📰 Latest News

Spain publicly refused U.S. requests to use its bases for strikes on Iran, grounding the decision in international law, its bilateral defence agreement with the United States, and domestic parliamentary procedures. The move highlights growing European insistence on legal safeguards and collective mechanisms when faced with unilateral American pressure and could accelerate debates on strategic autonomy within the EU.

On Lei Feng Memorial Day, state commentary highlighted Xi Jinping’s repeated urging since the 18th Party Congress to make the “Lei Feng spirit” an everyday practice. The revival of this moral campaign aims to promote volunteerism and social cohesion, serving the Party’s broader goals of stability and ideological influence while raising questions about symbolic action versus structural reform.

Mo Dingge, chairman of China Chemical Engineering Group and an NPC deputy, urged China to develop a bespoke Belt and Road contract template, align financing with contract milestones, and create a contract support centre to protect outbound projects. He also called for stronger laws, standards and financial support to lift the domestic biodegradable materials industry and curb pseudo‑degradable products.

Sri Lanka has agreed to assist the Iranian replenishment ship Bushehr, evacuating 208 personnel and moving the vessel to Trincomalee after a sister ship, the Dena, was sunk nearby in an incident Iran attributes to the United States. Colombo frames its action as humanitarian and consistent with maritime law, but the episode highlights growing naval tensions and diplomatic pressure in the Indian Ocean.

The Israeli military announced it is moving to a new phase of operations against Iran after claiming air superiority and suppression of ballistic-missile positions. The IDF says it will intensify damage to Iran's regime foundations and military capabilities, a shift that raises the risk of broader regional escalation and international repercussions.

The Indian Air Force confirmed a Su-30MKI crashed during a training mission in Assam after it disappeared from radar soon after take-off from Jorhat. The service has not yet released details on casualties or cause; the incident highlights maintenance, training and readiness questions for India’s large Su-30 fleet.

A U.S. submarine torpedoed and sank the Iranian warship Iris Dena in international waters of the Indian Ocean after the vessel had taken part in India's Milan 2026 exercises. The attack, which killed dozens and rescued some survivors, has intensified debate over the legality of U.S. actions, provoked anger in Tehran and domestic criticism in New Delhi for its silence, and signals a dangerous widening of the conflict beyond the Middle East.

China’s government set a 2026 growth target of 4.5–5% and plans to issue 1.3 trillion yuan in long‑term special bonds while keeping policy moderately loose and injecting 800 billion yuan of short‑term liquidity. The moves come as oil prices spiked on Middle East tensions, pushing global markets lower and underscoring the intersection of Beijing’s domestic stabilisation strategy with external geopolitical risks.

A Chinese article reports that Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed in an attack attributed to the United States and Israel, and uses the claim to revisit his life. It emphasizes the 1981 mosque bombing that left his right arm paralyzed, a wound that became a lasting symbol of his legitimacy and the violence that has shaped the Islamic Republic.

BYD announced a second‑generation Blade battery and a megawatt‑class "flash‑charge" system that it says can charge from 10% to 70% in five minutes and to 97% in nine minutes, with only a small penalty at minus 30°C. The company pairs the technical claims with a plan to build 20,000 flash‑charge stations across China this year and offers one year of free flash charging to owners of vehicles with the new battery.

China’s A‑shares opened lower after a steep morning sell‑off in oil and gas stocks, while battery makers and AI‑adjacent companies attracted selective buying. Broker research highlighted long‑term opportunities in AI agents, overseas data‑centre power solutions and mass‑market AI NAS devices, suggesting structural winners even amid short‑term volatility.

Fangzheng Fubon announced on 25 February that veteran manager Cui Jianbo had relinquished responsibility for a 12‑month holding mixed fund, highlighting a disappointing five‑year tenure during which his flagship fund returned roughly 0.5%. The episode exposes Fangzheng Fubon’s structural bias toward fixed‑income and money‑market products, misaligned resource allocation among equity managers, and broader challenges facing active equity managers in China.

Alibaba has denied that its large-model AI team collectively resigned, stressing team stability, normal service operation, and that it has not imposed commercial KPIs. The clarification followed the resignation of a senior figure and reflects broader tensions in China’s AI talent market between research freedom and pressure to monetise.

Google has elevated robotics to one of three long‑term growth engines, prompting a rally in China’s Robot ETF (159770) and several supplier stocks. The ETF has seen meaningful asset and share growth over the past year, reflecting investor interest in a sector moving from research to industrial deployment.

At Morgan Stanley’s TMT conference, bankers and tech chiefs argued that AI will not eradicate enterprise software but will reorder it. Deterministic, security‑focused and architecture‑centric businesses are best positioned to win, while presentation‑layer vendors face severe pressure; infrastructure investment may plateau as efficiency and specialised hardware take precedence.

BYD unveiled a second‑generation blade battery and a megawatt‑class flash‑charging system that it says can charge vehicles from 10% to 97% in nine minutes, with only modest added time in extreme cold. The technology, paired with an ambitious charging network plan, could eliminate charging time as a key barrier to EV adoption — provided real‑world durability, safety and grid constraints are addressed.

BYD unveiled a second‑generation blade battery and megawatt chargers it says can charge cars from near‑empty to 97% in nine minutes, demonstrated in both ambient and extreme cold. The company plans a rapid nationwide rollout of 20,000 "flash‑charging" stations by end‑2026, combining pack design, high‑power chargers and a retrofitting strategy, but scaling will confront grid, cost and standardisation challenges.

Sanan Optoelectronics, with Tsinghua University and China Mobile, reports a Micro‑LED light source with >7 GHz 3 dB bandwidth and modeled NRZ‑OOK rates above 10 Gb/s, and has begun shipping samples to international customers. The advance, if validated in systems, could open new short‑range optical interconnect and LiFi opportunities, though manufacturing, packaging and ecosystem challenges remain.

OpenAI’s GPT‑5.4 introduces native computer control and deep spreadsheet integration, turning language models into practical ‘digital employees’ capable of executing multi‑step tasks. The model expands context capacity to one million tokens, adds token‑saving tool search, and targets enterprise workflows, particularly in finance, though it comes with higher API pricing and fresh governance questions.

China's 2026 government work report lowers the GDP target to 4.5–5% and shifts fiscal priorities toward consumption, social protection and strategic technologies. Beijing plans targeted bond-financed measures to boost demand while concentrating public funds on AI, semiconductors and other future industries as part of a broader push for resilience and technological self-reliance.