of deploying generative AI within Apple’s privacy framework.

A public photograph confirms the J-15T carrier fighter is operationally paired with the supersonic YJ-15 anti-ship missile, signalling a meaningful upgrade in China's carrier-based strike capability. The combination enhances the PLA Navy's tactical ability to threaten large surface ships, while practical constraints and modern allied defenses temper its reach.

Helion Energy says its Polaris prototype reached 150 million °C, a milestone the company frames as a three‑quarters step toward temperatures it considers necessary for commercial fusion. The firm pursues an FRC design and direct magnetic‑to‑electric conversion, targets a 50 MW Orion plant for Microsoft by 2028, and faces significant technical and fuel‑supply challenges before true commercialization.

Apple’s refreshed AirTag, launched in China at 249 yuan, improves precision locating with a second‑generation UWB chip, extends Bluetooth range, and makes the speaker louder. The update emphasises recycled materials, deeper Apple Watch integration, and a secure item‑sharing feature for partners such as airlines, while reiterating existing anti‑stalking and privacy protections.

China’s 2026 Spring Festival Gala has become a focal point for AI platforms and robotics firms seeking to convert national TV reach into user habits and investor momentum. While tech companies flood the event with prizes and live demonstrations, traditional sponsors such as baijiu distillers have sharply reduced their presence, underscoring a broader commercial shift toward hard tech.

Cai Lei, an ALS patient and research organiser in China, remains a central figure in nationwide efforts to push amyotrophic lateral sclerosis research forward despite being in the terminal stage of his illness. Through patient registries, international collaborations, and a high‑profile push for post‑mortem tissue donation, he is building infrastructure that could materially accelerate domestic ALS science even if he does not live to see a cure.

A candid 31‑minute video by former actor Li Yapeng about Yanran Angel Children’s Hospital’s unpaid rent reversed public opinion and triggered millions of yuan in donations and surge in livestream sales. The episode illuminated the power of transparency but underscored structural weaknesses in charity hospital financing and the risks of celebrity‑dependent philanthropy.

Zhipu AI released GLM-5 and Moore Threads said it adapted the model to its MTT S5000 GPU the same day, claiming H100-class FP8 performance. Qianli Technology nominated former Honor CEO Zhao Ming to its board to speed commercialisation, while Alipay’s AI-native payments surpassed 120 million transactions in one week. Together these moves show China advancing a vertically integrated AI stack from hardware and models to monetised services.

Li Auto is assessing the closure of some low‑efficiency retail stores after an aggressive multi‑year network build‑out, denying plans to close 100 outlets but confirming a targeted optimisation. The retrenchment follows a 19% fall in 2025 deliveries and recent quarterly losses, and accompanies a product and organisational reset aimed at restoring growth and margins amid fiercer competition in the range‑extended EV segment.

A livestream‑built Shenzhen gold retailer, Jieweirui, suspended withdrawals after leveraged, option‑style products it sold to retail customers blew up amid sharp rises in precious‑metal prices. The firm's unlicensed, high‑leverage mini‑program ecosystem created large asymmetric exposures and possible illegal fundraising, affecting investors across many provinces and threatening Shuibei’s reputation as a jewellery hub.

The 62nd Munich Security Conference exposed a quieter, deeper rift between the United States and Europe over the distribution of security responsibilities and the future of the Western order. European leaders publicly signalled a push toward greater strategic autonomy even as they remain materially dependent on US security guarantees, while civil society protests underscored domestic opposition to expanded militarisation.

Alibaba plans to take its AI‑chip unit T‑Head public, a move that boosted the parent company’s U.S. pre‑market shares. The listing aims to fund and legitimise Alibaba’s push into in‑house AI accelerators, but faces manufacturing, software and competitive hurdles amid broader geopolitics over semiconductors.

Ned Davis Research warns that if the current sell‑off becomes a full crypto winter, Bitcoin could fall to about $31,000 — a drop of roughly 55% from current levels and as much as 70–75% from its October peak. Other banks and strategists offer differing downside targets, but the central risk is that renewed selling, leverage and miner pressure could amplify losses even as greater institutional participation offers some stabilising force.

Donald Trump publicly chastised Israeli President Isaac Herzog for not pardoning Benjamin Netanyahu, prompting Herzog’s office to seek clarification from Netanyahu’s team. Netanyahu’s office denied involvement, saying Trump acted independently, while Herzog reaffirmed that any clemency decision will follow standard legal review. The episode highlights tensions over judicial independence in Israel and raises questions about the propriety of foreign leaders publicly weighing in on another country’s legal processes.

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.

Trump’s public manoeuvres over Greenland and a vague NATO “agreement framework” have prompted European pension funds to reduce U.S. Treasury holdings, exposing how geopolitical unpredictability can transmit into markets. The episode sits alongside fresh military tensions with Iran, commodity rallies and corporate guidance shocks, underlining a fragile intersection of politics, finance and strategic resources.

Zhipu Technology raised prices for its GLM Coding Plan and launched GLM-5 overseas on February 12, citing surging developer demand and the need for heavier investment in compute and model optimisation. The increase — 30% or higher domestically and substantially larger on overseas API pricing — marks a shift in China’s AI industry from low‑price competition to value-based monetisation.

Synopsys CEO Sassine Ghazi warns that the current memory-chip shortage, driven by heavy demand from AI data centres, is likely to last through 2026 and potentially into 2027. Concentrated production, long lead times for new fabs and booming demand for HBM mean elevated prices and allocation pressures may persist, benefiting memory suppliers but squeezing device makers and other industries.

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.

China is effectively easing its "three red lines" deleveraging rules for property firms, with some developers no longer required to file monthly metrics. The move reflects a sector-wide shift from aggressive deleveraging to stabilisation, but analysts remain split on the timing and strength of any sustained recovery.

China's PCB industry is racing to capture a rising share of the booming low‑Earth‑orbit satellite market by investing in high‑frequency, high‑reliability boards and scaling production. Domestic firms have manufacturing scale and supply‑chain advantages, but still face certification and materials hurdles before they can fully capitalise on mass deployments.

Iran has reiterated that its right to peaceful nuclear energy is inalienable under the NPT, while insisting it does not seek nuclear weapons and is open to inspections but will not accept excessive demands. The declaration comes as U.S. naval assets remain deployed in the region and indirect U.S.‑Iran talks, mediated by Oman, are due to resume in Geneva, leaving diplomacy and deterrence in uneasy balance.

Two high‑profile Chinese private firms have used extravagant year‑end giveaways and an institutionalised employee welfare network to bind staff loyalty and burnish reputations. The practices reflect a broader trend of private companies assuming social‑welfare roles amid competition for talent, with implications for inequality, corporate governance and regulatory scrutiny.

The White House has signed an executive order replacing a decades-old first-come, first-served approach to U.S. foreign military sales with a prioritisation system for high defence spenders and strategically located partners. The Department of Defense must submit a prioritized list of platforms within 120 days, signalling a tighter integration of arms exports with U.S. industrial policy and strategic objectives.

China’s NDRC and NEA have instructed provinces to strengthen capacity‑price mechanisms for coal, gas, pumped storage and new grid storage, mandating that capacity payments recover at least 50% of coal units’ fixed costs and establishing rules for reliable capacity compensation tied to spot market development. The package aims to stabilise dispatchable revenues, encourage storage participation in markets and support reliability as renewables expand, while requiring provincial assessments of consumer affordability and stricter performance oversight.

NASA has transferred the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis II to the Kennedy Space Center launch pad, entering a critical phase of integrated testing before a crewed lunar flyby not earlier than 6 February. The mission—carrying four astronauts—will be the first crewed flight for both SLS and Orion and is a pivotal step toward future lunar landings and sustained operations.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced plans to open a diplomatic facility in Venezuela to obtain "real‑time information" and engage directly with Caracas following a U.S. operation that removed President Nicolás Maduro. The step formalizes Washington's on‑the‑ground role and raises questions about sovereignty, regional reactions, and future access to Venezuelan oil resources.

The Geneva nuclear talks ended without agreement as US military deployments and Iranian naval drills hardened positions on both sides. Fundamental disagreements over Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes, Israeli security demands, and the timing of sanctions relief mean the risk of escalation remains high unless negotiators find a politically credible compromise.

China plans to advance 'high‑level' two‑way opening of its capital account in 2026 while strengthening supervision to limit cross‑border risks. SAFE and the PBOC will widen access for institutional investors, broaden multinational cash‑pooling and green financing pilots, and tighten middle‑ and post‑event monitoring to prevent systemic shocks.

President Trump praised British troops on social media after his remarks in Davos suggesting some NATO partners had stayed “off the front lines” in Afghanistan drew strong criticism from allies. The selective praise, following a phone call with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, was widely interpreted as a partial withdrawal of his earlier comments rather than a full apology, leaving strain with other NATO capitals.

DeepSeek is testing a new long‑context model in its web and app interfaces that supports roughly one million tokens, while its public API remains limited to 128K token context on version 3.2. The trial highlights the commercial and technical trade‑offs involved in bringing ultra‑long context windows to production and signals intensifying competition in China’s AI landscape.

Entrepreneurs in multiple Chinese cities have begun mounting shared power‑bank kiosks on electric bicycles, creating a mobile rental service that is cheap to install and can earn operators modest daily income. The practice raises safety and regulatory issues because many installations use uncertified inverters and exposed wiring, prompting local enforcement actions even as major platforms explore formal, integrated versions of the idea.

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.

Azerbaijan has arrested three men accused of plotting an attack on a foreign embassy in Baku at the direction of IS‑K. The detainees, born in 2000 and 2005, face charges of preparing terrorist activities as investigations continue and the targeted embassy remains unnamed.

An online storm of donations for Li Yapeng’s Yanran hospital revealed a legal and structural divide: funds raised for the Yanran Angel Fund cannot legally pay the hospital’s rent because the fund and hospital are separate entities under Chinese charity law. The episode spotlights the limits of celebrity-driven philanthropy and the need for sustainable financing and clearer regulations for China’s non-profit medical sector.

China’s 10,000‑ton destroyer Lhasa has adopted a ship‑wide anti‑unmanned warfare deployment, integrating sensors, electronic and kinetic defenses to counter drone swarms. The move signals a wider PLA Navy effort to harden surface ships against proliferating low‑cost unmanned threats that complicate maritime operations.

The EU has approved Google’s $32 billion acquisition of cloud‑security firm Wiz, following U.S. clearance and capping a major strategic move by Google Cloud to bolster its enterprise security offerings. The purchase is likely to accelerate consolidation in cloud security and sharpen competitive pressure on rivals and independent vendors.

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.

China’s electric-vehicle market reached mass adoption in 2025, with penetration approaching 60% and charging and swap networks expanding rapidly. As purchase-tax subsidies are rolled back in 2026, competition will pivot from stimulus-fuelled growth to a fight over technology, cost efficiency, user experience and global expansion.

A family reunion at a remote border post in the Greater Khingan Range illustrates the human cost and symbolic power of China’s frontier defence. After a 40-hour journey, a soldier who has served 19 years met his wife and daughters at Triangular Mountain, a site steeped in local military memory and used by state media to underscore the virtue of sacrifice.