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OpenAI’s GPT‑5.4 is a professional‑grade model focused on financial workflows, able to generate and operate on spreadsheets, documents and presentations via plugins and desktop automation. The release accelerates competition in enterprise AI while raising accuracy, auditability and regulatory questions for the financial sector.

China’s 2026 policy package keeps overall fiscal appetite steady but prioritises three strategic directions: lifting prices modestly, accelerating technology and industrial self‑reliance, and imposing a roughly 3.8% carbon‑intensity reduction. The government set a lower but pragmatic GDP target of 4.5%–5%, signalling a conscious pivot from quantity to quality of growth.

A 60-year-old recording of soldier Lei Feng released on the Learn-from-Lei-Feng day has reanimated a state-sanctioned model of selfless service. The audio’s plainness, paired with recent acts of heroism by young Chinese like Jin Chenglong, has renewed official appeals for lifelong civic devotion amid social and economic strains.

Oracle is planning to cut thousands of jobs to ease cash‑flow pressure from a major AI data‑centre expansion led by Larry Ellison. The move underscores the high upfront costs of scaling AI compute and reflects a wider industry trade‑off between aggressive investment and cost discipline.

Alibaba has approved the resignation of Lin Junyang, a central technical figure behind the open‑source Qwen models, and placed foundation‑model oversight with senior management. The move reassures stakeholders on policy but raises developer fears that Qwen’s open, high‑velocity culture could change, illustrating the friction between engineering ideals and corporate priorities in AI.

Chinese researchers at the Institute of Chemistry, CAS, have developed a flexible polymer thermoelectric film with a reported zT of 1.64, using a polymer phase‑separation process compatible with spray‑coating. The advance could make lightweight, conformable heat‑to‑electricity devices feasible, though real‑world power output, durability and integration remain to be proven.

A commentary on Chinese platform Sohu alleges a joint U.S.-Israeli strike on a girls’ primary school in Minab, Iran, killed 165 people, mostly children. The piece uses the incident to condemn U.S. military hegemony, while the episode raises urgent legal, humanitarian and geopolitical questions that demand independent verification and could escalate broader regional tensions.

The EU has publicly urged the United States to respect a June trade agreement after the US threatened to cut trade with Spain for refusing to allow use of its bases for strikes on Iran. The dispute reveals growing tensions in transatlantic relations over the interplay of defence policy and economic leverage, with implications for NATO cohesion and EU unity.

A notice released on March 5 shows U.S. Central Command has asked the Pentagon to send extra intelligence personnel to Tampa and is shipping more air‑defence and counter‑drone systems to the Middle East, preparing for operations against Iran to last at least 100 days, potentially until September. The moves reflect an unexpected expansion in scale and logistical strain, driven in part by the challenge of countering low‑cost Iranian drones with expensive interceptors.

The U.S. Senate voted down a measure aimed at limiting presidential authority to order military strikes, even as senators from both parties criticized recent U.S. actions against Iran. The result preserves executive flexibility but intensifies a bipartisan debate over legal restraints, oversight, and the strategic coherence of America’s Middle East policy.

Premier Li Qiang’s government work report for 2026 balances modest growth targets with an expanded fiscal programme, a reinforced industrial-technology push and stronger social supports. The plan emphasizes domestic demand, strategic R&D investment, and risk-managed stabilisation of property and local-government debts while reaffirming Beijing’s assertive foreign-policy and security posture.

Qinqin Food Group, known as the “Jelly King,” has issued a 2025 profit warning and expects a small net loss after a fragile recovery in 2024. The reversal stems from falling traditional‑channel jelly sales that reduced scale benefits and a mix of one‑off property gains and impairments, underscoring structural challenges for legacy snack brands in China.

China’s draft 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) focuses on technology self-reliance, high‑quality growth, digital and green transitions, and strengthened national security under continued party leadership. It balances domestic resilience with selective openness and frames the next five years as critical to meeting broader 2035 goals.

A diner in Beijing alleges they found suspected parasite eggs on tuna served at Sushiro, a Japanese conveyor-belt sushi chain; the Mentougou District Market Supervision Bureau has preserved samples and opened an investigation. The result of laboratory testing and the chain's public response will determine regulatory penalties and reputational damage amid heightened consumer scrutiny of raw seafood safety.

GigaDevice and JCET have each taken multi‑hundred‑million‑RMB limited‑partner stakes in new semiconductor funds, combining industry knowledge with state and bank capital. These moves reflect a broader Chinese trend of chip companies using fund investments to scout, incubate and eventually acquire strategic upstream and downstream targets.

Anthropic’s CEO has re-engaged Pentagon officials to rescue a faltering agreement after a dramatic breakdown over how the US military may use the company’s Claude models. The dispute juxtaposes the Pentagon’s demand for broad, operational access with Anthropic’s insistence on prohibitions against fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance, while US forces continue to deploy Claude in active operations.

Alibaba publicly downplayed reports of collective departures from its large-model AI team, saying teams are stable and services remain unaffected after a senior figure, Lin Junyang, resigned. The episode highlights the strategic importance of engineering talent in China’s AI race and the reputational and operational sensitivity that follows high-profile exits.

A week into a high‑intensity exchange between the U.S., Israel and Iran, rising concern over dwindling stocks of expensive interceptors is reshaping operational choices. Shortages of high‑value munitions create a narrow window for the U.S. and Israel to secure air superiority before switching to cheaper ordnance, while Iran relies on low‑cost drones and missiles and appears prepared for a protracted fight.

BYD has introduced a second‑generation blade battery it says can charge from 10% to 97% in nine minutes, paired with a 1,500 kW "flash‑charge" station and a plan to deploy 20,000 such stations in China by 2026. The package is aimed at solving range anxiety and shrinking pack sizes, but it raises technical, grid and durability questions that will determine its real‑world impact.

China’s 2026 government work report makes “AI+” a central operational priority, linking new compute infrastructure, data initiatives and governance to accelerate commercial AI applications. Industry delegates urged a shift from raw training capacity to accessible inference compute, better data assets, and stronger security and regulatory guardrails to enable widescale, safe adoption.