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February’s PMI data show a modest slowdown in China’s economic activity: manufacturing PMI slipped to 49.0% while non‑manufacturing activity edged up to 49.5%, leaving the composite index at 49.5%. Large and high‑tech firms are expanding, but small and medium enterprises and parts of the services sector remain weak, highlighting an uneven recovery amplified by the Lunar New Year holiday.

Lou Qinjian, spokesman at China’s NPC, called 2025 a decisive year for domestic humanoid robots to achieve both technical breakthroughs and real-world deployment. The country’s industry is making rapid strides in hardware, datasets and pilots, but still faces major engineering, regulatory and social challenges before humanoids become widely useful.

TrendForce says Micro‑LED chip‑on‑panel (CPO) interconnects could shrink intra‑rack transmission energy to about 5% of copper cabling, a change driven by surging bandwidth needs from generative AI. The technology promises big operational savings and higher port density but must overcome manufacturing, coupling and standardization hurdles before it can displace existing optical and copper solutions.

Lin Junyang, the technical lead of Alibaba’s Qwen large-language-model project, announced his resignation shortly after the open-source release of Qwen3.5. Several core contributors have also posted farewells, raising concerns about the project’s continuity and the wider tension between open-source commitments and commercial priorities at Alibaba.

Generative AI is upending how mutual funds communicate with investors by favouring model-generated answers over link-based search. Chinese asset managers are building Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) stacks—combining structured knowledge graphs, real‑time data feeds and compliance gates—to ensure official investment logic is the first source LLMs draw from.

Ant Group and Tsinghua University released AReaL v1.0, an open‑source, asynchronous reinforcement‑learning training framework aimed at lowering the engineering barrier for production‑grade adaptive agents. The announcement coincided with mixed market moves in China’s AI ETF, underscoring investor interest in infrastructure plays even as the sector navigates commercialisation, hardware constraints and regulatory questions.

Gao Rui, a nurse manager at the Northern Theater Command General Hospital and NPC delegate, is advocating for the professional development of the PLA’s civilian workforce. Her frontline proposals—on training, promotion, accreditation and welfare—highlight Beijing’s focus on building human capital to complement broader military modernization efforts.

Apple’s 14‑ and 16‑inch MacBook Pros now ship with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips that combine dual 3nm chiplets into a single, scalable SoC. The machines emphasise larger GPU counts, stronger neural acceleration and Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, targeting professionals who need sustained on‑device AI and media performance.

Chinese military media reported U.S. strikes on Iran’s naval headquarters, with analyst Du Wenlong warning that U.S. aircraft carriers may move closer to Iran’s coast. The developments raise the prospect of intensified maritime brinkmanship in the Persian Gulf, increasing risks to shipping and regional stability.

In a televised address, President Macron announced the deployment of France’s flagship aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, to the Mediterranean. The move strengthens France’s ability to project power, protect nationals and cooperate with allies in a region marked by instability and strategic competition.

A U.S. official, Marco Rubio, offered contradictory explanations for a U.S. strike on Iran, first saying it was a pre-emptive response to an anticipated Israeli attack and later claiming President Trump acted after concluding negotiations with Iran had failed. The inconsistency highlights legal, diplomatic and political risks for the administration and raises questions about the intelligence and coordination behind the decision.

Canada’s prime minister, speaking in Sydney, urged immediate de‑escalation of the U.S.-Israel–Iran strikes and called the fighting “another example of the international order failing.” His comments highlight Western unease over unilateral military actions and the broader risk that continued exchanges of strikes will drag the region into a wider war.

Funerals in Minab on March 3 followed an airstrike on February 28 that Iranian media and state outlets say hit a primary school, killing at least 165 people, mostly children. The incident deepens humanitarian concerns, risks regional escalation, and increases pressure for an independent inquiry and diplomatic responses.

Escalating fighting in the Middle East has raised alarms across the Asia‑Pacific, where governments are heightening readiness, considering naval deployments to protect shipping, and preparing evacuations for citizens. The crisis threatens to push up energy and shipping costs, test diplomatic balances and exert politically sensitive domestic pressures.

Fifth‑day fighting between the U.S.–Israel coalition and Iran has seen Tehran struck by air attacks, the IRGC launch missile and drone strikes on Israel, and Iran claim control of the Strait of Hormuz after attacks on multiple oil tankers. The conflict is spreading to Lebanon and has prompted the U.S. embassy in Beirut to suspend operations, raising the prospect of wider regional disruption and economic fallout for global energy and shipping markets.

Lin Junyang, the technical head of Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen project and the company’s youngest P10 technical leader, announced his departure on March 4. Lin led Qwen’s rise as a prominent open-source LLM family, but Alibaba has not named a successor, leaving short-term uncertainty about leadership and the project’s future direction.

US Central Command says the campaign against Iran is only beginning after nearly 2,000 Iranian targets were struck following a Feb. 28 US–Israeli strike that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The wide-ranging military effort aims to degrade Iran’s strike capabilities, but risks regional escalation, prolonged conflict and broader economic disruption.

China’s manufacturing PMI slipped to 49.0 in February, with seasonally driven holiday shutdowns and subdued demand pulling down production and new orders. Analysts expect a March rebound as factories restart and support measures take effect, but persistent weakness could increase the likelihood of monetary easing.

Iran's IRGC says it now controls the Strait of Hormuz and has struck multiple tankers, prompting a near halt to shipping through the chokepoint. The disruption has sent freight rates and oil prices sharply higher, forced major carriers to reroute and impose surcharges, and squeezed air cargo capacity, threatening wider supply‑chain pain if the situation is not quickly resolved.

Chinese automakers have adopted seven‑year low‑interest loan packages to sustain EV sales as regulators curb below‑cost discounts and purchase tax incentives are scaled back. The offers lower monthly payments but raise total borrowing costs, shift ownership and resale risks onto buyers, and increase exposure for non‑bank financiers.